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On Monday, 13 May 2024, MagEIA had the pleasure of welcoming Sara Chiarini (University of Hamburg), who gave a lecture entitled “Messenger, chthonic deity, intercessor, executor: on the polyvalence of the nekydaimōn in the Greco-Roman ritual world” (original title: „Bote, chthonische Gottheit, Fürsprecher, Vollstrecker: zur Polyvalenz des nekydaimōn in der griechisch-römischen Ritualwelt“) as part of the lecture series organised by the Würzburg Centre for Ancient Studies (WAZ-Ringvorlesung).

Whether in prayers, instructions for certain rituals, or curse tablets, the spirits of the dead (nekydaímones), especially those who died prematurely (áoroi) and/or violently (biaiothánatoi), were involved in various ritual practices of Greco-Roman antiquity. The overview presented during the lecture illustrated how unsystematic, and therefore uncodified, the understanding of the nature and abilities of these characters was.

More specifically, the role of the nekydaímones was analysed in relation to the other two main actors involved in such rituals, namely the (mostly chthonic) deities and the human practitioners. The most plausible function of the nekydaímones has long been considered to be that of messengers and mediators between the mortal and divine spheres, carrying human petitions to their divine recipients in the Underworld for the latter to fulfil.

However, a systematic review of all occurrences of nekydaímones in both ancient curse tablets and the so-called Greek Magical Papyri has shown that the spirits of the dead were entrusted with a much more active and crucial role than one might initially assume. Very often, they are addressed as the actual executors of the spell, according to a model in which the human suppliant invokes one or more gods, most often Hekate and/or Hermes, to move the nekydaímones into action and thereby fulfil the aim of the ritual.

Elsewhere, the nekydaímones are invoked along with the gods or even alone, thus assigning them an authority and a power comparable to those of the immortal deities. They alone seem to have been considered capable of acting and influencing the world of the living without the intervention or the guidance of higher divine agents.

Although the sources might lead one to believe that the nekydaímones grew in importance and power over time in the realm of harmful rituals, one must be careful in tracing such a development. There is evidence of a highly respectful attitude towards these spirits, as well as a belief in their great powers, dating back to as early as the fourth century BCE. It is therefore more reasonable to recognise a variety of functions that could possibly be attributed to the nekydaímones according to the cultural background and personal beliefs of the practitioners of cursing rituals since the earliest times of this ancient religious practice.

Sara Chiarini’s presentation stimulated many questions from the audience and a lively discussion ensued.

On the evening of Monday, May 6, SCIAS – the Siebold-Collegium Institute for Advanced Studies – invited its guests to experience three guest lectures in the lecture hall of the Welz House, where MagEIA research topics met the field of biomedicine. At the event, the visiting scholars presented their research areas in thirty-minute talks to their fellow guests, their hosts at the University of Würzburg, interested colleagues, and the general public. 

The first presentation of the evening, The language of the Hittite magical texts, was given by Paola Dardano (Università per Stranieri di Siena, Italy), Senior Fellow of the MagEIA project.  After an introduction to the Hittite textual documentation, she illustrated how magic, science, medicine, literature, and religion cannot be easily distinguished in the Hittite texts. “Magic” encompasses the whole field of religious behaviour that attempts to influence human success, well-being, health, and wealth by using methods that are neither based on rational experience nor solely on the private or public worship of a deity. The lecture presented the reasons why it is worthwhile to study the language of Hittite magical texts. Previous studies have been generally carried out under a philological approach. The question of the language as it pertains to magical texts, and specifically its phraseological structures, has received much less attention. The analysis of the language of Hittite magical texts, which aims to integrate the philologist’s with the linguist’s perspective, represents an innovative point of view. Paola Dardano also focused on the multilingualism inherent in the Hittite magical tradition. Indeed, the Hittites believed that deities were most effectively addressed in their native languages, and consequently Hittite language rituals often contain text in foreign idioms, including Hattic, Palaic, Luwian, Hattic Hurrian, as well as Akkadian. If several languages alternate in the same ritual, their hierarchical relationship is clear: non-Hittite passages present invocations or incantations for oral recitation and alternate with ritual instructions usually composed in Hittite. 

The second presentation was delivered by Sevgül Çilingir Cesur (Ege University, Turkey), Senior Fellow of the MagEIA project, who gave a lecture entitled Seeing the unseen: The Hittite ritual tradition and its side characters. She began her presentation with a general introduction to the Hittite magical rituals, with a particular focus on the ritual actors. Serving therapeutic, cathartic, and apotropaic purposes, Hittite magical rituals comprise more than 4,000 fragments, drawing on a variety of actors, deities, and individuals. The primary figures in Hittite rituals are the experts, including the Old Women, augurs, diviners, and, on very rare occasions, doctors, as well as various priests and priestesses. The second significant group of individuals are the clients, who appear to occupy a liminal zone and are usually anonymous in the texts, with the exception of certain rituals and the texts that employ a “fill in the blank” method for the name of the ritual patron. The clients typically accompany the experts, comply with their instructions, and sometimes recite the incantations with the intention of warding off the negative situation. After providing some insights into the experts and clients, Sevgül Çilingir Cesur proceeded to outline the goals and research questions of her project. The Hittite magical rituals contain many side characters who were not the primary focus of the practices but were essential to their proper functioning. She explained that her project aims to shift the focus from the practitioners onto the secondary characters, who have received little or no attention in Hittite ritual studies. She evaluated these individuals in three different categories: (1) cultic or administrative officials, (2) artisans and professionals, and (3) individuals from disparate socioeconomic backgrounds. She concluded her talk with the observation that the roles of subsidiary characters will allow us to portray the diversity of individuals in magical practices and to have a better understanding of the overall organization.

Neelam Dabas Sen (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) then presented the final paper of the evening, entitledTranslation matters: Mechanisms of translational control in living cells. She presented her research on recent developments in genetics and their application against Candida albicans. After the awarding of the SCIAS fellowships, all participants to the event had the opportunity to discuss and learn more about the respective projects and research areas during a convivial get-together in the foyer of the Welz House.