JOIN TODAY
JOIN TODAY

A Magic Spell Book from Ancient Egypt

News November 21, 2014

(Effy Alexakis/Macquarie University Ancient Cultures Research Centre)
SHARE:

egypt-magic-spells-deciphered-invocations
(Effy Alexakis/Macquarie University Ancient Cultures Research Centre)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—A mysterious ancient Egyptian parchment codex that has been in the collection of Macquarie University in Australia for more than three decades has finally been deciphered and found to contain a series of invocations and spells. The book, which likely dates to the seventh or eighth century A.D. and is written in the Egyptian language called Coptic contains a variety of spells—some love spells, some to exorcise evil spirits, and others to treat infections. As to who would have used these spells, lead researcher Malcolm Choat told Livescience, "It is my sense that there were ritual practitioners outside the ranks of the clergy and monks, but exactly who they were is shielded from us by the fact that people didn't really want to be labeled as a "magician.” To read about all kinds of ancient magic, see ARCHAEOLOGY’S “When Spells Worked Magic.”

Recommended Articles

Digs & Discoveries July/August 2018

Divine Invitation

Read Article
(Metropolitan Museum of Art/Public Domain)

Features July/August 2026

Egypt's First Queen

How a trailblazing ruler pulled her realm back from the brink

Read Article
Beaded bracelets
© Araldo De Luca

Features July/August 2026

Secrets of the Serpent

Is a Native American origin story embedded in Ohio’s colossal earthwork?

Read Article
Serpent Mound
Timothy E. Black

Features July/August 2026

Slinging Insults

Greek and Roman soldiers fired pointed barbs at their enemies

Read Article
Lead sling bullet inscribed with the Greek inscription MATHOU
Courtesy Michael Eisenberg

More to Discover

Features September/October 2014

America, in the Beginning

Archaeologists continue their search for evidence of how the vast, once-uninhabited regions of the New World came to be populated

Read Article
(Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource)

  • Features September/October 2014

    Erbil Revealed

    How the first excavations in an ancient city are supporting its claim as the oldest continuously inhabited place in the world

    Read Article
    (Courtesy and Copyright Golden Eagle Global, Kurdistan, Iraq)

  • Features September/October 2014

    Castaways

    Illegally enslaved and then marooned on remote Tromelin Island for fifteen years, with only ARCHAEOLOGY to tell their story

    Read Article
    (Richard Bouhet/ Getty Images)

  • Letter from the Bronx September/October 2014

    The Past Becomes Present

    A collection of objects left behind in a New York City neighborhood connects students with the lives of people who were contemporary with their great-great-great-grandparents

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Celia J. Bergoffen Ph.D. R.P.A.)

  • Artifacts September/October 2014

    Silver Viking Figurine

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Claus Feveile/Østfyns Museum)