«Contrôler les démons: formules magiques et rituelles dans la tradition juive entre les sources qumrâniennes et la Gueniza»

This paper examines ritual texts of Jewish origin having anti-demonic purposes and dating between the Hellenistic period and the Early Middle Ages. Distinctive features of exorcist prophylaxis are described, taking into account formulas belonging to different contexts: instructions included in the Greek Magical Papyri, apotropaic prayers from the Dead Sea Scrolls and fragments from the Cairo Genizah. Thanks to the analysis of traditional material that was codifi ed under Second Temple Judaism, it is possible to point out some formal patterns of texts and practices of demon expulsion standing for many centuries in a wide area of eastern Mediterranean Judaism