Healing traditions in Coptic magical texts
Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-251219
- Within the ‘market of healing’ of Christian Egypt (here broadly considered as the fourth through twelfth centuries CE), ‘magical’ practitioners represent an elusive yet recurrent category. This article explores the evidence for magical healing from three perspectives – first, literary texts which situate ‘magicians’ in competition with medical and ecclesiastical healing; second, the papyrological evidence of Coptic-language magical texts, which provide evidence for concepts of disease, wellness, and their mediation; and finally confronting theWithin the ‘market of healing’ of Christian Egypt (here broadly considered as the fourth through twelfth centuries CE), ‘magical’ practitioners represent an elusive yet recurrent category. This article explores the evidence for magical healing from three perspectives – first, literary texts which situate ‘magicians’ in competition with medical and ecclesiastical healing; second, the papyrological evidence of Coptic-language magical texts, which provide evidence for concepts of disease, wellness, and their mediation; and finally confronting the question of how these healing traditions might be understood within the methodologically materialistic framework of academic history, using the concepts of placebo and healing as a performance.…
| Author: | Korshi Dosoo |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-251219 |
| Document Type: | Journal article |
| Faculties: | Philosophische Fakultät (Histor., philolog., Kultur- und geograph. Wissensch.) / Institut für Altertumswissenschaften |
| Language: | English |
| Parent Title (English): | Trends in Classics |
| ISSN: | 1866-7473 |
| ISSN: | 1866-7481 |
| Year of Completion: | 2021 |
| Volume: | 13 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| First Page: | 44 |
| Last Page: | 94 |
| Source: | Trends in Classics (2021) 13:1, 44-94. https://doi.org/10.1515/tc-2021-0003 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1515/tc-2021-0003 |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 9 Geschichte und Geografie / 93 Geschichte des Altertums (bis ca. 499), Archäologie / 932 Geschichte Ägyptens bis 640 |
| Tag: | Coptic; Placebo; healing; magic; ritual |
| Release Date: | 2022/03/22 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2021/07/01 |
| Note: | This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively. |
| Licence (German): |  Deutsches Urheberrecht |