Paul van Capelleveen reviews Jérémie Koering’s Iconophages: A History of Ingesting Images for Quaerendo, a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to manuscripts and printed books in Europe. Read the review here. Purchase the book here. An excerpt appears below:

“Koering’s fascinating story begins in Egypt where water, wine or other liquids were poured over images of gods, such as the healer Djedhor (a statue dating from ca. 320 bce can be found in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo). As the water flowed down, the magical texts of the hieroglyphs were read by a priest, and the supplicant needed to touch, kiss or lick the statue. The water was collected in a basin from which it was drunk, assuming that both the power of the deity itself (through the image) and the power of the spells (by reciting them) passed into the person who took them as protection against ailments or dangers or as antidotes against diseases. In ancient Greece, semi-precious stones were used as amulets, especially when they were carved with magical images and inscrip- tions. These were grounded to dust, dissolved in a liquid and consumed. In later times, both in the Roman Empire and the Christian world, contact with deities became increasingly distant: it could help to touch, or lick, a mural with depictions of gods, heroes or saints; like depictions of saints in medieval manuscripts were touched or kissed.”