In Blood and Ashes

Curse Tablets and Binding Spells in Ancient Greece

Bibliographic Data

ID9306795
AuthorsJessica L Lamont (0000-0003-3831-207X, Assistant Professor of Classics and History, Yale University, corresponding author), Jessica Lamont
Year2023
Publication date2023-08-24
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueIn Blood and Ashes (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressNew York (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/oso/9780197517789.001.0001
OpenAlexW4386141115
Open LibraryOL40145864M
ISBN9780197517789
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited302

From binding spells and incantations to curse-writing rituals, magic pervaded the ancient Greek world. In Blood and Ashes: Curse Tablets and Binding Spells in Ancient Greece provides the first historical study of the development and dissemination of ritualized curse practice from 750 to 250 bce, documenting the cultural pressures that drove the use of curse tablets, charms, spells, and other private rites. This book expands understandings of daily life in ancient communities, showing how individuals were making sense of the world and coping with conflict, vulnerability, competition, anxiety, desire, and loss, all while conjuring the gods and powers of the Underworld. Bringing together epigraphic, historical, literary, archaeological, and material evidence, this volume reads between traditional histories of Archaic, Classical, and early Hellenistic Greece, drawing out new voices and new narratives to consider: here are the cooks, tavern keepers, garland weavers, helmsmen, barbers, and other persons who often slip through the cracks of ancient history. The texts and objects presented here offer glimpses of public and private lives across many centuries, illuminating the interplay of ritual and conflict-management strategies among free and enslaved persons, men and women, pagans and Christians. Filled with new material and insights, this book offers a fresh perspective on ancient Greek social history and religion, highlighting the role of ritual in negotiating life’s uncertainties

Art · Curse · Incantation · Literature · MAGIC (telescope · Narrative · Negotiation · Social science · Sociology · Ancient Near East History · Anthropology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History

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