Dr. Celia Sánchez Natalías, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Zaragoza
A Program in the Ancient World (PAW) Lecture. In-person attendance at 209 Scheide Caldwell.
Abstract
“Defixiones, also known as curse tablets, were an ancient magico-religious technology that allowed individuals to confront a slew of personal problems and crises, such as unrequited love, pending legal prosecutions, or even sabotaging opposing sports teams in the chariot races. I begin by defining this type of text, before giving a brief history of the important and idiosyncratic collection of curse tablets from Roman Carthage. The bulk of the talk consists in sharing a selection of recently re-examined tablets. While some of these texts were previously published and I offer corrections and improvements on the work of previous scholars, others remain unpublished. I also pay special attention to the archaeological contexts of these inscriptions (when information is available) and also discuss the role of the practitioners who manufactured these defixiones.”