Chapter 2 The Plan of This Volume
In: Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic
Author:
David Frankfurter
David Frankfurter
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Abstract
This chapter justifies the arrangement of the Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic: beginning with indigenous constructions of ambiguous or illegitimate ritual as the discursive field that -- in most cultures -- calls for terms like mageia, the volume moves to the materials most often discussed as documents or artifacts of “magic” but here put in proper cultural or religious context, and finally to a series of essays proposing uses of “magic” that do not juxtapose it to religion but instead capture features of language or artifact.