The DOI matches its Crossref record; 22 of the 23 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 65 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Magic in Private and Public Lives of the Ancient Romans
Open accessAbstract
The Romans practiced magic in their private and public life. Besides magical practices against the property and lives of people, the Romans also used generally known and used protective and healing magic. Sometimes magical practices were used in official religious ceremonies for the safety of the civil and sacral community of the Romans.
Overview
CoChat Summary
TL;DR
The article argues that the ancient Romans practiced magic in both private and public life, and that official religion absorbed or sanctioned many practices resembling magic when they served the community. It surveys legal prohibitions on harmful magic alongside protective, healing, and state ritual uses.
Key findings
- Romans used magic for protection and healing, and also against others’ property and lives; sometimes magical practices appeared in official religious ceremonies for the safety of the civil and sacral community.
- The paper argues that no ancient society drew a clear distinction between magic and religion, and that no satisfactory universal definition of “magic” exists; the modern scholarly consensus discourages such definitions.
- Harmful magic against another’s health or property was outlawed and punished, while beneficial protective and healing magic was not prosecuted under Roman law. Examples include the Law of the Twelve Tables (5th c. BCE) penalizing magical theft of grain, and a 334 BCE poisoning investigation in which 170 matrons were condemned.
- Roman rites and festivals included acts classifiable as magical: *devotio* and *evocatio* against enemies, the Robigalia’s red-haired dog sacrifice, the Fordicidia’s pregnant-cow sacrifice, the Aquaelicium rainmaking rite with the *lapis manalis*, Compitalia woollen effigies, Lemuria apotropaic gestures, and the Meditrinalia’s healing toast.
Methods
- Conceptual and historical survey rather than an empirical study; it synthesizes ancient literary, legal, and epigraphic evidence (e.g., Twelve Tables, Pliny, Livy, Ovid, Varro, Macrobius, Festus, Tacitus, Cato) with modern scholarship.
- Thematic analysis of definitions of magic versus religion, “black” versus “white” magic, and homoeopathic versus contagion magic, applied to Roman private and public rites.
- No stated sample, dataset, or statistical analysis.
Limitations
- Stated in the paper: magic remains “slippery and obscure”; there is no satisfactory all-encompassing definition, no singular concept of “magic” ever existed, and modern consensus discourages universal definitions.
- Evident from the text: the argument relies on surviving literary testimonies and selected artefacts/inscriptions, often in translation, without a systematic corpus or quantitative assessment.
- Evident from the text: many claims about archaic practice depend on later sources and scholarly interpretation, so certainty about origins and earlier forms is limited.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
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Verification
Claims the paper makes
0 Valid · 6 Not valid · 59 Not checked · 27 Own results and interpretations
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Numerous charges of practicing magic, often politically motivated, appear in sources dated to the Imperial period.”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
hedgedstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
- Rests on an assumption not shown here.
In the paper
“Similarly, to protect a house against fires, the Romans could inscribe its walls with apotropaic verses”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [43]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
A result the paper states — it cites no source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The Roman ritual praxis has occasionally included acts and rites that one could classify as 'magical'.”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Pliny the Elder relates that Julius Caesar used to recite a triplicate protective charm before embarking on a journey”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [42]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“A lead tablet, uncovered in Rome and dated to the mid-1st century BCE, records a spell against one Plotius.”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [36]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
51 more claims
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- It may state two separate claims as one. 27
- Probably not a substantial claim. 13
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
“a commander of a losing Roman army, anticipating his approaching death, sacrificed his life and lives of his soldiers to the gods of the underworld”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
“do I devote the legions and auxiliares of the enemy, together with myself, to the divine Manes and to Earth”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
“Tacitus' lead tablets superscribed with Tacitus' name resemble defixiones 33”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
“leaden tablets engraved with the name Germanicus”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
“Such magical practices, protecting one's health and property from harm, were never prosecuted under Roman law.”
§ Idaliana KACZOR > Abstract
“By the Late Imperial period, Christianity rose in status and magicians fell out of favour: any type of magic practice was forbidden and those caught casting spells or charms were severely punished”
Citations
Cites
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Anderson, W. S., & Ovid, B. C. O. A. D. (2004) · Cited by 175
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(2013) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203133392-43 · Cited by 153
Clausen, W. (1976) · Classical Philology · doi:10.1086/366231 · Cited by 77
Warrior, V. M. (2006) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511814747 · Cited by 67
Swainson, J. H. (2012) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139523585.021 · Cited by 56
Bremer, J. M. (1981) · BRILL eBooks · doi:10.1163/9789004296695_005 · Cited by 50
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- Forster, E.S., Heffner, E.H. (ed.). (1960). Columella, On Agriculture, v. III (Boks X–XII). London: William Heinemann. Loeb Classical Library.
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- ROL (1): Warmington, E.H. (ed.). (1961). Remains of Old Latin in Four Volumes, v. III: The Twelve Tables. London: William Heinemann. Loeb Classical Library.
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- Thilo, G., Hagen, H. (ed.). (1961). Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii Carmina Commentarii, v. I: Aeneidos librorum I–V Commentarii, v. III: In Vergilli Bucolica et Georgica Commentarii. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.
- Willis, I. (ed.). (1963). Ambrosii Theodosii Macrobii Saturnalia. Lipsiae: Teubner.
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- Warmington, E.H. (ed.). (1959). Remains of Old Latin in Four Volumes. Vol. IV (Archaic Inscriptions). London: William Heinemann. Loeb Classical Library.
- Abramowiczówna, Z. (ed.). (1962). Słownik grecko-polski, t. III. Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
- Plezia, M. (ed.). (1998–1999). Słownik łacińsko-polski, t. I–V, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
- Dickie, M.W. (2005). Magic and magician sin the Greko-Roman World. London–New York: Routledge, Taylor&Francis Group.
- Gall le, J. (1976). «Evocatio». In: École Française de Rome XXVII (ed.). L’Italie préromaine et la Rome républicaine. Mélanges offerts à Jacques Heurgon I. Rome: Publication de l’ École Française de Rome. 519–524.
- Glay le, M. (1976). Magie et sorcellerie à Rome au dernier siècle de la République. In: École Française de Rome XXVII (ed.). L’Italie préromaine et la Rome républicaine. Mélanges offerts à Jacques Heurgon I. Rome: Publication de l’ École Française de Rome. 525–550.
- Musiał, D. (1998). Prawne i religijne aspekty oskarżeń o praktyki magiczne w okresie Republiki. In: Dębiński, A., Kuryłowicz M. (ed.). Religia i prawo karne w starożytnym Rzymie. Lublin: Redakcja Wydawnictw Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego. 57–71.
Cited by
Still being checked.
Metadata
- Authors
- Kaczor, I.
- Affiliations
- University of Łódź (PL)
- Corresponding author
- Kaczor, Idaliana
- ORCID
- Kaczor, Idaliana
- Venue
- Collectanea Philologica
- Published
- 2020-12-18
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 53-72
- ISSN
- 1733-0319 (ISSN-L)
- 2353-0901
- OpenAlex
- W3113861416
- Semantic Scholar
- edd1f2b21775b050402b0848c4674339295c4005
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 23
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Collectanea Philologica (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- University of Lodz Repository (University of Łódź) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Classics › Classical Antiquity Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Classical Philosophy and Thought
- Keywords
- magic, ancient Rome, Roman religion, protective magic, healing magic, religious ceremonies, personal life, public life
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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