INCANTATION

Incantation, the speaking or singing of words that are thought to have, by the mere fact of being said, power to work magic and produce the results desired. The practice is found universally from remote antiquity. In the Odyssey, reference is made to incantation's stopping the flow of blood, and working other wonders. There is evidence that in the early historical period of both Greece and Rome, people believed in the efficacy of incantation, but subsequently philosophers and lawgivers condemned it. In the Hellenistic period it had a considerable vogue, as is indicated by magical papyri, inscriptions, and literary works. Orpheus, the legendary singer, was a magician, as were also Musaeus and others. The best-known practitioner of the art in Greek literature was Medea, who was the daughter of the sun. In the magical papyri the incantations read almost like prayers, but these utterances were undoubtedly thought to have in themselves magical powers to accomplish results. Christianity from the beginning opposed this and other forms of magic.

See Also: magic.

Bibliography: f. phister, "Epode," Paulys Realenzyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, ed. g. wissowa et al. Supplement 4 (Stuttgart 1924) 323–343. k. prÜmm, Religionsgeschichtliches Handbuch für den Raum der altchristlichen Umwelt (2d ed. Rome 1954) 366–371. s. thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, 6 v. (rev. and enl. ed. Bloomington, Ind. 1955–58) v.5 index s.v. "Incantation."

[t. a. brady]