Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons^™

The Effect Of Misogyny On The Persecution Of Women As Practitioners Of Magic In Ancient Greece, Rome, Medieval And Early Modern Europe, Mark J. Mangione

Honors Bachelor of Arts

This paper will look at the history of magic from the time of the ancient Greeks, to its development and integration into the culture of the Romans, and finally its evolution, downfall, and outlawing in the Medieval and Early Modern Europe. More specifically, this paper intends to focus upon the gender of practitioners of magic. There is a discrepancy between classical literature and non-literary sources of who actually were practitioners of magic. Women prevail as practitioners in Greek and Roman literature but non-literary sources say that men too were practitioners of magic. Glimpses of misogynistic thoughts can be found in …