*The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation*
- Date of account
- 1986
- Location
- Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean; manuscripts dispersed in collections
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
Hans Dieter Betz’s 1986 edition translated a wide selection of Greek and Demotic magical papyri, including rites for summoning, dream encounters, divination, underworld-related powers, and negotiation with divine or daimonic beings. The collection offers a strong comparative lead for boundary-crossing practices because it preserves instructions, voces magicae, ritual technologies, and cosmological assumptions rather than narrative folklore alone. The papyri are heterogeneous and composite, often copied over time. Their ritual claims describe practitioner traditions and textual genres, not verified supernatural results.
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