Magic: Did you mean...?

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a German composer of Romantic music most famous for his epic operas like The Ring, Tannhäuser, and Tristan and Isolde. Wagner was concerned throughout his career with the theme of redemption through love and...

According to the Bible, Nehushtan was a metal serpent mounted on a staff that Moses had made, by God's command, to cure the Israelites of snake bites while wandering in the desert. The symbol of snakes on a staff or pole is a motif that is...

Ymir is a primordial giant, closely linked to the creation myth and the beginning of the world in Norse mythology. A creature resulting from the dramatic encounter between ice and fire, he was fed by a cosmic cow and his body parts served...

The ancient Egyptians enjoyed storytelling as one of their favorite pastimes. Inscriptions and images, as well as the number of stories produced, give evidence of a long history of the art of the story in Egypt dealing with subjects ranging...

A beaten gold amulet stamped with a Greek text invoking the god Apollo. The text reads: INVOCATION TO THE GOD PHOEBUS APOLLO WHO RULES OVER MAN, POURING OUT LIBATIONS TO HIM, THAT HE MAY TAKE UP ARMS AND GO THROUGH THE ENEMY'S ARMY TO...

A Greek lead curse figurine and miniature coffin from the Kerameikos, Athens. Such figurines were used to curse individuals. The figures usually had their limbs twisted or had pins inserted into them and were buried in graves and wells. The...

A serpentinite and gold heart scarab pendant. Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Tomb of Hatnefer and Ramose, Mummy of Hatnefer. Thebes. Egypt, 18th Dynasty, c. 1492-1473 BCE. The text inscribed on the back of the scarab calls for Hatnefer's heart not...

An Egyptian apotropaic knife made from a hippopotamus tusk and designed to ward off evil in a nursery. (Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago)

A magical bowl with an incantation written in ink to ward off malevolent spirits. Clay, inscribed in Aramaic language, 3rd to 7th century CE. From Babylon, Iraq. (The Sulaimaniya Museum, Iraq).

These exorcistic incantations were written on this large clay tablet using both Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform language. Probably from Ashur, Mesopotamia, Iraq, 1300-900 BCE. (The British Museum, London)