Paper short abstract:

Curse tablets facilitated communication between humans and the superhuman. There was variation between tablets and yet an overall similarity. This paper will look at how different individuals modified the tradition of creating a curse to facilitate their own, personal, communication with powers.

Paper long abstract:

The creation of curse tablets as a form of communication between the mortal sphere and that of otherworldly power is attested across a large chronological and geographical scope. Within this scope there is a huge variation in style and content in these inscriptions. Some, such as those which belong to the prayer-for-justice category use a supplicatory tone to almost plead with the gods for help. Others, such as the erotic spells, are much more demanding in tone and almost seem to expect the outcome of the curse to arise from the correct following of the ritual of creation and deposition rather than as a result of the invoked powers’ goodwill.

However, all of our surviving tablets are still all ultimately recognisable as curse tablets, even those more unusual examples from the Fountain of Anna Perenna in Rome. Therefore we have a shared conception of the creation of curse tablets as an accepted and reasonable means of communicating with otherworldly powers. There were formulae which were repeated in examples across centuries and in locations as varied as Greece and Britain.

This paper will use examples from across the chronological and geographical spread of curse tablet creation to address the ways in which curse tablets were simultaneously extremely personal inscriptions, which allowed individuals a means to communicate with external powers in various times of need, and yet also represented a wide-ranging practice with formulaic elements and a shared sense of how a curse tablet should be formed. Contrasts will also be drawn between the practice of developing a personal relationship with these superhuman powers and other less personal methods of interacting with the divine, for instance the use, or lack of use, of reciprocity in these interactions.