Kontakt

DFG-Projekt „Sexual Dynamis and Dynamics of Magical Practice in Graeco-Roman Egypt:

Erotic Spells in the Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri (PGM and PDM) and their Cultural Traditions”
 

Mitarbeiter/Project members:

Dr. Ljuba Bortolani (Klassische Philologie), William Furley (Klassische Philologie), Svenja Nagel, M. A. (Ägyptologie), Prof. Joachim Friedrich Quack (Ägyptologie).

 

Contact: ljuba.bortolani@asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de

Website: http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/people/all/person/persdetail/bortolani.html

 

Project infomation (English)  /  Projektbeschreibung (deutsch)

 

Main research interests

Ancient magic, Greek and Egyptian papyrology (especially magical papyri), history of religions, Graeco-Roman Egypt, digital humanities.

Education

• 1994–1999: ‘Maturità classica’, Liceo Luigi Galvani, Bologna, Italy.
• September 1999–July 2004: ‘Laurea’ (BA + MA equivalent) in Humanities (specialization Classics), University of Bologna, Italy, 110/110 summa cum laude. Supervisors: Professor Dario M. Cosi (History of religions of the ancient world), Professor Carla Salvaterra (Greek papyrology). Thesis title: ‘Traces of Orphic tradition in a Greek magical papyrus: P. Mich. Inv. 7.154/PGM LXX’.
• September 2004–July 2007: ‘Laurea Specialistica’ (BA + MA equivalent) in ‘Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East’ (specialization Egyptology), University of Pisa, Italy, 110/110 summa cum laude. Supervisor: Professor Marilina Betrò (Egyptology). Thesis title: ‘Bes and the headless god: PGM and Egyptian documents’.
• October 2008–July 2012: AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) funded PhD in ‘Classics in interdisciplinary Context (Egyptology/Papyrology)’, University College London (Department of Greek & Latin). Supervisors: Dr Nikolaos Gonis (Department of Greek & Latin), Professor John W. Tait (Institute of Archaeology). Thesis’s title: ‘Greek magical hymns: Egyptian voices in Greek dress? The nature of divinity in Graeco-Egyptian magical literature’. Examiners: Dr Martina Minas-Nerpel, Professor Ian Rutherford.

 

Academic employment

• 1^st May 2012–30^th June 2013: One year post-doc, University of Bologna, Department of ‘Storia, Culture, Civiltà’ (‘Society and power in the Greek inscriptions from Cyrenaica, IV–I centuries B.C.’), as part of the international project for the digital publication of the ‘Inscriptions of Libya’ (University of Bologna and Macerata, Paris IV Sorbonne, King’s College London).
• 1^st July 2013–30^th June 2016: Akademische Mitarbeiterin, University of Heidelberg, ‘Cluster of Excellence Asia and Europe in a Global Context’, in the project ‘Cultural plurality and the fusion of traditions between east and west’, subproject MC10.1 ‘The magic of transculturality’, coordinated by Professor William D. Furley (Seminar für klassische Philologie) and Professor Joachim F. Quack (Institut für Ägyptologie), in collaboration with Dr Svenja Nagel (Institut für Ägyptologie).
• 1^st July 2016–30^th April 2017: Associate member, ‘Cluster of Excellence Asia and Europe in a Global Context’, University of Heidelberg.
• 1^st May 2017–30^th April 2020: Akademische Mitarbeiterin, University of Heidelberg, Seminar für klassische Philologie, in the DFG funded project ‘Sexual Dynamis and Dynamics of magical practice in Graeco-Roman Egypt: Erotic Spells in the Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri (PGM and PDM) and their Cultural Traditions’, coordinated by Professor William D. Furley (Seminar für klassische Philologie) and Professor Joachim F. Quack (Institut für Ägyptologie), in collaboration with Dr Svenja Nagel (Institut für Ägyptologie) and in association with the ‘Cluster of Excellence Asia and Europe in a Global Context’, University of Heidelberg.

 

Publications

Monographs:

• Bortolani, L. M., Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt: A Study of Greek and Egyptian Traditions of Divinity, Cambridge 2016.
• Bortolani, L. M. and Nagel, S., The Magic of Transculturality; Divination rituals in the Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri (provisional title), in preparation.

Edited volumes:

• Bortolani, L. M., Furley, W. D., Nagel, S. and Quack, J. F. (eds.), Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Proceedings of the IWH Symposium 12th–13th September 2014, Heidelberg, ORA, Tübingen, forthcoming.

Articles:

• Bortolani, L. M., ‘Bes e l’ἀκέφαλος θεός dei PGM’, Egitto e Vicino Oriente 31, 2008, 105–26.
• Bortolani, L. M., ‘The oracle of Bes at Abydos and the “Dream-oracle of Bes” in the magical papyri: from a sacred site to a magical ritual?’, in L. Criscuolo, G. Geraci and A. Bencivenni (eds.), Simblos: Scritti di Storia Antica 6, Bologna 2015, 263–81.
• Bortolani, L. M., Edition of papyrus P. Oxy. 5319, in N. Gonis, F. Maltomini, W. B. Henry and S. Slattery (eds.), The Oxyrhynchus Papyri LXXXII, London 2016, 121–4.
• Bortolani, L. M., ‘The Greek magical hymn to Hermes: syncretism or disguise? The Hellenization of Thoth in Graeco-Egyptian magical literature’, in J. F. Miller and J. Strauss Clay (eds.), Proceedings of the Conference “Tracking Hermes and Mercury”, University of Virginia, March 27–29 2014, Oxford, forthcoming.
• Bortolani, L. M., ‘“We are such stuff as dream oracles are made on”: Greek and Egyptian traditions and divine personas in the dream divination spells of the magical papyri’, in L. M. Bortolani, W. D. Furley, S. Nagel and J. F. Quack (eds.), Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Proceedings of the IWH Symposium 12th–13th September 2014, Heidelberg, ORA, Tübingen, forthcoming.
• Bortolani, L. M., ‘Greek literary tradition in the incantations and rituals of the magical papyri from Roman-Egypt: beyond the magical hymns’, in M.-P. de Hoz et. al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Conference “Local Cultures and Greek Paideia in the Graeco-Roman East”, University of Salamanca, 29–30th June 2017, forthcoming.

Book reviews:

• Bortolani, L. M., Review of Richard L. Phillips, In Pursuit of Invisibility: Ritual Texts from Late Roman Egypt (Am.Stud.Pap. 47), Durham, N.C., 2009, Tyche 25, 2010, 281–4.