literature. A Mithraic leader like Maximus, Julian the Apostate’s counselor, was also
a theurgist (Eunapius, Vitae philosophorum 476) and performed rituals to Hecate,
one of the major Theurgical divinities (ibid., 475; Johnston 1990). Firmicus
Maternus (De errore profanarum religionum 4), in a passage devoted to Mithraism,
relates that the Magi knew of a male and a female nature of fire, and the female was
represented as Hecate. Dedications to her (CIL3.1095) or her statues (CIMRM84f.,
486, 1187) in several mithraea, as well as mentions of priests or initiatory priests
of both Hecate and Mithra (CIL6.733, 500, 504, 507, 510f., 1675, 31940; ILS
1264; AE136; cf. CIL6.846, 1779, 31118; 13.3643) allow us to suppose that
Theurgical doctrines about Hecate and the related Chaldean oracles were discussed
in the mithraea.From Private Theology to Magic
The one main stream of theology which always wanted to be different from ritual
efficacy was orthodox Pauline Christianity, and this opposition contributed to a new
definition of both magic and Christian orthodoxy.
With the exception of the Christian attitude toward “magic” (Thee 1984) and its
consequent ancient Christian (and modern) definitions, the Romans produced no
precise definition of what magic was and what was not. Even the arguments adduced
by Apuleius’ De magia are too controversial to give us a clear and unequivocal
definition. The only safe information is that of Pliny the Elder (Nat.30.8 –11), accord-
ing to which magic was the religion inherited from the Persian Magi. A Jewish and
a Cypriot form of the same magic also existed. The definition by the later philo-
sopher Eusebius of Myndus (fourth centuryad) is also interesting: magic is the
study of the several powers of the substances (Eunapius, Vitae philosophorum474 –5)
carried out by some lunatics.
We are used to placing under the heading of magic many mysterious doctrines,
images, words, and rituals, a series of magical papyri (the PGMand their supple-
ments), lamellae, and gems, and we are often satisfied with such a definition (see
Dickie 2001). The learned magicians who conceived recipes, amulets, or spells, how-
ever, were inspired by the most influential holy texts of different religious streams,
such as Gnosticism, Solomonic wisdom, Chaldean theology or Theurgy, the pre-
tended Persian religion of the Hellenistic Magi, Hermeticism, Egyptian religion, etc.
The heading “magic” has to be better clarified according to these more precise and
concrete headings. One cannot assume that magic did exist in the Roman empire
as an autonomous religious stream, because the magicians referred to the main
contemporary religions.
In the case of many religious traditions it is difficult to recognize the many dif-
ferent levels leading from the great theologians, such as Pythagoras or Julian the
Theurgist, to the communities which performed in daily life some rituals related to
the theological bases, and to the private or magical use of the religious beliefs. For
instance, we know the complex doctrine of Marcus, the follower of Valentinus, who
was active in Gallia, a Christian Gnostic who pretended to have found the secrets
Creating One’s Own Religion 387