Grimoires and ManuscriptsA website by Studio Esoterico CornelioAncient texts
The magic books of medieval and early modern Europe did not arise from nothing. Behind the grimoires lie centuries of older texts: Greek and demotic papyri from Roman Egypt, funerary spells carved inside pyramids or painted on coffins, lead tablets, inscribed bowls from Mesopotamia, Hermetic treatises, Jewish works on letters and angels. This section tells their story as a history of texts: where they were written, when, who copied them, how they reached museums and libraries, and which scholars published and interpreted them. From the Greek Magical Papyri to the Book of the Dead, from the Corpus Hermeticum translated by Marsilio Ficino to the Emerald Tablet, from the Sefer Yetzirah to the Aramaic magic bowls, from the Babylonian Maqlû to the Chaldean Oracles, each article presents a work or group of documents with verifiable dates, places and names. Beliefs are described as beliefs, without practical instructions: the aim is to understand how these texts shaped the magical imagination of the West.
1.The Greek Magical Papyri: history of a collection from Roman Egypt
What the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) are: origins in Greco-Roman Egypt, dating, contents and Karl Preisendanz's great edition of 1928-1931.
2.The «Theban library» and the collections of Giovanni Anastasi
How the magical and alchemical papyri of Thebes reached Leiden, London, Stockholm and Paris: the role of consul Giovanni Anastasi in the 19th century.
3.The Great Magical Papyrus of Paris and the so-called Mithras Liturgy
PGM IV, the longest magical codex surviving from antiquity, held in Paris: dating, contents and the debate over Dieterich's «Mithras Liturgy».
4.The demotic magical papyri and the London-Leiden papyrus
Egyptian magic written in demotic: the London-Leiden Magical Papyrus, its Old Coptic glosses and the edition by Griffith and Thompson.
5.The Testament of Solomon: the king, the ring and the demons
History of the Testament of Solomon, a Greek pseudepigraphon about the king who commands demons with a ring: dating, manuscripts, content and legacy.
6.The Corpus Hermeticum: Greek treatises attributed to Hermes Trismegistus
Origin, dating and content of the Corpus Hermeticum: seventeen Greek treatises from Roman Egypt, from the Poimandres to Casaubon's dating of 1614.
7.Ficino and the Pimander: the translation that changed the Renaissance
How Cosimo de' Medici had Ficino translate the Corpus Hermeticum in 1463, the Treviso printing of 1471 and the fortune of Hermes in the Renaissance.
8.The Latin Asclepius: the Perfect Discourse and the lament for Egypt
History of the Asclepius, Latin version of the Hermetic Perfect Discourse: transmission with Apuleius, Augustine's quotations, Nag Hammadi Coptic excerpt.
9.The Emerald Tablet: history of alchemy's shortest text
From the Arabic versions of the Book of the Secret of Creation to the medieval Latin translation: the history of the Emerald Tablet attributed to Hermes.
10.The Sefer Yetzirah: letters, numbers and creation in Jewish thought
History of the Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Formation: uncertain dating, thirty-two paths of wisdom, commentaries by Saadia Gaon and Donnolo, 1562 print.
11.The Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh, the book of the angel Raziel
Legend and real history of the Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh: the book given to Adam, its medieval sources, the 1701 Amsterdam printing and the Latin Liber Raziel.
12.The Sefer ha-Razim: a book of mysteries rebuilt from the Genizah
History of the Sefer ha-Razim, the late antique Jewish Book of Mysteries: Margalioth's reconstruction from the Cairo Genizah, seven firmaments, Helios.
13.The Egyptian Book of the Dead: spells for «going forth by day»
History of the Egyptian Book of the Dead: New Kingdom to Ptolemaic age, the name Lepsius gave it in 1842, the Papyrus of Ani, the weighing of the heart.
14.The Pyramid Texts: Egypt's oldest religious inscriptions
The Pyramid Texts of Saqqara: from the pyramid of Unas to Maspero's discovery in 1880-1881, Sethe's edition and the king's destiny in the sky.
15.The Coffin Texts and the Book of Two Ways
The Coffin Texts of Egypt's Middle Kingdom: funerary spells painted on coffins from Deir el-Bersha and Asyut, de Buck's edition, the Book of Two Ways.
16.Defixio tablets: curses inscribed in lead
History of Greek and Latin curse tablets: from Selinous and Athens to the Bath tablets, the collections of Wünsch and Audollent, Germanicus in Tacitus.
17.The Aramaic magic bowls of Sasanian Mesopotamia
History of Aramaic incantation bowls: spiral-inscribed bowls from Sasanian Mesopotamia, the Nippur excavations, Montgomery 1913, Lilith and the demons.
18.Maqlû, the «Burning»: the great Babylonian series against witchcraft
History of the Maqlû series, a Mesopotamian ritual against witchcraft: tablets from Nineveh and Assur, Tallqvist's 1895 edition and modern scholarship.
19.The Chaldean Oracles: the verses of the two Julians and theurgy
History of the 2nd-century Chaldean Oracles: Julian the Chaldean and the Theurgist, fragments in the Neoplatonists, Psellos, Plethon, attribution to Zoroaster.
20.The Kyranides: a Greek encyclopaedia of natural virtues
History of the Kyranides, a Greek compilation on plants, stones, birds and fish in alphabetical order: Kyranos, Harpocration and the Latin translation of 1169.