ABSTRACT
Both human or animal studies and the field of ancient magic have seen considerable growth in recent decades, and their intersections, though few, have produced some significant works. This chapter investigates three motifs — human/animal metamorphoses, curses, and magical sacrifice. These represent only a few of many possible examples, but they are recurrent themes within the discursive field of magic, and, more importantly, they constitute cases in which more general principles are made explicit. These 'magical' practices, and their literary reflexes, both delineate and interrogate the boundary between humans and non-human animals within the symbolic system of Greek religion. The tracing and retracing of this boundary serves to reveal the ways in which human and non-human animals, and superhuman beings, were conceived of as simultaneously alike and unlike. While the magical creation of familiar spirits through the killing of humans is a literary fantasy, there are echoes of this idea in surviving ritual instructions.
