“Magic’s about understanding – and then manipulating – how viewers digest the sensory information.” – Teller

Long before David Copperfield, Harry Potter, and Gandolf, there was Magic and Witchcraft in the Ancient World.

This January, ANCS 350 offers you the chance to explore the ancient Greek and Roman roots of modern supernatural/paranormal legends (demons, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves) and discover how those in Ancient Mediterranean used magic to protect themselves from supernatural attacks.  

Examine age-old uses of daily practical magic and curses, as well as how astrology, dream-interpretation, and fortune telling contributed to the development of medicine and philosophy.

You’ll even have the opportunity to create your own curse tablet and a baked-clay amulet!

ANCS 350 is a hybrid course that combines online discussion/writing with in-class lectures and activities.

Register October 22 – January 2.

Get to know the Instructor:

Dr. Molly Jones-Lewis is a social and cultural historian of ancient medicine. She received her Bachelor of Arts with Honors from Swarthmore College in 2003, and earned her Masters in 2006 and her Ph.D in 2009, from The Ohio State University. Her research is oriented around the ways in which doctors and medical theories functioned in the Roman Empire. Some of her ongoing projects focus on theories of ethnicity, the doctor in Roman law and the making and popularization of Eunuchs in Rome. In her spare time, Dr. Jones-Lewis loves to knit, spin yarn, play a baroque recorder as well as spoil her cats.