Magic in Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians believed in magic. They believed so much that, during the reign of the Pharoah Ramases III, there was a conspiracy against the King. Records of part of the trial of the conspirators shows that one of the steps they took was to have magic spells written to make the King's guards sleep! Whether the spells worked or not, we don't know, but since the conspiracy was found out, I guess they didn't!
Rameses III lived in the New Kingdom, at a time when Egypt was beginning its very slow slide down to being a second-rate state, but back in the Old Kingdom, Egypt was just beginning to flower. My next two hubs will tell of Magic in the Old Kingdom!