EVOCATION. - From Lat. evocatio: a magical rite by means of which either a soul from the underworld or a deity from its seat is summoned. Evocation almost always has a divinatory purpose (necromancy), and it is found both among the ancient civilized peoples and among present-day primitives.
In the classical Greco-Roman world, besides the account of Lucian, who points to the Chaldean magi, masters of astrology, as highly expert in this art, several evokers are known (it suffices to cite Tiresias and his daughter Manto, Medea and Canidia) and famous cases of evocation, such as the one connected with Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus, in which a maga from Resta, Erichtho, evoked a dead man to predict the outcome of the clash, and the evocation of Juno Regina performed by Camillus during the battle of Veii (Livy, V, 21).
The evocatory rite belongs in substance to that particular form of magic which recognizes a magical efficacy in certain gestures and words. Since by means of evocation one can deprive an enemy of the help of his deities, it is evident that a halo of mystery surrounds the evocatory magical formulas, which are therefore known only to a personnel delegated to this type of practice, as was, in Rome, the college of the Pontiffs (cf. Macrobius, Sat., III, 9).
Bibliography7 worksG. Wissowa, Evocatio, in Pauly-Wissowa, XI, col. 1152 ff.; W. Schmidt, Die Bedeutung des Namens, Darmstadt 1912; P. Wold, Die altruistische
BIBL.: G. Wissowa, Evocatio, in Pauly-Wissowa, XI, col. 1152 ff.; W. Schmidt, Die Bedeutung des Namens, Darmstadt 1912; P. Wold, Die altruistische und die hektistische Evocatio, in Archiv f. Religionswissenschaft, 25 (1927), pp. 265-266; N. Turchi, s. v. in Enc. Ital., XIV (1932), p. 663; G. Furlani, La religione degli Istituti, Bologna 1936, pp. 223-27; E. De Martino, Il mondo magico, Turin 1938, pp. 19-22; F. Stegmüller, Meister Dietrich v. Freiburg über die seit u. das Sein, in Arch. d'hist. doctrinale et littéraire, du M. A., 13 (1942), pp. 112-123.
Turchi, Nicola. “Evocazione.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, coll. 896–897. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/evocazione.
MLA
Turchi, Nicola. “Evocazione.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. V, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, coll. 896–897. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/evocazione.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec5_evocazione,
author = {Turchi, Nicola},
title = {Evocazione},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {V},
pages = {896--897},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/evocazione}
}
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