ancient city of Alexandria

Nine Measures of Magic:

The Papyri Graecae Magicae

According to an old Hebrew saying, of the ten measures of magic God gave the world, nine were delivered to Egypt. Nowhere else in antiquity bore such magical repute as the land of the Nile. A library of magical texts found in Thebes has given us an astonishing glimpse into the mentality of ancient magicians. Known as the Papyri Graecae Magicae, these spell-books reveal that practitioners aimed not just at mundane goals like avoiding crocodiles and winning at love, or ritual practicalities such as gaining a spirit-helper and muting talkative skulls during ceremonies, but also at such lofty ends as communing with gods and becoming immortal