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International Conference on Ancient Magic

October 17 - October 18, 2025
9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Ohio Union - Senate Chamber Second Floor Room 2145

Please join us for the International Conference on Ancient Magic.

This event is open to the public.

 

WORKING SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17

Introductory remarks 9:30-9:45

Session 1, 9:45-11:15   Chair: Miranda Amey

•Korshi Dosoo: “Making Magic Before Frazer: The Nineteenth Century Construction of Ancient Greek Magic” (Virtual)

•Michael Swartz: "Kansas, I've a Feeling We're Not In Toto Anymore: Thirty Years of Dialogue on the Concept of Ancient Magic."

Session 2, 11:30-1:00   Chair: Gaia Gianni

•Georgia Frank: “'How to Acquire a Beautiful Voice': Singing and Sonority in Ancient Magic"

•Joe Sanzo: "Early Christian Liturgical Singing in its Agonistic Context: A View from the Late Antique Magical Record."

Session 3, 2:30-4:00   Chair: Ben Folit-Weinberg

•Radcliffe Edmonds “What is the Question?: More on Magic and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance”

•Michael Beshay: “Ritual Storyboards? The Encomia of Coptic Magic.”

 

SATURDAY, October 18:

Session 4: 9:30-11:00 Chair: Katie Rask

•Jessica Lamont: "Shared Rites and the Community of a Sacred Space in Late Antiquity: Corinth’s Fountain of the Lamps"

•Drew Wilburn: “The Role of Architectural Magic in Protecting the Family from Illness and Misfortune”

Session 5: 11:30-1:00 Chair: Harriet Fertik

•Veronique Dasen: "'I Love You a Little:' Eros at Play in a Roman Glyptic" (Virtual)

•Carman Romano: "Therapy with Medea"

Session 6: 2:00-2:45 Chair: Tina Sessa

Lucy Grig “Magic as a Form of Lived Religion in Late Antique Gaul”

Session 7: 3:00-4:00

Conversation between David Frankfurter and Sarah Iles Johnston: what we’ve been doing and where we should go.

Session 8: 4:15-5:30

Responses to the papers by Fritz Graf, Megan Nutzman, Chris Parmenter, Katie Rask and Tina Sessa, followed by general discussion.