Hexametrical Incantations As Oral And Written Phenomena

Bibliographic Data

ID20076400
AuthorsChristopher A Faraone (corresponding author), Christopher Faraone
Year2011
Pages189-204
Publication date2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueSacred words (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/ej.9789004194120.i-415.49
OpenAlexW868088057
ISBN9789004194120
LanguageEN
Citations received6

This chapter discusses hexametrical incantations as both oral and written phenomena, beginning with the growing evidence that the Greeks from the fifth-century onwards used such incantations for a variety of purposes. Variations in these texts point to an even older, and now invisible, oral pre-history. The inscribed lead amulets, on the other hand, are themselves obvious testimony to an entirely new phenomenon: the special power of these same incantations once they are preserved in writing. The closing comments of the chapter deal with a discussion on how one of the Sicilian amulets emphatically calls attention to itself as a text that is powerful precisely because it is written down. Keywords: ancient Greeks; hexametrical incantations; lead amulets; oral phenomena; written phenomena

Ancient history · Art · Epistemology · Greeks · Incantation · Inscribed figure · Linguistics · Literature · Phenomenon · Sicilian · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy

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