Cerberus Unbound: Dogs and the Dead in Attraction Spells and Harmful Magic

Adria Haluszka

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Chapter 7 Cerberus Unbound

Dogs and the Dead in Attraction Spells and Harmful Magic

In: Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

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Adria Haluszka

Adria Haluszka
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 108–126

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004741966_009

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Abstract

Attraction spells (agoge) and harmful curses (defixiones) from Greco-Roman Egypt often rely upon the power of chthonic deities and the restless dead in order to enact torments upon a victim. Canine imagery in these spells emphasizes behavior that is violent, threatening, and characterized by lyssa, a type of uncontrolled aggression—which the ritual practitioner attempts to harness. In her seminal book, Restless Dead, Sarah Iles Johnston explores changing developments in interactions between the living and the dead and changing conceptions about psychopompic figures, who are attributed with increasing power to control and mobilize the dead. Using Johnston’s theories regarding developments in specialized rituals of controlling the dead—in conjunction with recent trends in anthrozoological research—I show how the cross-cultural use of dogs, canine imagery, and myths of Cerberus can illuminate complex views about the dead and the afterlife. Canine imagery draws upon a rational and practical understanding of dog behavior in order to highlight the dangerous threat of the dead in the world of the living, and the inescapable aggression of the dead in being discharged against a victim.

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Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

Models from the Ancient Mediterranean to the Present Day; Essays in Honor of Sarah Iles Johnston

Series: Numen Book Series, Volume: 181

Cover Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004741966

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 07 Nov 2025

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- Religious Studies
  - Comparative Religion & Religious Studies

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Chapter 7 Cerberus Unbound

Dogs and the Dead in Attraction Spells and Harmful Magic

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Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

Models from the Ancient Mediterranean to the Present Day; Essays in Honor of Sarah Iles Johnston

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