{"title":"Ovid and the Magic Doll: Witchcraft and Defixiones In Amores 3.7","authors":"Mathias Hanses","doi":"10.1353/tcj.2022.0000","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This paper explores the depiction of magic in Amores 3.7, an elegy in which \"Ovid\" suffers from impotence and wonders if a witch is to be blamed for his predicament. Adding to existing metapoetic readings, I argue that the poem combines allusions to famous witches from earlier Greco-Roman literature with detailed evocations of actual rites that are familiar to us from the material record, such as the piercing of magic dolls and the casting of binding and separation spells. These acts were meant to cause the same deathlike sensations that Ovid experiences in Am. 3.7, which means that—even though the poem ultimately calls the efficacy of magic into question—it nevertheless provides a \"realistic\" portrayal of these spells' imagined effects.","PeriodicalId":35668,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL JOURNAL","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"CLASSICAL JOURNAL","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tcj.2022.0000","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"CLASSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Abstract:This paper explores the depiction of magic in Amores 3.7, an elegy in which "Ovid" suffers from impotence and wonders if a witch is to be blamed for his predicament. Adding to existing metapoetic readings, I argue that the poem combines allusions to famous witches from earlier Greco-Roman literature with detailed evocations of actual rites that are familiar to us from the material record, such as the piercing of magic dolls and the casting of binding and separation spells. These acts were meant to cause the same deathlike sensations that Ovid experiences in Am. 3.7, which means that—even though the poem ultimately calls the efficacy of magic into question—it nevertheless provides a "realistic" portrayal of these spells' imagined effects.
期刊介绍:
The Classical Journal (ISSN 0009–8353) is published by the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS), the largest regional classics association in the United States and Canada, and is now over a century old. All members of CAMWS receive the journal as a benefit of membership; non-member and library subscriptions are also available. CJ appears four times a year (October–November, December–January, February–March, April–May); each issue consists of about 100 pages.