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

And You Will Be Amazed: The Rhetoric Of Authority In The Greek Magical Papyri, Radcliffe G. Edmonds Iii

Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

An analysis of the rhetorical strategies used in the so-called Greek Magical Papyri to bolster the authority of the authors provides insight into the authors of these texts and their intended audiences. This article reviews the scholarship on the identity of the composers of the Greek Magical Papyri and explores the rhetorical strategies used in the texts to create authority, before comparing the dominant strategies in the Greek Magical Papyri with similar ones in other kinds of recipe collections, specifically alchemical and medical texts. The authors of the recipes in the Greek Magical Papyri make little use of the traditional …