History of Magic Archives - Page 3 of 3

Old English Runes and Their Magical and Ordinary Purposes

We’ve all heard the term “rune,” but mostly in contemporary culture we think about runes being magical symbols, perhaps fitting into the worlds of JRR Tolkien. So I’m here to deliver some bummer history news to fight this stereotype and argue that runes could be much more mundane. However, this lead plaque (dating between the […]

Old English Runes and Their Magical and Ordinary Purposes Read More »

Ancient Roman Necromancy in Te’omim Cave

These are oil lamps found in a mountain cave called Te’omim, (“cave of the twins” in Hebrew), located about 15 miles west of Jerusalem. Archaeologists have studied the place for years, finding ruins from many points of human history. But in a paper published this month in _Harvard Theological Review_, a team of archaeologists argues