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Bonds and headless demons in Greco-Roman magic
Dickie, Matthew W
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1999; 40, 1; ProQuest
pg. 99

Bonds and Headless Demons 
in Greco-roman Magic 

Matthew W. Dickie 

I
N THIS PAPER I wish to discuss the meaning of a gem-stone 
in black jasper from the Numismatic Museum in Athens 
that Armand Delatte published in 1914. The stone is 

inscribed with a headless human figure, its hands bound behind 
its back and surrounded by seven symbols with the legend 
BAXYX below it (no. 615).1 The symbolism of the hands bound 
behind the back will be the first topic dealt with and then the 
identity of the demon will be considered. Some texts from Late 
Antiquity or with their roots in Late Antiquity reveal both the 
significance of the binding and the identity of the demon. 

The binding of the hands behind the back will represent an 
attempt at cancelling the harm that the demon may do. The 
belief that the maleficence of demons is rendered null and void 
by imposing a bond or 8EO'1l6~ on them runs throughout the sub­
magical text known as the Testament of Solomon. In it one demon 
after another presents itself to Solomon to tell the king how its 
power may be annulled. They come before Solomon already in 

1 A. Delatte, "Etudes sur la magie Grecque V: 'AKe<paAo~ eE6~," BCH 38 
(1914) 189 fig. 1. Representations of headless demons are not uncommon in the 
world of Late Antiquity. They do not necessarily all represent the same 
demonic force. A headless demon is drawn in a Berlin magical papyrus (PGM 
I1.166-170). For a photograph, see K. Preisendanz, Papyri graecae magicae 2, ed. 
A. Henrichs (Stuttgart 1972) I pI. 1.2. His identity has occasioned much 
discussion: Delatte argued that he represented Seth and Typhon (189-249); 
Preisendanz held that he was Osiris cast as a solar deity (Akephalos, der 
kopflose Gatt, Beih.z.alt.Orient 8 [1926]); Campbell Bonner saw in him 
primarily a boge,YD;lan, though a bogeyman who could be identified with Osiris 
(Studies in MagIcal Amulets, chiefly Graeco-Egyptian [Ann Arbor 1950] 166). 

Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 40 (1999) 99-104 
© 2000 GRBS 

99 



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100 BONDS AND HEADLESS DEMONS 

bonds, since their leader Beelzeboul has undertaken to bring 
them into Solomon's presence bound (E1tTlYYtlAa-ro mxv1:a -ra 
aKu9ap-ra rtVEUl-lU1:a ayaYElv rtp6~ JlE OEO"Jlta, 3.7 McCown). 
Solomon, nonetheless, imposes a further OEO"Jl toy on some of 
them by applying his seal (O"(ppayi~) to their person (4.12, 5.12, 
10.8, 15.7). 

The idea that demons are rendered impotent to do harm by 
fettering them is also encountered in the Life of Symeon Stylites 
the Younger (henceforth v.Sym.Styl.J.). It is not only demons 
who are bound and kept from doing harm, a man who behaves 
badly towards Symeon suffers the same fate. The notion is ex­
tended to the binding of a presbyter who out of envy spoke ill 
of Symeon. There are two episodes in the work in which demons 
are subdued by being bound. In one of them two demons attack 
a man who had climbed a pine-tree standing on the edge of a 
precipice, picking him up by his feet and throwing him over the 
precipice, at which point the man called on Symeon for help 
and saw the Stylite stretching out his hands, taking him into 
them and putting him on his feet again safe and unharmed; 
there was then a further vision of the earth opening and of Sym­
eon putting bonds in the form of fetters (a.AUO"EWV OEO"Jla 'tol~ 
oUO"I OatJlOViOl~ Ertt9Evm) on the demons and of his throwing 
them into the abyss (91 van den Yen). The second episode also 
contains a vision of Symeon binding a demon. In this case, it is a 
boy ill with a fever, whose life is despaired of, who has a vision 
of Symeon carrying an iron staff and shackles and of an ugly, 
black, headless demon whom Symeon holds bound (Kal oaiJlwv 
n~ JlEAa~ Kal aElof]~, aKE<paAo~ -ruyxuvwv, KEKpu-rllmt OEO"JlEU-
6JlEVO~ rtap' mho\>) and who then has a further vision, this 
time of Symeon pinioning the arms of the demon behind its back 
with the shackles (of]O"a~ alHov EV 'tn a.AuO"n om0"9uYKwva), 
and of his dragging the demon to his pillar, where he kindled a 



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MATTHEWW. DICKIE 101 

pyre into which he threw the demon. As he saw the sight, the 
disease left the boy and he became whole again (231). 

At one level the image of the demon rendered impotent by 
the bonds or shackles that are imposed on him needs no ex­
planation: its meaning is intuitively obvious. It is not, however, 
a matter of chance that the image of binding was used to 
symbolize cancelling a demon's power to do harm and not one 
of the many other images that might equally well have been 
used. The harm that demons do is pictured in terms of binding. 
The demon bound is then very much the biter bit. V.Sym.Styl.J. 
is again one of the principal sources of images of demons bind­
ing their victims. There is the silentarius from Constantinople 
who could not have intercourse with the wife he had just taken, 
because of a bond a demon had cast upon him (ebf.GIlf.Uell U1tO 
bulIlOVOs).2 This led to his sending a messenger to Symeon ask­
ing that he be released from the bf.O"lloC; and to Symeon's being 
filled with the holy spirit and breathing in the direction of the 
west, while praying that the man be released from the bf.GIlOC; of 
the Devil (ev "to ovollun "tou Kuplou 'hllwv 'IllGOU XptO"'tou AUell 
o b£0"1l0C; "tau bla~oAou, 151).3 Then there is the presbyter from 
the village of Kassa who, prompted by envy, spoke ill of 
Symeon and finally excommunicated him in an anathema; he 
immediately saw a host of demons pinioning his arms behind 
his back (1tAlleOC; batllOVc.oV bllGaV't<Ov Ct.ll'tOV 01ttGeaYK<ova) 
and found that he was unable to read from the Gospels and 
raise the holy offering; setting out to find some cure for his 
condition, he encountered persons who roundly declared that 

2 For a recipe neutralizing O£crllu preventing a man and woman from having 
intercourse, see Delatte, Anecdota Atheniensia I (Liege/Paris 1927: hereafter 
Anecd.Ath.) I 146.15-34. 

3For £~cru; or insufflation as a technique for defeating demonic forces, 
blasting snakes, and curing sickness, cf Cyr. S. v.Euthym. 23 (Schwartz, TU 
49.2 [1939]); Anton. Hag. v.Sym.Styl. 24 (Lietzmann, TU 32.4 [1908]); Thdt. 
H.rel. 3.7 Canivet and Leroy-Molinghen (SC 234 [1977]). On its use in exor­
cisms, see Paul van den Yen, La vie ancienne de S. Symeon Stylite Ie Jeune (SH 
32 [1962-70]) II 159. 



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102 BONDS AND HEADLESS DEMONS 

sorcery was at the root of his sufferings (fAEYOV our 'ttVO~ 
yorrcEicx~ 'to\)'to 1tE1tov8evcxt cxu'tov) and who took the little 
money he possessed to cure him. It need hardly be said that 
they were unsuccessful and in fact made the man worse (239). 

The harm demons do conceived as a OEcr!lO~ has its origins in 
a more or less discrete category of spell whose aim it was to 
inhibit an opponent physically, either by preventing him from 
speaking in court or keeping him from performing some other 
action. The opponent was imagined to be bound down.4 So in 
curse-tablets from Athens of the 4th century B.C. the verb KCX'tCX­
Oem appears in the first person singular preceded by the name 
of the party to be bound down in the accusative. 5 The name for 
such a spell is a Kcx'taOEO'ts or a Kcx'taoEa!lO~, but when the 
substantives are first encountered in Plato, there are indications, 
although not conclusive ones, that the terms have a wider 
application and are used in a fairly general sense for spells 
designed to harm (Resp. 364c2-S, Leg. 933A2-BS). In Theocritus 
we get a woman saying vuv !lEV 'to'i~ q>{A'tpOl~ KCX'tCXOT)ao!lat 
(2.159) as she puts a love-spell on an errant lover to force him 
to return to her.6 In the magical papyri of the 4th century A.D., 
such a spell would have gone under the rubric q>lA'tpoKcx'ta­

OEa!lO~ (PGM IV.296). It may well have been called that in The­
ocritus' time.7 What is clear is that there has been an extension 

40n early binding-spells, see C. A. Faraone, "The Agonistic Context of 
Early Greek Binding Spells," in Hiera Magika: Ancient Greek Magic and 
Religion, edd. Christopher A. Faraone and Dirk Obbink (New York/Oxford 
1991) 3-6. 

5 A. Audollent, Defixionum tabellae (Paris 1904) 52; Wiinsch, IG III.3 40, 41, 
45,47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 74, 84a, 86. 

6C. A. Faraone, Ancient Greek Love Magic (Cambridge [Mass.] 1999) 27-
28, maintains that a <pi}."CpOY is a spell used by a woman to win back the 
affections of a man, while a qnAtpoKata.oEcr~oC;; or <iywylj is what the spells 
primarily used by men to arouse sexual passion in a woman are called. I have 
argued in a forthcoming article in CQ that this distinction cannot be sustained. 

7J. G. Howie suggests to me that there is a play on <PtA:tpoKa"Ca8Ecr~oc;; in the 
words toie;; qltAtpoiC;; Ka"Caolj(Jo~at. 



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MATTHEWW. DICKIE 103 

in meaning of the verb Ka:'Ca8£tv and the term comes to be used 
for putting a spell of any sort on someone. Thus the Ka"Ca8fO'lla 

or Ka"Ca8£0'1ltcx. which a phylactery from Sicily (2nd or 3rd cent. 
A.D.) and another from Beirut (4th cent. A.D.) promise to afford 
protection against look to be spells in generaI:8 [au)'to <jlOp&v ou 

<jl0~{'\O'1l Ilayov ou8E Ka"Ca8£0'1l0v ou8E 1tv£1)Il[a 1tov]T]pov ou8£ 

n 8111t0"Cf (32.10-12); 8tcx.<jluAa~OV 'AAf~av8pav ... a1to 1tav"Co~ 

8Ellovo~ Kat 1taO'll~ avaYKll<~) 8£vollwv Kal a1to 8£llovwv Kat 
<jlapllaKWv Kat Ka"Ca8EO'IlWV (52.6-13).9 In later Greek, the 

simplex 8£0'Ilo~ or 8£0'1llOV is used in place of the compound 
Ka"Ca8£0'1l0~ as are 8£tv and 8£0'1l£uEtV in place of Kcx.'ta8£tv and 

Ka"Ca8£0'1l£uflV respectively.lO They are used in a quite general 

sense, but the idea that a 8fO'1l6~ or a 8EO'IllOV involves binding 
clearly never quite disappears. 

The black, ugly, and headless demon whose arms Symeon is 

seen to bind behind its back is to judge from the context a fever­

demon (v.Sym.Styl.J. 231). So very likely is the headless demon 
on the gem published by Delatte. That headless demons are 

very often fever-demons emerges from a passage in the Testa­
ment of Solomon that describes a fever-demon and how he is to 
be vanquished (9). He is the fever-demon called <l>6vo~, who is 

human in all of his limbs, but is headless (avepW1tO~ IlEV rtav"Ca 
"CeX IlEAT] au"Cou, aK£<jlaAO~ 8£,9.1); he sees through his breasts; 
his special province is to set limbs ablaze with fever and inflict 
ulcers on the feet (dill 0 1tUp&v "CeX IlEAll Kal "COt~ 1toO'tV £rtt1t£Il1tW 

Kat £AKT] £1l1tOl&); his power is nullified by a fiery thunderbolt 

BRay Kotansky, Greek Magical Amulets I (Pap.Colon. XXII.1 [1994]) nos. 32 
and 52. 

9Cj. Orph.lith. 588, qJup~aKa 0' o<J<Ja 1tE}"ov'tat u'tu<J8aAa Kal Ka'tu­
OE<JIlOt; Orph.lith.kerygm. 20.19 Halleux-Schamp, Kal ~lta<Jllu'twv 1tav'twv Kat 
KamO£<Jllwv Ka8ap'tf]pwv \mapxf.l. 

100£<J1l0s: Iambl. Myst. 3.27.3; PGM IV.2904, XII.162, 170; Cyran. 1.4.48,59 
Kaimakis; v.Sym.StyI.J. 49.12, 151.10; OEtV: PGM IV.2904; o£<Jl!Euetv =0 

Ka'taoE<J!1EUEtV: PGM V.320-321. 



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104 BONDS AND HEADLESS DEMONS 

(Kat OUl Tile; Ejl1tUpOU ucr'tpa1tTte; Ka'tapyoujlat)Y In a formulary 
of the 17th or 18th centuries, there is a recipe for an amulet 
against fever that recommends the engraving on the stone 
known as zonitis of a headless spirit with its hands bound 
behind its back and its feet also bound standing upright; signs, 
seven in number, are to be drawn around it and behind it the 
following (seven) names: Apser, Azekiel, Ouriel, Sichael, Epha­
mael, and Zoizo (Elm Aa~wv AWOV So)Vt'tllv yAU'I'0V EV au 'tip 
1tVEUjla uK£~aAov 01ttcr8Ev EXOV 'tae; XEtpae; Kat 'toue; 1tOoae; 
OEOEIl£VOUe; Kat op8ptoV tcr'tUIlEVOV). The manuscript actually 
contains an example of the figure to be drawn. It is a winged 
headless demon with a tail; its feet are indeed bound, but its 
arms are folded across its chest.12 The amulet from Athens does 
not have the seven names inscribed on it, but it does have seven 
signs, which in combination with its headlessness rather sug­
gests that it is a fever-demon. 

August, 2000 The University of Illinois at Chicago 

11 An exorcism attributed to Athanasius in a manuscript of the early 18th 
century, now in the National Library in Athens (no. 825), exorcizes precisely 
this demon: opKit;w crE, ocuJlovwv 1tOVllPOV 'to KUAOVJlEVOV <t>ovo<;, 'to EXOV JlEV 
mxv'ta 'ta JlEAll 'tou uv9poJ1tou, UKE<j>aAO<; OE OV, 'to ~AE1tOV oux 'trov Ilacrarov 'to 
1tOWUV ~ov~ou<; 'tou<; uv9poJ1tou<;, 'to KatapyovllEVOV Ola 't11<; ej.mvpou ucr'tpa1t11<; 
(Anecd.Ath. I 234.23-27). 

12Anecd.Ath. 1489.7-490.7. The same codex contains one other very similar 
recipe for the cure of demoniacs and epileptics that also involves engraving.!he 
figure of an evil spirit on some jasper with its hands and feet bound (dta 
Aa~rov AWOV lacr1tlV 06KlIlOV YAVIjIOV ev a1l'tip 1tVEUlla 1tOVllPOV OEOEIlEVOV 
XEipa<; Kat 1tooa<;, ovolla OE au'tip 1:a'tav, Anecd.Ath. I 487.4-5). The 
accompanying figure shows a devil with horns with its hands bound in front 
of it and its feet also bound.