Curse tablet

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Eyguieres Curse Tablet
Eyguieres Curse Tablet

A curse tablet or binding spell (defixio in Latin, κατάδεσμος katadesmos in Greek) is a type of curse found throughout the Graeco-Roman world, in which someone would ask the gods to do harm to others. These texts were typically scratched on very thin sheets of lead in tiny letters, then often rolled, folded, or pierced with nails. These bound tablets were then usually placed beneath the ground: either buried in graves or tombs, thrown into wells or pools, sequestered in underground sanctuaries, or nailed to the walls of temples. They are sometimes discovered along with small dolls or figurines (sometimes inaccurately referred to as "Voodoo dolls"[1]), which may also be pierced by nails. Not all curse tablets would have been on lead, however, although the vast majority of the surviving ones were; curses written on papryus, wax, wood, or other perishable materials will be less likely to show up in the archaeological record.[2]

The texts on curse tablets are typically addressed to infernal or liminal gods such as Hermes, Charon, Hecate, and Persephone, sometimes via the mediation of a dead person (probably the corpse in whose grave the tablet was deposited). Some texts do not invoke the gods however, but merely list the targets of the curse, the crimes or conditions upon which the curse is valid, and/or the intended ill to befall them. Some tablets are inscribed with nothing more than the names of the targets, leading to the supposition that an oral spell may have accompanied the manufacture of the curse.[3] The language of those texts that do give context is often concerned with justice, either listing the target's crimes in great detail, handing over responsibility for their punishment to the gods, using indefinite grammar ("whoever committed this crime"), or conditional ("if he is guilty"), or even future conditional ("if he ever breaks his word").[citation needed]. Frequently, such curse tablets are also inscribed with additional, otherwise meaningless "curse" words such as Bazagra, Bescu, or Berebescu, seemingly in order to lend them a kind of supernatural efficacy.

Many of those discovered at Athens refer to court cases and curse the opposing litigant, asking ("May he...") that he botch his performance in court, forget his words, become dizzy and so forth. Others include erotic binding-spells, spells ranged against thieves, and business and sporting rivals. Those curse tablets targeted at thieves or other criminals may have been more public, more acceptable; some scholars even refuse to use the word "curse" of such "positive" texts, preferring expressions such as "judicial prayers".[4]

About 130 curse tablets have been found at Aquae Sulis (now Bath in England), where many of the curses related to thefts of clothes whilst the victim was bathing.[5] Over 80 more have similarly been discovered in and about the remains of a temple to Mercury nearby, at West Hill, Uley,[6] making south-western Britain one of the major centres for finds of Latin defixiones.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ See e.g. Faraone in Magika Hiera (1991), p. 4 etc.
  2. ^ See Ogden (1999), p. 11.
  3. ^ See e.g. Ogden (1999), p. xxx.
  4. ^ E.g. Versnel 1991.
  5. ^ See Tomlin (1988).
  6. ^ See Curse Tablets of Roman Britain, http://curses.csad.ox.ac.uk/ (accessed 25-12-2006)

[edit] Bibliography

  • Wünsch, R. ed. (1897), Defixionum tabellae, Berlin. IG iii.3. Appendix.
  • Audollent, A. (1904), Defixionum tabellae, Paris. Guide no. 756.
  • Jordan, David R., 'A Curse Tablet from a Well in the Athenian Agora', ZPE 19 (1975), p. 245.
  • Jordan, David R., 'A Survey of Greek Defixiones not Included in the Special Corpora', GRBS 26 (1985), 151-197.
  • Tomlin, Roger (1988), Tabellae Sulis: Roman inscribed tablets of tin and lead from the sacred spring at Bath, Oxford.
  • Faraone, Christopher A. and Obbink Dirk (edd.), Magika Hiera: ancient Greek magic and religion, Oxford University Press, 1991.
  • Faraone, Christopher A., 'The Agonistic Context of Early Greek Binding Spells', in Faraone & Obbink, Magika Hiera, (1991), pp. 3-32.
  • Versnel, Henk, 'Beyond Cursing: The Appeal to Justice in Judicial Prayers', in Faraone & Obbink, Magika Hiera, in (1991), pp. 60-106.
  • Gager, John G. (ed) 1992, Curse tablets and binding spells from the ancient world. New York : Oxford University Press.
  • Kotansky, Roy, Greek Magical Amulets: the inscribed gold, silver, copper and bronze lamellae (Part I: Published Texts of Known Provenance), Papyrologica Coloniensia 22/1, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994.
  • Ogden, Daniel 1999, 'Binding spells: Curse tablets and voodoo dolls in the Greek and Roman worlds'. In: Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clarke, 1-90. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Jordan, David, 2002, 'Remedium amoris: A Curse from Cumae in the British Museum', in Ancient Journeys: Festschrift for Eugene Lane, http://www.stoa.org/lane/remedium.pdf (accessed 25-12-2006).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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