Cyprian im Bund mit dem Teufel

The legend of Cyprian of Antioch and Justina has had a great aftermath in literature from the Middle Ages to Goethe’s Faust. Like Simon Magus, Cyprian is often considered the archetype of the ancient magician and the first case of a pact with the devil. A close examination of the two source writings conversio and confessio, however, reveals considerable differences in the notions of magic and demonology. The conversio depends, in its shaping of the legend, more on pagan sources such as Lucian’s Philopseudes, while the later confessio emphasizes the role of the devil. Therefore, we cannot yet speak of a devil’s pact with regard to the earlier conversio.