Abstracts
Jan BREMMER
(University of Groningen)
Ancient Necromancy: Fact or Fiction?
In his review of Daniel Ogden's Greek and Roman Necromancy (Oxford, 2001), Fritz Graf (Classical World 99, 2006, 459-60) clearly sets out his own ideas, which I may summarize as follows: (1) the term 'necromancy' is misleading, as it carries Judaeo-Christian overtones; (2) earlier mentions of necromancy in fact do not concern divination via the dead but placation of the dead; (3) modern associations are manifest in literary polemics only, and (4) reports of necromantic rites are wholly fictional. In my contribution I will discuss these theses.
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