Papyri Graecae Magicae
A spell for climbing through the sky to meet a god, copied in Egypt around AD 300.
Read it now
The whole Mithras Liturgy, PGM IV.475–834, is live in Greek with English under every word, the magic words spelled out by sound.
❦ Read the Mithras Liturgy now, freeA taste of the format. Open the reader above to read all of Papyri Graecae Magicae word by word.
About this book
Why read it
A script for a living person to rise through the heavens and stand before a god, with stage directions. When the gods rush at you, put a finger to your lips and say “Silence.”
The lore
The rite sits in the Great Magical Papyrus of Paris (PGM IV), a spellbook copied in Egypt around AD 300 and now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Albrecht Dieterich published it on its own in 1903 and named it the Mithras Liturgy. The Greek here follows Karl Preisendanz's edition of 1928.
What’s juicy
The climb comes with breathing instructions: draw breath from the rays, three times, as deep as you can. Then the doors of the sun open. Seven maidens in linen with the faces of asps appear, then seven gods with the faces of black bulls, and last the god himself, young and golden-haired, holding the golden shoulder of a calf, which is the Bear that turns the sky.
How it might change you
Word by word it reads as a set of instructions someone once followed in a dark room, saying each sound aloud.
Core vocabulary
The words that carry the book. Learn these and most of the text opens up; each links, in the reader, to its full entry. Counts are how often the word appears.
- vox magica an untranslatable magical name or sound — spoken for power, not meaning197×
- θεός god27×
- λέγω say26×
- εἰμί be, exist24×
- ὁράω see20×
- χαίρω rejoice20×
- οὗτος this17×
- πνεῦμα breath13×
- πρῶτος first, foremost12×
- ἀθάνατος deathless11×
- σιγή silence11×
- ἔχω have, hold, keep11×
- εὐθέως at once, immediately10×
- κύριος lord10×
- οὐρανός heaven8×
- θνητός mortal8×
- γίγνομαι come to be8×
- ὅδε this, this here7×
- μόνος only, alone7×
- ἀκούω hear, listen, heed7×
- ὥρα hour7×
- ἡμέρα day7×
- χράομαι use, make use of7×
- ἱερός holy6×
- μέγας great6×
- γένεσις origin6×
- ὕδωρ water6×
- δεξιός right(-hand)6×
- ὄνομα name6×
- βοτάνη herb5×
- πᾶς all5×
- λόγος word5×
- ἀρχή beginning5×
- κόσμος order5×
- πύρινος of fire, fiery5×
- πάλιν back, again5×
- γῆ earth5×
- ὁμοίως likewise, in the same way5×
- καλέω call5×
- μέρος part, portion5×
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