The history of magic: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present

Oksfordskiy professor arheologii predstavlyaet masshtabnoe issledovanie istorii magii — pokazyvaya ee aktual‘nost‘ i vazhnost‘ s drevnosti i do nashih dney. CHelovechestvo s nezapamyatnyh vremen praktikovalo magiyu v samyh raznoobraznyh celyah — chtoby zashchitit‘sya ot mnogochislennyh ugroz zhestokogo pervobytnogo mira, pochtit‘ pamyat‘ predkov, poluchit‘ udachnyy urozhay ili spravit‘sya s bol‘yu i strahom. Magiya pronizyvala vse sfery zhizni drevnih lyudey, no postepenno, s razvitiem religii, a pozdnee — nauki, nachala vyhodit‘ iz obihoda i priobrela durnuyu reputaciyu. V svoey knige oksfordskiy professor arheologii Kris Gosden vozvrashchaet magii ee vazhnoe mesto v mirovoy istorii. Na mnogochislennyh arheologicheskih istochnikah i drevnih tekstah on pokazyvaet, chto magiya, v otlichie ot religii i nauki, formirovala osobye otnosheniya cheloveka s okruzhayushchim mirom, i potomu dazhe segodnya magicheskie praktiki — gadaniya, sueveriya, privoroty — prisutstvuyut v nashey zhizni. Ot proklyatiy i char drevnegrecheskoy i rimskoy magii do shamanskih tradiciy Evrazii, korennyh narodov Ameriki i Afriki; ot alhimii epohi Vozrozhdeniya do zagadok sovremennoy kvantovoy fiziki — porazitel‘naya, uvlekatel‘naya i krasochnaya «Istoriya magii» dopolnyaet nedostayushchuyu glavu istorii nashey civilizacii i pokazyvaet, zachem magiya nuzhna segodnya.