APULEIUS THE SORCERER

1. APULEIUS THE SORCERER

2. Ceiling panel of a 4th 
century AD Roman palace found
under the cathedral in Trier

3. Apuleius of Madaurus (2nd C.E.) • Platonic philosopher • formally accused of magic • outline of his defense speech in his Apology

4. Background • Madaurus in Numidia • Annexed by the in the late 3rd century BCE

6. Apuleius’ Life • Studies in Athens • Travels to Oea, a little town close to Alexandria • Stays with Sicinius Pontianus a friend met in Athens

7. Oea • Phoenician town; • Today Tripoli in Libya.

8. 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.

9. 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

10. Both men turn against Apuleius • He marries the widow • Shortly after Apuleius and Pudentilla’s wedding • Sicinius dies

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

12. Accusation: • Apuleius practiced malevolent, in particular, erotic magic.

13. Law • Lex Cornelia against assassins and poisoners • calling for capital punishment

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

15. He possessed magical tools.

16. Key of Solomon, 1674

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

20. Line of defense General: • Apuleius is as a good citizen.

21. He shares with his judge, the proconsul, the knowledge of Plato • He quotes the definition of magi as specialists in religious matters.

22. Specific accusations

23. 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.

25. 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.

26. 3. Exorcism • Accusers: he performed exorcism = he is a magician • Apuleius: I acted as a physician

27. 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.

29. 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

30. 5. The statuette of ‘the king’ • A. commissioned one to be made of boxwood • a friend paid the craftsman for ebony

31. “King” • Berlin papyrus: • “Come to me, King, I call you, god of gods” • “powerful, infinite, immaculate, inexplicable”

32. The witch and her familiar

33. 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

34. Apuleius’ definition of magic • “Common people,” believing that magicians can control gods, are ignorant

35. Both philosophers and scientists accused of magic • Apuleius considers himself a philosopher seeking to understand the nature of the divine and a naturalist

36. Was Apuleius a sorcerer? • If magic is a social construct, and the society construed Apuleius’ actions as ‘magic’ • He was a ‘sorcerer’

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

38. Marcel Mauss • Student of Émile Durkheim • No fieldwork • No gift is ever free • Social transactions create strong connection between people

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

40. 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

41. Marcel Mauss • Esquisse d’une theórie générale de la magie