APULEIUS THE SORCERER

Ceiling panel of a 4th century AD Roman palace foundunder the

cathedral in Trier

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Apuleius of Madaurus (2nd C.E.)

Platonic philosopher formally accused of magic outline of his defense speech in his Apology

Background Madaurus in Numidia

Annexed by the in the late 3rd century BCE

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Apuleius’ Life

Studies in Athens Travels to Oea, a little town close to Alexandria

Stays with Sicinius Pontianus a friend met in Athens

Oea

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Phoenician town;

Today Tripoli in Libya.

Works as a tutor of a friend’s younger brother

At his friend’s request

Marries his student’s widowed and wealthy mother, Aemilia Pudentilla.

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Before this wedding takes place, his friend Sicinius marries a daughter of a man named Rufinus, who is eager for Sicinius to inherit all of Pudentilla’s wealth

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Both men turn against Apuleius

He marries the widow Shortly after Apuleius and Pudentilla’s wedding

Sicinius dies

In order to keep her—and her property, the in-laws of the deceased Sicinius accuse Apuleius of magic

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Accusation:

Apuleius practiced malevolent, in particular, erotic magic.

Law Lex Cornelia against assassins and poisoners

calling for capital punishment

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He performed magical rituals repeatedly ‘crime of magic’ not ‘poisoning’

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He possessed magical tools.

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Key of Solomon, 1674

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He was gay and therefore had to be a sorcerer (sic!)

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Line of defenseGeneral:

Apuleius is as a good citizen.

He shares with his judge, the proconsul, the knowledge of Plato

He quotes the definition of magi as specialists in religious matters.

Specific accusations

1. specimens of poisonous sea-slug

Accusers: the name of the creature similar to that of female genitalia

--> used in erotic magic

Apuleius: was writing a book on fish.

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2. Divination Accusers: A. performed incantations

over a young boy at a small altar in a secret place with only a few friends present.

Apuleius: the details his accusers provide were so inaccurate that they cannot be true.

3. Exorcism Accusers: he performed exorcism = he is a magician

Apuleius: I acted as a physician

4. Possession of ritual objects

Accusers: the objects prove that his is a magician

Apuleius: the objects ate linked to mystery cults he had been initiated in.

Accusers: ceremonies were performed in his house at night

Apuleius: worshipped an ebony statuette representing a superhuman power linked with the world of the dead

5. The statuette of ‘the king’

A. commissioned one to be made of boxwood

a friend paid the craftsman for ebony

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“King” Berlin papyrus:

“Come to me, King, I call you, god of gods”

“powerful, infinite, immaculate, inexplicable”

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The witch and her familiar

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Apuleius’ main point• Many respectable practices look like magic:– Inscribing a wish– Making sacrifices– Use of herbs in religious practice

– Prayer in private– Mystery cults– Science

Apuleius’ definition of magic

• “Common people,” believing that magicians can control gods, are ignorant

• Both philosophers and scientists accused of magic

• Apuleius considers himself a philosopher seeking to understand the nature of the divine and a naturalist

Was Apuleius a sorcerer?

• If magic is a social construct, and the society construed Apuleius’ actions as ‘magic’

• He was a ‘sorcerer’

Marcel Mauss

• “Any unusual interest in the sacred may bring about an accusation of magic”

Marcel Mauss Student of Émile Durkheim

No fieldwork No gift is ever free

Social transactions create strong connection between people

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Marcel Mauss Magic is a social phenomenon: public opinion creates the magician

Marcel Mauss Magic is based on the on the belief in mana (borrowed from studies of the cultures of Melanesia)

Impersonal force found in people, animals and objects

Marcel Mauss Esquisse d’une theórie générale de la magie