Bloomsbury Summer School
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
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.
