![]() These spells don’t leave archaeological traces for us to find. Most spells required a special ingredient to be used in a specific way in combination with arcane words. Unsurprisingly, love charms feature prominently. They are a sort of do-it-yourself guide to magical rituals that offers solutions to problems like finding a thief, keeping calm, curing fevers and demonic possession. The Greek Magical Papyri are a series of ancient spell books from Egypt from between the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD. Hope was placed on spells, mysterious words and magical objects to grant the gift of love on their users or to take it away from rivals. While we are left with apps to swipe on, a greater belief in magic in this period provided interesting opportunities to find love. The inhabitants of the Graeco-Roman world suffered the same heartaches and the same emotional highs and lows as we do today. ![]() Such problems of the heart span cultures and history. For the hapless in love, the day can be a yearly reminder of failed romances, unrequited love and the seemingly unending search for the illusive “one”. ![]() Valentine’s Days is not all love hearts and roses for everyone. ![]()
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