Incantational Uses of Myth: Historiolae

1The use of narratives in Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri is known to us mainly through the study of historiolae.1 These typically condensed or allusively referenced stories act by merging two levels of reality: a mythic one and the one corresponding to the ritual’s circumstances; they are meant to “re-activate” events considered as accomplished, in order to achieve similar effects for the benefit of the actual practitioners or their clients.2 Still, historiolae do not forcibly follow a simplistic analogical pattern. Οn the contrary, like “creative echoes”, they quite often dynamically adjust mythic material to the individual’s needs.3

2This incantational use of myth, common in several ancient Mediterranean cultures, is very early and particularly well documented in Egypt.4 As scholars have often noticed, short allusions and statements, “snippets” of Egyptian myths, easy to fit into a ritual frame, are much more common than extended written n