Arbatel de magia veterum is a Latin book printed in Basel in 1575. Its forty-nine aphorisms, seven Olympic governors, and later English reception can be traced through surviving copies.
The title advertises ancient magic; the surviving evidence is an early modern print. The book is unusually explicit about prayer, divine permission, and duty to one’s neighbor. Its famous spirit names occupy only part of one septenary. Reading them in isolation can make the Arbatel look like a demon catalogue, while the original page and the first aphorisms show a more particular Renaissance Christian project.
Explore the Arbatel
The seven Olympic governors
Aphorism XVI prints Aratron, Bethor, Phaleg, Och, Hagith, Ophiel, and Phul. The page assigns province numbers and says the total is 196, although the printed Bethor line makes the arithmetic 186. The discrepancy is explained in the group guide and each profile preserves the source’s uneven descriptions rather than filling missing details with generic planetary lore.
Why the print matters
The title leaf states Basel and 1575; the Basel catalogue identifies the holding institution, shelfmark, and extent. Printed page 24 displays the Olympic list and its conflicting numbers. Robert Turner’s 1655 English translation is a later witness inside a collected volume, where the adjacent Agrippa title can mislead a casual reader about authorship. The Basel page presents the governors as one numbered sequence, while the London collection places the Arbatel beside an Agrippan title. Its celestial offices and devotional framework therefore reach the English reader in a different literary setting.