New posts & Updates on my work

The Archaeology of Ancient Magic - Pantheistic Bes - Walters Art Museum, 54.540. CC0 1.0

Pantheistic Bes

This ancient bronze statuette showsa composite deity with the attributesof various individual gods: the face of the god Bes, the twin plumes and the ram…

The Archaeology of Ancient Magic - Egyptian Decans Quote Celsus

The Egyptian Decans

“In his polemical work against Christianity, written in 178, the Greek philosopher Celsus (in Origen C.Cels. 8.58) wrote that according to the Egyptians every part…

The Archaeology of Ancient Magic - Iaô

Iaô

Iaō is one of the most frequently mentioned higher powers in the Greek magical papyri. The name also occurs frequently on textual artefacts, but it…

The Archaeology of Ancient Magic - The Isis Aretology of Kyme and Head of Isis - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, F 1949/2.2 © Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden

The Isis Aretology of Kyme

An aretology is a list of a deity’s powers, virtues, miraculous deeds, and attributes. Six Isis’ aretologies are known to us today, dating from the…

The Archaeology of Ancient Magic - Statuette of Osiris - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 61.45, Public Domain

Statuette of Osiris (with video)

Osiris is most often represented as a shrouded mummy, emphasizing his connection with the dead. He holds a flail and a short shepherd’s crook, insignia…