{"id":30560,"date":"2019-05-26T05:04:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T09:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/eidos\/?p=30560"},"modified":"2019-05-25T00:09:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T04:09:59","slug":"ancient-witches-iii-guest-voice-james-harrington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/eidos\/2019\/05\/ancient-witches-iii-guest-voice-james-harrington\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Witches III (Guest Voice James Harrington)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I asked \u00a0for new voices and got some outstanding writers! Today we hear from the erudite James R. Harrington.<\/p>\n

\"\"James R. Harrington earned his M.A. in Ancient History at California State University Fulleron and is a member of the Torrey Honors Institute. James has been\u00a0a classical educator in a variety of settings over the past thirteen years. He lives in Houston with his wife, Sharon, and their daughter.<\/p>\n

Harrington began with a series on shields in classical literature and now moves to witches as a theme.<\/p>\n

On shields, Mr. Harrington responded<\/a> to thoughts on his first post.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Harrington wrote about the shield of Herakles,\u00a0<\/a>He continued to the shield of Aeneas<\/a>\u00a0and followed up on that post<\/a>. We turned to a shield in Ovid. \u00a0 He concluded<\/a>\u00a0with Quintus\u00a0<\/a>and a follow up.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now he turns to witches<\/a> with a second post <\/a>and now a third<\/a>:<\/p>\n

After <\/span>considering<\/span> users of potent herbs, or <\/span>pharmaka<\/span>, in previous po<\/span>sts, we turn to a woman<\/span>whose uses of such drugs are undoubtedly baleful<\/span>:<\/span> the bewitching Circe.<\/span> Indeed, Circe may be the first figure in our study that fits the <\/span>image of<\/span> a fairytale witch.* She is a \u201cshe,\u201d brews baleful potions that transform men into beasts, and knows the right ri<\/span>tuals to commune with the dead.<\/span>Homer\u2019<\/span>s world, however, is not a fairytale, and this image of a witch comes with a twist. <\/span><\/p>\n

The hero Odysseus describes his confrontation with the magic-working goddess Circe in Books 10-12 of Homer\u2019s <\/span>Odyssey<\/span>. The hero relates how his men fell into her malefic trap:<\/span><\/p>\n

Within the forest glades they found the house of Circe <\/span>\u2026<\/span> round about it were mountain wolve<\/span>s and lions, whom Circe herself<\/span> had bewitched; for she gave them evil drugs \u2026 <\/span>within they heard Circe singing with sweet voice, as she went to and fro before a great imperishable web \u2026 She brought them in <\/span>\u2026<\/span> and made for them a potion \u2026 but in the food she mixed evil drugs \u2026 Now when she had given them the potion \u2026 she immediately struck them with her wand \u2026 and they had the heads, and voice, and bristles, and shape of swine \u2026**<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, w<\/span>e seem to have a wicked witch right out of<\/span> the pages of <\/span>the Brothers Grimm. Circe lives in a forest<\/span>, weaving her webs,<\/span> and lures lost men with her luscious voice<\/span> into tasting her potions<\/span>before transforming them into beasts. She even has a magic wand, an important prop in ritual magic past and present<\/span>.*<\/span>**<\/span> Later in the story<\/span>, however, we come to the act that most directly violates the injunction against witches in Exodus 22:18 and the example of <\/span>the Witch of <\/span>Endor<\/span>. <\/span>Circe explains to Odysseus how he may gain knowledge from calling up the dead<\/span>,<\/span> using a bloody trench in place of a poisoned cup and his sword in place of a wand<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

[In Hades], hero<\/span> \u2026<\/span> dig a pit of a cubit\u2019s length \u2026sacrifice a ram and a black ewe \u2026 Then many ghosts<\/span> of men that are dead will come<\/span> forth \u2026 You, yourself, drawing your sharp sword from bes<\/span>ide your thigh, must sit there,<\/span> and not allow the <\/span>strengthless<\/span> heads of the dead to draw <\/span>near to the blood till you have<\/span> inquired of <\/span>Teiresias<\/span>.<\/span>\u00b0<\/span><\/p>\n

Circe appears <\/span>a perfect specimen<\/span> of <\/span>a<\/span> \u201cWitch<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d that powerful combination <\/span>of<\/span> forbidden necromancy and European folklore<\/span> that<\/span> haunted the minds of Renaissance Europeans and Puritan jurors.<\/span><\/p>\n

First<\/span>\u2013<\/span>time readers of the <\/span>Odyssey<\/span> may be surprised, then, when Circe turns into one of the \u201cgood guys.\u201d\u00b0\u00b0<\/span> The<\/span> point of Circe\u2019s necromancy is to help Odysseus find his way home<\/span>\u2014<\/span>and it works<\/span>. Unlike the monotheistic universe imagined by the citizens of Salem in 1692, Homer envisions a chaos of powers that hold their rights by might, none being particularly \u201c<\/span>g<\/span>ood\u201d or \u201c<\/span>e<\/span>vil<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d If Circe, as a goddess, toys with mortals, she is no different from Zeus and the Olympian gods with their Trojan War chess game. To overcome Circe\u2019s <\/span>pharmaka<\/span>, Odysseus does not need <\/span>to call on the One True God with prayer and scripture, but simply to find a bigger bully. <\/span><\/p>\n

In a perfect <\/span>deu<\/span>s<\/span> ex <\/span>machin<\/span>a<\/span>, one shows up in the person of the divine, male, wand-wielding, drug-using, and dead-escorting Hermes<\/span>.<\/span>\u00b0<\/span>\u00b0\u00b0<\/span> Hermes works a little magic of his own with the <\/span>mo<\/span>l<\/span>y<\/span> plant. Its white flower counters Circe\u2019s cup<\/span>,<\/span> while its black taproot trump<\/span>s her wand. <\/span>When Circe\u2019s cup fails, she tries to <\/span>overpower<\/span> Odysseus with a little sex-magic, but an oath sworn by the sorceress at sword-point puts Odysseus back on top.<\/span>\u00a7<\/span> D<\/span>efeated, Circe goes on <\/span>to offer the hero and his friends all the help they need. The lesson is a common one in the Odyssey: the <\/span>world is not a place of \u201c<\/span>g<\/span>ood\u201d and \u201c<\/span>e<\/span>vil<\/span>,<\/span>\u201d but of <\/span>powers, <\/span>perils<\/span>,<\/span> and profits that must be navig<\/span>ated, whether by cups and wands<\/span> or by swords and sacrifices.<\/span>\u00a7\u00a7<\/span><\/p>\n

Our next discussion mov<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span> us ever closer to the ideal <\/span>\u201cWicked Witch<\/span> of the West.<\/span>\u201d We will be focusing on a mere mortal whose magic leads to baleful ends whether she wants them to or not: <\/span>Medea<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

*Shelby Brown, <\/span>Potions and Poisons: Classical Ancestors of the Wicked Witch<\/span>. http:blogs.getty.edu\/iris\/potions-and-poisons-classical-ancestors-of-the-wicked-witch, accessed May 23, 2019.<\/span> Circe is also invoked<\/span> to curse perfidious potters for<\/span> preferring<\/span> not to pay players in Homeric Epigram <\/span>XIV.<\/span><\/p>\n

**Homer, Odyssey, A.T. Murray trans. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, <\/span>1998. pp. 373-375. <\/span>translating<\/span> for lines X.210-240<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span>Brown<\/span>.<\/span> S<\/span>ee also<\/span> Grevel<\/span> Lindop<\/span>,<\/span> Charles Williams<\/span>: <\/span>The Third Inkling<\/span>. Oxford: Oxford Un<\/span>iversity Press, 2015. pp. 332-337.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b0Homer, 395-397. <\/span>translating<\/span> for lines X.516-537<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b0\u00b0<\/span>Suzanne <\/span>Sa\u00efd<\/span>, <\/span>Homer and the Odyssey<\/span>. New York: Oxford Unive<\/span>rsity Press, 20<\/span>11. pp. 172-173.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0For Hermes as <\/span>psychopomp<\/span>os<\/span>, or \u201c<\/span>escorter<\/span> of the dead,\u201d <\/span>see<\/span> the opening of <\/span>Odyssey<\/span> book 24.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a7<\/span>Homer, 379-383. <\/span>translating<\/span> for lines X.374-347<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a7\u00a7<\/span>Sa\u00efd<\/span>, 344-346<\/span>, 377-378<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I asked \u00a0for new voices and got some outstanding writers! Today we hear from the erudite James R. Harrington. James R. Harrington earned his M.A. in Ancient History at California State University Fulleron and is a member of the Torrey Honors Institute. James has been\u00a0a classical educator in a variety of settings over the past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1007,"featured_media":13587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-on-books","category-on-education"],"yoast_head":"\nAncient Witches III (Guest Voice James Harrington)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I asked \u00a0for new voices and got some outstanding writers! Today we hear from the erudite James R. Harrington. James R. 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