An astounding amount of evidence on the subject of "magic" and the occult has been found in the ancient world, including cure tablets, recipes, and stories. From the Book of the Dead to the myths surrounding the island of Thessaly, ghosts, witches, and necromancy all appear in historical texts. Yet these topics have only begun to be analyzed in earnest. Ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, two immortal civilizations of the ancient world, have recently been found to be rife with what is, to the modern eye, grotesque practices and dark ideas about the nature of life and death. In the last several decades, there has been an explosion of study focused on this topic and an increased interest in magic, its definition, and uses within the historical context. Where does this sudden attention come from? Because modern American and European culture has become enamored with the esoteric, there has been a sudden increase in demand for arcane history. This focus has been romanticised from the contemporary framework which has built supernatural up to be so unusual and strange.
