Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook

Daniel Ogden is a scholar of ancient Greek and Roman religion, and this Oxford University Press sourcebook is his scholarly survey and translated collection of the evidence for magic, witchcraft and ghost belief across the Greek and Roman worlds. Its strength is breadth and direct access to primary evidence, Ogden gathers and translates a wide range of ancient sources rather than describing them only secondhand, letting a reader see the underlying material behind his own framing. Its limit is that as a sourcebook and survey it necessarily moves quickly across many periods, regions and types of evidence, so a claim needing deep analysis of one specific practice or text is better served by a focused specialist study.