 Although magic was forbidden by Levitical law in the Hebrew Bible, it was widely practised in the late Second Temple period, and particularly well documented in the period following the destruction of the temple into the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries CE.The English word magic has its origins in Ancient Greece.During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, the Persian "maguš" was Graecicized and introduced into the ancient Greek language as "μάγος" and "μαγεία".