author
Margaret Alice Murray
1863–1963
A pioneering Egyptologist and folklorist, she spent nearly a century studying ancient religion and ritual. Her books helped shape popular ideas about witchcraft, even as many of her theories later became widely debated.
3 Audiobooks
Oude Egyptische Legenden
by Margaret Alice Murray
The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology
by Margaret Alice Murray
Ancient Egyptian legends
by Margaret Alice Murray
About the author
Born in 1863 in Calcutta, Margaret Murray became one of the first women to make a lasting mark in British archaeology and Egyptology. She studied at University College London and worked closely with the archaeologist Flinders Petrie, taking part in excavations in Egypt and helping teach generations of students there.
Alongside her work on ancient Egypt, she wrote widely on folklore, magic, and religion. Her best-known books on European witchcraft reached a large audience and had a strong influence on later popular culture and modern Pagan movements, though historians have since challenged many of her conclusions.
Murray lived an unusually long life, dying in 1963 at the age of 100. She remains an important and fascinating figure: a serious early scholar, an energetic public writer, and someone whose ideas left a deep mark both inside and outside academic life.