CHARAKTÊR - An International Seminary on Magical Signs in Antiquity

CHARAKTÊR

An International Seminary on Magical Signs in Antiquity
24th September 2010, ELTE University, Dept. of Ancient History, István Hahn Seminary Room.
1088 Budapest, Múzeum krt. 6-8.

10.20: Kirsten Dzwiza (Germany): Neue Erkenntnisse zu den Objekten des "Pergamon-Kits"
10.50: Gideon Bohak (Tel Aviv): The Charaktêres in Jewish Magic, from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages
11.20: Discussion
11.40: Árpád Nagy (Budapest): Über die Interpretation der Charaktêres auf Zaubergemmen
12.00: György Németh (Budapest): Ein magischer Satz. Über DT 276-283
12.20: Discussion
12.40: András Bácskay (Budapest): Magic-religious Symbols in ancient Mesopotamia
13.00: Sándor Fodor (Budapest): 'Charaktêres' in Arabic Magic
13.20: Benedek Láng (Budapest): Characters and Magic Signs in the Picatrix and other Medieval Magic Texts
13.40: Discussion
14.00: Lunch in the XO Bistro for the participants of the Seminary


Abstracts:

Kirsten Dzwiza (Germany): Neue Erkenntnisse zu den Objekten des "Pergamon-Kits"
Die zehn Objekte aus Pergamon, deren Fundbeschreibung sich in den Mitteilungen des Athenischen Instituts von 1899 (Band XXIV) auf die Information beschränkt, dass sie in der Unterstadt zutage gekommen waren, wurden 1905 erstmalig von Richard Wünsch ausführlich publiziert. Bis dato werden sie in der Forschung als zusammengehörige Einzelteile eines komplexeren Wahrsageapparates interpretiert. Sigurd Agrell widmete 1936 die mit 130 Seiten umfangreichste Interpretation den Objekten, dabei legte er sein Hauptaugenmerk auf die Interpretation der Zauberzeichen. Auch er vertrat die Position, die Objekte seien als "kit" zu betrachten. 2004 sprach sich Richard Gordon als einer der ersten gegen diese Interpretation aus und gestand jedem Objekt eine mögliche eigene Funktion zu. In derselben Publikation vertritt Attilio Mastrocinque wiederum den Ansatz der Zusammengehörigkeit. - Seit der ersten Publikation sind kaum eine handvoll Fotografien für die theoretischen Bearbeitungen der Objekte verwendet worden. Keiner der Autoren hat sämtliche Objekte selber untersucht. Wünschs Aussagen, Zeichnungen und Theorien wurden bedenkenlos und unkritisch übernommen. Nach über einhundert Jahren schien es an der Zeit, das neu hinzugewonnene Wissen in der Magieforschung mit einer erneuten vor Ort Untersuchung der Objekte zu verbinden. Die Ergebnisse werden 2011 umfangreich in einer Monographie publiziert. In diesem Seminar sollen, insbesondere mit Rücksicht auf die zahlreichen Charaktêres, die einzelnen Objekte anhand neuer Fotografien vorgestellt und zum Teil älteren Interpretationen gegenüber gestellt werden.
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Gideon Bohak (Tel-Aviv University): The Charaktêres in Jewish Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages
In my paper, I will examine the different magic signs found in Jewish magical texts in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. These include especially the Greek-style “charaktêres” (ring-letters, Brillenbuchstaben), and – in areas under Muslim influence – the Arabic-style “line-signs” (Siegel), as well as a few other magic signs. My aim is to survey their appearance in Jewish magical texts of different times and places, and to analyze their function in the magical texts where they are found.
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Árpád Nagy (Budapest): Über die Interpretation der Charaktêres auf Zaubergemmen

In the first part of my paper I'll argue that it is worth analysing independently the use of characteres on magical gems.
By using the example of the well-known Chnoubis-sign, I'll try to determine what rules govern the use of this character on magical gems.
By way of conclusion I'll raise the following question: whether the cultural context of the magical gems can be indentified as twofold (Greek, Egyptian) or threefold (Greek, Egyptian and Jewish)?
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György Németh (Budapest): A magic sentence
The magnum opus of Audollent (Defixiones tabellae) includes several curse tablets that present a sequence of 5 characteres (DT 276–285). Audollent provides a drawing of the signs only once; otherwise he indicates whenever a curse includes an identical sequence of signs. The tablets were found in Hadrumetum, at the cemetery along the road to Kairouan, and some of them were read by Cagnat before the whole collection was donated to the Bibliotheque National (Paris) by maréchal Goetschy, who had discovered the finds. Audollent saw nine items from the sequence that had reputedly consisted of 14 tablets. In the archive of Clermont Ferrand, among the letters of Audollent I found three lead tablets with the same sequence of characteres (more than once) but without text. The signs always differ slightly, yet the context makes them identifiable. The question arises: what can be regarded as the same character, and what grade of difference results in a different sign? We can ascertain that this particular sequence of signs was applied to curse only chariot racers.
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András Bácskay (Budapest): Magic-religious symbols in Mesopotamia
The examination of Mesopotamian magic-religious symbols is part of the research in the field of Mesopotamian religion. We can observe pictures of many symbols on the surface of various archaeological objects (stamp seals, amulets, cuneiform tablets and steles specially kudurrû) and we can read the list of some symbols in the lines of cuneiform texts (lexical texts and ritual texts). This lecture has a dual aim: in the first half I present the main direction and topic of the research, in the second half I demonstrate the possible options of interpretation of one specific magic symbol, the so-called magic triangle on some Lamaštu Amulet.
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Benedek Láng (Budapest): Characters and Magic Signs in the Picatrix and other Medieval Magic Texts
The word „characters” covers a number of different phenomena in the Middle Ages. It might refer to a list of incomprehensible signs and astrological symbols inscribed in a talismanic sigil, to a series of Latin letters used for magical purposes, and also to a written form of verbal incantation, a written charm. Characters were often used in the field of talismanic or celestial magic in order to name spiritual beings. The paper reviews the use of characters in various medieval sources (textual amulets, necromantic manuals, texts on talismanic magic) and pays special attention to them in the most famous medieval magical summary, the Picatrix.