About Me

John Duffy - Reactions of Two Byzantine Intellectuals to the Theory and Practice of Magic (Byzantine Magic Excerpt) (929.0 Kb)

Cover of John Duffy's Book Reactions of Two Byzantine Intellectuals to the Theory and Practice of Magic (Byzantine Magic Excerpt)Book downloads: 224
This is an extract from: Byzantine Magic edited by Henry Maguire.This paper will address the issue of Byzantine intellectual attitudes to magic in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and will focus mainly on two figures, Michael Psellos and Michael Italikos, with an eye to the two aspects of theory and practice. If Psellos receives a somewhat larger share of attention herein, it is not only because he was a lion he also contributed to the survival of, and commented on, an important body of material that is central to the ... More >>>Note that, unfortunately, not all my books can be downloaded due to the restrictions of copyright. However, most of the books on this site do not have copyright restrictions. If you find any copyright violation, please contact me at . I am very attentive to the issue of copyright and try to avoid any violations, but on the other hand to help all fans of magic to get access to information.
Editors Rating John Duffy's Books List
Community Rating
Download All Books
If you are having difficulty downloading books, or you are looking for a book that is not on the site (but maybe it is in my home library), please write me a email to and I will try to help, I can send the book by e-mail
Donate Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin (BTC) Address:3CyHyov1fMUnJj6J6GRYyB4NV7U1j1FvWb
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Address:bitcoincash:ppx42986wtem2wsx4dx250csz5vyfhqjay3md07ukj
Etherium (ETH-ERC20) Address:0xbaf043072ee102cb737765d19c97a5fa336df517
Litecoin (LTC) Address:LWZzWgmnyPC6of8breqwxyCWwqgCiFmNvf
Dogecoin (DOGE) Address:D9mHh7TJcY7BAC4i96f3f4GgDEX4MVXDXd
Monero (XMR) Address:4GdoN7NCTi8a5gZug7PrwZNKjvHFmKeV11L6pNJPgj5QNEHsN6eeX3DaAQFwZ1ufD4LYCZKArktt113W7QjWvQ7CW9pjKFNhv1QM62k3MM
ZCash (ZEC) Address:t1Yg6o3vA4rMAVbE8CX26LcH7cwN7k3x8kZ
Dash (DASH) Address:XeAdGAqN1KazEXPspmMGrQWJGuqVBNUPeR

darkbooks.org began in early 2008 I am happy to donate my time to providing you this resource, I would also like to note, that, although I try, I do not always have enough time to deal with the site, including, unfortunately, I do not always have time to answer all letters, because I have to earn money for a living. If you can financially help me, it would free me from the worries of earning money for living, perhaps partially, but ideally completely, then all 100% of my time could be devoted to the site. Also I do pay monthly web server/files storage and hosting costs to keep this site on the air. Please consider making a donation to help me continue this activity and devote more time to it or at least offset the cost of paying for storage/hosting. Even a small contribution helps!

Category 1:  Mystic and Occultism
Category 2: 
Category 3: 
Author:      John Duffy
Format:      Arch
This is an extract from: Byzantine Magic edited by Henry Maguire.

This paper will address the issue of Byzantine intellectual attitudes to magic in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and will focus mainly on two figures, Michael Psellos and Michael Italikos, with an eye to the two aspects of theory and practice. If Psellos receives a somewhat larger share of attention herein, it is not only because he was a lion he also contributed to the survival of, and commented on, an important body of material that is central to the topic under review. For Byzantine literati of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the world of Hellenic magic and mysticism was part of their cultural heritage, and they felt obliged to take account of its existence in one way or another. Acknowledgment did vary, ranging, for example, from the nodding acquaintance of an Anna comnena to the intimate familiarity of a Michael Psellos.