Fragments from a Catabasis Ritual in a Greek Magical PapyrusAuthor(s): Hans Dieter BetzReviewed work(s):Source: History of Religions, Vol. 19, No. 4 (May, 1980), pp. 287-295Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062574 .Accessed: 06/03/2012 11:33

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Hans Dieter Betz FRAGMENTS FROM A CATABASIS RITUAL IN A GREEK MAGICAL PAPYRUS

Since Albrecht Dieterich published his collection of "Reste antiker Liturgien" in the appendix of his work Eine Mithrasliturgie in 1903,1 a few new fragments of such liturgies have been discovered, but the total amount of such material is still lamentably small.2 It appears, however, that the magical papyrus Michigan inv. 7, dated in the late third or early fourth century A.D., contains some formulae from a ritual of descent (= catabasis) to the underworld which have found their way into a magical spell. The papyrus first was published by Campbell Bonner in the Michigan Papyri and was then included as no. LXX in the new edition of Karl Preisendanz's Papyri Graecae Magicae, edited by Albert Henrichs, which is based on Bonner's but takes note of suggestions made by K. F. W. Schmidt in a review.3

1 A. Dieterich, Eine Mithrasliturgie, 3d ed., ed. 0. Weinreich (1903; reprint ed., Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1966), pp. 213 ff.; see also pp. 162 if.

2 See the additions in Dieterich, pp. 256 ff.; J. G. Griffiths, Apuleius of Madauros. The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (Leiden: Brill, 1975), pp. 294 ff.; A. J. Festugiere, L'Ide'al Religieux des grecs et l'evangile (Paris: Gabalda, 1932), pp. 303 ff.; C. Bonner, Studies in Magical Amulets (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950), pp. 181 ff.

3 C. Bonner Michigan Papyri, III, ed. J. G. Winter (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1936), pp. 123-29 (no. 154); K. Preisendanz, Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die Griechischen Zauberpapyri, II, 2d ed., ed. A. Henrichs (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1974), pp. 202-3 (quotations are given according to this edition); K. F. W. Schmidt, "Papyri in the University of Michigan Collection," Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeigen 199 (1937): 149-50.

? 1980 by The University of Chicago. 0018-2710/80/1904-0001$00.88 287

Fragments from a Catabasis Ritual

The following discussion is concerned primarily with the inter- pretation of the spell in terms of the history of religions, not with papyrological or philological problems. As was so well understood already by Bonner, it is the interpretation of the spell that has thus far presented the most problems. For the benefit of readers not familiar with the primary text, an English translation of the fragment is provided here:

This name is a means to obtain favor, to dissolve a spell, to protect, and to win victory. "aa emptokom basym, protect me."

5 (Charm) of Hecate Ereschigal against fear of punishment. If (the punishment daimon) comes forth, say to him: "I am Ereschigal, the one holding her thumbs, and not even one evil can befall her." If, however, he comes close to you, take hold of your right heel

10 and recite the following: "Ereschigal, virgin, bitch, serpent, wreath, key, herald's wand, golden sandal of the Lady of Tartarus." And you will avert (him). "askei kataskei eron oreon i6r mega semnyer bayi three times, phobantia semne. I have been initiated, and I went down into the (underground)

15 chamber of the Dactyls, and I saw the other things down below, Virgin, bitch, and all the rest." Say it at (the) cross-road, and turn around and flee, because it is at those places that she appears. Saying it late at night, about what you wish, it will reveal (it) in your sleep; and if you are led away to death, say it while scattering seeds of sesam, and it will save you.

20 "Phorba phorba Brimo azziebya." Take bran of first quality and sandalwood

and vinegar of the sharpest sort and mold a cake and write the name of NN upon it, and inscribe it in such a way that you speak over it into the light the name of Hecate, and this: "Take away his sleep

25 from this NN," and he will be sleepless and worried. Against fear and to dissolve (a spell) speak through two knives loud-sounding (?) this spell; but against evil animals it does not work compellingly (?)....

Fragmentary at the beginning, lines 1-3 contain the conclusion of the spell which precedes the one to be discussed here. Since the first word, ovyota, refers to the magical name in lines 2-3, it is clear that the preceding spell ended with the summary of its applications,4 the revealing of its authoritative name,5 and a short prayer for protection.6 Separated from the preceding by a short stroke (paragraphos), line 4 begins with a new section title which describes the content of lines 4-19 correctly.7 The spell is said to belong to the underworld goddess Hecate-Ereschigal 8 and provides

4 See Bonner, Michigan Papyri, p. 123. The text according to Preisendanz: 5]vojtca [-ro1[r1] [e'ar] XapLt7a[to]v KaL avaAvTrKOV Kalt pvAaK-r-4p[L]ov K,CL v[tLKV-IrpLov. 5 aa e7F"TTWKo/l favf7L.

6 (aqpvAa\o'v t.e.

7 'EK,TrS 'EpeaXLVA 7TrpOs O,flOV KoAaatos' 8 The identification of the Greek Hecate with the Babylonian Ereschigal, both

underworld goddesses, is made only in the section title, while the formulae have only Ereschigal (see lines 4, 9). See also PGM IV. 338, 2750. On Hecate see

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a means against "fear of punishment." 9 The question is, of course, which fear of punishment is meant: punishment as a result of some court action, or punishment in Hades.10 It is the hypothesis of the following discussion that 7TpOS po3ov KOAcdaeos refers to the fear of

punishment in the afterlife, a well-known doctrine of Greek religion especially in the Hellenistic period.

Line 5 starts out in a way that has always puzzled scholars. Where the beginning of the spell is expected, a statement about a situation is made: 'av 2cepXprat, . . . There is no indication as to who it is that is to come forth. Bonner assumed it is Hecate, the deity invoked, while Preisendanz, who added ambiguously "(der Ziichtiger)" thought of someone else. Parallels in the Greek catabasis literature, however, show that the phrase points to a situation in the netherworld, where visitors must expect sudden attacks by underworld demons in charge of the punishments. Protection against such attacks is advisable for those who dare enter the land of Hades, whether as visitors or on that last journey of the soul. At the moment of such an attack, the operator is advised to identify himself with the goddess Ereschigal by pro- nouncing this formula:

'Eyo, ELfL p'Epe'XtyaA Kparovra Tovs a&Vr[1]XEtpas., KOLt OVOE EV OVVYTt KCKOV ar7) yEVEOTat. "I am Ereschigal, the one holding her thumbs, and not one evil can befall her."

The imperative AEyerco requires a change of the subject, so that the operator is ordered to use the spell against the underworld figure (AEye Tro'). For such identification of the operator with a deity, parallels can be adduced in the PGM,11 but the most interesting parallel comes from Lucian's Necyomantia, a parody of

Heckenbach, "Hekate," PW 14. Halbbd. (1912), cols. 2769-82; Th. Hopfner, "Hekate-Selene-Artemis und Verwandte in den griechischen Zauberpapyri und auf Fluchtafeln," in Pisciculi, F. J. Dolger zum 60. Geburtstage (Munster: Aschen- dorff, 1939), pp. 125-45; Bonner, Studies, pp. 197-98, 263-64; Th. Kraus, Hekate. Studien zu Wesen und Bild der Gottin in Kleinasien und Griechenland (Heidelberg: Winter, 1960); A. Delatte and P. Derchain, Les Intailles magiques greco-egyptiennes (Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, 1964), pp. 191-92 (no. 254). 9 For 7rpo gpo'flov cf. Plutarch De prof. in virt. 85B: ol I-ev EKJLeLa-KO'TreCS Ta' v, 'Ia(tcov ovo/LaTa AaK\TAW)V Xpt'vavratp TpoS 7rov ov avo Oov aToZ9 or

&AEeLKaKOL5g, (TpE/Ia

KaTaAe'yoV7ESC EKaa(TOV.

10 KoAaatoS is probably KoAaacs; cf. Bonner, Michigan Papyri, III. For the term referring to the punishment in the underworld, see A. Dieterich, Nekyia, 3d ed. (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1969), p. 195; H. D. Betz, Lukian von Samosata und das Neue Testament (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1961), p. 86, n. 7; idem, ed., Plutarch's Theological Writings and Early Christian Literature (Leiden: Brill, 1975), pp. 191, 226, 227.

x See PGM V. 146, 248; VIII. 37; XIII. 795.

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the catabasis genre in the tradition of the Menippean satire. The work begins by showing the Cynic Menippus as he returns from a visit to the netherworld, wearing a strange outfit made up of the felt cap of Heracles, the lyre of Odysseus, and the lion skin of Orpheus.12 The reason is given by the instructions of Mithro- barzanes, the Babylonian magician and Menippus's guide to the netherworld: ". .. he urged me, if anyone should ask my name, not to say Menippus, but Heracles or Odysseus or Orpheus." The rationale is: "Since they had been before us in going down to Hades alive, he thought that if he should make me look like them, I might easily slip by the frontier-guard of Aeacus and go in unhindered as something of an old acquaintance...."13 In PGM LXX the operator identifies himself with Ereschigal by the magical formula of identification and probably by performing the magical gesture of holding the thumbs.14 Line 7 introduces another situation, in which the danger has apparently increased: eav 8

Eyyvs evE:X croo , .... In other words, the first charm has not worked, so that some-

thing stronger is needed. Such situations in which a frightful demon "comes close" are known from the catabasis myths. Plutarch's myth of Thespesius, De sera num. 567 A, provides a good example. At the crucial moment of his trip to the nether- world, Thespesius's friendly guide has suddenly disappeared, and approaching are "certain others of frightful aspect, who thrust him forward, giving him to understand that he was under compulsion to pass that way" (that is, to the place of punishment).'5 Fortu- nately he is saved at the last moment by divine intervention.16 Similarly in Lucian's Philopseudes 22, the reporter relates that during an appearance of Hecate "a frightful woman I saw approaching."17

12 Lucian Necyomantia, chap. 1. The translation is by A. M. Harmon in the Loeb Classical Library, Lucian (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1953), 4:72.

13 Ibid., chap. 8; cf. Harmon, chap. 10, pp. 86, 90. 14 For this gesture see PGM IV. 2329; XXXVI. 163; LXIX. 3; and C. Bonner,

"Note on the Paris Magical Papyrus," Classical Philology 25 (1930): 181; L. Deubner, "Gotterzwang," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archdologischen Institutes in Berlin 58 (1943): 88-92; K. Gross, "Finger," RAC, vol. 7 (1969), cols. 926 ff., 934.

15 Plutarch, De sera num. 567A: ... vp' ervepuov rvcv pofepcov r)V Otv elS To 1rpoafev 0'ove?vos, os avdyKrav oOcrav oVTco Lte)eAeTv ..., cf. also 568A. The edition and translation is that of De Lacy and Einarson in the Loeb Classical Library, Plutarch's Moralia (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959), 7:293.

16 Ibid., 568A. 17... yvvaLKa opl 7Trpoamovaav (pofepav; see also Dieterich, Nekyia, pp. 59 ff.

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In such a situation, the operator is advised by PGM ,XX to take hold of his right heel, another magical gesture,18 and to recite an invocation of Ereschigal:

'EpegXly&A 7raptE'vE, KV6V, OpKaLVam , UTEJLPa, KAELS, K7)pVKELOV,

[T]S TapTaXPOVXOV XPVUEOV TO craV8aAOV. "Ereschigal, virgin, bitch, serpent, wreath, key, herald's wand, golden sandal of the Lady of Tartarus."

This invocation is peculiar because it invokes the goddess not by a longer prayer but by a list of what elsewhere are called "signs" or "symbols" (on7jEica). What was the purpose of this list? Are the signs related to the "things shown" (8EtKVV4EVa) in mystery religions?19 All the items mentioned are found elsewhere in the PGM and are always connected with the underworld goddesses Hecate, Persephone, and Selene.20 In PGM IV. 2334 ff., the list is part of a hymn to Hecate (Hymn 17, lines 90 ff., vol. 2, p. 253), but the signs function also apart from the hymn. Apparently, naming these signs quickly has the same magical effect as a longer prayer would have.21

Line 11 takes us to the conclusion of the paragraph (paragraphos again). The term 7rapatTretv (avert) specifies the purpose of the spell, the aversion of the underworld demon. It is remarkable that the term 7rapatcrlv occurs in Plutarch De sera num. 567A in the same context with the same meaning.22

The next section, lines 12-19, belongs to the same catabasis ritual. It begins with the famous magical formula which is usually called Ephesia grammata23 (e'cata ypa4tlxaroc) but which in PGM

18 On this gesture, see PGM IV. 1054, and Bonner, "Note," p. 181, and Michigan Papyri, III/1, p. 126.

19 I am indebted for this suggestion to Professor Jan Bergman of Uppsala, mentioning especially PGM VII. 883. Cf. the symbols in the procession of Isis in Apuleius Met. 11.10. See the collection of material in W. Wittmann, Das Isisbuch des Apuleius (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1938), pp. 47 ff.

20 For rTap've see PGM IV. 1403, 2255, 2265, 2340, 2613; VII. 784; for Kicov, IV. 2122, 2251; VII. 781; for SpacKatva, IV. 2301; VII. 781 (SpaiKWV); for aer4ueua, IV. 2335; VII. 785 (aTr!Aa); for KAelC, IV. 2293, 2335; VII. 785; for K1qpVKELOV, IV. 2335; VII. 785; for TrS raprapovxov Xpv'aeov TO aavSaAov, IV. 2123, 2292, 2335; D. Wortmann, "Neue magische Texte," Bonner Jahrbicher 168 (1968): 56-111, esp. p. 62, lines 57-59; p. 78, and "Die Sandale der Hekate-Persephone- Selene," Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 2 (1968): 155-60. See also Heckenbach (n. 8 above), col. 2782.

21 For the meaning of aeU7leov in PGM, see esp. IV. 2334 and, furthermore, I. 65, 74; III. 499, 536, 624; IV. 209, 1103, 1263-64, 2940; VII. 786; X. 22; XXXVI. 273; LVII. 16, 29.

LKETEVEL22. . . KVV /LEv 77 WTapatTelaaL trEpL Tov TraTpos OVK eToA/La St' 9KrA7TAtV KCat SEoC,

vrToaJTpeatft Kal qpvyeLv f3ovAoXlZevos . .. 23 See C. C. McCown, "The Ephesia Grammata in Popular Belief," TAPA 54

(1923): 128-140; K. Preisendanz, "Ephesia Grammata," RAC, vol. 5 (1965), cols. 515-20.

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Fragments from a Catabasis Ritual

VII. 451 is called "the Orphic formula" (o Aoyos o 'OpqcapKos):

AOKEL KaXTac'KEt epCv opE?V tlOp jLEya CtelJLVVr]p /3aVi

y', cpofavtia creLV?' "askei kataskei eron oreon ior mega semny6r bayi three times, phobantia, semne."

Clement of Alexandria attributes the formula to the Idaean Dactyls,24 the mythical wizards and craftsmen of the company of Rhea and Cybele, and indeed this is the origin claimed by the formula in lines 13-15:

TeTE[A]eCT0Lct

KatEl EtS LEyapov KaXTE []V lAcKTVAAwv

Ktl [(r] aAa eiSov KaTCo, TpEVOS, KVcV, KCet Ta AovT-& 'rTVTa.

"I have been initiated,

and I descended into the (underground) chamber of the Dactyls, and I saw the other things down below, virgin, bitch, and all the rest."

This formula, stated in the first person singular perfect, has its parallels in the liturgical formulae collected by Dieterich.25 Clement of Alexandria calls the Eleusinian formula or&V%Lcta, "password."26 The parallel password in PGM LXX, however, presupposes a mystery initiation involving Hecate. The expression T?TEAEr(TcL is technical in this context,27 and the statement ElS

LEyapov Kac'TE)v assumes that the initiation took place by way of a descent into an underground crypt. This crypt apparently served as the entrance to the underworld, comparable to the Ploutonion in Eleusis28 and the cave of Trophonius in Lebadeia.29 That all

24 Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis I. 15, pp. 46-47, ed. 0. Stahlin, who also cites a Pythagorean interpretation in V. 8, p. 356.

25 See n. 1 above. 26 Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 2.21, cited in Dieterich, Mithrasliturgie, p. 213.

See also G. Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1961), pp. 294 if. On the subject of passwords, see W. Burkert, Griechische Religion der archaischen und klassischen Epoche (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1977), pp. 436-37; H. D. Betz, "Die Makarismen der Bergpredigt (Matthaus 5, 3-12), Beobachtungen zur literarischen Form und theologischen Bedeutung," Zeitschrift fir Theologie und Kirche 75 (1978): 3-19, esp. 12; W. C. Grese, Corpus Hermeticum XIII and Early Christian Literature (Leiden: Brill, 1979), pp. 85 ff.

27 See esp. Plato Phaedo 69C; Aristophanes Nubes 258; PGM XIII. 90; H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), s.v. III; G. Delling, Theological Dictionary to the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1972), 8: 57 ff. Cf. Bonner, Michigan Papyri, III, p. 127, who refers as "the best com- mentary on the passage" to Porphyry Vita Pyth. 17. See also W. Burkert, p. 419.

28 See Mylonas, pp. 144-49. 29 See G. Radke, "Trophonius," PW, 2. Reihe, 13. Halbbd. (1939), cols.

678-95.

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this syncretism is not impossible can be concluded from Pausanias, who reports about connections between the cult of the Idaean Dactyls and Demeter.30 Such combinations of mystery initiation and descent to the underworld seem to have been particularly popular in the hellenistic period.31 Also the phrase Ka t ra a'AAa eMtov KaLTco in lines 14-15 points to the underworld, because the word "I saw" occurs frequently in underworld myths.32 In line 15 it introduces a list of items, "virgin, bitch, and all the rest."33 The identity of these items was certainly known to the ancients from the familiar myths.

The next sentences in lines 15-19 contain instructions for using the password:

AEyE etl TrplooV KCaC aTpacpEs cpevye' (pav[T]a'ETraL yap EV TOVTOLS'. AE'yov oe Al'av vvK[ros', 'rrj]ep ov tieAelsc, Kal KaO' V7TVOVSI /IL7VVoeL, KOV efl varaTov arTay,, AeyE ravra a9Koprov rnraap,ov, KMCt ocoaUEL (Ts.

"Say it at (the) cross-road, and turn around and flee, because it is at those places that she appears. Saying it late at night, about what you wish, it will reveal (it) in your sleep; and if you are led away to death, say it while scattering seeds of sesam, and it will save you."

These instructions present problems especially with regard to the location. Is the crossroad above ground34 or below in Hades? That Hecate appears at the crossroads, the rpto0o8, is so well known that she bears the name TptO8lTIr,35 but these crossroads

30 Pausanias 8.31.3; 9.19.5; 27.8. See 0. Kern, "Daktyloi," PW 8. Halbbd. (1901), cols. 2018-20; B. Hemberg, "Die Idaiischen Daktylen," Eranos 50 (1952): 41-59; Burkert (n. 26 above), pp. 57, 269, 419, 425.

31 Cf. the myth of Timarchus in Plutarch De genio Socratis 589F-593A; M. Eliade, Zalmoxis: The Vanishing God (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), pp. 21 if.; Apuleius Metamorphoses 11.23, and Griffiths, pp. 297 if., 356.

32 See, e.g., Plato's myth of Er, Rep. X.614B ff.; Lucian Necyom. 2, 10, and Philops. 22.

33 Bonner, Michigan Papyri, III, p. 127, and Preisendanz PGM, p. 202, assume that KaL ra Aol&ra aravra is not part of the list but a statement by the redactor indicating that the formula of lines 9-11 is to be repeated. But line 15 is different in that things seen in Hades are listed. Since these items were familiar, one does not need to be pedantic and repeat them all, in which case the phrase could be part of the formula as well. Congruity with lines 9-11 can still be assumed. Bonner, p. 126, calls the list avp'zFoAa ("tokens or 'controls' of the underworld goddess"). 34 So Bonner, Michigan Papyri, III, p. 127, who refers to Theocritus Idyll. 24.96. In PGM see IV. 2528, 2825, 2955; XI a. 4; XXXVI. 256. See also Heckenbach (n. 8 above), col. 2775.

35 See PGM IV. 2727, cf. 2526, 2823, 2962; and Heckenbach (n. 8 above), col. 2775.

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can be above ground as well as in the netherworld, where the triodos has its place already in the Orphic underworld myth.36 The instruction to turn around and flee has an interesting parallel in Plutarch's catabasis myth of Timarchus. At the crucial moment when he encounters his father and cannot help him, he wants to turn around and flee.37

Lines 17-18 point to the connection of the spell to incubation and dream oracle. That these can be combined with a catabasis is shown by the myth of Timarchus in Plutarch De gen. Socr. 590A ff. Since all these references point to catabasis, the last one in line 19 will also have to be interpreted in this way: "And if you are led away to death." 38 That the dead are brought into Hades is of course a familiar topos in catabasis myths. The statement here seems to refer to underworld demons approaching the initiate with the intention of leading him away to death.39 In that case, he should pronounce the password and scatter sesam seeds.40 Then he "will be saved" from such death. Line 19 concludes the section by paragraphos, and lines 20 ff. turn to a different spell of infliction of damages, a spell which is also attributed to Hecate-Brimo.41 A final reference in line 25 confirms that all the material is held together by the purpose "against fear." 42

In conclusion it can be stated that the papyrus as a whole has assembled spells from rather diverse origins. The redactor has combined them because they were related to the underworld goddess Hecate and can serve as means to avert "fear." Luckily, because of this interest he has included what seem to be liturgical remnants from the mysteries of the Idaean Dactyloi, remnants in

36 See Plato Rep. 10.614E; Gorg. 624A; Phaedr. 249A; and Dieterich Nekyia, pp. 120, 131, 151. In Lucian Philops. 22 the whole underworld appears together with Hecate. See also R. Ganschinietz, Hippolytos' Capitel gegen die Magier, Refut. haer. IV. 28-42 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1913), pp. 64-65.

37 Quoted in n. 22 above. See also Wortmann, "Neue magische Texte," p. 62, lines 59-60f.: l8&cv Se eyco fpvyov .... See Wortmann's commentary, p. 78, and his essay on Hecate's sandal, noted above in n. 20.

38 Differently Bonner, Michigan Papyri, III, p. 129: "If you are led to exe- cution."

39 Cf. Plutarch Fragment 178, ed. F. H. Sandbach, Loeb Classical Library, Plutarch's Moralia, 15: 316: OSav 'v rC TreAevTrv rj3 yev7Tat.... See also Betz, Lukian, p. 85, n. 2.

40 For apotropeic rituals, see S. Eitrem, Opferritus und Voropfer der Griechen und Romer (Kristiania: Dybwad, 1915), pp. 261-72. Cf. PGM III. 454, 613; IV. 919. See also Bonner, Michigan Papyri, III, p. 128.

41 On the identification of Thessalian underworld goddess B3rimo and Hecate, see 0. Kern, "Brimo," PW, 5. Halbbd. (1897), cols. 853-54; Mylonas, Eleusis, pp. 306 ff. See also Bonner, Studies, pp. 168 ff. (no. 63). 42 Again 7rpos po'fov, line 25.

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which scholarship is interested for doubtless quite different reasons. How much more such material from mystery-cult rituals may be buried in the Greek magical papyri? 43

University of Chicago

43 Dieterich, Mithrasliturgie, pp. 213, and 256, had already suggested that the synthema of Eleusis (see n. 26 above) is in corrupted form contained in PGM IV. 2964-65. See also the citations of the symbola of Hecate-Brimo in IV. 2292-95 and 2326-27; Hymn 17, lines 48-51, 83-84.

295