Night's Black Agents

The Ghost of Sychaeus: <br/> <br/><i>At length in dead of night the ghost appears</i><br/><i>Of her unhappy lord: the specter stares <br/>And with erected eyes his bloody bosom bares.<br/>The cruel altars and his fate he tells-</i>The Aeneid<br/><br/> <br/>The literature of classical antiquity bristles with witches ghosts magic books curses voodoo-dolls and other fiendish monsters. This book covers the literature of both Greek and Roman cultures over a period of more than a thousand years through the advent of Christianity. Although classical culture was conservative especially in regards to ghosts and witches which were strongly bound up in folklore such tales preserve and conserve ideas about ghosts and witchcraft and they survive to achieve this effect precisely because they are wonderfully engaging. Consequently and also because they have directly and indirectly shaped our own culture's lore of magic and ghosts these tales speak to us today still with a great directness and immediacy. In <i>Night's Black Agents</i> Ogden uncovers the ancient foundations of the supernatural stories that have endured for generations.