Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

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. Tablets were also used for love spells and, when used in this manner they were placed inside the home of the desired target. They are sometimes discovered along with small dolls or figurines (sometimes inaccurately referred to as "Voodoo dolls), which may also be pierced by nails. The figurines resembled the target and often had both their feet and hands bound. Not all curse tablets were made with lead, however, although the vast majority of the surviving ones were; curses written on papyrus, wax, wood or other perishable materials will be less likely to show up in the archaeological record.

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. The text on the tablets were not always curses; tablets were also used to help the dead. Those whose grave sites these were placed at usually died at a very young age or in a violent manner, and the tablet was supposed to help lay their souls to rest in spite of their untimely deaths. 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").. 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".

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. Over 80 more have similarly been discovered in and about the remains of a temple to Mercury nearby, at West Hill, Uley, making south-western Britain one of the major centres for finds of Latin defixiones.

In Ancient Egypt, so-called "Execration Texts" appear around the time of the 12th Dynasty, listing the names of enemies written on clay figurines or pottery which were then smashed and buried beneath a building under construction (so that they were symbolically "smothered"), or in a cemetery.

Historiography of Curse Tablets

When historians study curse tablets they look at magic as a whole. According to Peter Green magic was used by the people of the Greco-Roman society to control the natural. The study of both magic as a whole and curse tablets is vital for understanding the activities of Greco-Roman society because magic was used by all members of society regardless of economic or class status. There have been roughly 1600 curse tablets discovered, mostly written in Greek. Of those tablets, 220 were located in Attica. Other curse tablets that were discovered were categorized under DT (Defixionum Tabella, latin for curse tablet) corpus. Most of these tablets were in different languages or difficult to read.

The first set of curse tablets discovered was from a city in Sicily called Selinus. There were twenty-two of them and most of them came from the early fifth century. Most tablets written during this period were directed toward someone the user was suing.. Later tablets were discovered that were used as actual curses toward adversaries or as love spells. While the ancient Greeks may have feared the power of these tablets, some historians have compared the tablets to today's everyday swearing. These tablets were produced in a fit of anger, in envy towards a business competitor or athletic opponent, or in an unhealthy obsession toward a person of romantic interest.

When research first began on the topic of curse tablets, there was serious doubt that these types of artifacts truly came from ancient Greek society. Most historians believed that the ancient Greek society was highly sophisticated, a reasoned people that did not believe in the superstitious. E.R. Dodds, a professor of Greek at Oxford, was one of the first scholars to begin studying the topic of magic or superstition in ancient Greece, and others such as Peter Green were also curious about this aspect of ancient Greek society. In the latter part of the twentieth century discoveries have been made in regards to what role magic held in the lives of Greek citizens from all social strata.

The biggest subsection in this field of study is erotic magic. There is debate over whether it was strictly a male practice or if both sexes took up the art. John Gager, an important scholar in this field, argues that it was both male and female because females who had fallen in love were less able to express their emotions in Greek society. Scholars have debated the possible motivations for using erotic magic which include unrequited love, control of the “victim” sexually, financial gain and social advancement. The love spells used were similar in design around the Mediterranean world. They then could be adjusted to the different situations, users and intended victims. Recent scholarship has shown that women used curse tablets for erotic magic much more than originally thought however there is still a bigger sample size of male use. Another debate among scholars is over the type of women that men were trying to attract with these spells. Some scholars proscribe to the idea of men trying to make fair, chaste women become filled with desire for them while others like Matthew W. Dickie argue that men were trying to control women whom they thought to be sexually active for their own personal benefit. Another scholar, Christopher A. Faraone divides the spells into two distinct categories; spells used for inducing passion and spells used for encouraging affection. Men, according to Faraone were the primary users of the passion inducing spells while women were the main users of the affection spells. Some have disagreed with this view, pointing to the overlap in many spells that ask for sexual relations and affection at once. It is generally agreed upon that curse tablets were used by most levels of society for a number of different purposes ranging from curses to love potions to scrying the future.

References

Bibliography

Adam, I. (2001), 'Curse Tablets', available: http://www.pinktink3.250x.com/essays/tablets.htm (with bibliography and appendix of translated examples)
Ankarloo, B et al. "ed." (1999) "Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome" p.3
Audollent, A. (1904), Defixionum tabellae, Paris. Guide no. 756.
Baker, K. (2003), 'Greco-Roman Curses: Curse Tablets', History Of Magick, available: http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/delirium/articles/articleview.asp?ID=37
Dickie, Matthew W. "Who Practiced Love-Magic in Antiquity and in the Late Roman World?" The Classical Quarterly 50 (2000): 563-583.
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.
Faraone, C.A. Ancient Greek Love MagicCambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 1999.
Gager, John G. (ed) 1992, Curse tablets and binding spells from the ancient world. New York : Oxford University Press.
Graf, Fritz. "Die Religion der Romer: Eine Eifuhrung; Magic in the Roman World: Pagans, Jews, and Christians." The Journal of Religion 83(2003): 496-499.
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).
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.
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. "Binding Spells: Curse Tablets and Voodoo Dolls in the Greek and Roman Worlds" In Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome, ed. Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark, 3-90. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
Ogden, Daniel. "Gendering Magic" The Classical Review 50 (2000): 476-478.
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.
Tomlin, Roger (1988), Tabellae Sulis: Roman inscribed tablets of tin and lead from the sacred spring at Bath, Oxford.
Tomlin, Roger, et al. (2005), Curse Tablets of Roman Britain, available: http://curses.csad.ox.ac.uk/
Versnel, Henk, 'Beyond Cursing: The Appeal to Justice in Judicial Prayers', in Faraone & Obbink, Magika Hiera, in (1991), pp. 60-106.
Wünsch, R. ed. (1897), Defixionum tabellae, Berlin. IG iii.3. Appendix.