Publication details
Die lateinischen tabellae defixionum - der Usus und die Spezifika am Gebiet des Imperium Romanum
| Title in English | Latin Curse Tablets - Practice and Particularities on the Territory of the Imperium Romanum |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Latin vulgaire latin tardif X, Actes du Xe colloque international sur le latin vulgaire et tardif, Bergamo 5-9 septembre 2012 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.sestanteedizioni.it |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | latin curse lablets; prayers for justice; cursing formulae; territorial distribution of incantations |
| Description | This paper deals with the distribution of curse types and curse formulas and the specific features of the surviving Latin curse tablets in the various provinces of the Roman Empire in time and space. The Latin tabellae defixionum represent a special kind of epigraphic documents, the number of which has increased significantly over the last decades. A new modern corpus of Latin curse tablets was published by Amina Kropp, and a new category within the curse types has been recognized – the so-called prayers for justice. The analysis of these texts written on sheets of lead enables us to see the areas with specific connections, correspondences and differences in the content of the curse text, the frequency and types of used formulas, invoked deities and daemons, the application of magical words and special graphic features, which help us find out the relations between the curse type and the aim of the writer in the whole Latin curse tradition. This analysis of a total of 309 quite undamaged and intelligible curse texts tries to compare the possible relations between the curse formulas and the "bad wishes", or targets of, the curse writers in the cases of curses and prayers of justice. |