From the time Auguste Bouché-Leclercq’s Histoire de la divination dans l’Antiquité was published, magic and divination have been carefully separated, whereas ancient sources give evidence for the existence of a relationship between these fields. This relationship can be understood better through an anthropological approach that pays attention to ancient categories. Such an approach demonstrates how the Greeks conceived the notion of magic, starting from a cluster of representations belonging to their own culture, in the context of a favourable historical conjuncture. During the fifth century BCE, the negative connotations associated with the new developing notion of magic were indeed used in polemics against traditional knowledge in order to stigmatise diviners, disqualify their practices and denounce their political influence.