Hadrian was fairly obsessed with magic and oracles and portents and potions.Īnd we know that, during the imperial tour of Egypt, an Egyptian magician/priest sold the emperor a spell which would cause a man to be drawn irrevocably to him forever or which would possibly kill the man - depending on the dosage of the potion and the intonation of the words. In Graeco-Egyptian Magic there is only a very fine line between charms which result in blessings and charms which result in curses.Īs you can see from the little clay figure with the pins stuck in all its orifices - it is hard to distinguish whether the subject of the spell was being blessed or being cursed with love. If you can't banish a demon, then perhaps you can persuade it to go elsewhere where it will have even more demonic fun than it does with you. There is a famous gold lamella found in Romania which says: "Demon hanging over me in this place, go and do your hanging at Julia Cyrilla's house. They called upon evil demons to go elsewhere. In many cases, these lamellae were "demon redirection" talismans.
Since Antinous was well known for his "dream magic," it may have been calling on him to use his "dream magic" to send erotic dreams to the woman who was the object of the petitioner's desire. This could have been the use of the famous ANTINOUS LOVE SPELL. Very often, these lamellae were placed under the pillow so that you the petitioner could receive dreams from the God (as mentioned in the OBELISK OF ANTINOUS) or else could send dreams to a loved one. Religious prayer spells would be meticulously incised into thin sheets of gold or silver or copper foil (called lamellae) which were then placed inside amulets, or else rolled up and worn as pendants around the neck. Gold and lead, in particular, were so soft and malleable that they were good for casting prayer spells.
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