Profs & Pints DC: Ancient Magic and Witchcraft

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Ancient Magic and Witchcraft,” on beliefs in supernatural powers in the Greece and Rome of antiquity, with Barbette Spaeth, professor emerita of classical studies at the College of William & Mary.

In the Greco-Roman world of the ancient Mediterranean existed people who practiced magic and witchcraft in much the same way that we think of it today. They wrote down and uttered spells—for both themselves and their clients—to curse enemies, force others to fall in love, prophesy the future, heal both physical and mental injuries, and even raise the dead. Belief in their powers was widespread.

Take a scholarly journal back to antiquity to learn who practiced magic, and how they did it, with Professor Barbette Spaeth, an expert on Greek and Roman religion who has extensively researched ancient magic and witchcraft and offered two courses on it.

In a talk that has received rave…