Beginning in the 4th century BCE, the use of the term magus became ambiguous and had a double significance. It often acquired contemptuous connation and was used to designate conjurers, sorcerers, and soothsayers (Bidez and Cumont, I, p. 174; Bickerman and Tadmor, p. 252; Papathcophances, p. 105). But the same word was also used for designating... See more

It’s when they belong to outsiders that they become suspect and are likely to be relegated as magic—and therefore crazy, wrong, stupid, or impossible. The ritual cleansing of a person through the application of special water, or the transformation of wine into blood before a room of onlookers isn’t dismissed as magic because these particular

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