The Etruscan defixiones: From Contexts to Texts

Among the more than 13,000 Etruscan inscriptions that are known today, there are only a dozen texts that can be looked at as defixiones. The study of such artefacts is based first and primarily on contexts and extra-linguistic features, as our knowledge of the Etruscan language is too restricted to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Massarelli, Riccardo 1979- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Mohr Siebeck [2019]
In: Religion in the Roman empire
Year: 2019, Volume: 5, Issue: 3, Pages: 363-375
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Roman Empire / Etruscans / Curse table
IxTheo Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
BE Greco-Roman religions
Further subjects:B voodoo dolls
B Curse
B Lead
B Defixiones
B Etruscan
B tablets
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:Among the more than 13,000 Etruscan inscriptions that are known today, there are only a dozen texts that can be looked at as defixiones. The study of such artefacts is based first and primarily on contexts and extra-linguistic features, as our knowledge of the Etruscan language is too restricted to let us recognise a possible Etruscan cursing text as such. Moreover, only in a few cases do these inscriptions seem to resemble formulas of any kind: most of them are only lists of names. Despite all that, there are strong hints that the Etruscan cursing practice might not have been so different from the Greek and Roman ones, as for instance to be witnessed by the use of so-called 'voodoo dolls' and the choice of tombs as a preferred place to leave the inscribed leaden sheets, although this practice is not as widespread as in other places of the ancient Mediterranean.
ISSN:2199-4471
Contains:Enthalten in: Religion in the Roman empire
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1628/rre-2019-0021