Whether it’s an ancient amulet to protect a newborn baby, a love spell to lock down a romantic relationship, a potion that someone might pick up today from their neighborhood apothecary, or even a spray of Chanel perfume to make yourself irresistIble, humans have used – and continue to use – magic to get what they want. These spells and their use in the ancient world are the focus of Cursed! an entrancing exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art that offers a deep dive into the use of magic in ancient cultures in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
“Magic is in all societies, it’s a very basic human desire, to want to have some control over your world,” said show curator Dr Jeffrey Spier, a former senior curator with the J Paul Getty Museum. “There’s always been a desire to use some hidden power to get what you need.”
According to Spier, magic emerged in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt as those cultures became more and more literate, where scribes wrote down spells in various forms. “The way it’s handed down and taught in Egypt and Mesopotamia is very literary,” said Spier. Spells and magic objects were considered a part of everyday life, and they reached the masses through the proliferation of items like figurines and amulets. “This is practical magic,” said Spier, “these are things that people are actually using.”
Magic in these cultures could have extremely quotidian uses – one of the most common spells was one to undermine your opponent in a lawsuit, and it’s not hard to imagine how such magic could help assuage ongoing anxiety while dealing with such a situation. “The stress must have been terrible, so you’d go to a magician and say, ‘I need to survive this lawsuit,’” said Spier. A piece of red jasper in Cursed! came from Paris, where it was used to protect against colic and other stomach ailments.
There were also spells to protect newborns against demons, which, considering child mortality rates in early societies, were understandably extremely popular. “Lamashtu was this horrible demon who would harm babies or women in childbirth,” said Spier, “which of course was a huge concern. So you would invoke this other demon, Pazuzu, for protection.”
And then of course there were love spells, which sound uncomfortably close to sexual abuse. “These spells were to force you,” said Spier, “they’re not Valentines. They’re very coercive. A man would find a spirit of the dead who would force a woman to come to him. They’re horrifying when you read them.”
Hiring a magician to perform a spell on your behalf was a simple as going down to the local marketplace, finding a practitioner, and paying a fee. In ancient Greece, there would even be door-to-door mages who would come to you, offering a different kinds of sorcery to improve your life. (Plato derisively refers to them as “beggar priests” in The Republic.)
In Rome magic even went viral as a fashion craze – one such instance occurred with special gemstones bearing enchanted inscriptions upon them. “They took off across the whole Roman empire, they took off just everywhere,” said Spier. “There was even a recent find in Bulgaria, in a Roman military camp on the far borders of the empire.” Young women in particular loved to wear such objects around their neck, showing how magic crossed paths with fashion and even a form of female empowerment, as spells were often used in Rome by more oppressed groups to strive toward social standing that they were otherwise unable to reach.
Although magic was often relied upon by out groups, it was also used at times by leaders when practicing statecraft. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, where magic was more widely celebrated and integrated into the dominant culture, state priests might make figurines of foreign enemies, which would then be smashed to help governments overcome their foes. Exorcists could also be called on to rid the kingdom of the horrible demons that were causing the spread of a dangerous illness.
But not all leaders were eager to embrace magic. In ancient Greece, where the practice of magic was stigmatized and more likely to be considered the province of disfavored groups, the great leader Pericles lamented that Athens had fallen on such hard times that he was resorting to enchanted objects to help address the devastating plague that spread during the Peloponnesian war. “He shows off that some old woman is tying an amulet to his wrist,” said Spier. “It’s like ‘look, this is the state that we’re in where I have to resort to this.’” (According to some accounts, Pericles perished in the plague, so maybe he was right.)
Although magic first emerged in the more ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, it made its way to the emergent lands of Greece and Rome via trade, and also with the wars of conquest made by Alexander the Great. Spiers explained that Alexander’s conquests turned much of the known world into one big cultural melting pot, letting culture spread in a way previously unknown. “Everything changes after Alexander the Great, he takes over this whole area as far as Iran. We have a big mix of cultures – a mixing of Egyptian and Babylonian and Greek traditions – Syrians, Jews, they’re all interacting.”
Although ancient societies seem far off, Spier explained that magical knowledge continued to be transmitted through the ages for most of recorded history. “What you’re seeing in Roman times will continue into Christian, medieval and modern times. It’s only in the last hundred years that we’ve moved away and forgotten a lot of this.”
But there are still ways to bring a little enchantment into your own life. Cursed! may make audiences look at some of their own practices quite differently, and see the long history of magical items that many of us use today. “We’re still very much in this tradition, so you still see it permeating society, even these days,” said Spier. “It’s in things like crystals or metals – like copper bracelets or magnets, those are very much ancient, too.”
Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World is on show at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio until 5 July
