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Sylloge of Defixiones from the Roman West, Volumes I and II: A comprehensive collection of curse tablets from the fourth century BCE to the fifth century CE
Celia Sánchez Natalías
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Defixiones, also known as curse tablets, are one of the most revealing sources for ancient magico-religious practices. Born of rancour, anger, desire, love, envy, or just out of desperation, curse tablets were a strategy for obtaining ‘individual justice’ for those who could not accomplish their purposes through the available means, due to a lack of knowledge, power or legal/economical resources. In this volume, the reader will find a detailed catalogue that discusses 535 curse tablets written in Latin and a wide range of local languages. The catalogue is preceded by a full introduction in which the main features of these inscriptions are discussed together with leading scholarship. Such a detailed yet global study of these texts sheds light on various aspects of curses that vary on a regional basis, thus showing how this magico-religious technology was not only adopted but also adapted in new and creative ways by the local populations throughout the Roman West.
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VOLUME I
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Front Cover
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Title Page
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Copyright
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Of Related Interest
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Dedication
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Acknowledgements
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Contents
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List of Figures
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List of Tables
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I. Prolegomena
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1. A Brief History of Previous Scholarship
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2. A Definition
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3. Media
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3.1. Introduction
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3.2. Specific Media
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3.3. Non-specific media
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3.3.1. Perishable non-specific media
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3.3.2. Non-perishable non-specific media
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4. Inscribing the Defixiones
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4.1. Introduction: the written and spoken word
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4.2. The act of inscription
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4.2.1. The text: layout, language and writing
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4.2.1.1. The layout
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4.2.1.2. Language and writing
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4.2.2. Other components linked to the text
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4.2.2.1. Imagines magicae
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4.2.2.2. Magical symbols and charaktêres
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4.2.2.3. Other voces magicae
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4.3. Formulae defigendi
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5. The Manipulation of Defixiones
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5.1. Introduction: technical considerations
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5.2. Folded tablets
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5.3. Rolled tablets
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5.4. Pierced tablets
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5.5. Other modi operandi
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6. Deposition Contexts: Where the Curses have been Discovered
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6.1. Introduction: putting ‘context’ into context
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6.2. Funerary contexts
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6.2.1. Geographical and temporal data about funerary deposits
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6.2.2. The various modi operandi
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6.3. Aquatic contexts
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6.3.1. Geographical and temporal data about aquatic deposits
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6.3.2. Aquatic contexts as sacred spaces
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6.4. Sacred contexts
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6.4.1. Geographical and temporal data about deposits in sacred spaces
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6.4.2. Spaces for communicating with the divine
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6.5. Spaces associated with the victim
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6.5.1. Geographical and temporal data about deposits closely associated with the victim
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6.5.2. Domestic spaces
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6.5.3. The agonistic sphere
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7. Categorization of the Defixiones
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7.1. Introduction
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7.2. A tacit agreement
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7.3. Erotic defixiones
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7.4. Agonistic defixiones
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7.5. Juridical defixiones
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7.6. Defixiones against thieves
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7.6.1. A different approach: prayers for justice?
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7.6.2. Defixiones against thieves (or in fures)
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8. The Pantheon of Deities Invoked
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8.1. Introduction
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8.2. Graeco-Roman gods and supernatural entities
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8.3. Indigenous divinities
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8.4. Oriental powers
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9. Distribution of Defixiones in the Roman West
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9.1. Introduction
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9.2. Distribution of defixiones during the Republic
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9.3. Defixiones from the High Empire
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9.4. Defixiones during Late Antiquity
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9.5. Overall distribution of defixiones in the Roman West
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Back Cover
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VOLUME II
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Front Cover
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Title Page
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Copyright
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Contents
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List of Figures
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List of Tables
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II. Sylloge
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Note to the Reader
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Diacritical signs
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Location
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Sylloge of defixiones from the Roman West (SD)
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1. Italia
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2. Hispania
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3. Galliae
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4. Britannia
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5. Germania
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6. Raetia
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7. Noricum
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8. Pannonia
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III. Bibliography
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IV. Appendices
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1. Table of Correspondences
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2. Tables Prolegomenon
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3. Plates
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V. Indices
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Index of Deities and Supernatural Beings
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Select Index of Passages
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Index of Places
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Back Cover
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Citable Link
Published: 2022
Publisher: BAR Publishing
- 9781407353821 (ebook)
- 9781407315324 (paper)
BAR Number: S3077