Hello. I am doing a third year assignment on magic in medieval Europe and since I'm on a big Byzantine buzz I wanted to focus on that area of things. I am interested to know if magic was practiced widely in the empire, if there were any particular cults or subcultures that claimed to practice magic, how magic was viewed by different levels of society- that kind of thing.
I have the book Byzantine Magic, I can't recall the author's name though sorry and I don't have the book handy.
Note: I'm not at a weird university that studies magic, it's more about what would qualify as magic during the middle ages.
A couple areas you might investigate:
magical amulets have a rich tradition that could make for interesting comparisons across cultures, including Byzantium. Skemer's Binding Words: Magical Amulets in the Middle Ages would be a good place to start
There's a substantial amount of scholarship surrounding demons and exorcism in Greek thought and writing, especially (but not only) hagiography. You could explore the extent to which those issues function "magically" for the Greek Christians
Cool topic! Good luck!
If you are interested in the actual sources, the Magical Treatise of Solomon, translated by Ioannis Marathakis is an excellent book to study, with byzantine era magical practices making up the core of the book with a fair few outside influences. (Notably, these practices are descended from the same techniques used in the Greek Magical Papyri, see Stephen Skinners Techniques of Greco-Egyptian Magic, and Techniques of Solomonic magic by the same publisher for evidence of this. Note that these are written for practitioners AND academics so don't let that put you off as the scholarship is generally good.)
See also, the Testament of Solomon which was an important apocryphal text that heavily influenced Byzantine magicians and shows their core beliefs. Chiefly, in understanding the Demons of the Decans and their ruling spirit, but also in its portrayal of Solomon as a magical figure. Jake Stratton Kent includes a translation in his "Testament of Cyprian the Mage" and goes over its implications. However that book is aimed at practitioners, so may not be to your liking.
As you can see, Solomon was an important figure, if not Central in Byzantine magic. So you could do some digging based around him perhaps.
Also recommended is,
Traditions of Belief in Late Byzantine Demonology by Richard P. H. Greenfield (Super rare, find this and I'm jealous)
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