The First Witches: Women of Power in the Classical World

Traces the literary evolution of female figures like Hecate and Circe into archetypal witches, shaping enduring Western perceptions of witchcraft.

The First Witches: Women of Power in the Classical World takes you on a journey into the world of Classical literature, from the adventurous Homeric epic of the Odyssey to the grim warfare of Lucan’s De Bello Civili. In doing so, you will be introduced to a handful of powerful women who will later be labelled as “witches”. The chapters focus upon two specific groups of women from the Graeco-Roman world: the divine Hecate and the formidable yet beautiful Circe, who first feature in Greek texts, and the nefarious Thessalian witches and Erictho, who become marked antagonists in Roman literature. Both Hecate and Circe are fundamentally divine, yet early in their mythologies, they harbour characteristics that will become distinct tropes of witchcraft from being associated with the underworld, lunar lore and dangerous transformative powers. With the onset of increased social tensions in the late Roman Republican to early imperial periods, these divine women become increasingly more demonised within the literature, culminating in Hecate becoming a consort for witches and Circe a seductress and the epitome of the femme fatale.

Simultaneous to these representations, Roman writers adopted a stock character within prose and verse of the hag-witch who was shocking in both appearance and character, displaying many elements of moral turpitude and a disturbing penchant for bestial activities such as cannibalism and the kidnapping and killing of infants. Thus, the hag-witch, most commonly associated with the world of the modern witch hunts and within the pages of modern fairy tale, was born. This book, therefore, provides a readable overview of how the Western witch originated. So profound was the impact of the classical witch upon Western thought and literature that she even lives on today as a prototype of the gruesome woman found in folklore, horror stories and movies. This is why the studying and reading of classical works is so relevant today as it was for our forebears since the literature contains the very ingredients that help to captivate our imaginations and our fears. The authors of the literature and the characters within it will continue to serve as powerful reminders of how the Western world came to be.

Alexis Prescott holds a BA and MA in Ancient History and a PGCE in Classics from King’s College London. After her master's, she worked as a cataloguer of Roman Republican coins at the British Museum for three years before moving into teaching. She has since been a Classical Civilisations, Latin and Ancient Greek teacher for over 16 years, working as Head of Classics in a prep school and two secondary schools. She is now a freelance private tutor. As a Classics teacher, she has specialised in the teaching of Ancient Greek and Roman epic poetry, Greek tragedy, the Athenian democratic system, Roman Republican history and early Roman imperial history. Alexis is passionate about the representation of folkloric figures in the Classical world and the influences these representations have had upon Western thought, literature and film. She currently resides in the Northeast of England with her son.