Quaestiones in Magica: Britta Ager

I’ve recently invested in two cups and a very long piece of string so, for the first time Q.I.M. has gone international! Huzzah. Ever wondered why your grape vines never produce good wine? Worried that your wheat isn’t growing quick enough? Well, get on the phone to Britta Ager, Assistant Professor of Classics at Arizona State University, and I’m sure she’ll recommend the best ritual sacrifice to sort you out. Hi Britta!

What are you currently researching and how did that come about?

BA: “I just finished a book and am moving on to new projects, so everything is in the very early stages, but I’m trying to get to work on a book on Roman farmers and how they use agriculture as part of their public personas. People like Varro have a lot to say about how your farm can help you cultivate a political career or a reputation as wealthy, tasteful, and virtuous, and we have plenty of evidence for elite Romans vacationing in the countryside and, essentially, glamping. My dissertation was half on magic and half on Roman agriculture, and after working on magic for several years, I’m looking forward to getting back to the agronomists, all of whom I really love and haven’t dealt with for too long. I also have a half-finished article on agricultural tree curses (a genre we have more examples of than you might expect) and a vaguely thought out piece on the reception of classical antiquity in modern perfumes.  I still need to make some final revisions on the book I finished this spring, The Scent of Ancient Magic, which deals with how Greco-Roman conceptions of magic and smell overlap and interact. That should be out in 2021.”

AP: This sounds like the next, best word in sensory approaches to ancient magic and I am so here for this.

What was the most recent (academic) book you bought? And have you opened it yet?

BA: “My last department kindly bought me all of the volumes in the Senses in Antiquity series which I didn’t have, and no, other than the volume on smell which I was already using I haven’t read a word yet. One of these months. On the plus side, I do actually know where they are, unlike most of my books, which are still in boxes after moving this summer. Surely that counts for something.” 

The hardest question in three words: magic or religion?

BA: “It depends!  The way that the same objects and behaviours can be categorised differently depending on who is using them and who is observing, or even due to factors like the political climate, is one of the aspects of ancient ritual which I find fascinating. On the one hand, I’m with Stuart McKie: it’s all ritual. On the other hand, this glosses over so many distinctions which mattered to the ancients, and I think we ought to talk more about how the category of ritual helps or doesn’t in relation to magic–or whatever we call it!–without a performative aspect to it, like wearing an amulet or dosing your oxen with a quasi-magical veterinary remedy.”

Imagine you are on commission and trying to sell me an ancient curse, spell, amulet, or ritual. Choose your favourite and give me the pitch.

BA: “Has a tree ever, like, really irritated you? I can show you how to get back at that leafy bastard.” AP: Smash the trees!

2020 has been an undeniable mess. How are you finding the world of academia right now?

BA: “Weird and disorienting. I moved to a new job in Arizona in the middle of the pandemic, and it’s been a strange time to start somewhere new, teaching remotely, at the opposite end of the country. Between the lack of familiar seasons and working at home, time has lost all meaning. I guess it’s Christmas next week? My colleagues and students here are great, though, and I’ve really enjoyed the enthusiasm with which classicists have come together online for talks and happy hours and demonstrations and game nights. ” 

If you could have a toasty caffeinated beverage with anyone in the field of religious and magical studies, classics, and archaeology, who would it be and why?

BA: “Oh, that’s a hard one. But I would have loved to meet Catherine Bell and gotten to talk to her about her work on ritual.” 

It turns out that the Oracle at Delphi has turned up again in 2020. I put your name down earlier on and you’re next in the queue. You get one question. What is it?

BA: “C’est quoi Gritty? What does the appearance of this prodigy portend for 2021?”

AP: I will happily bow to the true ginger overlord

Hit me with an excellent blog and/or someone on twitter we should all follow.

BA: “Serious discussion of Classics and gaming has been taking off, and I’m delighted by it. I’ll recommend Andrew Reinhard (@Archaeogaming) and his website https://archaeogaming.com/, and Jeremiah McCall (@gamingthepast) and his https://gamingthepast.net/. I love that we’re getting a new generation of scholars who have grown up as gamers. In addition, if you have any forthcoming papers, talks, blogs, or anything that needs plugging do let me know. On the same note, I just received a “Classics Everywhere” grant from the SCS to put together a series of events on Classics and video games. We’re going to have some typical academic discussion, but we’ll also be hosting things like streams of classically inspired games. I’m just beginning to organize this, so anyone who is interested in participating can get in touch with me at britta.ager@gmail.com or @brittaager on Twitter.”