Venenum, or venenum? Tacitus, Magic, and Don Quixote’s Windmills : Some Remarks on the Methodology of the Study of Ancient Magic
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F24%3A00137075" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/24:00137075 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://doi.org/10.30965/9783657796601_010" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.30965/9783657796601_010</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.30965/9783657796601_010" target="_blank" >10.30965/9783657796601_010</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Venenum, or venenum? Tacitus, Magic, and Don Quixote’s Windmills : Some Remarks on the Methodology of the Study of Ancient Magic
Original language description
The difficulties that complicate the search for a universally acceptable definition of “magic” have led some scholars to attempt to delineate magic using emic data. The main objective of this chapter is to discuss the practical applicability of emic data to further define magic. The chosen test case, a passage from Tacitus (Annales II, 69), is seen as a serious obstacle to these attempts. The emic approach, which seeks to understand magic in terms of the culture under study, has only a limited contribution to make to the formulation of a general category of magic, as Tacitus uses a single word, venenum, for two different activities (a magical attack and a poisoning). The translation of this expression, and thus the interpretation of the whole incident, becomes impossible unless we have a pre-existing etic category of magic at our disposal, even if it remains unexpressed.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
C - Chapter in a specialist book
CEP classification
—
OECD FORD branch
60304 - Religious studies
Result continuities
Project
—
Continuities
S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach
Others
Publication year
2024
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Book/collection name
Taking Seriously, Not Taking Sides : Challenges and Perspectives in the Study of Religions
ISBN
9783506796608
Number of pages of the result
15
Pages from-to
177-191
Number of pages of the book
378
Publisher name
Brill
Place of publication
Leiden
UT code for WoS chapter
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