The volume addresses the connection between magic and scent in the Greco-Roman world (800 BCE to 600 CE). Magic in Antiquity was an important recourse for people coping with the difficulties of their lives, as various kinds of evidence, both literary texts, such as spells, curses, and healing charms, and objects, such as lead curse tablets, attest. Indeed, magic in Antiquity has been approached mainly through the examination of textual evidence and artifacts associated with it. In the present book the author’s aim is to highlight a neglected aspect of ancient magic that transcends this traditional approach, namely the contribution of scent in the materialization of magic performance and in securing its efficacy.
In the Greco-Roman world odor was often associated with magic, since scent could turn magic into something tangible by marking its presence. The association of the two, however, appears to be a more widespread human phenomenon, as the anthropological parallels used by the author indicate. Smell in ancient cult would be used in a number of ways, such as to distinguish sacred from profane, indicate or induce the presence of the god, enhance the experience of the divine, set the magician in the right mindset, or serve as a means to control the will of gods and harm enemies. Indeed, scent was often equated with power, the power to alter circumstances, to control people and gods. In order to investigate the complex ways through which scent and magic interrelate in Antiquity, the author combines evidence from the ancient literary sources, from anthropological parallels, and from the insights offered by the “anthropology of the senses”, a theoretical approach that developed in the 1980s and defined sensing as a cultural act. As such, the perception of scent and its associations are culturally defined and therefore indicative of the social and ideological structure of the society itself.
The book consists of six chapters and an epilogue. Chapter 1 (“The Breath of the Leopard: Scent of Magic”) reviews the research related to the sense of smell from an anthropological, sociological, and philological point of view, and it sets the theoretical framework of the analysis that will follow. It also addresses briefly the concept of magic (the definition of which, however, does not consist the primary aim of the author) and states the aims of the book. Chapter 2 (“Fragrant Panacea: Scent and Power”) examines the association of scent with power in the Greco-Roman world. Scent, either aromatic or foul-smelling, was considered an indicator of the manifestation of magic or a means through which the efficacy of magic spells was secured. Chapter 3 (“Scent in the Magical Papyri”) investigates the use of scent in the magical papyri of Greco-Roman Egypt, in creating an ambience, a sensescape, that would facilitate the practice of magic and enhance its experience by magicians, for example by inducing altered states of consciousness. Chapter 4 (“Perfumed Enchantments: The Smell of Witches’Magic”) turns to literary sources to examine the ways ancient writers associated scent with female witchcraft, as well as the sociocultural inferences of these associations that reflected contemporary views of gender and power. At the core of these associations lies the notion that women have the power to control men’s minds through the use of alluring perfumes, a practice that in essence alludes to the danger of female plotting. The author also examines well known witches that appear in ancient literature, such as Medea and Circe, in order to demonstrate the fine line that exists between the medicinal use of herbs, perfumes, and magic spells. Chapter 5 (“Rot and Roses: The Smell of Witches”) is a fascinating account of the differences between ancient Greek and Roman witches, through the examination of the scent of their bodies, as constructed by ancient authors, such as Horace, which in their minds was tightly connected to their social status. Roman witches, therefore, at least in the Augustan period, were envisaged as old, ugly, lower class, and foul-smelling, serving as a symbol of civil chaos and corruption and in this way underlining the social and cultural connotations often attributed to the female body. Chapter 6 (“Scented Space, Scenting Space”) looks at the way scent was employed by magicians as a means of transferring the efficacy of magic to a space or an object. Finally, in the Epilogue (“The Scent of Ancient Magic”) the author underlines the value of the ambiguity of scent as a sign, which allows it to be interpreted in different ways according to personal experiences.
The author draws from ancient literature, ancient medicine, and sensory studies so as to highlight the possibilities that such sensory studies offer to the reconstruction of ancient magic and ritual, in ways that broaden and enrich our understanding of the subject. As the author remarks, sensing and interpreting odors is culturally constructed and therefore can reveal sociocultural attitudes and preconceptions. Therefore, the value of the analysis offered by the author is not limited to the association of scent with cult practice and magic in the Greco-Roman world per se. It also concerns the insight provided in relation to the sociocultural factors that often underlie specific notions and perceptions regarding this interrelation between scent and magic, such as the aforementioned symbolic connection between foul-smelling Roman witches and societal disruption or that between female seduction and bewitchment. The author demonstrates a deep understanding of her subject and analyses her arguments in a coherent and well-organized way, while the usefulness of applying the theoretical perceptivity of sensory studies is apparent throughout the book. The book is a fascinating read and an important contribution, not just to the study of Greco-Roman magic but also to the reconstruction of Greco-Roman cultures, and it fills in a gap in the research on the subject.