Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (Hardcover)

by John G. Gager (Editor) "The city's two strongest rivals are the Goose . . . and the Tower..." (more)
Key Phrases: lead tablet measuring, voces mysticae, votes mysticae, New York, Asia Minor, Hermes the Restrainer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is ample reason...to be extremely grateful to Gager and his associates for having provided such a rich and accessible collection of these fascinating and culturally important documents."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"The material is fascinating, and provides a view of antiquity from an unaccustomed angle....Of immense value to students of the ancient world and of the history of religion."--Times Literary Supplement
"Spellbinding."--Christian Century
"A thorough and scholarly book, of immense value to students of the ancient world and of the history of religion."--Ancient History
"The editor and publisher are to be commended for making an important aspect of ancient popular religion accessible to a wide audience."--Journal of Religion


Product Description
In the ancient Greco-Roman world, it was common practice to curse or bind an enemy or rival by writing an incantation on a tablet and dedicating it to a god or spirit. These curses or binding spells, commonly called defixiones were intended to bring other people under the power and control of those who commissioned them. More than a thousand such texts, written between the 5th Century B.C.E. and the 5th Century C.E., have been discovered from North Africa to England, and from Syria to Spain. Extending into every aspect of ancient life--athletic and theatrical competitions, judicial proceedings, love affairs, business rivalries, and the recovery of stolen property--they shed light on a new dimension of classical study previously inaccessible. Here, for the first time, these texts have been translated into English with a substantial translator's introduction revealing the cultural, social, and historical context for the texts. This book will interest historians, classicists, scholars of religion, and those concerned with ancient magic.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; F First Edition Hardcover edition (September 24, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195062264
• ISBN-13: 978-0195062267
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,692,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important contribution to classical studies, March 17, 2009

By	Chris Travers "Einhverfr" (Chelan, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (Paperback)

In this work, Professor Gager provides a catalog of curse tablets and binding spells from Europe and the Middle East and some fairly impressive analysis of these finds. If you are looking for a systematic analysis of such finds, skip this work. If you are looking for source material and enough analysis to make it interesting, this is the book for you.

Gager divides these materials into a number of sub-categories such as those involving race-course competition, sex love or marriage, business competition, pleas for revenge and so forth, This functional breakdown makes the material easier to piece together and draw connections between the samples presented.

The one thing that could have made this work much better would be to include many more of the inscriptions in their original languages.

I would highly recommend this work to anyone interested in ancient magical practices or classical studies.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wordiness devalues information, September 8, 2007

By	A. M. Davidson "allykat_d" (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (Paperback)

I did like this book. The information, once you found it was interesting and helpful (I used this book for research on a screeplay) and some of the ideas were very useful. However, the book is SO chatty that you just wanted the author to shut up and get to the point. In chapter 7, the long winded preamble made me think the author liked hearing his own 'voice'. This book is worth buying, just be prepared that it could easily have been half its length and still contain all its useful information.

3 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, March 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World (Paperback)

Get book I found it very inlighting! It focused on old world magic.