Publication:
Voces magicae and Imperial/Late-Ancient World-Making (Part I)

cris.virtualsource.author-orcid9a10ced6-8461-4921-a7b8-3468415e7ec2
datacite.rightsrestricted
dc.contributor.authorAmsler, Monika Rosmarie
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-26T17:29:45Z
dc.date.available2024-10-26T17:29:45Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractThe first part of this study dealt with the rational and logical premises behind the use of unintelligible words, the so-called voces magicae, as a means to effect change in a broken system (physical or social), a practice that gained momentum in the imperial period. Part 1 concluded that following the longstanding use of words as cures in carmina, prayers, or hymns, words and letters were ascribed dynamis, potency, in the imperial period. As a result, letters were treated with the same methods with which people treated herbs, foods, and other materia medica in order to use their potency to effect change. Since much of ancient materia medica was part of people’s everyday regimen, the use of these ingredients for change-effecting purposes had to differ from their regular use to produce a different effect. In the same vein, voces, sometimes used alongside substantial ingredients, had to run counter to everyday speech and writing practices to effect substantial change. For such differentiation, obscure words were chosen ; unnatural strings of vowels or consonants were composed; words were written backwards or repeated multiple times; phrases were decontextualized; or idiosyncratic alphabets were used. The present article locates the most frequent methods applied to transform words into change- effecting ingredients amidst imperial period and late-antique education, school exercises, and ensuing forms of literary representation. It will then be argued that the phenomenon of the voces is conceptually linked not just to therapeutic practice but also to military strategies. Especially, the habit of depicting voces in formations will be linked to strategic charts found in military manuals.
dc.description.numberOfPages15
dc.description.sponsorshipHistorisches Institut - Alte Geschichte & Rezeptionsg. d. Antike
dc.identifier.doi10.48350/193895
dc.identifier.urihttps://boris-portal.unibe.ch/handle/20.500.12422/175236
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAssociation des étudiants en histoire des religions de l'Université de Genève
dc.relation.ispartofAsdiwal. Revue genevoise d'anthropologie et d'histoire des religions
dc.relation.issn1662-4653
dc.relation.organizationDCD5A442BA43E17DE0405C82790C4DE2
dc.relation.organizationDCD5A442BA7AE17DE0405C82790C4DE2
dc.relation.projectA (RE-)ASSESSMENT OF THE PURPOSES AND THE LOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING IN LATE ANTIQUITY
dc.subject.ddc900 - History::930 - History of ancient world (to ca. 499)
dc.titleVoces magicae and Imperial/Late-Ancient World-Making (Part I)
dc.typearticle
dspace.entity.typePublication
dspace.file.typetext
oaire.citation.endPage43
oaire.citation.issue16
oaire.citation.startPage29
oairecerif.author.affiliationHistorisches Institut - Alte Geschichte & Rezeptionsg. d. Antike
unibe.contributor.rolecreator
unibe.date.licenseChanged2024-03-08 14:01:32
unibe.description.ispublishedpub
unibe.eprints.legacyId193895
unibe.journal.abbrevTitleAsdiwal
unibe.refereedtrue
unibe.subtype.articlejournal

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Name:
Amsler_voces_magicae_I.pdf
Size:
353.33 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
File Type:
text
License:
publisher
Content:
published

Collections