This collection of essays accompanies other research outputs from the project ‘The Transmission of Magical Knowledge’, funded by the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society at the University of Chicago. The close, physical analysis of the papyri has led to a number of interesting and important discoveries, clearly set out in Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies, Vol. I: Text and Translation (Berkeley 2022, referred to hereafter as GEMF) from the same editors. The volume under review is meant to be considered a part of the larger project and is described as ‘an unintended, but very welcome, outcome of our multiyear project to re-edit and translate into English the Greek and bilingual Greek-Egyptian magical handbooks’ (xxii).

The emphasis on the physicality or materiality of the magical papyri is a particularly useful companion to the republished texts. This is the predominant focus of Part One (‘Libraries, Codices, and Rolls’), where otherwise inaccessible knowledge about the scribes behind the papyri is drawn out. By looking at questions such as who these individuals might have been, and what their engagement with this magical material could have been, we gain a far better understanding of why these papyri were produced and how they were engaged with.

In Chapter 1, ‘Anatomy of the Magical Archive’ by Korshi Dosoo and Sofía Torallas Tovar, a shift in focus from ‘magical archives’ to ‘archives with magical content’ is convincingly argued for. This would be a move towards seeing magical texts as one type of material that individuals might collect and use, whose relationships with non-magical material may be important for its contextual understanding. This analysis is developed in Chapter 2, ‘Roll vs. Codex: The Format of the Magical Handbook’ by the same authors, where they study the formularies within the wider context of book production in Egypt, which is particularly interesting as it reminds readers that these documents were not produced in isolation.

Re-evaluation of the knowledge that can be gained from the Theban Magical Library is very useful and the evolution of Greek texts alongside those in Coptic and Demotic is important for providing an understanding of the evolution of the magical texts tradition as a whole. In their own words: ‘Much of the research on magical manuscripts over the last 200 years has, understandably, focused on their rich and complex textual content, and yet, as this discussion has attempted to show, the material and archaeological context of these texts may allow us to provide a much richer picture of the use of magic in Roman and Late Antique Egypt’ (54). The emphasis placed on these manuscripts as objects that were used and abused at various stages of their lives is an important corrective, and a particularly interesting case study of the sharing of magical recipes via letter is included.

The palaeographical analysis presented in Chapter 3, ‘The Paleography and Dating of the Magical Formularies from Roman Egypt’ by Alberto Nodar is a real highlight of the volume. The focus on the specific hands of different scribes is illuminating, especially the discussion about the ways in which preconceived notions scribes had regarding the type of text they were producing can be guessed at using palaeographical analysis. This chapter also continues to raise interesting questions about who/what we mean by the term ‘scribe’ as well as addressing the difficulties of applying palaeographical dating to magical papyri. Inclusion of figures is particularly strong in this chapter. In many of the other chapters the inclusion of images would have added to the arguments greatly (Chapter 7, ‘GEMF 74 = (PGM VII): Reconstructing the Textual Tradition’ by Richard Gordon and Raquel Martín Hernández makes very good use of drawings). In all the chapters of Part One, many useful cross-references are made between magical and non-magical works, and it seems that this will be an important contribution to the wider papyrological discipline.

Emphasis on each formulary as a ‘unique manuscript’ is particularly important and comes through most clearly in Part Two (‘Compositional and Redactional Patterns’). Here the level of detail in the analysis is masterly. The contributions in this part focus specifically on GEMF 57 (PGM IV), GEMF 16 (PDM/PGM XIV) and GEMF 60 (PGM XIII) and these chapters read as extensions to the commentaries provided on each papyrus. If it would not have made GEMF unwieldly, the inclusion of these pieces would have enriched the volume immeasurably and it is excellent that close analysis of these texts is provided in this supplementary work.

In Chapter 9, ‘The Composite Recipes in GEMF 57 (= PGM IV) and How They Grew: From Practical Instructions to Literary Narratives’, a novel idea is presented by Christopher A. Faraone in his analysis of the Great Paris Codex GEMF 57 (= PGM IV): that of an alternative ‘end-user’ whom we should view as ‘an avid reader sitting in a library enjoying a good book’ (369). An interesting and compelling argument which builds well upon the analysis presented in the preceding chapters.

Overall, the knowledge gleaned from the reading of the republished texts is diminished if one does not also engage with this supplementary volume.