Magic, ritual, and agricultural protection: a historical review of pest control practices between 2000 BCE and 1000 CE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34188/bjaerv9n4-084Palavras-chave:
history of agriculture, agricultural protection, magical-ritual practices, antiquity, pest controlResumo
Agricultural protection in antiquity involved material practices, empirical knowledge, and symbolic-ritual interventions intended to prevent or combat organisms harmful to plants and stored products. Between 2000 BCE and 1000 CE, different societies developed conceptions of the causes of agricultural damage and the means of preventing it, integrating observations of nature, agronomic procedures, and religious practices. This review aims to analyze magical-ritual practices of agricultural protection in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, examining their meanings, purposes, and relationships with empirical knowledge, as well as their transformations and continuities within the Byzantine tradition. Methodologically, it consists of a historical-documentary review of primary sources and historiographical studies on magic, religion, agriculture, botany, and protection against harmful organisms. The analysis encompasses incantations, formulas, gestures, apotropaic objects, offerings, and substances of plant, mineral, and animal origin, distinguishing predominantly ritual practices from those combining symbolic and material components. The results show that agricultural protection was not restricted to technical procedures, nor did it presuppose a rigid opposition between empirical knowledge and ritual intervention. In Mesopotamia, incantations against harmful organisms were prominent; in Egypt, religious practices coexisted with material food-preservation procedures; in Greece, associations between plants, natural properties, and symbolic procedures stood out; and in Rome, agronomic recommendations coexisted with ritualized practices. The Geoponica illustrates the transmission and reinterpretation of this knowledge within the Byzantine tradition. It is concluded that agricultural protection combined empirical knowledge, material procedures, and religious and symbolic practices according to different cultural and historical contexts.
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