The Ancient Greeks are central to much modern magical practice. A significant amount of thaumaturgy is taken directly from, or at least influenced by the Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri of late Antiquity. Crowley’s Rites of Eleusis took their name from the initiation rites performed at the Greek city of the same name. Hell, Hermes as in “Hermes Trismegistus” was a member of the Olympian Pantheon! Ergo, I thinks that Roderick Beaton’s The Greeks: A Global History should be of interest to at least some of y’all. The posted description says:
More than two thousand years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe.
In The Greeks, Beaton traces this history from the Bronze Age Mycenaeans who built powerful fortresses at home and strong trade routes abroad, to the dramatic Eurasian conquests of Alexander the Great, to the pious Byzantines who sought to export Christianity worldwide, to today’s Greek diaspora, which flourishes on five continents. The product of decades of research, this is the story of the Greeks and their global impact told as never before.
Pick up a copy here:
https://www.amazon.com/Greeks-Global-History-Roderick-Beaton/dp/1541618297.
