New methods for ancient texts

Magical texts of the Ancient Near East, Egypt and neighbouring regions are the focus of a new research group at the University of Würzburg. The DFG is providing around 3.5 million euros for the first phase. Worn as a note in an amulet around the neck, deposited in a grave or found as a manual in a scholar's library: magical texts were once widespread. They were used, among other things, in the hope to gain divine help in finding a partner, protection from adversaries and diseases or support on the way to the afterlife. "Such texts, which are referred to as 'magical' in modern research, are prominent in the written traditions of all ancient cultures of West Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean and represent an important source for the history of religion and ideas in antiquity," says Daniel Schwemer. Schwemer is professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU). Together with his colleagues Daniel Kölligan, professor of Comparative Linguistics, and Martin Andreas Stadler, professor of Egyptology, he will be taking a closer look at such magical texts in the coming years.