4000 Essential English Words 6 » Unit 7: Greek Magical Papyri
| deceased | decipher | sinister | pneumonia |
| dusk | scope | botany | therapeutic |
| strife | deception |
The 1___________ of the medical book is broad.
It deals with all illnesses from colds to 2___________ .
Marcia found the sound of the river 3___________ .
She went there every day at 4___________ to relieve her stress.
The criminal fooled everyone with his 5___________ .
If only someone had stopped him from doing his 6___________ crimes.
Solomon’s grandmother was 7___________ .
Before she died, she taught him a lot about gardening and 8___________ .
After the war, there was much 9___________ about land.
It was difficult for the people to 10___________ the new laws about ownership.
The Greek Magical Papyri is a collection of writing about magic. After it was found in the Egyptian desert, it took experts years to decipher it. The text was written in at least three different ancient languages. After many years, experts realized it contained a number of spells that varied greatly in scope.
The most common types of magic in the collection dealt with healing illnesses like pneumonia. Some spells also gave advice for treating people with mental illnesses, such as those who became psychotic. Some spells asked for unusual things, like crocodile dung. But botany was an important part of the magic. Many healing spells gave instructions on how to use herbs and plants that were believed to be therapeutic. For example, in order to cure arthritis, the book says that the magician should build an ornate altar. Then he should mash different types of herbs and place them on top of it. At dusk, he is supposed to say a spell, so the gods would be gratified.
Other parts of the collection describe how to hone one’s psychic abilities and how to give credible descriptions of the future. Often, the book advised people how to use different objects to tell the future, including tea leaves. Also, one part of the book tells what different dreams might mean. It gives advice for using dreams to tell the future.
A small part of the book, however, is more sinister than the rest. It is meant to cause strife and deception. For example, one tells how to give someone warts, while another will make all of the victim’s farm animals die. However, if someone’s farm animals died as a result of a curse, he could ask a magician to perform magic that makes the deceased come back to life.
The activities in "4000 Essential English Words" are specially designed to make use of important learning conditions. Firstly, the words are introduced using sentence definitions and an example sentence. 4000 Essential English Words 1: 600 words (Unit 1 - Unit 30).
The activities in "4000 Essential English Words" are specially designed to make use of important learning conditions. Firstly, the words are introduced using sentence definitions and an example sentence. 4000 Essential English Words 2: 600 words (Unit 1 - Unit 30).
The activities in "4000 Essential English Words" are specially designed to make use of important learning conditions. Firstly, the words are introduced using sentence definitions and an example sentence. 4000 Essential English Words 3: 600 words (Unit 1 - Unit 30).
The activities in "4000 Essential English Words" are specially designed to make use of important learning conditions. Firstly, the words are introduced using sentence definitions and an example sentence. 4000 Essential English Words 4: 600 words (Unit 1 - Unit 30).
The activities in "4000 Essential English Words" are specially designed to make use of important learning conditions. Firstly, the words are introduced using sentence definitions and an example sentence. 4000 Essential English Words 5: 600 words (Unit 1 - Unit 30).