Author Description

The Egyptians were famous in the ancient world for their knowledge of magic. Religion, medicine, technology and what we would today call magic coexisted without apparent conflict, and it was not uncommon for magical and "practical" remedies for illness, for example, to be used at the same time. Everyone turned to magic, from the pharaoh who protected his country with elaborate magical rituals to the expectant mother who used amulets to safeguard her unborn child. The book examines the fascinating connections between myth and magic, and the deities such as Bes and Isis who had special magical importance. It analyzes the techniques of magic, its practitioners and surviving magical texts, as well as the objects that were used in magic: figurines, statues, amulets and wands. A chapter is devoted to medicine and magic, and another to magic and the dead. Finally, it shows how elements and influences of Egyptian magic survived or were taken over by later societies, up to the 21st century.