Books in Review.bk.
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BOOKS IN REVIEW
Through a Glass Darkly: Magic, Dreams and
Prophecy in Ancient Egypt, edited by Kasia
Szpakowska. Swansea, Wales: The Classical Press
of Wales, 2006. xvi + 269 pp.
In September of 2003, Kasia Szpakowska, Alan
B. Loyd and A. Powell organized a conference of
Egyptologists to present papers highlighting the cur-
rent work on magic, dreams and prophecy in Ancient
Egypt. This conference was sponsored by the
University of Wales Swansea and the University of
Wales Institute of Classics and Ancient History. The
responsibility for collecting and editing the papers
presented at this conference fell to Szpakowska, asso-
ciate professor (UK Lecturer) of Classics, Ancient
History and Egyptology at the University of Wales
Swansea. She has published widely in the area of
dreams and prophecy and consulted on a number of
television releases and documentaries including
Dreamworks’ Prince of Egypt and the BBC’s Bible
Mysteries–Joseph and his Multi-Coloured Coat.
Through a Glass Darkly consists of thirteen
chapters written by well-known Egyptologists and
specialists in the area of dreams and magic in Ancient
Egypt. The introductory chapter entitled Tomorrow is
Yesterday was written by the editor, Szpakowska, and
includes a general summary of each chapter. In chap-
ter one, John Baines of Oxford University discusses
display magic in Old Kingdom Egypt, and Maria
Centrone, a student of Szpakowska at the University
of Wales Swansea, examines corn-mummies and the
amulets of life (chap. 2). Carolyn Graves-Brown from
the University College London reports on her
research on emergent flints (chap. 3) and Leonard H.
Lesko examines end-time prophecies that include the
phrase “the end is near” (chap. 4). In chapter five,
Alan B. Lloyd, also of the University of Wales
Swansea, defines the Egyptian word heka and identi-
fies the role of dreams and prophecy in Ancient
Egyptian stories. Scott B. Noegel of the University of
Washington gives a comparative exegesis of puns and
divination in Egyptian dream narratives (chap. 6).
Daniel Ogden of the University of Exeter examines
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the context of Lucian’s tale The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
in chapter seven and Richard B. Parkinson discusses
the meaning of a simile found in Sinuhe’s dreams
(chap. 8). In chapter nine, Joachim F. Quack of the
University of Heidelberg reports on several newly
translated papyrus fragments with divination pas-
sages, and John Ray of Cambridge University intro-
duces the dreams of two girls from the 2nd century
B.C. (chap. 10). Robert K. Ritner of the University of
Chicago discusses serpents in ancient Egyptian div-
ination in chapter eleven and Anthony Spalinger of
the University of Auckland examines the dream of
Amenhotep II found on the Memphis stele (chap. 12).
Finally, Willeke Wendrich of the University of
California reports on his research regarding the power
of knots and knotting in Ancient Egypt (chap. 13).
Although there are many articles that are worthy
of note, four chapters best reflect the quality and
depth of research presented in this book. Lloyd’s
essay (chap. 5), “Heka, Dreams, and Prophecy in
Ancient Egyptian Stories,” provides an introductory
look at magic, dreams and prophecy in broad terms as
they appear in certain Middle and New Kingdom nar-
ratives. The word “magic” (heka) is used as a term of
convenience when translating Ancient Egyptian texts.
Unlike modern usages, heka in pharaonic Egypt did
not have any of the negative connotations that are so
often attached to the Western European understanding
of the term magic (p. xiv). It was the Egyptian belief
that a knowledge of specific words and actions con-
tain the power to alter normal experience for both the
gods and men. Magic was an integral part of Egyptian
thought, a type of cosmic force central to all of
Ancient Egyptian life. Every Egyptian who could
gain access to it, used magic; however, it was not con-
sidered a part of the “black arts” that might be associ-
ated with sorcery, neither was it thought to be a
deviant practice (p. 1).
According to Lloyd, Ancient Egyptian literature
used heka for very specific reasons, namely, to
emphasize the nature of a particular experience.
Highly fictionalized stories with fanciful plots, like
those found in the Westcar papyrus, used magic fre-
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42 BOOKS IN REVIEW
quently to animate objects, maintain longevity, fore-
tell the future and talk to animals. Stories firmly root-
ed in reality seldom include heka in the narrative. In
the Eloquent Peasant there is no mention of magic,
just the implication that the villain would use nefari-
ous means (i.e., heka) to steal from his neighbor.
Likewise, although the snake talks to the hero in the
Ship-Wrecked Sailor, there is no evidence that magic
was used as a means of communicating. Heka also
had enormous entertainment value. Practioners were
known to have performed many extraordinary feats
such as speaking to the dead and creating hallucino-
genic states. Egyptian magic and magicians gained
widespread popularity and enormous international
prestige by the Roman period. Egyptians, through
their unique knowledge of heka, could “control the
unseen links that bound all elements in the cosmos”
and “master the very mechanisms of the universe
itself” (p. 90).
One of the most familiar episodes of Egyptian
magic is found in the book of Exodus. Ritner’s essay
entitled “And Each Staff Transformed into a Snake”:
The Serpent Wand in Ancient Egypt examines the use
of snakes in Egyptian magic. Ancient Egyptian prac-
tioners usually had both a serpent-shaped staff and a
wand which were used together. According to Ritner
serpent-shaped wands had a long history within
indigenous Egyptian religious cultures (p. 205). The
most ubiquitous serpent staff in Ancient Egypt is the
was or +am-scepter which represented divine author-
ity. Gods, kings, queens and priests are often seen
holding this type of staff in temple reliefs, tomb paint-
ings and other decorative arts. The serpentine form of
the staff appears to have the head of a snake on the top
and a fork to trap snakes on the bottom.
Recently, Ritner has reexamined serpent wands
found in various museums. He has found only eight
that can be identified with certainty. Their individual
material, lengths, shapes, workmanship and dates
vary greatly. Most are owned by the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts. Two of the most interesting serpent
wands are made of bronze and have two cobra-shaped
heads. Each is approximately 22 inches long and has
a slithering shape. Another example was carved from
wood and was painted. Although actual examples of
serpent wands are rare, their depictions are quite com-
mon. Both the serpent staff and wand were used
together in ritual magic. Ancient Egyptians believed
NEASB 53
that by grasping and mastering dangerous animals,
particularly poisonous snakes, one could render them
harmless to the holder but dangerous to evil forces (p.
213). Used together, these rods had a great deal of
power. In the story of Moses, his staff and his pres-
ence seemed to threaten the balance of the cosmos,
and snake wands were used to ward off the evil that
he represented. Clearly this story was woven from
known Egyptian symbols of power and magic into the
biblical narrative frequently used in Ancient Egypt (p.
217).
The subject of dreams in Ancient Egypt is
addressed in part in chapter 5 and again in Parkinson’s
essay entitled Sinuhe’s Dreaming: The Texts and the
Meaning of a Simile (chap. 8). According to Lloyd, a
dream is “something which is seen or a phenomenon
within which seeing takes place” while sleeping.
Although some might refer to dreams as a “state of
unreality or fantasy,” for ancient Egyptians a dream
was also a “means of communication between the
divine and the human spheres and a source of divine
assistance” (p. 88). Some dreams in Egyptian litera-
ture happened without apparent cause; these dream
experiences might include a message from the divine.
Such dreams frequently needed interpretation, as dem-
onstrated in the story of Joseph’s encounter with the
butler and later the pharaoh (Gen 40-41). Other dream
experiences occurred as the result of an “incubation”
in which a request is made to a deity or advice is
sought and a message comes during sleep. In the case
of infertility it results in the conception of a child.
In Ancient Egyptian literature the inclusion of a
dream in the narrative was meant to draw the audi-
ence into a sense of intimacy with the performer/pro-
tagonist. According to Parkinson, Sinuhe brought
together “dislocation and strangeness, but also limi-
nality, closeness to chaos, uncertainty and…a sense of
self-analysis and questioning” (p. 166). This dream-
simile expresses a sense of “unreality” through its fic-
tional narrative and encourages the reader to “see
himself” in a new, unfamiliar way. The “defamiliar-
ization” that results needs interpretation in order to
make sense of the unfamiliar circumstances.
Parkinson’s analysis suggests that interpretive
Dreambooks, common in the New Kingdom, may
have been a Middle Kingdom genre as well. This
would lend support to the notion that the dream nar-
ratives found in Genesis are contemporary with the
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2008 BOOKS IN REVIEW
late Middle Kingdom and not limited to the
Ramseside dynasties where such actions are well
recorded.
In addition to giving advice, dreams could also
serve a prophetic function. According to Lloyd,
prophecy is usually an expression of foreknowledge,
but that is not always the case (p. 80). For men, it is
the ability to know the future by acquiring knowledge
and wisdom. For the gods it may involve laying down
what is going to happen rather than simple fore-
knowledge. As with most other societies, the prophet-
ic gift is not always easy to tie down. It is an organic
process which makes it hard to distinguish simple
foreknowledge from the process in which the future
can be determined (p. 89). The method for acquiring
a prophecy is seldom expressed in Egyptian literature.
The relevant character simply speaks in the prophetic
mode without reference to how it was acquired; it just
happens or the character just possess a high degree of
insight or sia.
Doomsday prophecies are nothing new in mod-
ern society. In Ancient Egypt prophecies and eschato-
logical visions that describe the end of time were not
uncommon. Lesko (chap. 4) examines the Coffin Text
1130 and Spell 175 from the Book of the Dead in his
chapter entitled “The End is Near.” Although these
texts are separated by hundreds of years, they have
remarkable similarities that suggest they may have
been connected (p. 67). Both texts appear to be cen-
tered around the city of Herakleopolis and refer to the
fate of the Tenth Dynasty capital. The gloomy predic-
tions of destruction and divine retribution may reflect
the general pessimism found in the worldview of the
people that lived in that doomed city. War, tumult,
rebellion, slaughter and imprisonment are themes
found in other late Middle Kingdom documents.
These eschatological visions bear a striking resem-
blance to other similar passages found in the books of
Isaiah, Amos and Hosea. “I will dispatch the Elders
and destroy all that I have made; the earth shall return
to the Abyss to the surging flood…” (CT 1130) and “I
will send fire upon their cities that will consume their
fortresses” (Hos 8:14) contain the same message for
two different civilizations.
Through a Glass Darkly is an excellent collection
of essays on Ancient Egyptian magic, dreams and
prophecy. Most of the articles are meant for
Egyptologists or other specialists and may not be
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appropriate for readers interested in general informa-
tion about the use of magic in Ancient Egypt.
However, Lloyd’s overview provides a framework for
the entire book and helps define the role that heka
played in the lives of ancient Egyptians, and Lesko’s
and Ritner’s essays provide the most useful articles
for those interested in archaeology and biblical stud-
ies. Other interesting articles include Noegel’s essay
“On Puns and Divination: Egyptian Dream Exegesis
from a Comparative Perspective,” and Wendrich’s
essay “Entangled, Connected or Protected? The
Power of Knots and Knotting in Ancient Egypt,”
which were not covered in this review.
The one major criticism that I have with this vol-
ume is the way it is organized. Although not stated
directly, Szpakowska attempted to place the essays in
chronological order beginning with display magic in
the Old Kingdom and ending with Greco-Roman
dreams. If this volume had been organized topically,
beginning with Lloyd’s essay as the initial framework
for discussing magic, dreams and prophecy, then this
book would be more cohesive. Nevertheless, Through
a Glass Darkly is an important work that provides a
specialist view of magic in Ancient Egypt.
Robert D. Bates
La Sierra University
Presocratics: Natural Philosophers before
Socrates, by James Warren. Ancient Philosophies
2. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
224 pp.
The second of ten projected volumes in the
Ancient Philosophies series, this work explores the
thought of the Greek philosophers of the sixth and fifth
centuries B.C. who immediately preceded Socrates.
The author, a senior lecturer in Classics and Fellow of
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, writes with stu-
dents in mind. Beginning with Thales, Warren
describes the teachings of those thinkers whose work
has survived in fragments and in quotations by later
authors, reconstructing their philosophies as best he
can and relating them to each other and to the philoso-
phies that followed in the classical period.
Presocratics has several outstanding features.
Rather than simply summarizing each philosopher’s