Witches context

• A Milesian Tale was a tale told to Greeks and Romans which usually involved love and adventure therefore we know that it's going to be a good story
• Thessaly was well known in the ancient world for witchcraft, possibly because Medea a mythological witch from Greek mythology was said to live there
• 'Commasculo' may be a pun as Thelyphron in Greek means 'female mind' and so he is brave here but later loses his courage
• Thessalonians wore black for mourning as they are Greek where as Romans wore white
• The shining white sheets that wrapped the body suggest that the man was rich as he could afford it
• In Roman times a weasel equalled bad luck as it was a sinister creature
• The God of Delphi is Apollo who was the god of prophecy and so he is expected to be able to distinguish between the dead and the living but as he can't it shows how 'dead asleep' Thelyphron was
• Zatchlas although not an Egyptian name could have been used by Apuleius to sound exotic
• Egyptians were famous for the magic in relation to death and the soul after death - why Zatchlas is Egyptian
• Lethe was the mythical river of forgetfulness that the dead drank from to forget their lives on earth
• The river Styx was the river one had to cross to get to the underworld
• Ghosts were seen as weak and his voice could be thin and weak - proceeding in the manner of a lifeless ghost