Aquatic Spaces as Contexts for Depositing defixiones in the Roman West
The aim of this paper is to focus on the deposition of curse tablets in aquatic spaces, such as rivers, seas, fountains, or wells. This broad context has been traditionally treated as if it was a straight forward, coherent and confined category that was wholly separate from the other contexts in whi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2019]
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| In: |
Religion in the Roman empire
Year: 2019, Volume: 5, Issue: 3, Pages: 456-467 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Roman Empire
/ Province
/ West
/ Bodies of water
/ Curse table
|
| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BE Greco-Roman religions KBH Iberian Peninsula |
| Further subjects: | B
Curse Tablets
B magical-religious practices B Ancient Magic B aquatic spaces B Defixiones |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The aim of this paper is to focus on the deposition of curse tablets in aquatic spaces, such as rivers, seas, fountains, or wells. This broad context has been traditionally treated as if it was a straight forward, coherent and confined category that was wholly separate from the other contexts in which defixiones were deposited. Nevertheless, the aquatic contexts are in reality among the most slippery to classify, not only because they intersect with other contexts, but also because the coherence of this category depends on the cultural meaning with which practitioners endowed it. By analysing the archaeological record from the Roman West, I argue that most of these contexts are often much better understood as sacred spaces, which were thought to be especially conducive to communicate with the invoked deities. |
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| ISSN: | 2199-4471 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion in the Roman empire
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1628/rre-2019-0026 |