Talk:Ancient Jewish magic

"Jewish magic" section

I don't have the book in full at the moment, but unless Bohak refers to the papyri specifically, this background section is problematic. In particular, he says, as mentioned in one review, that he's mostly talking about oral magical practice. Andre🚐 06:47, 10 December 2025 (UTC)

Looks better now, thanks Mariamnei. Andre🚐 19:59, 21 December 2025 (UTC)

You're very welcome! There’s a lot to cover here, so if you have the time or interest, please do! 😊 Mariamnei (talk) 15:23, 22 December 2025 (UTC)

OK, I just added a paragraph on exorcism. There are a few passages in Josephus that mention this practice. I also vaguely remember something about a child's shirt from the Cave of Letters that had some sort of anti-demon ties along the edge... I'll see if I can find more about that. Mariamnei (talk) 16:17, 22 December 2025 (UTC)

I suppose this makes me an incorrigible medievalist, but reading what you wrote about love charms reminded me of Abramo Colorni's translation or potential composition of Key of Solomon. I wonder if anyone has looked at the continuity between ancient Hellenisticish Jewish magic and the late Dark Age and Renaissance type stuff. Surely Shabbethai Donnolo if he was doing herbalism and Kabbalah and mystical stuff about how every human is a universe, which is kind of prescient, was dabbling into the world of medieval Jewish esotericism. Andre🚐 01:23, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Interesting! I actually didn't know about any of this. But the idea of continuity really makes sense to me. When I was working on the Horvat Rimmon amulet, I was surprised to see that formulas from this late antique object from Israel show up again in medieval texts from the Cairo Geniza in Egypt, and are even documented among Iraqi Jews in the 20th century. Perhaps Josephus's story about an exorcist invoking Solomon's magical abilities could represent an early stage of what later became the much broader association of Solomon with magic across all Abrahamic religions. From that perspective, continuity with texts like the Key of Solomon also sounds quite plausible to me... though I admit I'm far from being an authority on that topic 😊 Mariamnei (talk) 07:08, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

That is interesting. Yes, there is a lot of stuff about Solomon's knowledge of the sciences and magical abilities, as alchemy started becoming science, Solomon was a popularly invoked figure. The article is coming along nicely. I'll try to read some of the sources when I have time. Andre🚐 19:33, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Thanks! When do you, please let me know if you have ideas for additional material to include. The topic has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention over the past two decades, so there's clearly much more that could be explored under this title. A section examining continuities into medieval Jewish mysticism and magical practices might also be an interesting addition. Mariamnei (talk) 09:37, 24 December 2025 (UTC)