Goldziher’s Abū Rīš

This paper attempts to identify Abū Rīš and reconstruct the story of a ritual Ignaz Goldziher could have heard in connection with his name. The relevant material was collected in Cairo, Rašīd, and Damanhūr mainly in 1994 and 1995. This saint is especially popular as a protector of children, and his rite in Egypt, which seems to be linked to the figure of Bes, appears to be an outcome of a textual continuity in the magical literature of Graeco-Roman and Arabic Egypt.