The Concept of Magic in the Second Century AD Roman Society: Healers, Quacks, and Magoi

This thesis contributes to the understanding of how the concept of magic was perceived in Roman society in the second century AD, a period of multi-textured dramatic social change, and how the concept evolved as a result of these changes. This second half of this century is also marked by an empire-wide pandemic, the Antonine Plague. The study on the concept of magic is done by drawing on surveys on previous scholarship on Roman magic, Roman legislation, literature, and archaeology which interact with magic in the second century AD. From these surveys, it was possible to derive a framework consisting of seven characteristics which represent recurring themes found in magic-associated material. These characteristics are: 1) subversive behaviour, or legal and social acceptability, 2) exoticism and foreignness, 3) femininity, 4) privateness, 5) manipulative in nature, 6) supernatural associations, and 7) secret or arcane knowledge. This framework is not intended as a diagnostic test to define Roman magic, but to explore several important questions: 1) Why were certain figures, practices, and objects associated with magic? 2) How did this association change over time, e.g. new laws, societal changes, and times of crisis, including in relation to the Antonine Plague?

The new framework is then used to investigate three sets of case studies. The first case study covers the legal accusations of magic against Apuleius to explore how the concept of magic was arbitrated between legal authorities and those accused during ‘non-crisis’ times, earlier in the second century AD, and prior to the Antonine Plague. Therefore, this case study investigates the social, and even legal tensions which could ensue from marginal figures in Roman society, and how these figures’ actions were perceived as magical.

The second selection of case studies examines the intersection of medicine with magic with the aim to understand how and why medicine and magic were delineated, despite their traditional interconnection. This section also includes an analysis of Apollonius of Tyana, a first century alleged healer and miracle-worker to some sources, while a magic practitioner to others. Philostratus, the ancient author who wrote the most comprehensive source of Apollonius’s life, was writing in the late second century–early third century AD. Therefore, this chapter provides a foundation for the understanding of Roman medicine in the second century AD which is important for the final case study within the context of the Antonine Plague. The study of Philostratus’s text on the life of Apollonius also represents the perspective of magic in the early third century AD and after the Antonine Plague.

The final set of case studies focusses on several phenomena which would have been coincidental to, and possibly even connected to, the Antonine Plague, in the second half of the second century AD. These case studies provide a unique opportunity to study magic during a time of crisis and heightened anxiety in the Roman Empire. This includes the analysis of the widespread fame of Alexander of Abonoteichus and the increased popularity of the cult of Bona Dea during this period, and how each cult was perceived (or not) as magical. Similar to texts chronicling the lives of Apuleius and Apollonius, Alexander’s life is described by Lucian who was writing in the late second century AD and during the plague.

Therefore, through these case studies, it is possible to study the evolution of the concept of magic and its relationship to the framework’s seven characteristics, based on the perspectives given by Apuleius, Lucian, and Philostratus when they are each describing the lives of various magic-associated practitioners. Ideas which came about in the second half of the second century AD and from the Antonine Plague and its resulting social tensions clearly affected how the concept of magic was perceived. Some of these changes in perceptions include how the magic practitioner became increasingly associated with the fraudulent medical practitioner and ‘quack’, as the importance of medical competency came to the forefront of the concerns of Roman society, as a deadly plague spread across the Empire.