Civilizations of the Supernatural

Fabrizio Conti (PhD, Central European University, 2011) teaches Western Civilization, Medieval, Renaissance, and Religious Histories, as well as Magic and Witchcraft at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. A graduate in the Humanities from the University of Rome ""La Sapienza"" with certificates from the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology in Rome and the School of the Vatican Secret Archive, Fabrizio is particularly interested in researching cultural fractures and changes within long-term historical structures and patterns. The history of magic and witchcraft is, from this point of view, particularly inspiring as it situates itself at the crossroad of different times, domains, and mindsets. Fabrizio has taught Medieval Christianity and Magic and Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe at the Ohio State University in 2015, and he has lectured in a number of other universities in Europe, the US, and the Middle East. Besides that, he has worked in the catacombs of Rome as a docent and in the Vatican Secret Archive as an archivist. Fabrizio is currently involved in historical TV documentary series ranging from the ancient civilizations and Roman warriors to the mysteries of the Knights Templar. He is the author of Witchcraft, Superstition, and Observant Franciscan Preachers: Pastoral Approach and Intellectual Debate in Renaissance Milan, which was published by Brepols in 2015.

Notes on Contributors
Foreword, Teofilo F. Ruiz
Introduction, Fabrizio Conti
CHAPTER 1. Naomi Janowitz, Aelian on Tortoise Sex and the Artifice of "Erotic Love Magic"
CHAPTER 2. Attilio Mastrocinque, The Dodekaoros, Magical Papyri, and Magical Gems: Egyptian Astrology and Later Hellenistic Traditions
CHAPTER 3. Tiana Blazevic, How to Deal With the Evil Daimones. Apotropaic Rituals of the Third and Fourth Centuries CE According to Porphyry, Iamblichus, and the Greek Magical Papyri
CHAPTER 4. Joseph E. Sanzo, Prayer and Incantation on Early Christian Amulets: Authoritative Traditions, Ritual Practices, and Material Objects
CHAPTER 5. Paolo Vitellozzi, Astrological Amulets in the Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius
CHAPTER 6. Michael D. Bailey, Magic and Disbelief in Carolingian Lyon
CHAPTER 7. Martina Lamberti, The Merseburg Charms: Pagan Magic and Christian Culture in Medieval Germany
CHAPTER 8. Francesco Marzella, Hirsuta et cornuta cum lancea trisulcata: Three Stories of Witchcraft and Magic in Twelfth-Century Britain
CHAPTER 9. Andrea Maraschi, Sympathetic Graphophagy in Late Medieval Scandinavian Leechbooks and Collections of Charms
CHAPTER 10. Ewelina Kaczor, Superstitions in a Sermon of Stanis?aw of Skarbimierz (ca. 1360-1431)
CHAPTER 11. Noel Putnik, Operari per fidem: The Role of Faith in Agrippan Magic
CHAPTER 12. Melissa Pullara, Reasoning with Witchcraft: Moral Deliberation in Macbeth
CHAPTER 13. Cora Presezzi, Envisioning the Afterlife from the "Seaport of Friuli": Conjectures on a Toponym