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There are several ways in which the Greek gods are transformed in late-antiquity in the handbooks and charms of itinerant magicians. One method involves expropriating and shrinking a god’s public cult (e.g. Apollo at Delphi) to the size of household shrine for personal rather than public use. Christian magical spells take another tactic: they demonize gods (e.g. Aphrodite or Artemis) so that they aligned solely with evil. A third process is simple persistence: chthonic gods like Persephone and Hekate, whom the Greeks in the classical period invoke in curses, persist throughout late antiquity in this same role. This chapter examines Kronos and Titans as a special and difficult case: although they were originally powerful free-ranging gods, because they take up an ultimate and permanent position in Tartarus, they are assimilated to other underworld entities and eventually become agents of oaths, curses and necromancy – roles that they borrow from ghosts and other chthonic demons.

This chapter starts by examining the fact that for most of Greek history, gods’ visits to humans were hard to discern--one never could be sure when or if a god were present, even within divinatory settings, when one would most expect that to be the case. It then moves on to contrast this with the situation found in later antiquity, particularly as expressed by divinatory rituals described by magical and theurgic texts. In these cases, the practitioner not only knew exactly what the visiting god or angel or daemon would look and sound like, but often was able to request that it manifest itself in a specific form. The paper explores these points by focusing particularly on four different types of divinatory experiences described by these texts: direct encounters (sustaseis, autopsiai), photagogia (leading in of divine light), lecanomancy and lychnomancy (divining by flames and water) and dreams.

The excavation of the tomb of Karakhamun has brought to light its textual richness. It is the oldest known Late Period revival monumental mortuary building, making it a an important reference for later temple tombs of Thebes. This chapter presents the texts identified in the First Pillared Hall, which are from the Book of Going Forth By Day, the Ritual of the Hours of the Day, the Ritual of the Hours of the Night, and various offering scenes. It describes the textual decoration and explains the placement of texts, spells, and scenes, as well as highlighting iconographic novelties.

Despite the collapse of the ceiling that destroyed much of the Second Pillared Hall of the Tomb of Karakhamun, the recovery of thousands of fragments has allowed over 90 per cent of the texts used to be identified. The Book of the Dead appears extensively in this tomb, and this chapter looks at the placement and choice of the texts and spells. It also considers peculiarities and possible alterations, their current condition, and the level artisanship used to inscribe them. The excavation of this tomb makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Book of Dead in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.