This interdisciplinary study investigates the divine personas in the so-called magical hymns of the Greek magical papyri which, in a corpus usually seen as a significant expression of religious syncretism with strong Egyptian influence, were long considered to be the 'most authentically Greek' contribution. Fifteen hymns receive a line-by-line commentary focusing on religious concepts, ritual practice, language and style. The overarching aim is to categorise the nature of divinity according to its Greek or Egyptian elements, examining earlier Greek and Egyptian sources and religious-magical traditions in order to find textual or conceptual parallels. Are the gods of the magical hymns Greek or Egyptian in nature? Did the magical hymns originate in a Greek or Egyptian cultural background? The book tries to answer these questions and to shed light on the religious plurality and/or fusion of the two cultures in the treatment of divinity in the Greek magical papyri.

Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt: A Study of Greek and Egyptian Traditions of Divinity

History

Bortolani, Ljuba Merlina

Ancient Civilizations

Cambridge University Press

The first English translation of poems by one of Italy's most celebrated and mercurial young poets.

The Siege (L'assedio) (New American Translations)

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

BOA Editions, Ltd.

Written when Ms. Bortolani was fifteen years old, The Siege (L’assedio) is driven by a brazen, exuberant voice and a linguistic acrobatics not unlike that of the most celebrated European teen prodigy poet—Arthur Rimbaud. Phantasmagorical and surreal, the poems move us through the chameleon-shadings of lust and love.
Ljuba Merlina Bortolani was born in Bologna in November 1980. She is the author of three poetic sequences. She is a student at the University of Bologna.
Michael Palma is a world-renown, prize-winning translator of Italian poetry. His terza-rima translation of Dante’s Inferno will be published by W.W. Norton in January 2002.

The Siege: Poems (Lannan Translations Selection Series, No. 1)

Palma, Michael

Boa Editions

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Books by Bortolani, Ljuba Merlina