AR390 Lecture Notes - Curse Tablet
28 Nov 2013
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Document Summary
Ancient rome- defixiones- referred to as curse tablets, in latin means to nail down. On thinly pressed lead, with a nail pressed into it. With these tablets we need to understand they come from a traditions of personal use. Usually the people who practiced them were goeta (magician)- always male. This idea of condemning them is there because we don"t have a roman system of policing. Insight about romans, they are writing their own tradition and history. The tradition comes from the need for policing. These people who are not part of the literary history. They are rich in details and in belief systems. All these official gods are missing and there are names we don"t know what to do with. They are gods but we don"t know them. We see them for the first time on the tablet. From the curse tablets we would say no, they don"t matter, and don"t interfere with daily life.
