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Bloomsbury Summer School
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Fascinated by ancient civilisations?
We offer anyone with any level of knowledge, inspiring short courses on ancient Egypt and other areas of the ancient world.
2021 Course timetables
Monday 5 July to Friday 9 July
This is a 5-day summer course that will be held online only.
Love Spells, Oracles, Amulets: Ancient Egyptian Rituals of Magic and Divination
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Course Director: Dr Franziska Naether (University of Leipzig / Stellenbosch University )
With guest lectures by: Prof. Rita Lucarelli (University of California, Berkeley / Bari University) and Prof. Joshua A. Roberson (University of Memphis)
This course will be delivered online via the video communication platform Zoom (details provided upon enrolment).
Monday 5 July
11:00* – 11:30**
Participants login to Zoom; Director’s Welcome Address
11:30 – 13:00
1. Introduction: Ancient and modern definitions of magic and divination
14:15 – 15:30
2. Magic, A History: Older scholarship and magic on the internet
16:00 – 17:15
3. “Magic” in Egyptian: What and who is Heka?
Tuesday 6 July
10:00* – 11:15
4. Sources of Magic: The magical papyri
11:45 – 13:00
5. Priests, Magicians, and Wise Men and Women
14:15 – 15:30
6. Curses, Exorcisms, Necromancy, the Evil Eye
16:00 – 17:15
7. Tracking Demons in the Ancient Egyptian Funerary Papyri and
Coffins (Prof. Rita Lucarelli)
Wednesday 7 July – Oracle Day!
10:00* – 11:15
8. Oracles in Procession (and the Story of an Ignorant Pharaoh)
11:45 – 13:00
9. Asking in the Temple: Ticket oracles
14:15 – 15:30
10. Dice, Questions, Lucky Numbers: Lot oracles – in theory
16:00 – 17:15
11. Lot Oracles – in Practice: Let’s consult the Sortes Astrampsychi!
Thursday 8 July
10:00* – 11:15
12. Love Spells and Magical Dolls
11:45 – 13:00
13. Magical Healing, Amulets, and Becoming Invisible
14:15 – 15:30
14. Osiris Must die: Menacing the gods
16:00 – 17:15
15. Chthonic Magic in the Pyramid Texts (and Beyond): The life history
of an obscure earth god (Prof. Joshua A. Roberson)
Friday 9 July
10:00* – 11:15
16. What Did you Dream Last Night?Dream divination and incubation
11:45 – 13:00
17. Making the Gods Appear: Lamp divination and epiphanies
14:15 – 15:30
18. Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Magic from Egypt
16:00 – 17:15
19. Forbidden Magic: How Rome tried to end Egyptian magic
17:15 – 19:00
End-of-Course Drinks Party and BSS Online Social (guests welcome)
Timetables, once published, are unlikely to change, but remain provisional until the first day of the course.