Ancient Jewish Magic A Bibliography

OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHIES IN JEWISH STUDIES
“ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC”
by Gideon Bohak
© Oxford University Press, Inc.
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INTRODUCTION
GENERAL OVERVIEWS
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY
STEREOTYPES AND REALITIES
JEWISH MAGIC IN THE FIRST TEMPLE PERIOD
Magic in the Hebrew Bible
The Archaeology of Israelite Magic
JEWISH MAGIC IN THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD
Josephus and Philo
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The New Testament
Other Second Temple–Period Sources
JEWISH MAGIC IN LATE ANTIQUITY: PRIMARY SOURCES IN ARAMAIC AND
HEBREW
Amulets
Incantation Bowls
Analytic Studies
Major Textual Corpora
Other Late-Antique Jewish Magical Objects
Genizah Magical Texts
Sefer ha-Razim (The Book of Mysteries)
Harba de-Moshe (The Sword of Moses)
Other Ancient Jewish Magical Texts
JEWISH MAGIC IN LATE ANTIQUITY: PRIMARY SOURCES IN GREEK
Jewish Magic in the Greek Magical Papyri
Jewish Magic in Greek Amulets and Curse Tablets
Jewish Magical Gems
The Testament of Solomon
THE AIMS AND TECHNIQUES OF ANCIENT JEWISH MAGIC
JEWISH MAGIC IN RABBINIC LITERATURE
JEWISH MAGIC AND JEWISH MYSTICISM IN ANTIQUITY
Gender and Magic in Ancient Judaism
ART AND MAGIC IN ANCIENT JUDAISM
Introduction
“Magic” is notoriously impossible to define, not least because the meaning of this term
changes from one culture to another and from one period to the next. Moreover, the
distinction between “magic” and “religion” is equally problematic, and in some cultural
contexts utterly nonexistent. In the ancient Jewish world, one repeatedly sees a
condemnation of magic and divination side by side with their actual practice in every
level of Jewish society. In some cases, we find magical practices that are deeply
embedded in the Jewish religious system—including the sotah ordeal of Numbers 5:11–
31, or the many magical spells and recipes found in the Babylonian Talmud. In others, we
find numerous magical practices that did not become part of “normative Judaism” (as

canonized in the Hebrew Bible or in the Babylonian Talmud) yet were widely practiced
by many Jews. Such practices—including the exorcizing of demons, the production of a
wide array of amulets, the recurrent use of medical magic, and even the recourse to
aggressive and erotic magic—usually were either only mildly condemned or not
condemned at all by the Jewish religious leadership, and in some cases were actively
adopted by it. In the past, the study of such practices and practitioners was hampered by
scholars’ preference for more rational forms of Judaism, which made those scholars
ignore the extensive evidence for ancient Jewish magic. However, as more such evidence
came to light, and as scholars began to focus on Judaism as it was and not as we might
have wished it to have been, the study of ancient Jewish magic started growing, and it
now keeps on growing at full pace. Today, more ancient Jewish magical texts are
identified, published, and analyzed, and more attempts are made to offer broad syntheses
of the entire field.
General Overviews
The existence of magical elements within ancient Jewish culture and society has always
been known, and has occasionally been studied by scholars at least as far back as the 19th
century (Brecher 1850). Such studies relied almost exclusively on the evidence provided
by canonical Jewish literature, and especially the Babylonian Talmud, which has much to
say on magic, magicians, amulets, spells, and exorcisms. But others took a more
historical and comparative approach, and displayed a growing awareness of the actual
magical texts produced by ancient Jews. By far the best and most comprehensive of these
is Blau 1914, which for a long time remained the best survey of ancient Jewish magic.
Another excellent study, Trachtenberg 2004, is mostly limited to medieval Ashkenazi
Jewish magic, but often refers to the rabbinic roots of, or precedents for, many medieval
Jewish magical beliefs and practices. But with the ever-growing publications of ancient
Jewish magical texts—amulets, incantation bowls, Genizah magical texts, and “literary”
books of magic such as Harba de-Moshe and Sefer ha-Razim—the scholarly perspective
has changed dramatically. Today, scholars no longer look at rabbinic literature as the
main source for the study of ancient Jewish magic, but look at the ancient Jewish magical
texts, use them to construct a picture of ancient Jewish magic, and only then turn to
rabbinic literature in search of modifications or improvements to that picture. This shift is
apparent in Swartz 2006, and underlies two subsequent synthetic surveys of the evidence,
Bohak 2008 and Harari 2010, which now provide the best starting points for anyone
interested in ancient Jewish magic. Bohak 2009 and Vukosavovi 2010 provide broad
overviews of the Jewish magical tradition as a whole.
Blau, Ludwig. Das altjüdische Zauberwesen. 2d ed. Berlin: Verlag von Louis Lamm,
1914.
A broad survey of ancient Jewish magic, especially as it emerges from rabbinic
literature, with special emphasis on its aims (aggressive magic, healing magic,
creating living creatures) and means (reciting spells, curses, and biblical verses;
using magic implements and amulets). Includes a detailed analysis of the Jewish

elements found in the pagan Greek magical texts known at the time. Originally
published in 1898, an edition that is available online.
Bohak, Gideon. Ancient Jewish Magic: A History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 2008.
A broad history of ancient Jewish magic, from the Second Temple period to Late
Antiquity, with special emphasis on intercultural dynamics, and on processes of
continuity and change within the Jewish magical tradition. Throughout, the focus
is on the recipes and “finished products” produced by the magicians, with the
more canonical Jewish texts—and especially rabbinic literature—measured
against the magical texts.
Brecher, Gideon. Das Transcendentale, Magie und magische Heilarten im Talmud.
Vienna: Ulrich Klopf, 1850.
A broad survey of the “sea of the Talmud” in search for all things transcendental,
including detailed discussions of Talmudic passages relating to demonology;
magical beliefs and practices; and amulets, spells, and exorcisms. Brecher often
adduces his sources without any further analysis, but the resulting trove of
relevant Talmudic passages has fruitfully been mined by subsequent scholars.
Bohak, Gideon. “Prolegomena to the Study of the Jewish Magical Tradition.” Currents in
Biblical Literature 8 (2009): 107–150.
A survey of what has been done thus far in the study of Jewish magic, and a call
for further research, with special emphasis on the need to identify, publish, and
analyze more Jewish magical texts and to study them synchronically and
diachronically.
Harari, Yuval. Ha-kishuf ha-Yehudi ha-kadum. Jerusalem: Mosad Byalik, 2010.
A broad survey of the available sources for the study of ancient Jewish magic, and
of the methods used in its study, with special emphasis on the history of
scholarship in this field and on the problems pertaining to the definition of
“magic” and the social struggles and divisions that often lay behind it.
Swartz, Michael D. “Jewish Magic in Late Antiquity.” In The Cambridge History of
Judaism. Vol. 4, The Late Roman–Rabbinic Period. Edited by Steven T. Katz, 699–720.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
A broad survey of late-antique Jewish magic, in light of rabbinic literature,
Palestinian Jewish amulets, Babylonian Jewish incantation bowls, medieval
magical manuals, and Hekhalot literature. The Jewish magical tradition was not
the domain of the lower classes, as some of its practitioners clearly had good

scribal and scriptural training and may perhaps be classified as a “secondary
elite.”
Trachtenberg, Joshua. Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
The classic study of Jewish magic, setting out from the medieval Christian
stereotype of Jews-as-magicians and exploring the reality behind the myth.
Detailed analyses of every aspect of medieval Ashkenazi (i.e., German and
Northern French) Jewish magic, with occasional forays into the Talmudic
backgrounds and precedents of some of the medieval beliefs and practices.
Originally published in 1939.
Vukosavovi , Filip, ed. Angels and Demons: Jewish Magic through the Ages. Jerusalem:
Bible Lands Museum, 2010.
The catalogue of an exhibition that was on display in the Bible Lands Museum in
2010 and 2011, covering many types of Jewish magical texts and objects, from
Antiquity to the 21st century, and accompanied by brief introductions by leading
scholars and by excellent images.
Bibliographies
There are several useful bibliographies, all available online, each covering somewhat
different aspects of ancient Jewish magic. Jewish Magic Bibliography offers a much
fuller bibliography on Jewish magic, but its coverage of scholarship in Hebrew is only
partial. Magic in the Bible is a detailed bibliography of English scholarship on magic in
the Hebrew Bible, but makes almost no use of scholarship in Hebrew and shows no
interest in postbiblical Jewish magic. Neither bibliography is annotated, and the reader is
not directed to the most important studies or to the most significant issues arising from
the ancient sources or from their modern study.
Jassen, Alex, and Scott Noegel. Jewish Magic Bibliography. University of Washington.
A bibliography on Jewish magic.
Zabel, Gary. Magic in the Bible. University of Massachusetts.
A bibliography on magic in the Hebrew Bible
Definitions and Methodology
“Magic” is a notoriously slippery term, whose use often tells us more about the views of
the people who use it than about the phenomena they claim it describes. In the ancient
Jewish world, we rarely find any emic (i.e., inner-cultural) definition of “magic,” and
when we do, it is clear that different Jews—for example, Philo on the one hand and the

rabbis on the other—defined “magic” differently. Moreover, even when we search for an
acceptable etic definition of “magic” (i.e., one that is based on our own notions of what
magic is), we find different scholars offering widely divergent definitions. And while in
previous generations scholars tended to use this term in a rather naive manner, apparently
assuming that we all know what “magic” really means, more recent scholarship has
struggled hard with the very use of this problematic term. Goldin 1976 and Schäfer 1997
provide brief overviews of some of the issues involved in separating “magic” from
“religion” in rabbinic Judaism, and Alexander 2005 continues in the same vein while
focusing on the rabbis’ own distinctions between licit and illicit magic. Segal 1987 offers
an excellent survey of this problem in Greco-Roman antiquity as a whole, and this thread
is picked up by Dolansky 2008. Neusner 1989 tackles the issue of “magic” versus
“science”—an issue that is somewhat less significant in the ancient Jewish world,
because ancient Jews, unlike their Greek neighbors, did not develop a truly scientific
discourse. Idel 1997 offers a broader survey of Jewish religion, showing it as shot
through with magical beliefs and practices from Antiquity to the modern world. Harari
2005 tries to solve the problem of defining “magic” by looking at those ancient Jewish
texts that we would all deem to be “magical” and seeing what they share in common.
Alexander, Philip S. “The Talmudic Concept of Conjuring ( Ahizat Einayim) and the
Problem of the Definition of Magic (Kishuf).” In Creation and Re-Creation in Jewish
Thought: Festschrift in Honor of Joseph Dan on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday.
Edited by Rachel Elior and Peter Schäfer, 7–26. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck,
2005.
The Mishnah tries to replace the biblical lists of forbidden magical activities with
a general rule, by separating conjuring (’ahizat ’einayim—the performance of
fraudulent tricks) from “real” magic. The Talmud further suggests that even “real”
magic is sometimes permissible, as in the case of the rabbis’ creation of a calf. All
this amounts to a fuzzy category of “magic.”
Dolansky, Shawna. Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Biblical Perspectives on the
Relationship between Magic and Religion. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2008.
A detailed survey of the problem of differentiating “magic” from “religion” in the
Hebrew Bible, concluding that “in fact, magic is intrinsic to the biblical
understanding of the relationship between Yahweh and his people” (p. 87), and
that the Hebrew Bible does not really forbid magic—it only limits its use to
priests and to prophets, and denies it to everyone else.
Goldin, Judah. “The Magic of Magic and Superstition.” In Aspects of Religious
Propaganda in Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,
115–147. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1976.
On the ambiguous position of magic in ancient Judaism. Magic is widespread in
ancient Jewish society, and it often is extremely difficult to differentiate between

forbidden magic and normative Jewish religious practices. This is why the Jewish
rabbis of Late Antiquity both practiced magic and detested magicians.
Harari, Yuval. “What Is a Magical Text? Methodological Reflections Aimed at
Redefining Early Jewish Magic.” In Officina Magica: Essays on the Practice of Magic in
Antiquity. Edited by Shaul Shaked, 91–124. IJS Studies in Judaica 4. Leiden, The
Netherlands: Brill, 2005.
Rather than search for clear-cut borders separating “magic” from “religion” in
ancient Judaism, Harari looks for a set of traits that characterize those ancient
Jewish texts that we would all classify as “magical.” This leads to a set of
identifying traits, the most prominent of which is the use of the verb “I adjure”
and similar coercive verbs addressed at demons and angels.
Idel, Moshe. “On Judaism, Jewish Mysticism and Magic.” In Envisioning Magic: A
Princeton Seminar and Symposium. Edited by Peter Schäfer and Hans G. Kippenberg,
195–214. Studies in the History of Religions 75. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1997.
Stresses the many magical elements embedded in Judaism from its very
beginning, from the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature to the Kabbalah and the
modern Jewish world. Parts of the paper deal with Kabbalah and its relations to
medieval Jewish magic, and are thus less relevant for the study of ancient Jewish
magic.
Neusner, Jacob. “Science and Magic, Miracle and Magic in Formative Judaism: The
System and the Difference.” Paper presented at a conference held at Brown University,
9–13 August 1987. In Religion, Science, and Magic in Concert and in Conflict. Edited by
Jacob Neusner, Ernest S. Frerichs, and Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, 61–81. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Like the distinction between religion and magic, the distinction between magic
and science is not objective but social. My science is true science, yours is just
magic. In ancient Jewish literature Jews (be it Moses and Aaron or the rabbis of
Late Antiquity) and non-Jews perform very similar deeds, but those of the Jews
are simply more powerful.
Schäfer, Peter. “Magic and Religion in Ancient Judaism.” In Envisioning Magic: A
Princeton Seminar and Symposium. Edited by Peter Schäfer and Hans G. Kippenberg,
19–43. Studies in the History of Religions 75. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1997.
In both the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature magic is condemned but also
practiced by the religious elite, and often becomes part and parcel of mainstream
Jewish religion. Thus the magic-religion dichotomy is simply meaningless in the
study of ancient Judaism.

Segal, Alan F. “Hellenistic Magic: Some Questions of Definitions.” In The Other
Judaisms of Late Antiquity. By Alan F. Segal, 79–108. Brown Judaic Studies 127.
Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987.
A detailed discussion of the different meanings and usages of the term “magic” in
Greco-Roman antiquity, stressing that “no definition of magic can be universally
applicable because ‘magic’ cannot and should not be construed as a properly
scientific term. Its meaning changes as the context in which it is used changes” (p.
81). Originally published in 1981.
Stereotypes and Realities
In Greco-Roman literature, Orientals, and especially Egyptians and Persians, often were
associated with the practice of magic (see Dickie 2001, pp. 41–43, 202–233). In such
contexts, one occasionally hears of Jewish magicians, or of the Jewish contribution to
magic, and especially that of their great hero, Moses (Gager 1972). It is, however,
especially in Christian literature, from the New Testament onward, that Jews are singled
out for a long range of crimes and impious behaviors, including the practice of magic.
This Christian stereotype is studied in Simon 1986 as part of a classic study of Christian
supersessionist attitudes toward the Jews. It is, however, important to remember that the
abundance of Jewish magical texts and artifacts from Late Antiquity make it abundantly
clear that the stereotype was not entirely baseless, as was noted in Lacerenza 2002.
Dickie, Matthew W. Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World. London:
Routledge, 2001.
A broad survey of magic in the Greco-Roman world, which often takes the
ancient literary sources at face value but provides detailed coverage of those
sources, including their references to Egyptian and Jewish magic and magicians.
Gager, John G. Moses in Greco-Roman Paganism. Society of Biblical Literature
Monograph Series 16. Nashville: Abingdon, 1972.
A detailed survey of Moses’s image in the Greco-Roman world, including (on pp.
134–161) all the references in pagan literature, and in the pagan magical texts, to
Moses the magician, his great exploits, and magical texts supposedly authored by
him.
Lacerenza, Giancarlo. “Jewish Magicians and Christian Clients in Late Antiquity: The
Testimony of Amulets and Inscriptions.” In What Athens Has to Do with Jerusalem:
Essays on Classical, Jewish and Early Christian Art and Archaeology in Honor of
Gideon Foerster. Edited by Leonard V. Rutgers, 393–419. Interdisciplinary Studies in
Ancient Culture and Religion 1. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2002.
The common assumption, that Jews were seen as proverbial magicians in
Antiquity, must be refined, especially because Orientals in general were seen as

prone to magic. It is only in the Christian world that Jews are singled out for
magical activities, and the archaeological record might show that in some cases
Jewish magicians produced amulets for Christian clients.
Simon, Marcel. Verus Israel: A Study of the Relations between Christians and Jews in the
Roman Empire (135–425). Translated by H. McKeating. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1986.
Pages 339–369 provide a basic survey of some elements of ancient Jewish magic
and an overview of the Christian condemnation of Jews as magicians. Originally
published in 1964.
Jewish Magic in the First Temple Period
The place of magic within biblical religion has been a topic of much discussion in both
the Jewish and the Christian traditions, at least from the Middle Ages onward. In earlier
scholarship, it was common to take the biblical condemnation of magic at face value, and
to suggest that the ancient Israelites developed a magic-free religion. However, more
recent studies have shown that (a) much of the biblical legislation reflects postexilic
agendas and interests, and even sheer wishful thinking, rather than the religion of the
ancient Israelites; and (b) although the Hebrew Bible condemns magic and divination,
and especially the foreign practitioners of these arts, it also portrays some of the biblical
prophets (and especially Moses, Elijah, and Elisha) and the Israelite priests as performing
feats that do not differ from those of ancient magicians and diviners. Thus the question is
not whether the Israelites developed a magic-free religion, but who determined what
counts as illegitimate “magic” and what counts as legitimate “miracle.” And, since the
late 20th century, more and more archaeological evidence has shown some of the magical
technologies available to the dwellers of Palestine in the Iron Age, including,
presumably, its Israelite inhabitants.
Magic in the Hebrew Bible
The biblical condemnations of magic and divination, the biblical stories of magicians and
“men of God,” and the biblical recourse to magical rituals have all been the subjects of
extensive studies and debates, at least from the Renaissance onward. One effort,
exemplified by Kuemmerlin-McLean 1986 and Jeffers 1996, has been to identify the
exact meaning of all the magic-related terminology used by the Hebrew Bible (especially
in Deuteronomy 18:10–11). However, although the meaning of some of the relevant
terms is clarified within the biblical literature (and this applies especially to the ba’alat ov
whose necromantic practice is described in 1 Samuel 28), other terms, such as me’onen,
or urim ve-tumim, remain elusive even after such extensive research (see van Dam 1997).
Another, more fruitful line of enquiry consists in comparing the biblical evidence with
evidence of magical practices and practitioners in other ancient Near Eastern cultures, as,
for example, in Fishbane 1971, Schmidt 2002, and Schmitt 2004, which is the best
treatment to date of the place of magic in the Hebrew Bible.

Fishbane, Michael A. “Studies in Biblical Magic: Origins, Uses and Transformations of
Terminology and Literary Form.” PhD diss., Brandeis University, 1971.
An analysis of numerous biblical passages in light of ancient Near Eastern, and
especially Babylonian, magical practices. Speculative, but worth reading, even in
its unpublished state.
Jeffers, Ann. Magic and Divination in Ancient Palestine and Syria. Studies in the History
and Culture of the Ancient Near East 8. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1996.
On the different types of magicians and diviners mentioned in the Hebrew Bible,
and on the divinatory techniques and devices utilized in biblical society. The
approach is philological and comparative.
Kuemmerlin-McLean, Joanne K. “Divination and Magic in the Religion of Ancient
Israel: A Study in Perspectives and Methodology.” PhD diss., Vanderbilt University,
1986.
A detailed analysis of the supposed biblical prohibition of magic and divination,
showing that its injunctions on this issue are never clear-cut, refer to a
bewildering array of practices and in an inconsistent manner, and often are
contradicted by other biblical passages. Thus the assumption that the Hebrew
Bible is vehemently opposed to magic and divination is quite misguided.
Schmidt, Brian B. “Canaanite Magic vs. Israelite Religion: Deuteronomy 18 and the
Taxonomy of Taboo.” In Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World. Edited by Paul Mirecki
and Marvin Meyer, 242–259. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 141. Leiden, The
None of the practices listed in Deuteronomy 18 were condemned in pre-exilic
prophetic traditions, and none of them are “Canaanite” in any way. It is possible
that the criterion for their delegitimization was the numina to which they
appealed, but the writers avoided mentioning other gods, so they listed the
forbidden practitioners instead.
Schmitt, Rüdiger. Magie im Alten Testament. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 313.
Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag, 2004.
A thorough survey of biblical magic against its ancient Near Eastern background,
with special emphasis on the cosmological and theological underpinnings of
magic in Antiquity, the implements and rituals used, and the centrality of magic
within Israelite religion until its rejection and condemnation after the
consolidation of the cult in a single place and the rise of the Deuteronomistic
mindset.

van Dam, Cornelis. The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel.
Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997.
A detailed study of the biblical passages relating to the urim ve-thumim, stressing
that the Israelite priests originally had an important role to play in the production
of prophecies; their role was ex officio and involved the use of a physical object
that the high priest carried upon himself, but whose exact nature is not really clear
from the available sources.
The Archaeology of Israelite Magic
Although there is much archaeological evidence, especially in the form of amulets, for
the magical implements used by the dwellers of Palestine in the Iron Age period (see
Herrmann 1994–2006), this evidence is problematic in that much of it may have arisen
from the non-Israelite population, and so it is hard to tell which items may safely be
attributed to Israelite producers or users. The only real exceptions are two silver amulets
found in Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem, on which are engraved in the paleo-Hebrew script
the Priestly Blessing of Numbers 6:24–27, and additional apotropaic formulae. In this
case, there is no doubt that the amulets were produced by Israelites, and probably even by
Israelite priests, and it is likely that their users too were among the Israelite dwellers of
Jerusalem in the 6th century bce. These two amulets have therefore generated much
scholarly interest, as may be seen in Yardeni 1991 and Barkay 1992, which provide the
basic studies of these amulets, and in Barkay, et al. 2004, which provides a new reading
of both texts. Neeman 2011 suggests a slightly later date for these amulets than
previously assumed, and modifies the reading in a way that highlights the importance of
the Jerusalem Temple for the amulets’ producers.
Barkay, Gabriel. “The Priestly Benediction on Silver Plaques from Ketef Hinnom in
Jerusalem.” Tel Aviv 19 (1992): 139–192.
A full publication of the Ketef Hinnom amulets, with details about their
archaeological context and their contents, and a detailed comparison with other
ancient Near Eastern amulets of the 1st millennium bce.
Barkay, Gabriel, Marilyn J. Lundberg, Andrew G. Vaughn, and Bruce Zuckerman. “The
Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation.” Bulletin of the American
Schools of Oriental Research 334 (2004): 41–71.
An attempt to reread the Ketef Hinnom amulets, showing that they contain some
elements (such as the verb ga’ar, “to rebuke”) that are frequently found in later
Jewish magical texts.
Herrmann, Christian. Ägyptische Amulette aus Palästina/Israel. 3 vols. Freiburg,
Switzerland: Universitätsverlag, 1994–2006.

An exhaustive catalogue of all the Egyptian amulets in prebiblical and biblical
Palestine, up to the Hellenistic period.
Neeman, Nadav. “Iyyun mehudash be-luhiyot ha-kesef mi-Ketef Hinnom.” Cathedra 140
(2011): 7–18.
An attempt to redate the Ketef Hinnom amulets to after the Babylonian Exile, and
to reread one of the two amulets, with special emphasis on the role of the newly
built Temple, which is mentioned in the text.
Yardeni, Ada. “Remarks on the Priestly Blessing on Two Ancient Amulets from
Jerusalem.” Vetus Testamentum 41 (1991): 176–185.
A careful reading and analysis of the two amulets from Ketef Hinnom.
Jewish Magic in the Second Temple Period
Whereas the Hebrew Bible and the archaeological evidence provide little data concerning
the magical practices prevalent in ancient Israel, Second Temple–period Jewish literature
and the archaeological finds from the Judean Desert are somewhat more informative in
this regard. It is in this period that we start finding extensive evidence for the practice of
exorcisms, a technique at which ancient Jews seem to have excelled, and which is
documented both in the literary sources (such as Josephus and the Pseudo-Philonic Book
of Biblical Antiquities) and among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Moreover, the exorcistic
practices are deeply rooted in the highly developed Jewish demonology that flourished
from the Second Temple period onward, perhaps the result of the closer encounter with
the Babylonian culture in the postexilic period (see the detailed survey in Eshel 1999).
Other magical practices of the Second Temple period are less well documented, but
enough survives to know that medical (see Hogan 1992), apotropaic, and even aggressive
and erotic magic were not unknown to Jews at the time, even if the evidence for their
practice is much less than the similar evidence from Late Antiquity. For a fuller survey,
see Bohak 2008 (cited under General Overviews), pp. 70–142.
Eshel, Esther. “Ha-emunah be-shedim, be-Erets-Yisra’el bi-yeme ha-Bayit ha-Sheni.”
PhD diss., Hebrew University, 1999.
A complete survey of Second Temple–period attitudes to demons, including the
different explanations of their origins and activities, theories and descriptions of
demonic possessions, and the techniques used by Jews at the time to keep demons
away or to exorcize them from their victims.
Hogan, Larry P. Healing in the Second Temple Period. Novum Testamentum et Orbis
Antiquus 21. Freiburg, Switzerland: Universitätsverlag, 1992.

A detailed and occasionally tedious survey of what each Jewish text of the Second
Temple period has to say about health and healing. Includes some discussions of
the demonic causes of illness and of magical cures mentioned in these texts.
Josephus and Philo
Both Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 bce–c. 50 ce) and Josephus Flavius (37 ce–c. 100 ce)
have interesting things to say about magic, though the latter much more so than the
former. For Philo, there is a clear dichotomy between true magic, as practiced by the
Persian magi, and false magic, as practiced by women, slaves, mendicant priests, and
religious imposters who dabble in erotic magic and other nefarious activities, but there is
little in his writings that relates specifically to Jewish magic (see Seland 2006). Josephus
provides several detailed accounts of a Jewish exorcist in action, of a special exorcistic
root that grew near an ancient fort in the Transjordan region, and of the many incredible
feats associated with the biblical figures of Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and King Solomon. He
also provides other hints of the Jewish interest in magic and divination in the Second
Temple period. The many studies devoted to this aspect of Josephus’s thought include
Duling 1985, Förster 2001, and Kottek 2011, as well as the broader survey of the place of
magic in Josephus’s worldview in Bloch 2003.
Bloch, René S. “Au-delà d’un Discourse Apologétique: Flavius Josèphe et les
Magiciens.” In Les communautés religieuses dans le monde Gréco-Romain: Essais de
définition. Edited by Nicole Belayche and Simon C. Mimouni, 243–257. Turnhout,
Belgium: Brepols, 2003.
Josephus clearly is worried about accusations of Jewish misanthropy, but not
about potential charges of Jewish magic. This can be seen from his descriptions of
Solomon’s esoteric wisdom, Eleazar’s exorcisms, a Cypriot-Jewish magus, the
“witch” of Endor, the baaras root and its exorcistic qualities, and even of Moses
and Aaron’s battle with the Egyptian magicians.
Duling, Dennis C. “The Eleazar Miracle and Solomon’s Magical Wisdom in Flavius
Josephus’s Antiquitates Judaicae 8.42–49.” Harvard Theological Review 78 (1985): 1–
25.
A form-critical analysis of Josephus’s detailed eyewitness account of a Jewish
exorcist in action, drawing together much of the ancient evidence on exorcisms,
and on King Solomon’s supposed contribution to the development of this
technique.
Förster, Niclas. “Der Exorzist Elazar: Salomo, Josephus und das alte Ägypten.” In
Internationales Josephus-Kolloquium: Amsterdam 2000. Edited by Jürgen U. Kalms,
205–221. Münsteraner Judaistische Studien 10. Münster, Germany: Lit, 2001.

Solomon as a magician in Josephus’s description of Eleazar the exorcist. Josephus
is proud of Solomon’s great sagacity, which exceeded that of the Egyptians, who
were known in Greek and Latin literature as great magicians.
Kottek, Samuel S. “Josephus on Poisoning and Magic Cures or, on the Meaning of
Pharmakon.” In Flavius Josephus: Interpretation and History. Edited by Jack Pastor,
Pnina Stern, and Menahem Mor, 247–257. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of
Judaism 146. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2011.
A brief survey of several magic-related passages in Josephus, including his
discussions of pharmaka (poisons/medicines), description of the exorcistic root
baaras, and use of the traditions concerning Solomon the Magician.
Seland, Torrey. “Philo, Magic and Balaam: Neglected Aspects of Philo’s Exposition of
the Balaam Story.” In The New Testament and Early Christian Literature in Greco-
Roman Context: Studies in Honor of David E. Aune. Edited by John Fotopoulos, 336–
346. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 122. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2006.
Analyzes Philo’s discussions of magic, with special emphasis on his complex
views of Balaam—he extols Balaam’s prophecies, but also describes him as a
diviner and magician. From Philo’s perspective, true prophecy is good but
magical divination is bad, because it might seduce good Jews away from God.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls, found mainly in the caves around the site of Qumran, are a rich
collection of sectarian texts (probably stemming from an Essene community) as well as
nonsectarian texts that must have been in wider circulation in Second Temple–period
Jewish society. Among the many hundreds of texts, a handful relate to magic, and
especially to the practice of exorcism. Some of these are of a clear sectarian origin, but
others are likely to have been nonsectarian (Nitzan 1994). The relevant texts have been
published only gradually, and so some of the earlier studies of Qumran magic and
demonology relied only on parts of the evidence, and are therefore superseded by the
later surveys, published from the mid-1990s onward. Of these, Lange 1997, García
Martínez 2002, and Eshel 2003 provide useful general surveys of the textual evidence
and some analyses of its significance, while Alexander 1997 contextualizes the sectarian
exorcistic texts within the Qumranites’ dualistic worldview. Brooke 2003 assesses the
Qumranites’ views of magic from the occurrences of Deuteronomy 18:9–14 in the Dead
Sea Scrolls. Naveh 2009 analyzes a Qumran fragment that may represent a different type
of magical text, and Swartz 2001 tries to assess the place of the Qumran evidence in the
wider history of ancient Jewish magic.
Alexander, Philip S. “‘Wrestling Against Wickedness in High Places’: Magic in the
Worldview of the Qumran Community.” In The Scrolls and the Scriptures: Qumran Fifty
Years After. Edited by Stanley E. Porter and Craig A. Evans, 318–337. Journal for the

Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 26. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic
Press, 1997.
A survey of the Qumranic texts with antidemonic spells, with special attention to
those that are likely to be of sectarian origins, and an analysis of the place of
magic in the worldview of the Dead Sea sect.
Brooke, George J. “Deuteronomy 18.9–14 in the Qumran Scrolls.” In Magic in the
Biblical World: From the Rod of Aaron to the Ring of Solomon. Edited by Todd E. Klutz,
66–84. Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 245. London:
T&T Clark, 2003.
Tries to assess the Qumranites’ attitudes toward magic by analyzing the
appearance, or use, of Deuteronomy 18:9–14 in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although
the Qumranites practiced many rituals that we might classify as “magic” or
“divination,” they clearly did not see them as forbidden by the Hebrew Bible.
Eshel, Esther. “Genres of Magical Texts in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In Die Dämonen: Die
Dämonologie der israelitisch-jüdischen und frühchristlichen Literatur im Kontext ihrer
Umwelt = Demons: The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature
in Context of Their Environment. Edited by Armin Lange, Hermann Lichtenberger, and
K. F. Diethard Römheld, 395–415. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2003.
The Qumran magical texts may be divided into two distinct groups: (a) exorcistic
spells and incantations, which tend to address the demon in the second-person
singular and adjure it to depart, and which display no specifically Qumranic traits;
and (b) apotropaic prayers and hymns that ask for protection against sin and for
forgiveness and purification, which display the Qumranites’ sectarian terminology
and ideology.
García Martínez, Florentino. “Magic in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In The Metamorphosis of
Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer and
Jan R. Veenstra, 13–33. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2002.
The magic practiced at Qumran was learned magic. The Qumranites knew that
magic was forbidden, and that it had been taught by the Fallen Angels, but their
dualistic worldview made them use exorcisms, physiognomics, and related
magical techniques in spite of the biblical prohibition of magic.
Lange, Armin. “The Essene Position on Magic and Divination.” In Legal Texts and Legal
Issues: Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran
Studies, Cambridge 1995. Edited by Moshe Bernstein, Florentino García Martínez, and
John Kampen, 377–435. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 23. Leiden, The

A survey of the Qumranic texts with antidemonic spells, and of the rare references
to magic in the Qumranic halakhic and exegetical texts, concluding that the
Essenes were not really interested in magic, in spite of the presence within their
library of a handful of magic-related texts.
Naveh, Joseph. “Fragments of an Aramaic Magic Book from Qumran.” In Studies in
West-Semitic Epigraphy: Selected Papers. By Joseph Naveh, 167–176. Jerusalem:
Magnes, 2009.
A brief survey of the magical texts from Qumran, and a detailed analysis of
4Q560, a small fragment that includes a description of the onslaught of demonic
illnesses that afflict a person’s flesh and teeth, perhaps accompanied by an
exorcism to overcome them. If Naveh’s reconstruction of this text is correct, this
would be the oldest known Jewish magical recipe book. Originally published in
1998.
Nitzan, Bilhah. Qumran Prayer and Religious Poetry. Translated by Jonathan Chipman.
Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 12. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1994.
A detailed survey of the different genres of prayer and religious poetry found
among the Dead Sea Scrolls, with a chapter devoted to “magical poetry” (pp.
227–272), including 4Q510–511, which definitely is a sectarian document, and
11Q11, which probably is not. What both texts share in common is their
exorcistic, or antidemonic, aim.
Swartz, Michael D. “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Later Jewish Magic and Mysticism.”
Dead Sea Discoveries 8 (2001): 182–193.
An important attempt to assess the continuity and the transformations between the
Second Temple–period Jewish mystical, magical, and divinatory texts (as found
among the Dead Sea Scrolls) and those of Late Antiquity. Some of the features of
the later Jewish magical texts and practices are already there in the Second
Temple period, but there also are many differences between the two corpora.
The New Testament
As may be expected, the issue of magic in the New Testament, and especially the
seemingly magical activities of Jesus of Nazareth, have attracted a great deal of
polemical, apologetic, and scholarly attention, and have been a hotly disputed issue at
least from the 2nd century ce and all the way to the 21st century. The subject is not
unimportant for the study of ancient Jewish magic, as the New Testament accurately
describes many Jewish magical practices, especially those related to exorcisms and
healings, and as it lays the groundwork for the later Christian stereotype of Jews as
magicians. However, as this is a vast subject, only a few basic points are offered here. For
a polemical presentation of Jesus as a magician, Smith 1978 is the undisputed classic.
More balanced assessments of Jesus’s activities, and how they were seen both by his

followers and by his detractors, are provided by Hull 1974, Geller 1977, and Garrett
1989, while Aune 1980 offers a good point of departure for the methodology of the study
of “magic” in the New Testament. Twelftree 1993 deals with Jesus’s exorcistic activities,
and Lincicum 2008 focuses on the citation of Old Testament verses in New Testament
and ancient Jewish exorcisms. Finally, Labahn and Lietaert Peerbolte 2007 brings
together several studies of magic in the New Testament.
Aune, David E. “Magic in Early Christianity.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen
Welt II.23.2. Edited by Wolfgang Haase, 1507–1557. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980.
Provides a thorough survey of the methodological issues involved in the study of
magic in the New Testament and Early Christianity, together with a historical and
cultural background to Greco-Roman magic in general.
Garrett, Susan R. “Light on a Dark Subject and Vice Versa: Magic and Magicians in the
New Testament.” Paper presented at a conference held at Brown University, 9–13 August
1987. In Religion, Science, and Magic in Concert and in Conflict. Edited by Jacob
Neusner, Ernest S. Frerichs, and Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, 142–165. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1989.
Ancient observers of Jesus, Peter, and Paul no doubt saw them as magicians, and
early Christian literature employs much apologetics to prove that this was not the
case. However, in the mind of these early Christian writers, there was a distinction
between holy men and magicians, so that when Paul, for example, fought a
magician, he did not become one himself.
Geller, Markham J. “Jesus’ Theurgic Powers: Parallels in the Talmud and Incantation
Bowls.” Journal of Jewish Studies 28 (1977): 141–155.
Examines the actions attributed to Jesus in light of similar actions attributed by
Josephus to Eleazar the exorcist and by rabbinic literature to several Jewish holy
men, and especially in light of Jewish magical practices known to us from the
archaeological record. Pays special attention to the appearance of Jesus in two
Syriac incantation bowls. (For Jesus’s appearance in some Aramaic bowls, see
Levene 2003, pp. 120–138; cited under Major Textual Corpora.)
Hull, John M. Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition. Studies in Biblical
Theology, 2d ser., 28. London: SCM, 1974.
A judicious survey of the exorcistic and miracle-working activities of Jesus, as
described in the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and Matthew, with special emphasis on
their varying sensitivities to whether Jesus’s actions might be construed as magic
by their potential readers.

Labahn, Michael, and Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte, eds. A Kind of Magic: Understanding
Magic in the New Testament and Its Religious Environment. Library of New Testament
Studies 306. London: T&T Clark, 2007.
A wide-ranging collection of articles of uneven quality, including some good
studies on magic in the New Testament and on magic in the ancient world in
general.
Lincicum, David. “Scripture and Apotropaism in the Second Temple Period.” Biblische
Notizen 138 (2008): 63–87.
Setting out from the Gospels’ descriptions of Jesus’s war with the Devil, this
study surveys the uses of Scripture in Second Temple Jewish magic, showing that
some of the verses that are extremely popular in later Jewish magic, including
Numbers 6:24–27, Zechariah 3:2, Deuteronomy 6:4, and Psalms 91:1, served an
apotropaic, or antidemonic, function already in the Ketef Hinnom amulets and the
Dead Sea Scrolls.
Smith, Morton. Jesus the Magician. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978.
A survey of the ancient pagan and Jewish claims that Jesus was a magician, as
well as an attempt to show that he was one. A very interesting book, but
obviously polemical and not always convincing.
Twelftree, Graham H. Jesus the Exorcist: A Contribution to the Study of the Historical
Jesus. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2d ser., 54. Tübingen,
Germany: Mohr, 1993.
Studies the exorcism stories in the Gospels in light of Jewish and Greco-Roman
views of exorcisms, in an attempt to show that Jesus would have been seen by his
contemporaries as a miracle worker, not a magician.
Other Second Temple–Period Sources
Our knowledge of Jewish magic in the Second Temple period is greatly enriched by a
handful of disparate bits of data stemming from a wide array of sources. Among these,
special attention must be paid to the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and especially the
book of Tobit—in which the demon Asmodaeus makes his first appearance, and in which
a useful exorcistic technique is recommended by the angel Raphael (Dion 1976,
Stuckenbruck 2002)—and the Book of Biblical Antiquities, with its detailed description
of how David had exorcized an evil spirit out of King Saul (Jackson 1996). Papyrological
finds from the dry sands of Egypt also provide some intriguing evidence, including the
remains of another apparently Jewish pseudepigraphon, which tells the story of the
Egyptian magicians who had fought against Moses and Aaron (Pietersma 1994), and the
remains of an exorcistic prayer in Greek, which seems to be of a Jewish origin (Benoit
1951) and bears many resemblances to some of the exorcistic texts found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls. Finally, Cohn 2008 suggests that the Jewish practice of wearing tefillin
had a strong amuletic aspect already in the Second Temple period.
Benoit, Pierre. “Fragments d’une prière contre les esprits impurs?” Revue Biblique 58
(1951): 549–565.
An edition of a Greek exorcistic text dating to the 1st or 2nd centuries ce and
displaying clear biblical references, which makes it likely that it is a Jewish
composition. For further discussion of this text, see Pieter W. van der Horst and
Judith H. Newman, Early Jewish Prayers in Greek (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008), pp.
123–134.
Cohn, Yehudah. “Were Tefillin Phylacteries?” Journal of Jewish Studies 59 (2008): 39–
61.
Studies the tefillin found in Qumran and suggests that they were used as amulets
to gain long life in the Promised Land, in line with Deuteronomy 11:18–21.
Dion, Paul-Eugène. “Raphael l’exorciste.” Biblica 57 (1976): 399–413.
On the scene in the book of Tobit (3rd or 2nd century bce) in which Raphael
instructs Tobit on how to exorcize the demon Asmodaeus, and on the ancient
Near Eastern, and especially Mesopotamian, parallels and precedents to the
fumigation of fish parts for the sake of exorcizing demons.
Jackson, H. M. “Echoes and Demons in the Pseudo-Philonic Liber Antiquitatum
Biblicarum.” Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman
Periods 27 (1996): 1–20.
Notes on the exorcistic psalm attributed to David in the Book of Biblical
Antiquities (1st century ce?) in light of ancient Jewish demonological lore and
exorcistic practice.
Pietersma, Albert, ed. The Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres the Magicians. Religions
in the Graeco-Roman World 119. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1994.
An edition, translation, and commentary on a Jewish Hellenistic novel recounting
the adventures of Jannes and Jambres, the two magicians defeated by Moses and
Aaron in Pharaoh’s court. The original text apparently had some juicy scenes of
magic, including necromancy, but the extant fragments are in a dismal state of
preservation.
Stuckenbruck, Loren T. “The Book of Tobit and the Problem of ‘Magic.’” In Jüdische
Schriften in ihrem Antik-Jüdischen und Urchristlichen Kontext. Edited by Hermann
Lichtenberger and Gerbern S. Oegema, 258–269. Gütersloh, Germany: Gütersloher
Verlaghaus, 2002.

How the textual differences between the two recensions of Tobit attest to different
views of the relations between magic and medicine.
Jewish Magic in Late Antiquity: Primary Sources in Aramaic and Hebrew
In earlier scholarship, the study of ancient Jewish magic was based mostly on the
evidence found in nonmagical sources, and especially in rabbinic literature. However,
since the late 20th century a great quantity of “insider” sources—that is, magical texts,
recipes, and objects produced by ancient Jewish magicians—have come to light, thus
enabling the study of ancient Jewish magic as it was known to its practitioners and
consumers. The great bulk of this evidence stems from the 4th to the 7th centuries, both
from Palestine and from Babylonia, and its abundance makes it quite clear that magic
was widely practiced in late-antique Jewish society. Until recently, Alexander 1986
provided the most reliable survey of all the evidence pertaining to ancient Jewish magic.
However, it has now been superseded by survey chapters in Bohak 2008 and Harari 2010
(both cited under General Overviews), and is supplemented by Saar 2003.
Alexander, Philip S. “Incantations and Books of Magic.” In The History of the Jewish
People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC–AD 135). Vol. 3, pt. 1. By Emil Schürer, 342–
379. Translated by T. A. Burkill. Edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, and Martin
Goodman. Edinburgh: Clark, 1986.
A detailed survey of all the sources pertaining to the study of ancient Jewish
magic, but as many more sources have been published since, this overview may
now be seen as incomplete.
Saar, Ortal. “Emunot tefelot be-Eretz Israel ba-tequfot ha-Romit veha-Byzantit ha-
qedumah.” MA thesis, Tel-Aviv University, 2003.
On the archaeology of magic in late-antique Palestine, including Jewish and non-
Jewish finds.
Amulets
Although several Jewish Aramaic amulets were published before 1985, the publication of
Naveh and Shaked 1998 and Naveh and Shaked 1993 eclipsed all previous publications
in this field, especially as the authors reedited most of the previously published Aramaic
and Hebrew amulets from Antiquity. Moreover, their work encouraged the publication of
more amulets, and many dozens of ancient Jewish amulets, inscribed on thin sheets of
metal, have now been published, with a few dozen more still awaiting publication. The
most important publications are Kotansky 1991; Kotansky, et al. 1992; McCollough and
Glazier-McDonald 1999; Moriggi 2006; and Eshel, et al. 2010. Leiman and Eshel 2010
provides a useful survey of the entire field, with special emphasis on those amulets whose
findspots are known.

Eshel, Esther, Hanan Eshel, and Armin Lange. “‘Hear, O Israel’ in Gold: An Ancient
Amulet from Halbturn in Austria.” Journal of Ancient Judaism 1 (2010): 43–64.
A publication with a detailed commentary of what might be the earliest late-
antique Jewish amulet we now have, a gold leaf on which is engraved the Shema
formula (Deuteronomy 6:4), written in the Hebrew language but in Greek letters
and dating from the late-2nd or 3rd century ce.
Kotansky, Roy. “Two Inscribed Jewish Aramaic Amulets from Syria.” Israel Exploration
Journal 41 (1991): 267–281.
Publication of two Aramaic amulets—one gold, one silver—said to have come
from Syria. Both are for the same client, Arsinoe, and probably came from her
grave. Both seek to protect her from every evil and heal her of every sickness.
Kotansky, Roy, Joseph Naveh, and Shaul Shaked. “A Greek-Aramaic Silver Amulet from
Egypt in the Ashmolean Museum.” Le Muséon 105 (1992): 5–26.
An edition and translation, with detailed commentary, of a long trilingual Greek-
Aramaic-Hebrew amulet, produced by a Jewish magician, perhaps for a Christian
client—a certain Joannes, son of Benenata. Given its length, complexity, and
trilingual nature, this is by far the most interesting ancient Jewish amulet
published to date.
Leiman, Rivka, and Hanan Eshel. “Jewish Amulets Written on Metal Scrolls.” Journal of
Ancient Judaism 1 (2010): 189–199.
A useful survey of the Jewish amulets written on metal lamellae, especially those
whose provenances are known, and an attempt to sketch the history of the
production and use of such amulets among ancient Jews.
McCollough, C. Thomas, and Beth Glazier-McDonald. “Social Magic and Social
Realities in Late Roman and Early Byzantine Galilee.” In Galilee through the Centuries:
Confluence of Cultures. Edited by Eric M. Meyers, 269–280. Duke Judaic Studies 1.
Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1999.
Publication and analysis of two Aramaic amulets—one bronze, one silver—found
in the archaeological excavations of Sepphoris and probably dating to the 5th
century ce. Stresses the importance of such finds for the study of Judaism in Late
Antiquity, as they complement the knowledge derived from the literary sources
and provide a glimpse of everyday Jewish life.
Moriggi, Marco. “A Bilingual Silver Lamella in the Medagliere Capitolino (Rome).” In
Loquentes Linguis: Linguistic and Oriental Studies in Honour of Fabrizio A.
Pennacchietti. Edited by Pier Giorgio Borbone, Alessandro Mengozzi, and Mauro Tosco,
515–522. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2006.

Publishes and analyzes the Aramaic section of a badly preserved trilingual Greek-
Aramaic-Hebrew silver amulet from Rome that bears some resemblance to that
published by Kotansky, et al. 1992.
Naveh, Joseph, and Shaul Shaked. Magic Spells and Formulae: Aramaic Incantations of
Late Antiquity. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1993.
A sequel to Naveh and Shaked 1998 (originally published in 1985), with more
ancient Jewish amulets and magic bowls, and more magical texts from the Cairo
Genizah, all meticulously edited, translated, and annotated with important notes.
Naveh, Joseph, and Shaul Shaked. Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic Incantations of
Late Antiquity. 3d ed. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1998.
Together with its sequel, Naveh and Shaked 1993, this is the best starting point
for the study of ancient Jewish amulets and magic bowls as well as a few magical
texts from the Cairo Genizah. Excellent introductions, editions, and translations,
accompanied by detailed commentaries on each magical text and by basic
photographs. In many ways, this book jump-started the study of ancient Jewish
magic. Originally published in 1985.
Incantation Bowls
Incantation bowls have been found in Iraq and in western Iran, by archaeologists and by
robbers, from the mid-19th century onward, and new bowls keep emerging in the
antiquities markets in ever-growing numbers. Probably dating from the 5th to the 7th
centuries ce, the bowls are by far the best documented type of ancient Jewish magical
texts, and the size of the entire corpus, once it is published, will rival even that of the
Babylonian Talmud. Written on the inside of simple clay bowls, the texts usually contain
spells against demons, witchcraft, and the evil eye, mostly produced for specific
individuals who are named in the texts. The practice clearly was common among many
dwellers of Sasanian Babylonia, who produced bowls in Mandaic, Syriac, Pahlavi, and
even Arabic, but those in Jewish Aramaic are the most common, with their total number
estimated at about two thousand, and with several hundred published thus far.
Montgomery 2010 is a classic, and remains essential, but the later explosion in the
publication of new bowl texts definitely calls for a new synthesis of this vast collection of
important sources. For the time being, one may use the introductory essays Yamauchi
1965, Levene 2002, and Shaked 2005, the latter two providing good surveys of the more
recent work in this ever-changing field.
Levene, Dan. “Curse or Blessing: What’s in the Magical Bowl?.” Parkes Institute
Pamphlet 2, 2002.
A general introduction to the Aramaic magic bowls, accompanied by many useful
images.

Montgomery, James A. Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Although some bowls were published earlier, this was the first systematic attempt
to edit many new bowls and to provide a general survey of the entire field, and it
was carried out at the highest level of philological and historical analysis.
Shaked, Shaul. “Qe’arot hashba’ah ve-luhot qame’a: keitzad niftarim mi-shedim u-
maziqim.” Kadmoniot 129 (2005): 2–13.
An overview of the bowls, with brief discussions of such issues as their use of
biblical verses, their (rare) citation of Mishnaic passages, and their (more
frequent) allusions to figures also mentioned in rabbinic literature, as well as such
questions as who produced them, for whom, and how they were meant to be used.
Yamauchi, Edwin M. “Aramaic Magic Bowls.” Journal of the American Oriental Society
85 (1965): 511–523.
A useful introduction to the Aramaic magic bowls, followed by the publication of
one more bowl, from Iran.
Analytic Studies
At present, any attempt to provide a comprehensive introduction to the Aramaic
incantation bowls would be hampered by the fact that many bowls remain unpublished,
and that even those bowls that have been published have yet to be analyzed from many
different perspectives. Of the many studies devoted to specific aspects of the Aramaic
incantation bowls, one may single out Levine 1970 (analyzing the bowls’ language, in
line with earlier work by J. N. Epstein, and offering many textual emendations), Shaked
1997 (on the Iranian influences evident in some bowl texts), Müller-Kessler 2001 (on the
relations of Jewish and Mandaic demonology), Morony 2003 (with special emphasis on
the bowls’ social contexts), Shaked 2011 (on the literary structures of the bowls’
incantations), and Levene 2011 (on aggressive bowl spells, and on the physical features
of some bowls, which were bound together in pairs).
Levene, Dan. “‘This Is a Qybl’ for Overturning Sorceries’: Form, Formula—Threads in a
Web of Transmission.” In Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition. Edited by
Gideon Bohak, Yuval Harari, and Shaul Shaked, 219–244. Jerusalem Studies in Religion
and Culture 15. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2011.
A detailed discussion of the (relatively rare) use of bowls for the writing of
aggressive spells, or countercharms, and of the physical features of some of these
bowls, including bowl pairs that were bound together with cords and sealed with
bitumen.

Levine, Baruch A. “The Language of the Magical Bowls.” In The History of the Jews in
Babylonia. Vol. 5, Later Sasanian Times. Edited by J. Neusner, 343–373. Leiden, The
Philological and linguistic notes on many of the previously published bowls.
Morony, Michael G. “Magic and Society in Late Sasanian Iraq.” In Prayer, Magic, and
the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World. Edited by Scott Noegel, Joel Walker,
and Brannon Wheeler, 83–107. Magic in History. University Park: Pennsylvania State
A broad survey of the bowls, their archaeological and social contexts, and their
place within the world of late-antique Mesopotamia as a whole. Based in part on
the author’s familiarity with the bowls in the Iraq Museum, to which few other
scholars had access in the late 20th century.
Müller-Kessler, Christa. “Lilit(s) in der aramäisch-magischen Literatur der Spätantike,
Teil I: Wüstenbeherrscherin, Baum-Lilit und Kindesräuberin.” Altorientalische
Forschungen 28 (2001): 338–352.
On the demonology of the Aramaic incantation bowls, and on the relations
between the Babylonian Aramaic incantations and those found in
contemporaneous and later Mandaic magical texts.
Shaked, Shaul. “Popular Religion in Sasanian Babylonia.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic
and Islam 21 (1997): 103–117.
A broad survey of the Babylonian Jewish incantation bowls, with special
emphasis on the Iranian elements they display.
Shaked, Shaul. “Transmission and Transformation of Spells: The Case of the Jewish
Babylonian Aramaic Bowls.” In Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition.
Edited by Gideon Bohak, Yuval Harari, and Shaul Shaked, 187–217. Jerusalem Studies
in Religion and Culture 15. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2011.
A detailed discussion of the different types of spells and formulae that appear on
the bowls, and of how their producers mixed and matched different formulae in
order to suit both the client’s needs and the writing space available to them on the
bowl’s interior.
Major Textual Corpora
Unfortunately, the publication of Aramaic incantation bowls is a random affair, because
these bowls end up in many different public and private collections, and many bowls thus
were published by scholars who happened to gain access to one or two bowls. There are,

however, some publications that cover major collections, and these are the best starting
points for anyone interested in this vast and unruly field. In addition to the bowls
published in Naveh and Shaked 1998 and Naveh and Shaked 1993 (both cited under
Amulets), one may point to the numerous older publications, such as Gordon 1941 and
Geller 1986, and to the larger corpora found in Segal 2000 (with a complete edition of all
the British Museum bowls), Levene 2003 (an edition of a selection of bowls from the
Moussaieff collection), Müller-Kessler 2005 (an edition of the bowls from the Hilprecht
collection), and Shaked, et al. 2012 (which, when completed, will provide a full edition
of all the bowls in the Martin Schøyen collection, the largest bowl collection in the
world). Numerous other papers, which publish small numbers of bowls, will not be
mentioned here.
Geller, M. J. “Eight Incantation Bowls.” Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 17 (1986):
101–117.
A publication of eight different incantation bowls.
Gordon, Cyrus H. “Aramaic Incantation Bowls.” Orientalia 10 (1941): 116–141, 272–
276, 278–289, 339–360.
A publication of eleven different incantation bowls.
Levene, Dan. A Corpus of Magic Bowls: Incantation Texts in Jewish Aramaic from Late
Antiquity. Kegan Paul Library of Jewish Studies. London: Kegan Paul, 2003.
An edition, translation, and commentary of twenty Aramaic incantation bowls
from the Moussaieff collection.
Müller-Kessler, Christa. Die Zauberschalentexte in der Hilprecht-Sammlung Jena, und
weitere Nippur-Texte anderer Sammlungen. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 2005.
An edition, translation, and commentary of the Aramaic incantation bowls from
the Hilprecht Collection in Jena, originally excavated at Nippur.
Segal, J. B. Catalogue of the Aramaic and Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the British
Museum. London: British Museum Press, 2000.
The much-delayed publication of the 142 incantation bowls in the British
Museum, of which seventy-five are in Aramaic. Several important reviews of this
work point to its shortcomings and correct many of Segal’s readings and
interpretations.
Shaked, Shaul, J. N. Ford, and Siam Bhayro. Aramaic Bowl Spells: Jewish Babylonian
Aramaic Bowls. Magical and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity 1. Leiden, The

The first volume of a projected seven-volume series, which will include editions,
translations, and commentaries of the 650 bowls in the Martin Schøyen
Collection, most of which are written in Babylonian Jewish Aramaic.
Other Late-Antique Jewish Magical Objects
Whereas Aramaic and Hebrew metal-plate amulets and incantation bowls have been
found in great abundance, it is clear that Jews also produced many other types of magical
artifacts in Late Antiquity. Aramaic magical papyri (such as the one discussed in Geller
1985)—both amulets and recipe books, and perhaps aggressive and erotic spells as
well—must have been quite common, but perished long ago because they happened to
have been written on organic materials. Inscriptions on human skulls must have been
much less common, but several intriguing specimens—studied for the first time in
Levene 2006—document this practice too.
Geller, M. J. “An Aramaic Incantation from Oxyrhynchos.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie
und Epigraphik 58 (1985): 96–98.
Reedits an Aramaic papyrus originally published by Cowley, and stresses its
magical contents, which might consist of three separate magical recipes.
Levene, Dan. “Calvariae Magicae: The Berlin, Philadelphia and Moussaieff Skulls (Tab.
XXXVII–XLIX).” Orientalia 75 (2006): 359–379.
A pioneering study of five human skulls inscribed with Aramaic texts and
probably used for magical or divinatory purposes (e.g., necromancy). Although
the authenticity of one of these skulls may be suspect, and the others are illegible
or barely legible, their mere existence seems to prove Jewish employment of other
magical practices beyond the production of amulets and incantation bowls.
Genizah Magical Texts
The Cairo Genizah is a collection of approximately 200,000 paper and parchment
fragments found in a Jewish synagogue in Cairo and dating from the 9th to the 19th
centuries. Among the many magical fragments found in the Cairo Genizah, a substantial
number probably preserve copies of copies of late-antique Palestinian Jewish magical
texts (as noted in Bohak 2009), although a much smaller number are likely to be copies
of copies of Babylonian Jewish magical texts of Late Antiquity (all the other Genizah
magical texts are medieval in origin). Such fragments are extremely valuable sources for
the study of Jewish magic in Late Antiquity, but it must always be remembered that the
fragments are medieval and that the texts they preserve clearly were transformed in the
process of transmission. And yet parallels between some Genizah magical texts and the
late-antique amulets, and even some incantation bowls, prove that ancient magical texts
often were copied and recopied for many generations. The relevance of the Genizah
fragments for the study of ancient Jewish magic was first made clear when Mordecai
Margalioth reconstructed Sefer ha-Razim from such fragments and from non-Genizah

manuscripts (Margalioth 1966, cited under Sefer ha-Razim [The Book of Mysteries]), and
subsequent publications in Naveh and Shaked 1998 and Naveh and Shaked 1993 (both
cited under Amulets) encouraged a more systematic search for such fragments. The most
important publications are Schiffman and Swartz 1992 and Schäfer and Shaked 1994–
1999, and useful general surveys of this material are provided by Wasserstrom 2005 and
Bohak 2010.
Bohak, Gideon. “The Jewish Magical Tradition from Late Antique Palestine to the Cairo
Genizah.” In From Hellenism to Islam: Cultural and Linguistic Change in the Roman
Near East. Edited by Hannah Cotton, Robert Hoyland, Jonathan Price, and David
Wasserstein, 324–339. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Documents the continuity of some Jewish magical recipes and practices from Late
Antiquity to the Cairo Genizah, and stresses the Genizah texts’ potential
contribution to the study of ancient Jewish magic.
Bohak, Gideon. “Towards a Catalogue of the Magical, Astrological, Divinatory and
Alchemical Fragments from the Cambridge Genizah Collections.” In “From a Sacred
Source”: Genizah Studies in Honour of Professor Stefan C. Reif. Edited by Ben
Outhwaite and Siam Bhayro, 53–79. Études sur le Judaïsme Médiéval 42, Cambridge
Genizah Studies Series 1. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2010.
A broad survey of the Genizah magical, astrological, divinatory, and alchemical
fragments, including a first attempt to break down each category into more
specific genres and types of texts. Of the approximately 140,000 Genizah
fragments in the Cambridge University Library, more than one thousand contain
magical texts, including many that are likely to be of a late-antique origin.
Schäfer, Peter, and Shaul Shaked. Magische Texte aus der Kairoer Geniza. 3 vols. Texte
und Studien zum Antiken Judentum. Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr, 1994–1999.
An edition, translation, and commentary on more than eighty Genizah fragments
with magical and magic-related contents, including many magical texts that
probably are copies of copies of late-antique magical formulae.
Schiffman, Lawrence H., and Michael D. Swartz. Hebrew and Aramaic Incantation Texts
from the Cairo Genizah: Selected Texts from Taylor-Schechter Box K1. Semitic Texts
and Studies 1. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1992.
An edition, translation, and commentary on fourteen Genizah amulets, some of
whose formulae may have late-antique roots, with an excellent introduction on the
Genizah magical texts as a whole.
Wasserstrom, Steven M. “The Unwritten Chapter: Notes towards a Social and Religious
History of Geniza Magic.” In Officina Magica: Essays on the Practice of Magic in

Antiquity. Edited by Shaul Shaked, 269–293. IJS Studies in Judaica 4. Leiden, The
A plea for the study of the Genizah magical texts, and especially for their
contextualization within the social and religious life of the Jewish community of
medieval Cairo.
Sefer ha-Razim (The Book of Mysteries)
Sefer ha-Razim is by far the best-known book of ancient Jewish magic. It was first
reconstructed in Margalioth 1966, on the basis of several medieval manuscripts and
Genizah fragments, and has now been reedited in Rebiger and Schäfer 2009, which also
edits its Latin and Arabic versions (for the latter, see also Fodor 2006). For an English
translation of Margalioth’s text, see Morgan 1983. The text contains a preface, which
stresses its supposed angelic origins and lists all the biblical figures who had used it (no
doubt a mechanism of legitimation for its late-antique author(s) and readers), and a set of
seven heavens, each with its own magical recipes. For each of the lower six heavens, long
lists of the angels residing there and the functions that these angels fulfill are followed by
detailed instructions on how to adjure these angels and coerce them to do one’s bidding
(for detailed analyses of these instructions, see Niggemeyer 1975 and Gruenwald 2011).
Only for the seventh heaven, occupied by God, are no magical instructions provided. The
recipes display many resemblances to the magical recipes of the Greek magical papyri,
and there is no doubt that the author of Sefer ha-Razim—who probably lived in one of the
urban centers of Byzantine Palestine—had an intimate knowledge of the Greco-Egyptian
magical tradition, which was thoroughly pagan in its outlook and its practices. Thus Sefer
ha-Razim shows how pagan Greek magic could be modified to suit some Jewish religious
sensitivities and embedded in a book that did its best to look like a standard Jewish
pseudepigraphon.
Fodor, Alexander. “An Arabic Version of Sefer ha-Razim.” Jewish Studies Quarterly 13
(2006): 412–427.
On an Arabic version of Sefer ha-Razim (and Sefer Adam) found in a manuscript
in the author’s possession, and on the references to Sefer ha-Razim in medieval
Arabic literature.
Gruenwald, Ithamar. “When Magical Techniques and Mystical Practices Become
Neighbors: Methodological Considerations.” In Continuity and Innovation in the Magical
Tradition. Edited by Gideon Bohak, Yuval Harari, and Shaul Shaked, 159–186.
Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture 15. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2011.
An analysis of the ritual dynamics of ancient Jewish magic, with a specific
example from Sefer ha-Razim used to illustrate the potential implications of ritual
theory for the analysis of Jewish magical recipes.

Margalioth, Mordecai. Sefer ha-razim: Hu sefer keshafim mi-tekufat ha-Talmud. Tel
Aviv: Yediot Acharonot, 1966.
Margalioth’s pioneering edition of this important text, which he reconstructed
from numerous manuscripts and Genizah fragments, and to which he appended an
important introduction discussing the work’s late-antique Jewish origins and its
later transmission history.
Morgan, Michael A., trans. Sepher ha-Razim: The Book of the Mysteries. Chico, CA:
Scholars Press, 1983.
A reliable English translation of the book, based on Margalioth’s text.
Niggemeyer, Jens-Heinrich. Beschwörungsformeln aus dem “Buch der Geheimnisse”
(Sefär ha-Razîm): Zur Topologie der magischen Rede. Judäistische Texte und Studien 3.
Hildesheim, West Germany: Olms, 1975.
A meticulous analysis of the different types of adjuration formulae found in Sefer
ha-Razim, the different components of the magical speeches enjoined by its
different recipes, and the function of each verbal component.
Rebiger, Bill, and Peter Schäfer. Sefer ha-Razim I und II: Das Buch der Geheimnisse I
und II. 2 vols. Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr
Siebeck, 2009.
A complete edition of all the textual evidence for Sefer ha-Razim and for Sefer
Adam (Sefer ha-Razim II), and a detailed study of the work’s textual history and
historical context.
Harba de-Moshe (The Sword of Moses)
The Sword of Moses was first published in Gaster 1971 and was republished in Harari
1997. It is a late-antique Jewish magical text that consists of three distinct parts: an
introduction, a magical “sword” (which is a series of meaningless magic words), and a set
of roughly 140 magical recipes, each involving the recitation, or writing down, of a small
part of the “sword,” usually as a part of a relatively simple magical ritual. The date and
provenance of this text are not entirely clear, but the presence of some garbled Hebrew
transliterations of Greek sentences (as analyzed in Rohrbacher-Sticker 1996) argues for a
late-antique Palestinian origin of some of the book’s components, although its Aramaic
and the nature of its magical praxis argue for a Babylonian Jewish origin, probably in a
rural setting, of some of its magical rituals. The basic claim, that Moses had a verbal
“sword” with which he could work his great miracles, is also found in rabbinic literature,
as was highlighted in Harari 2005. Unlike Sefer ha-Razim, which is widely attested in
medieval Jewish manuscripts, The Sword of Moses is attested only in a handful of
Genizah fragments and non-Genizah manuscripts, which shows that it was relatively

neglected by later Jewish readers. However, like Sefer ha-Razim, it too was translated at
some point into Arabic, as noted in Fodor 2011.
Fodor, Alexander. “An Arabic Version of ‘The Sword of Moses.’” In Continuity and
Innovation in the Magical Tradition. Edited by Gideon Bohak, Yuval Harari, and Shaul
Shaked, 341–385. Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture 15. Leiden, The
Describes a modern Arabic manuscript in the author’s possession that preserves
several magical texts, including a reworked Arabic version of The Sword of
Moses.
Gaster, Moses. “The Sword of Moses.” In Studies and Texts in Folklore, Magic,
Mediaeval Romance, Hebrew Apocrypha and Samaritan Archaeology. Vol. 1. By Moses
Gaster, 288–337. New York: Ktav, 1971.
Gaster’s edition and translation of the text, from a manuscript in his possession.
Originally published in 1896; continues in Volume 3, pp. 69–103.
Harari, Yuval. Harba de-Mosheh: Mahadurah hadashah u-mehkar. Jerusalem:
Akademon, 1997.
A re-edition of The Sword of Moses, based on a manuscript (Sassoon 290) that is
better than the one used by Gaster. Includes a detailed introduction about the
book, its likely historical context, and its possible redaction history.
Harari, Yuval. “Sword, Moses, and The Sword of Moses: Between Rabbinical and
Magical Traditions.” Jewish Studies Quarterly 12 (2005): 293–329.
A survey of important aspects of The Sword of Moses, including its structure,
provenance, and aims, with special emphasis on the ancient traditions about
Moses’s magical powers and his magical “sword.”
Rohrbacher-Sticker, Claudia. “From Sense to Nonsense, from Incantation Prayer to
Magical Spell.” Jewish Studies Quarterly 3 (1996): 24–46.
An important study of some of the “magic words” that appear in the “sword”
section of The Sword of Moses, including a demonstration of the Greek origins of
some of these words, which were garbled by later scribes into meaningless series
of supposedly “magic” words.
Other Ancient Jewish Magical Texts
In addition to the better-known Sefer ha-Razim and The Sword of Moses, a handful of
other Jewish magical books stem from the pre-Islamic period, and a few others probably
stem from the early Islamic period but may preserve older materials as well.

Unfortunately, these texts have not yet received enough scholarly attention, and much
remains to be done before we have complete texts, and detailed attempts at historical
contextualizations, for each of these texts. Probably the most interesting of these texts is
the Pishra de-Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa (edited in Michelini Tocci 1986), which is a
Babylonian Jewish text that clearly goes back to Late Antiquity, if not even earlier. The
other texts, including Sefer Adam (edited in Rebiger and Schäfer 2009, cited under Sefer
ha-Razim [The Book of Mysteries], as Sefer ha-Razim II), the Havdala de-Rabbi Akiba
(edited in Scholem 2004), Sefer ha-Yashar and Sefer ha-Malbush (both edited in
Wandrey 2004), the Shimmush Tehillim (see Rebiger 2010), and the Prayer of Rav
Hamnuna Sava (see Herrmann 2003) may be later compositions. However, a full
assessment of the origins and transmission histories of these Jewish magical texts will
only become possible once all the relevant textual evidence (including the many Genizah
fragments thereof) is identified, edited, and studied in greater detail.
Herrmann, Klaus. “Jewish Mysticism in the Geonic Period: The Prayer of Rav Hamnuna
Sava.” In Jewish Studies between the Disciplines = Judaistik zwischen den Disziplinen:
Papers in Honor of Peter Schäfer on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday. Edited by Klaus
Herrmann, Margarete Schlüter, and Giuseppe Veltri, 180–217. Leiden, The Netherlands:
Brill, 2003.
A detailed study of a mystical prayer, accompanied by a magical ritual for the
mastery of Torah. Although the origins of this text are not clear, parallels with the
Babylonian incantation bowls prove that at least some of its textual units are of
late-antique, Babylonian origin.
Michelini Tocci, Franco. “Note e documenti di letterature religiosa e parareligiosa
giudaica.” Annali dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli 46 (1986): 101–108.
Includes a partial edition of the Pishra de-Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa, a Babylonian
Jewish Aramaic magical spell for the removal of all witchcraft that is heavily
indebted to earlier Babylonian antiwitchcraft texts and that probably is
contemporaneous with, or even earlier than, the Babylonian incantation bowls.
Several more manuscripts and Genizah fragments of this text have since been
identified.
Rebiger, Bill, ed. Sefer Shimmush Tehillim: Buch vom magischen Gebrauch der
Psalmen; Edition, Übersetzung und Kommentar. Texte und Studien zum Antiken
Judentum 137. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.
An edition, translation, and detailed study of Sefer Shimmush Tehillim, which
provides detailed instructions for the magical use of each of the 150 psalms.
Although the book’s origins are not entirely clear, it is one of the most popular
books of Jewish magic of all time.

Scholem, Gershom. “Havdala de-Rabbi Aqiva: Maqor le-masoret ha-magiyah ha-Yehudit
bi-tekufat ha-Geonim.” In Shedim, ruhot u-neshamot: Mehkarim be-demonologyah. By
Gershom Scholem, 145–182. Edited by Esther Liebes. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi, 2004.
An edition, and a study, of a set of magical spells to be recited at the end of the
Sabbath, for protection against demons and other sources of evil. Although the
text likely stems from the early Islamic period, close parallels with the incantation
bowls prove that at least some of its components are late antique, and Babylonian-
Jewish, in origins. Originally published in 1980/1981.
Wandrey, Irina. “Das Buch des Gewandes” und “Das Buch des Aufrechten”: Dokumente
eines magischen spätantiken Rituals, ediert, kommentiert und übersetzt. Texte und
Studien zum Antiken Judentum 96. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.
An edition and study of two Jewish magical texts—Sefer ha-Malbush and Sefer
ha-Yashar—which probably date to the geonic period (roughly late-6th to early-
11th century ce), but may preserve or transform Jewish magical texts and
practices of Late Antiquity.
Jewish Magic in Late Antiquity: Primary Sources in Greek
Whereas ancient magical texts written in Aramaic and Hebrew and in the square Hebrew
script may safely be assumed to have been written by Jews, ancient magical texts written
in Greek—the lingua franca of the eastern half of the Roman empire—were produced by
pagan, Christian, and Jewish magicians alike. Thus any attempt to sift out of the Greek
magical texts of Late Antiquity those texts that are likely to have been produced by
Jewish practitioners (for Jewish or non-Jewish clients) is bound to be controversial. And
yet the potential contribution of these sources to the study of ancient Jewish magic is
great, because they complement the data provided by the Aramaic and Hebrew magical
texts and shed light on issues—such as the magical practices of the Jews of the Greek-
speaking Diaspora—which the Semitic sources simply cannot illuminate.
Jewish Magic in the Greek Magical Papyri
The Greek magical papyri (or PGM, for their Latin name, Papyri Graecae Magicae) is a
name given by modern scholars to a set of magical texts found in several different sites in
Roman Egypt (with a bulk of the texts apparently coming from Roman Thebes, in
southern Egypt). They were first edited as a collection in Preisendanz 1973–1974 and
were translated into English in Betz 1992; further Greek magical papyri were published
in Daniel and Maltomini 1990–1992. Almost all of these magical texts are pagan in
origin and display an interesting Greco-Egyptian, or Aegypto-Greek, fusion, but among
their many spells and recipes, many show some Jewish influences, and a few may even
have come from Jewish practitioners. Although the Jewish contribution to the Greek
magical papyri is not in doubt, circumscribing it exactly has been a matter of some
scholarly controversy, especially as some elements that may seem “Jewish” to us (e.g.,
references to a god who created the universe) may have had nothing to do with Jews or

Judaism, because they are attested in other ancient religions as well. There have been
many attempts to isolate the Jewish elements in the PGM, and useful surveys are
provided by Fernández Marcos 1985, Smith 1996, and Alexander 1999. LiDonnici 2007
takes a slightly different path, by examining what the PGM copyists have to say about
those elements or recipes that we might identify as “Jewish.”
Alexander, Philip S. “Jewish Elements in Gnosticism and Magic, c. CE 70–c. CE 270.”
In The Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol. 3, The Early Roman Period. Edited by W.
Horbury, W. D. Davies, and John Sturdy, 1052–1078. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
Surveys the Jewish influences on the pagan Greek magical texts, and shows that
at least in some cases we can postulate Jewish origins of specific texts but also
note how they were miscopied by their non-Jewish users, who did not always
understand the texts they were copying.
Betz, Hans Dieter, ed. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic
Spells. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
The standard English translation of the Greek and Demotic magical papyri.
Daniel, Robert W., and Franco Maltomini, eds. and trans. Supplementum Magicum. 2
vols. Papyrologica Coloniensia. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1990–1992.
An edition, accompanied by English translations and brief commentaries, of
Greek magical papyri that came to light after the publication of Preisendanz’s
PGM (1973–1974).
Fernández Marcos, Natalio. “Motivos Judíos en los papiros mágicos griegos.” In
Religión, Superstición y Magia en el Mundo Romano, 101–127. Cadiz, Spain:
Departamento de Historia Antigua, Universidad de Cádiz, 1985.
A detailed survey of all the Jewish elements that may be found in the Greek
magical papyri and related pagan magical texts, including references to Iaô (and
his many other names), Jewish angels such as Michael, and such biblical figures
as Moses, Abraham, and Isaac, as well as allusions to biblical scenes and the use
of “magic words” of Jewish origins.
LiDonnici, Lynn. “‘According to the Jews’: Identified (and Identifying) ‘Jewish’
Elements in the Greek Magical Papyri.” In Heavenly Tablets: Interpretation, Identity and
Tradition in Ancient Judaism. Edited by Lynn LiDonnici and Andrea Lieber, 87–108.
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 119. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill,
2007.

Tries to examine what the PGM copyists had to say about those elements that we
might identify as “Jewish,” including cases where Jewish elements are correctly
identified as such, but also cases where seemingly Jewish recipes are identified as
having supposedly pagan origins, and seemingly pagan ones are said to be Jewish.
Preisendanz, Karl, ed. and trans. Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die griechischen
Zauberpapyri. 2d ed. 2 vols. Revised by A. Heinrichs. Stuttgart: Teubner, 1973–1974.
The standard edition of the Greek magical papyri, with a facing German
translation. Originally published in 1928–1931.
Smith, Morton. “The Jewish Elements in the Magical Papyri.” In Studies in the Cult of
Yahweh. Vol. 2, New Testament, Early Christianity, and Magic. By Morton Smith, 242–
256. Edited by Shaye J. D. Cohen. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World. Leiden, The
Netherlands: Brill 1996.
A survey of individual recipes in the Greek magical papyri, in order to see which
display no Jewish influence at all; which display some Jewish influences, and of
what kind; and which magical recipes may be considered to have been borrowed
from Jewish sources. Smith isolates a few dozen PGM passages in which Jewish
elements are more prominent. Originally published in 1986.
Jewish Magic in Greek Amulets and Curse Tablets
In addition to the Greek magical papyri, which stem exclusively from Egypt (due to its
dry climate, which helped preserve them), the magical practices of the Greco-Roman
world are amply documented by numerous Greek inscribed amulets, written on thin
sheets of metal, and even more numerous curse tablets (defixiones), inscribed on thin
sheets of lead. Both types of texts have been published in numerous collections and
specific studies, with Kotansky 1994 providing the best point of entry into the world of
the Greek amulets, and Gager 1992 into the world of the Greek curse tablets. Both types
of magical artifacts sometimes display Jewish elements, and in some cases it seems likely
that a specific amulet or curse tablet was produced by a Jewish scribe, or reproduced a
magical spell originally composed by one. However, the question of how exactly to
decide for sure that a certain amulet or curse tablet is “Jewish” remains debated, as may
be seen from comparing Veltri 1996 and Bohak 2003. Jordan and Kotansky 1997 edits a
silver amulet that displays many Jewish elements, and Kraus 2005 studies amulets that
are likely to be Christian but may have had some Jewish precursors.
Bohak, Gideon. “Hebrew, Hebrew Everywhere? Notes on the Interpretation of Voces
Magicae.” In Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World. Edited
by Scott B. Noegel, Joel Walker, and Brannon M. Wheeler, 69–82. Magic in History.
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003.
Analyzes the Hebrew words and terms that entered the Greco-Egyptian magical
tradition in Late Antiquity, and offers methodological guidelines for the

identification of such instances, so as to avoid bogus Hebrew “etymologies” of
every “magic word” in the PGM.
Gager, John G., ed. Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
An anthology of Greek curse tablets in English translation, with short
commentaries. Adduces some Jewish parallels, and includes some curse tablets
that are likely to be of Jewish origins, such as the famous Hadrumetum tablet (no.
36).
Jordan, David R., and Roy D. Kotansky. “A Solomonic Exorcism (Inv. T 3).” In Kölner
Papyri. Vol. 8. Edited by Michael Gronewald, Klaus Maresch, and Cornelia Römer, 53–
69. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1997.
Publication of a silver amulet that displays many Jewish elements, including what
may be an attempt to reproduce the “Seal of Solomon” by writing the
Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew script.
Kotansky, Roy. Greek Magical Amulets: The Inscribed Gold, Silver, Copper, and Bronze
“Lamellae”: Text and Commentary. Part 1, Published Texts of Known Provenance.
Papyrologica Coloniensia 22.1. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994.
A re-edition, with translation and commentaries, of numerous Greek amulets,
including some that are likely to be of Jewish origins or display clear Jewish
influences (e.g., nos. 2, 32, 33, and 56).
Kraus, Thomas J. “Septuaginta-Psalm 90 in apotropäischer Verwendung:
Vorüberlegungen für eine kritische Edition und (bisheriges) Datenmaterial.” Biblische
Notizen 125 (2005): 39–73.
Lists the Greek amulets of Late Antiquity that make use of Septuagint Psalm 90
(91 in the Hebrew Bible), whose apotropaic use among Jews is attested already in
the Second Temple period, although all the amulets listed here are likely to be
Christian, as noted by the author.
Veltri, Giuseppe. “Jewish Traditions in Greek Amulets.” Bulletin of Judaeo-Greek
Studies 18 (1996): 33–47.
Tries to identify more Jewish elements in the amulets published in Kotansky 1994
and provides a brief bibliography of ancient Jewish magic.
Jewish Magical Gems
Although more than five thousand ancient magical gems have been found thus far, the
vast majority carries Greek inscriptions and pagan iconography and displays no clear

signs of a Jewish provenance. There are, however, about a dozen ancient magical gems
with Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions, which certainly deserve to be studied as a group,
and—unless they are proven to be later (i.e., Renaissance or early modern) forgeries—
incorporated into the study of ancient Jewish magic. Bonner 1950 remains the most
essential study of magical gems; Michel 2001 is an edition of a large collection of
magical gems, including some that might be Jewish; and Spier 2007 is an excellent
starting point for the study of late-antique Christian (and Jewish) gems, while Nagy 2002
and Mastrocinque 2002 are more speculative.
Bonner, Campbell. Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1950.
Still the most comprehensive and authoritative survey of the magical gems from
the Greco-Roman world. Includes some discussions of the Jewish elements
prominent in some of the pagan magical gems.
Mastrocinque, Attilio. “Studies in Gnostic Gems: The Gem of Judah.” Journal for the
Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Periods 33 (2002): 164–170.
This oft-discussed magical gem, which has on the obverse a lion-headed deity in
Roman military garb and on the reverse the inscription Ioudas, should be
explained in light of the biblical and postbiblical traditions about Judah, including
his identification as a lion’s whelp (Genesis 49:9).
Michel, Simone. Die magischen Gemmen im Britischen Museum. Edited by Peter Zazoff
and Hilde Zazoff. 2 vols. London: British Museum Press, 2001.
An annotated edition of the large collection of magical gems in the British
Museum, including some gems (e.g., nos. 472–473, 551, 554) which and are
likely to be Jewish in origin.
Nagy, Árpád M. “Figuring Out the Anguipede (“Snake-Legged God”) and His Relation
to Judaism.” Journal of Roman Archaeology 15 (2002): 159–172.
The image of a hybrid deity with a cock’s head and snake legs, which is
ubiquitous on Greek magical gems (and often is identified as Abrasax or as Iaô),
is a representation of the Jewish god. His biblical appellation gibbor (mighty
hero) gave rise to the cock’s head (cock = gever in Hebrew) and snake legs
(gibbor equated with the snake-legged Giants of Greek mythology).
Spier, Jeffrey. Late Antique and Early Christian Gems. Wiesbaden, Germany: Reichert,
2007.
A detailed discussion and catalogue of ancient Christian gems, including magical
gems, and a useful discussion of the known Jewish magical gems of Late
Antiquity (nos. 953–962).

The Testament of Solomon
In its presently known form, The Testament of Solomon is a Christian text telling the
story of Solomon’s subjugation of the demons, including the useful antidemonic lore he
had acquired from them. The Testament is extant in several different recensions, all of
which display Christian elements, and although it may have had Jewish antecedents (and
although parts of its story are paralleled in rabbinic literature), it is simply impossible to
extract the Jewish layers out of the Christian text. The different recensions were edited in
McCown 1922, and this edition has served as the basis for all subsequent studies, with an
important early textual witness added in Daniel 1983, an English translation provided in
Duling 1983, and a German translation and commentary in Busch 2006. Monferrer-Sala
2006 edits the important Arabic version, which has not yet received much attention.
Torijano 2002 surveys the different esoteric texts associated with Solomon in Antiquity,
and his image as an exorcist, an astrologer, and a magician. Klutz 2005 tries to
reconstruct the redactional history of this multilayered text, and Schwarz 2007 surveys
the different issues connected with The Testament and suggests that its mixture of
narrative and magical instructions is typical of Byzantine books of magic.
Busch, Peter. Das Testament Salomos: Die älteste christliche Dämonologie, kommentiert
und in deutscher Erstübersetzung. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der
Altchristlichen Literatur 153. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006.
A German translation and a detailed commentary on The Testament of Solomon.
Daniel, Robert. “The Testament of Solomon XVIII 27–28, 33–40.” In Papyrus Erzherzog
Rainer (P. Rainer Cent.): Festschrift zum 100-jährigen Bestehen der Papyrussammlung
der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek. Vol. 1, Textband, 294–304. Vienna: Hollinek,
1983.
An edition of an important papyrus fragment of The Testament of Solomon, or of
one of its sources.
Duling, Dennis C. “The Testament of Solomon: A New Translation and Introduction.” In
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vol. 1, Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments.
Edited by James H. Charlesworth, 935–987. New York: Doubleday, 1983.
The standard English translation of The Testament of Solomon.
Klutz, Todd E. Rewriting The Testament of Solomon: Tradition, Conflict, and Identity in
a Late Antique Pseudepigraphon. Library of Second Temple Studies 53. London: T&T
Clark, 2005.
Reconstructs the possible redaction history of The Testament of Solomon, with
special emphasis on its astrological underpinnings and the differing views in
magic in its different textual layers.

McCown, Chester Charlton, ed. The Testament of Solomon. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1922.
The standard edition of The Testament of Solomon. An excellent piece of
philological research, but sorely in need of updating in light of more recent textual
discoveries.
Monferrer-Sala, Juan Pedro, ed. and trans. Testamentum Salomonis Arabicum: Edición,
traducción y estudio. Studia Semitica 5. Córdoba, Spain: Universidad de Córdoba, 2006.
An edition of the Arabic version of The Testament of Solomon.
Schwarz, Sarah L. “Reconsidering the Testament of Solomon.” Journal for the Study of
the Pseudepigrapha 16 (2007): 203–237.
Surveys the scholarship on The Testament of Solomon, and notes that although
some of its components probably originated with Jewish authors and tradents,
others are clearly Christian in origin.
Torijano, Pablo A. Solomon the Esoteric King: From King to Magus, Development of a
Tradition. JSJ Supplements 73. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002.
A broad survey of the image of Solomon as an exorcist, a Hermetic sage, and a
magician in ancient Jewish and Christian literature, including The Testament of
Solomon.
The Aims and Techniques of Ancient Jewish Magic
Although much of the scholarly attention devoted to ancient Jewish magic was focused
on editing the relevant sources and studying their broader history, several important
studies were devoted to the specific aims of some of the Jewish magical recipes, amulets,
and curses. Harari 1997, Harari 2000, and Harari 2004 deal with aggressive, economic,
and memory-enhancing magic, respectively. Saar 2008 provides a thorough coverage of
erotic Jewish magic, and Verman and Adler 1993–1994 deals with magical rituals for
instantaneous teleportation. But other Jewish magical practices, including many that deal
with divinatory magic (e.g., for catching thieves or for finding hidden treasures) have yet
to be subjected to such in-depth studies.
Harari, Yuval. “Im bikashta laharog adam: kishfei heizek ve-hitgonenut mipneihem ba-
magiyah ha-yehudit ha-qedumah.” Jewish Studies 37 (1997): 111–142.
A survey of the aggressive magical practices attested in ancient Jewish magical
texts and in the Cairo Genizah, including the production of “voodoo dolls” and
attempts to sow enmity between people and separate men from their wives.

Harari, Yuval. “Koah ve-kesef: Heibetim kalkaliyim shel ha-shimush bi-keshafim bi-ydei
yehudim ba-et ha-atikah uve-yemei ha-beinayim ha-mukdamim.” Pe’amim 85 (2000):
14–42.
Surveys the different ancient Jewish magical practices aimed at economic or
financial gain, including magical rituals to help in agriculture (by far the largest
group), in industrial workshops, in commerce, and even in marrying a rich wife or
finding a treasure.
Harari, Yuval. “‘La’asot petihat lev’: Praktikot magiyot li-yedi’ah, le-havanah uli-zekhira
ba-yahadut ba-et ha-atikah uve-yemei ha-beinayim ha-mukdamim.” In Shefa’ tal: Iyunim
be-mahshevet Yisra’el uve-tarbut Yisra’el, mugashim li-Verakhah Zak. Edited by Zeev
Gries, Howard T. Kreisel, and Boaz Huss, 303–347. Beersheba, Israel: Ben-Gurion
On ancient and early medieval Jewish magical recipes and practices for the
enhancement of one’s ability to study, understand, and memorize knowledge,
which reflect both a human desire for knowledge (and especially the knowledge
of future events) and a uniquely rabbinic concern for the mastery of Torah.
Saar, Ortal-Paz. “Magiyat ahavah yehudit: Mi-shilhe ha-et ha-atikah ve-ad yeme ha-
benaim.” PhD diss., Tel-Aviv University, 2008.
A detailed study of erotic Jewish magic, in Late Antiquity and in the early Middle
Ages, with special emphasis on the close connections between sexual and erotic
magic, on the one hand, and magic for winning “charm and grace” (in the eyes of
other individuals, and even of whole communities), on the other.
Verman, Mark, and Shulamit H. Adler. “Path Jumping in the Jewish Magical Tradition.”
Jewish Studies Quarterly 1 (1993–1994): 131–148.
On late-antique and, especially, medieval Jewish stories of, and recipes for,
instantaneous teleportation, including the ability to appear in two places at the
same time.
Jewish Magic in Rabbinic Literature
As noted in Harari 2010 (cited under General Overviews), the 19th-century Wissenschaft
des Judentums movement was inimical to Jewish magic and refused to recognize even its
prominence in rabbinic Judaism, whose longest and most important text, the Babylonian
Talmud, is shot through with demonological and magical beliefs and practices. The
apologetic treatment of magic in rabbinic literature is still clearly visible in Urbach 1979,
but more recent studies leave such apologetics aside and study both the rabbis’ complex
attitudes toward magic and the magical practices known to them and practiced by them.
Seidel 1995, Veltri 1997, and Alexander 2005 (cited under Definitions and Methodology)
focus on the rabbinic discourse of magic, and Bar-Ilan 2002 deals more specifically with

Ancient Jewish Magic A Bibliography

Ancient Jewish Magic A Bibliography

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