ELLADA
Collana di storia linguistica della Grecia e del Mediterraneo orientale
diretta da Mario Negri
7
Il volume è stato realizzato con il contributo del Dipartimento di Studi Uma
nistici dell’Università IULM di Milano.
I volumi pubblicati nella Collana sono sottoposti a un processo di peer review
che ne attesta la validità scientifica
Gift of a Book
Studi in memoria di David Jordan
a cura di
Giovanna Rocca e Gabriella Bevilacqua
Edizioni dell’Orso
Alessandria
© 2020
Copyright by Edizioni dell’Orso s.r.l.
Via Rattazzi, 47 15121 Alessandria
tel. 0131.252349 fax 0131.257567
email: info@ediorso.it
http://www.ediorso.it
Realizzazione editoriale a cura di Arun Maltese (bibliotecnica.bear@gmail.com)
Grafica della copertina a cura di Paolo Ferrero (paolo.ferrero@nethouse.it)
È vietata la riproduzione, anche parziale, non autorizzata, con qualsiasi mezzo effettuata,
compresa la fotocopia, anche a uso interno e didattico. L’illecito sarà penalmente perse
guibile a norma dell’art. 171 della Legge n. 633 del 22.04.41
ISSN 26124769
ISBN 9788836131242
Indice
Gabriella Bevilacqua
Ricordo di David Jordan
3
Giovanna Rocca
David Jordan: uno studioso, un maestro, un amico
9
Giovanna Rocca
Bibliogra"ia di David Jordan
13
Giovanna Rocca
Βασίλισσα Κυρία. Una de"ixio siceliota inedita: presentazione
e tecniche di lettura
23
Gabriella Bevilacqua
Βασίλισσα Κυρία. Una de"ixio siceliota inedita: epigra"ia e religione
27
Luca Bettarini
Βασίλισσα Κυρία. Una de"ixio siceliota inedita: struttura e lingua
51
Giovanna Rocca
Βασίλισσα Κυρία. Una de"ixio siceliota inedita: il testo
69
Alberto Bernabé, Raquel Martín Hernández
Invoking the Titans: an Analysis of a de"ixio from Lilybaeum
87
Jürgen Blänsdorf
Pathetic Lament on a de"ixion Tablet from Abusina (near Eining,
Danube)
97
Jaime Curbera
The House of Ibn Luffāḥa
103
VI
INDICE
Lucia D’Amore
“Magico Nord”. Superstizione e magia in Italia settentrionale.
Una rassegna
109
Esther Eidinow
A Performance (and the Performativity) of Authority in Ancient
Greek Magic
139
Kata Endreffy, Árpád M. Nagy
“Apolyson apo pankakou!”. A Recentlysurfaced Magical Gem
159
Richard L. Gordon
Appropriation of GraecoEgyptian Techniques in Latin Vernacular
Cursetablets
193
Roy D. Kotansky
Some Lyric Adespota from Unexpected Sources
209
György Németh
Greek Curses in ClermontFerrand
221
Daniel Ogden
Lucian’s Chaldaean Snakeblaster and the Hagiographical
Dragon"ight Tradition (yet again)
229
Giulia Sarullo
A proposito di devotos de"ixos dell’iscrizione bilingue di Barchín
del Hoyo (Spagna)
249
Leslie Threatte
Remarks on the Dual Number in Attic Prose Inscriptions
271
Roger S. O. Tomlin
‘Christ reigns’: a Medieval Lead Amulet Against all Fevers
281
David Jordan
György Németh
Greek curses in Clermont‐Ferrand1
The "irst curse tablets were discovered and published about two centuries
ago,2 but their systematic study was started much later by Richard Wünsch
and Auguste Audollent.3 After Audollent’s monumental volume in Latin was
published, there was a renewed interest in de"ixiones, but the growing
number of publications was rarely followed by comprehensive studies.4
However, these few summaries concentrated only on Latin inscriptions, and
after the publication of the works of Wünsch and Audollent no one undertook
to collect the considerably larger corpus of the Greek tablets.5 Therefore the
late David Jordan published two essential summaries listing all Greek curse
tablets known until 2000 that were not included in the books of Wünsch and
Audollent.6 The time of republishing sources in journals or monographs is
over by now, and today the greatest collection of known de"ixiones is the
Magdeburg database (TheDeMa).7 The corpus of Richard Wünsch (1897),
containing Greek tablets mostly from Attica and, to a lesser extent, from
Boeotia, is being prepared for a new edition, and David Jordan also played a
key role in this project. The fate of Wünsch’s collection is a twisted story. The
German scholar purchased 220 Greek de"ixiones in one package in Athens,
and after publishing the texts he sold the tablets to the Königliches Museum
(Berlin). At the end of World War II, Soviet troops plundered the treasures
of the Berlin museums, including the box containing the tablets of Wünsch.
In 1959, along with sculptures of the Pergamon Altar, the Russians returned
the curse tablets to East Germany (GDR), but only D. Jordan and J. Curbera
undertook to republish them after proper cleaning in recent years.8 In the
1
ELTE University, ORCID 000‐0001‐878‐8102.
Curbera 2015: 37.
3
Wünsch 1897, Wünsch 1898, Wünsch 1900, Audollent 1904.
4
Jeanneret 1918, Besnier 1920, Kagarow 1929, Solin 1968.
5
Jordan 1985: 152.
6
Jordan 1985, Jordan 2000.
7
The database (www.thedema.ovgu.de) contains data from 1715 curse tablets
(9 July 2019).
8
Bremmer 2015: 13‐14.
2
222
GYÖRGY NÉMETH
case of some tablets, thanks to the excellent work of restorers, today we can
read one third more text than in the time of Wünsch.
Wünsch and Audollent exchanged lively correspondence. Wünsch’s
letters, written in elegant French, are kept in the county archives in Clermont‐
Ferrand.9 Richard Wünsch was only 46 when he fell in World War I in 1915.
From that time on, Auguste Audollent was considered the most important
researcher of de"ixiones. There are numerous tablets kept today in the
archives of Clermont‐Ferrand and in the Musée Bargoin that were sent to
Audollent so that he publish them.10 About sixty lead tablets in the Musée
Bargoin and four inscriptions in the Archives Départementales du Puy‐de‐
Dôme came to the collection of Audollent either in North Africa or as
subsequent delivery.11
9
Archives Départementales du Puy‐de‐Dôme, 19 J box Nr. 12.
The envelope of an inscription in the archive has both the sender and the date:
Ministre de l’Instruction publique, des Cultes et des Beaux‐arts, 22 March 1905. For
the package sent by the widow of Dr. Carton, see Németh 2013a: 69‐74. A curse
tablet was owned by Dr. Houbart and sent to Audollent in 1927 to have it deciphered.
Provenance and "inding circumstances are completely unknown. Dr. Houbart lived
in Tunis, thus the origin of the tablet is presumably Tunisia (perhaps Carthage).
11
David Jordan must have been in the Archives Départementales, because right
next to Audollent’s drawing of a curse tablet (Németh 2013: p. 222.) I found a scrap
of paper with a short note in his handwriting: “Lead tablet belonging to the series
Audollent 276‐283. Photograph of same.” I took a photo of the note and sent it to
him on 29 June 2010. David replied instantly: “Yes, the note is in my writing, but alas
I remember nothing of it! That was long ago.” He then added some very interesting
information that explains why the arrangement of the Audollent heritage kept in
the archives is very professional: “Long ago, when Michel Sève (now professor at
Metz and a mainstay of Bulletin épigraphique) was a member of the French School
here, I met him and learned that he was from Clermont‐Ferrand. I had just heard
about Audollent’s archives there and asked him how I might see them. ‘Ask my
father, the archiviste départmentale; Audollent’s notes are in a box just behind his
chair!’ Michel had catalogued the notes himself.”
10
GREEK CURSES IN CLERMONTFERRAND
223
Image 1. A note of David Jordan in Clermont‐Ferrand. Archives Départementales
du Puy‐de‐Dôme, 19 J box Nr. 12.
There are only three purely Greek de"ixiones that were published by
Audollent or later studied by me. The three inscription fragments found in a
lead container have not been deciphered yet.12 I have recently published a
longer Greek inscriptions (26 lines).13 In the following I present an
unpublished lead alloy tablet containing Greek letters.
12
72.1.201. For the lead container, see Németh 2013a: 69‐74.
Németh 2019: pp. 51‐58:
Ιαιαια κο[…
Ἀβρασ‐]
άξ μετὰ ο[…
εἰς τοὺς]
νεκροὺς σα[…
Εἰησονίδην, τὸν τέκεν]
Νίκη τῆν τέ[κεν ἡ δεῖνα]
5
ἄρτι ὅτε ιετ[…]
τῶν αἰεὶ σ.ο[…
βακα]
ξιχυχ βασα[βαχυχ …]
ο βρισυληχ[…
ιω φορβηθ ιω]
πακερβηθ ι[ω απομψ …]
10
τῶν καθη[μερινῶν …
εἰς]
τοὺς νεκρο[ὺς …
Εἰησονίδην, τὸν τέκεν]
Νείκη τῆν τέκ[εν ἡ δεῖνα]
ὅτι ἐξορκίζω [ὑμᾶς κατὰ τῶν μεγάλων ὀνομάτων]
ερηκιςιφθα […
χυχβαχυχ]
15
βαβαβαχυχιχ[υχ… ιω φορβηθ ιω πακερβηθ ιω]
απομψ σεσεγγ[ενβαρφαραγγης … τοντουλιψ]
οβριουλημ ασ[…
ιω φορβηθ ιω]
13
224
GYÖRGY NÉMETH
Image 2. Drawing of the magic tablet of Clermont‐Ferrand by Gy. Németh. Musée
Bargoin inv. no. 72‐1‐220.
Image 3. Photo of the magic tablet inv. no. 72‐1‐220. Ville de Clermont‐Ferrand
Musée Bargoin by Marion Veschambre.
20
25
πακερβηθ μετὰ […]
των εἰς τοὺς νεκ[ροὺς σα…]
φαὸς ἡλίου ἁπαν ἐκ[φαῖνον, ἵνα καταδήσητε]
πᾶν μέλος Εἰησονίδ[ου τὸν]
τέκεν Νίκη τῆν τέκε[ν ἡ δεῖνα, ἀπὸ τῆς]
ἄρτι ὥρας καὶ ἡμέρας […]
ἤδη ἤδη τάχος διὰ τὰ [μεγάλα]
ὀνόματα. τοῦτον α[ …]
vacat
ο
“VOCES MAGICAE, Abrasax … to the dead … whom Nike bore, whom XX bore …
now when … those who always … VOCES MAGICAE … of the daily … To the dead …
whom Neike bore, whom XX bore … because I adjure (you by the great names) … to
the dead … revealing the whole light of the sun, so that you bind all parts of
Eiesonidas, whom Nike bore, whom XX bore … from this very hour and day …
immediately, immediately, quickly, through the (great) names. For getting to know
that one …”
GREEK CURSES IN CLERMONTFERRAND
225
Description of the tablet: Lead alloy, H. 0.4. W. 0.65.
5
charaktêres
charaktêres
charaktêres ος
μουθ αννα ι . ιας
μὴ Τατιᾶναν [ἐ]μουν[.]
χεσνεφιαρεα..ο
c…..γλή[νᾱς]
1. The charaktêr of two concentric circles is also known from Carthage
and Hadrumetum.15 There is an incomplete Z ring letter at the end of line 1.
Its parallels are found twice in another de"ixio in Clermont.16
3. The symbol of three vertical lines with circles at each end is also found
in another tablet kept in Clermont‐Ferrand.17 Based on this, it is possible that
both de"ixiones are products of the same magician, or at least of the same
workshop.
ος – the position of the signs makes it dif"icult to decide whether these are
two context‐free letters or two charaktêres.
4. μουθ – it is probably not a continuation of the previous line (*ος‐μουθ).
The word part μουθ is found in numerous magical names, but none of them
can be restored here in complete form.
Γενι̣ο̣ μουθιγ, Egypt, 5th c. AD, papyrus.18
σαμψιμουθη, Egypt, 4th c. AD, lead.19
ι̣α̣ ρεμμουθου, Carthage, 2nd‐3rd c. AD, lead.20
αννα – perhaps a female name.
5. μὴ – The negative construction indicates the intention that the target
of the curse (Anna?, Tatiana?) should not be able to do something.
Τατιᾶναν – accusative of the female form of Τατιανός. The name Τατιᾶνα
is found in a late antique funerary epigram.21
14
Provenance is given according to the inventory, even though it is uncertain;
see Németh 2013a: 80‐82. Bir el Djebbana was a Roman cemetery on the western
outskirts of Carthage.
15
Audollent 1904: Nr 276‐283, Audollent 1906: 378‐387, 241.
16
72.1.217, lines 2 and 3.
17
72.1.217.
18
Daniel‐Maltomini 1990, 162‐173, No 45, line 24.
19
Tomlin 2007, 161‐166, line 11.
20
Audollent 1904, No 231, line 19.
21
Cougni 1890: No 538: “Μήτηρ μοι Τατιᾶνα, παρ’ ἠρίον ὅστις ὁδεύεις,
226
GYÖRGY NÉMETH
[ἐ]μουν[.] – either a form of the verb ἐμέω (vomit), or a fragment of ἐμός,
ή, όν (mine).
6. χεσνεφιαρεα – the letters do not give any meaningful words. A part of
the string (φιαρ) is present in the name Ἀμφιάραος, but this name could not
stand on the lead tablet.
7. γλή[νᾱς] – may be from γλήνη (eyeball), perhaps as part of a curse
aiming at various body parts of the target, including the eyes. However, the
inscription is too short and too fragmentary to accommodate a longer list.
In summary, the de"ixio from North Africa may have been written against
one or two women, Anna and/or Tatiana, cursing even her/their body parts,
including the eyeballs. Curses against the eyes is typical of judiciary
de"ixiones – after all, who would have believed a visually impaired
“eyewitness”?22 The charaktêres in this curse tablet "it into the well‐known
charaktêres in North Africa.
Bibliographical References
Audollent 1904: A. Audollent, De"ixionum tabellae quotquot innotuerunt tam in
Graecis Orientis, quam in totius Occidentis partibus propter Atticas, in Corpore
Inscriptionum Atticarum editas, Fontemoing, Paris, 1904.
Audollent 1906: A. Audollent, Rapport sur des “tabellae de"ixionum” récemment
découvertes à Sousse, “Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques”,
1906, pp. 378‐387.
Besnier 1920: M. Besnier, Récents travaux sur les De"ixionum Tabellae latines (1904
14), “Revue de philologie, de littérature et d’histoire anciennes”, 44 (1920), pp.
5‐30.
Blänsdorf 2010: J. Blänsdorf, The Texts from the Fons Annae Perennae, in R. L. Gordon‐
F.M.Simón (ed.), Magical Practice in the Latin West, Brill, Leiden‐Boston, 2010,
pp. 215‐244.
Bremmer 2015: J. Bremmer, Preface: The Materiality of Magic, in D. Boschung‐J.N.
Bremmer (eds.), The Materiality of Magic, Wilhelm Fink, Paderborn, 2015, pp. 7‐
20.
ἤγειρε στήλην σὺν πατρὶ Σωσθενέϊ,
πολλ’ ὁλοφυρόμενοι μικρῷ ἔπι· ἦν γὰρ ἐμοὶ μεὶς
ἕβδομος οὐ πλήρης· οὔνομ’ Ἰουλιανός.».
22
“tollite oculus dexteru sinesteru, ne possit durare virtus arbitri Surae, qui
natu(s) est de vulva maledicta.” “Take the eyes, the right one [and] the left one, so
that the power of Sura, the Arbitrator may not persist, who was born from an
accursed womb.” Blänsdorf 2010: 218.
GREEK CURSES IN CLERMONTFERRAND
227
Cougny 1890: E. Cougny, Epigrammatum anthologia Palatina cum Planudeis et
appendice nova, vol. 3, Didot, Paris, 1890.
Curbera 2015: J. Curbera, Schwarze Magie in der Berliner Antikensammlung. Ein
Projekt zur Erschließung der Fluchtäfelchen und Rachepuppen aus Blei, “Antike
Welt”, 46 (2015), pp. 37‐39.
Daniel‐Maltomini 1990: R. Daniel‐F. Maltomini, Supplementum Magicum. Vol. I.
Abhandlungen der Rheinisch‐Westfalischen Akademie der. Wissenschaften.
(Sonderreihe, Papyrologica Coloniensia, XVI. 1.), Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen,
1990.
Jeanneret 1918: M. Jeanneret, La langue des tablettes d’exécration latines, Attinger
frères, Paris, 1918.
Jordan 1985: D. R. Jordan, A Survey of Greek De"ixiones Not Included in the Special
Corpora. “Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies”, 26 (1985), pp. 151‐197.
Jordan 2000: New Greek Curse Tablets (19852000), “Greek, Roman, and Byzantine
Studies”, 41 (2000), pp. 5‐46.
Kagarow 1929: E. G. Kagarow, Griechische Fluchtafeln, Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1929.
Németh 2013: Gy. Németh, Supplementum Audollentianum, Hungarian Polis Studies,
Zaragoza‐Budapest‐Debrecen, 2013.
Németh 2013a: Gy. Németh, Curses in the Box, “MHNH”, 12 (2013), pp. 69‐74.
Németh 2019: The Cursed Grandson. In Celia Sánchez Natalías (ed.), Litterae Magicae.
Studies in Honour of Roger S. O. Tomlin, Supplementa “MHNH” 2, Pórtico,
Zaragoza, 2019, pp. 51‐58.
Tomlin 2007: Tomlin, R.S.O.: ‘Remain Like Stones, Unmoving, Unrunning’: Another
Greek Spell Against Competitors in a Footrace, “ZPE”, 160 (2007), pp. 161‐166.
Solin 1968: H. Solin, Eine neue Fluchtafel aus Ostia, “Commentationes Humanarum
Litterarum», 42 (1968), pp. 1‐31.
Wünsch 1897: R. Wünsch, De"ixionum tabellae, IG III, 3. Appendix, Teubner, Berlin,
1897.
Wünsch 1898: R. Wünsch, Sethianische Ver"luchungstafeln aus Rom. Teubner, Leipzig,
1898.
Wünsch 1900: R. Wünsch, Neue Fluchtafeln, Sauerländer, Aargau, 1900.