Thelxis: Magic and Imagination in Greek Myth and PoetryThelxis means enchantment. This is not a book about real magic in Greek society but about idealized conceptions of magic in Greek myth and poetry. The author focuses on the magic in Greek myth and poetry from Homer to Theocritus, before the period of the Roman Empire. He does not hesitate to draw analogies from elsewhere, and on occasion he can be speculative. |
Common terms and phrases
Aeschylus ambiguous ancient Aphrodite associations audience become believe binding calls century Chapter charm claims culture dangerous dead death demonic Dionysos divine drugs effect enchanted energy erotic especially Euripides example experience expression fact fear female fifth figure finally force foreign Furies gift goddess gods Greece Greek hand Hekate Herakles Homer human imagery images imagination important interpretation Jason kind Kirke language later least less limits literally madness magic magician male means Medea merely metaphor mind Muses mysterious myth mythic nature never noted Odysseus once particular passion performance perhaps Persian persuasion Plato play poet poetic poetry poison possibilities question rational reference reflects religion represent rhetoric ritual role says sense serve shape skills song Sophocles spell strange suggest symbolic things thought tradition transform truth turn victim witch woman women Zeus