E. M. Butler

Originally published in 1935, this book provides a study of the powerful influence exercised by Ancient Greek culture on German writers from the eighteenth century onwards. The text takes as its starting point Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–68), who was of fundamental importance to the introduction of Hellenistic ideas within the German intellectual tradition. This is followed by a chronological discussion of other key figures, such as Goethe, Schiller and Heine, revealing the complicated relationship between these ideas and the expression of an explicitly Germanic identity. A detailed index and bibliography are also included, together with illustrative figures. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in German literature, Ancient Greece and literary criticism.

The Magus, a legendary magician of superhuman powers, is an archetype central to myth and religion across many cultures. Identifying its anthropological origins in ancient rituals performed by a shaman or wizard to ensure the prosperity of his tribe, E. M. Butler goes on to trace its subsequent development in pre-Christian religious and mystic philosophers, in medieval sorcerers and alchemists, and finally in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century occult revival. From Zoroaster to Solomon, Merlin to Faust, Cagliostro to Rasputin, legends of the Magus are explored and where possible compared with the historical record in this fascinating account, first published in 1948, of one of the major figures in religious and occult mythology.