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4 - Incantation

Sound and Song as Curse, Cure, and Gospel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2024

Laura Salah Nasrallah
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

Clement of Alexandria’s Protreptikos or Exhortation to the Greeks, written in the late second century, begins with an elaborate story of a song that lures fish, and a cicada that jumps up to fill in for the broken string of a lyre, scraping away with perfect pitch. I have long thought this was odd. The ancient genre of protreptic offered a kind of professional calling card, an introduction to speakers’ cultural sophistication, the strength of their argument and teaching, and a demonstration of their ability to argue for the superior form of philosophy-theology.

Type
Chapter
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Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
Magic, Aesthetics, and Justice
, pp. 203 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Incantation
  • Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
  • Online publication: 02 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009405782.008
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  • Incantation
  • Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
  • Online publication: 02 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009405782.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Incantation
  • Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
  • Online publication: 02 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009405782.008
Available formats
×