Deutsch Intern
DFG Centre for Advanced Studies MagEIA

Sofía Torallas Tovar

Research Interests

  • Papyrology
  • Graeco-Roman and Early Christian in Egypt
  • Language contact/sociolinguistics in Egypt
  • Ancient book production
  • Magic 

Curriculum Vitae

1995 PhD in Classics, Universidad Complutense de Madrid “El De Somniis de Filón de Alejandría”
1994-1997 Lecturer, Mälardalens Högskola, and Stockholms Universitet, Sweden
1998-2000  Postdoctoral fellow, Institute of Classical Studies, London, UK
2000-2005 Postdoctoral fellow, CSIC – Instituto de Filología, Madrid
2005-2006 Postdoctoral fellow, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
2006-2014 Tenured Researcher (Científico Titular). Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo. Madrid. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
2014-2024

Professor, Departments of Classics, and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Oriental Institute/ISAC. University of Chicago

Publications

A. Books
  • Christopher Faraone and Sofía Torallas Tovar, eds. Greek and Egyptian Magical Formularies: edition, translation and commentary, California Classical Studies (vol. 1) Berkeley 2022.
  • Christopher Faraone and Sofía Torallas Tovar, eds. The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies. Libraries, Books and Individual Recipes, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2022.
  • Radcliffe G. Edmonds, Carolina López-Ruiz and Sofía Torallas Tovar, eds. Religion and Magic in the Ancient Mediterranean. Studies in Honor of Christopher A. Faraone, London/New York: Routledge.
  • Christopher Faraone and Sofía Torallas Tovar, eds. New Approaches to the Great Paris Magical Codex, Berlin: De Gruyter (forthcoming).
  • Panagiota Sarischouli, Christopher Faraone, Raquel Martín and Sofía Torallas Tovar, eds., Voces Magicae and the Power of the Unintelligible. Trends in Classics, Berlin: De Gruyter (forthcoming).
B. Articles and Chapters
  • Raquel Martín and Sofía Torallas Tovar, «Interferencia lingüística entre egipcio y griego en los textos de los papiros mágicos. Una aproximación», in L. Conti, et al., eds., Δῶρα τά οἱ δίδομεν φιλέοντες. Homenaje al profesor Emilio Crespo, Madrid, 2020, 291-302.
  • Raquel Martín Hernández and Sofía Torallas Tovar, «Magical texts from Barcelona (Montserrat Abbey and Palau Ribes collections)», Symbolae Osloenses, 96:1 (2022) 243-259,
  • Anastasia Maravela and Sofía Torallas Tovar, «Impossible Anatomies: the curse and death of Gessios», A. Boud’hors, D. Brakke, A. Crislip, S. Moawad, eds. The Rediscovery of Shenute. Studies in Honor of Stephen Emmel. Leuven: Peeters, 2022, 367-391.
  • «Paleography of the Curse Tablets: Dating a Document on Lead», S. Torallas Tovar and R. Martín Hernández, eds. The Materiality of Greek and Roman Curse Tablets: Technological Advances, Oriental Institute, Chicago, 2022, 45-57.
  • Korshi Dosoo and Sofía Torallas Tovar, «The Anatomy of Magical Archives», in Faraone- Torallas Tovar (eds.), The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies: Libraries, Books and Individual Recipes, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2022, 3-63.
  • Korshi Dosoo and Sofía Torallas Tovar, «Roll vs. Codex: the Format of the Magical Handbook”, in Faraone- Torallas Tovar (eds.), The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies: Libraries, Books and Individual Recipes, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2022, 64-120.
  • Sofía Torallas Tovar, «The Composition of GEMF 31/PGM I and its sources», R. G. Edmonds, C. López-Ruiz, S. Torallas Tovar, eds. Religion and Magic in the Ancient Mediterranean. Studies in Honor of Christopher A. Faraone, London/New York: Routledge, 2023, 22-36.
  • Sofía Torallas Tovar, «Compilers of Magic: The Greco-Egyptian Magical Formularies through the eyes of their scribes», Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 165.1 (2024) 44-53.
  • Christopher Faraone and Sofía Torallas Tovar, «GEMF 52 (PGM XXIVa): A Hybrid Case of Greco-Egyptian Cleromancy?», Journal of Early Christianity 16 (2025) 133-151.
  • Raquel Martín Hernández and Sofía Torallas Tovar, «From PGM III to GEMF 55: rearrangement of an Ancient Magical Roll», Symbolae Osloenses 99 (2025) DOI 10.1080/00397679.2025.2521991.
  • Sofía Torallas Tovar, «The composition of GEMF 72 and 73 (PGM VIII and PGM IX) and their scribal features», in C. Sánchez Natalias, ed. The Transmission of Magical Knowledge in the Graeco-Roman World, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner (forthcoming).