Exhibition Lecture: Cursing, Curing, Creating: The Culture of Magic in Ancient Egypt

This lecture will take place in person at ISAW (15 East 84th Street).

Registration is required at THIS LINK.

For the ancient Egyptians, magic was not an illicit alternative to religion or a mysterious violation of the natural world. Heka—the force usually translated as “magic”—was woven into creation itself and provided gods and humans with the causative power to make things happen. Drawing on texts and objects featured in the ISAW exhibition Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World, this lecture explores how Egyptians used spoken spells, written words, images, amulets, ritual actions, and sacred substances to heal the sick, protect children, defeat enemies, communicate with the dead, and transform their spirits. Seen from an Egyptian perspective, cursing, curing, and creating were not separate domains but different expressions of a world in which magic was an expected part of everyday life.

Foy Scalf is Director of the Data Research Center and Research Archives at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of the University of Chicago. An Egyptologist specializing in ancient Egyptian texts, intellectual culture, and religious traditions, he received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2014. He edited Book of the Dead: Becoming God in Ancient Egypt (2017), The Book of the Dead: Ancient Egyptian Manuscripts in the J. Paul Getty Museum (forthcoming 2027), and contributed the chapter “Magic in Ancient Egypt” to the catalogue for the exhibition Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World.

This talk is given in conjunction with ISAW's exhibition Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World. The exhibition is organized by the Toledo Museum of Art; its presentation at ISAW is made possible by generous support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Leon Levy Foundation. Please check isaw.nyu.edu for event updates. ISAW is committed to providing a positive and educational experience for all guests and participants who attend our public programming. We ask that all attendees follow the guidelines listed in our community standards policy.

Please check isaw.nyu.edu for event updates.

ISAW is committed to providing a positive and educational experience for all guests and participants who attend our public programming. We ask that all attendees follow the guidelines listed in our community standards policy.