Taking the "Nestor's cup inscription" seriously: Erotic magic and conditional curses in the earliest inscribed hexameters

Classical Antiquity

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 1996, Pages

  Faraone, Christopher A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 63649156283     PISSN: 02786656     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/25011032     Document Type: Review

References (135)

1. R. Meiggs and D. Lewis, Greek Historical Inscriptions (Oxford, 1967) no. 1
2. P. A. Hansen, Carmina Epigraphica Graeca Saeculorum VIII-V A. Chr. N., Texte und Kommentare 12 (Berlin, 1983) no. 454
3. 2 (Oxford, 1990) 239 no. 1
4. and R. Arena, Iscrizioni delle colonie euboiche, Iscrizioni greche arcaiche di Sicilia e Magna Grecia 3 (Pisa, 1994) 18-19 no. 12
5. who provides an excellent new photograph that reveals the presence of extra letters after the vacat beyond the end of the second hexameter
6. The editio princeps is G. Buchner and C. F. Russo, "La coppa di Nestore e un' iscrizione metrica da pitecusa dell' VIII secolo av. Cr.," Rend. Ace. Line. 10 (1955) 215-53
7. for the most recent bibliography, see O. Vox, "Bibliografia," in G. Buchner and D. Ridgway, Pithckoussai I: La necropoli, Monumenti Antichi, Serie Monografica 4, vol. 1 (Rome, 1994) 751-58 and nn. 3-4 infra. The original text is written in continuous retrograde, but I have reversed the direction of the letters for the convenience of the modern reader. I give Hansen's text, noting that the restoration of to the lacuna of line 1 is not universally approved (see n. 3 for other possibilities) and also that it is not crucial to the argument that follows (infra, n. 66). Unless otherwise noted, all dates in this essay are B.C.E, and all translations are my own
8. and M. Guarducci, Epigrafia greca 1 (Rome, 1967) 226-27 restores (paraphrase: "Nestor's cup was good for drinking, but this one is good for sex")
9. she is followed by D. Ridgway, The First Western Creeks (Cambridge, 1992) 55-57
10. K. Rüter and K. Matthiessen, "Zum Nestorbecher von Pithekussai," ZPE 2 (1968) 231-55 (esp. 246 and 254), following a suggestion of B. Snell, are the first, I think, to call the inscription an outright joke; restoring to the first line, they suggest that the humor arises from the contrast between the proud boast of the cup ("I am the [sc. fabulous] cup of Nestor") and its obvious small size and humble manufacture
11. C. Watkins, HSCP 80 (1976) 39-40 suggests (paraphrase: "Nestor's Cup is good to drink from, but this cup ..."), which like has a number of good parallels in early epigraphic texts. In recent years, has proven to be the most popular restoration
12. See, e.g.: A. Johnston, "The Extent and Use of Literacy: The Archaeological Evidence," in R. Hägg, ed., The Greek Renaissance of the Eighth Century B.C.: Tradition and Innovation, Skrifter utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen 30 (Stockholm, 1983) 111-19
13. 2 Plates to Volume III no. 378
14. or J. Svenbro, Phrasikleia: An Anthropology of Reading in Ancient Greece, trans. J. Lloyd (Ithaca, 1988) 38 n. 55
15. P. A. Hansen, "Pithecusan Humour: The Interpretation of 'Nestor's Cup' Reconsidered," Glotta 54 (1976) 51-57 restores and offers a close reading of the inscription arguing for a complex series of jokes which defies brief paraphrase
16. 2 (previous note) and R. Thomas, Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece (Cambridge, 1992) 58
17. B. Powell, Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet (Cambridge, 1991) 163-67 suggests that the series of jokes sketched out by Hansen may be an artifact of the "capping" game played with symposiastic skolia, in which one singer tries to outdo the joke of his neighbor
18. The following abbreviations for the basic corpora and surveys of ancient Greek magical texts will be used throughout: GMA = R. Kotansky, Greek Magical Amulets: The Inscribed Gold, Silver, Copper and Bronze Lamellae, vol. 1, Papyrologica Coloniensia 22.1 (Opladen, 1994)
19. 2 (Stuttgart, 1973-1974)
20. SGD = D. R. Jordan, "A Survey of Greek Defixiones Not Included in the Special Corpora," GRBS 26 (1985) 151-97
21. Suppl. Mag. = R. Daniel and F. Maltomini, Supplementum Magicum, 2 vols., Papyrologica Coloniensia 16.1 and 2 (Opladen, 1990 and 1991). The numbers following these abbreviations indicate the number of the text in the corpus unless otherwise specified
22. "Der Inhalt der Inschrift ist ohne Zweifel als - wie weit auch immer ernst zu nchmender -Liebeszauber zu verstehen," in "Die Inschrift vom Nestor-Becher aus Ischia," Hermes 97 (1969) 261. Stephanie West, "Nestor's Bewitching Cup," ZPE 101 (1994) 9-15 is to my knowledge the only scholar to follow Dihle's approach in taking this inscription seriously
23. M. Marcovich, "A God Called Lychnos," RhM 114 (1971) 333-39
24. H. M. Müller, Erothche Motive in der griechischen Dichtung bis auf Euripides (Hamburg, 1980) 134-38. See, for example, a fragment of Eubulus, the fourth-century comic poet (Frag. 93 [Kassel-Austin]): "Three bowls only do I mix for the temperate - one for health, which they empty first, the second for sexual love (erôs) and pleasure, and the third for sleep, which men reputed to be wise drink up and then go home." An elegiac poem by Evenus (Frag. 2 [West]) is predicated on a similar hierarchy. For a discussion of the topos, see R. C. Hunter, Eubulos: The Fragments (Cambridge, 1983) 183-89
25. and D. E. Gerber, "The Measure of Bacchus," Mnemosyne 41 (1988) 39-45
26. S. J. Tambiah, "Form and Meaning of Magical Acts: A Point of View," in R. Horton and R. Finnegan, eds., Modes of Thought (London, 1973) 199-229 rightly dismisses the common view that "sympathetic magic" is based on poor observation of empirical analogies. He distinguishes instead between the operation of "empirical analogies" (used in modern scicntific discourse to predict future actions) and "persuasive analogies" (used in rituals in traditional societies to encourage future action)
27. Such rituals do not betray inferior observation skills, but rather they reveal a profound belief in the extraordinary power of language. Cf. G. E. R. Lloyd, Magic, Reason and Experience (Cambridge, 1979) 2-3 and 7
28. For the use of such "persuasive analogies" in the rituals of archaic and classical Greece, see C. A. Faraone, "The Agonistic Context of Early Greek Binding Spells," in C. A. Faraone and D. Obbink, eds., Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion (Oxford, 1991) 7-9
29. and idem, "Molten Wax, Spilt Wine and Mutilated Animals: Sympathetic Magic in Early Greek and Near Eastern Oath Ceremonies," JHS 113 (1993) 60-80
30. Best known, perhaps, in the form of the conditional self-curse found in early Greek oath ceremonies, such as the "Oath of the Founders of Cyrene" during which the participants melted wax effigies of themselves and wished that they be destroyed like the melting effigies if they violated their oaths; see Faraone "Molten Wax" (supra, n. 8)
31. Other uses included "tombstone curses" that conditionally wished utter destruction upon anyone who robbed or otherwise desecrated the body buried within; see J. Strubbe, "Cursed be he that moves my bones," in Faraone and Obbink (supra, n. 8) 33-59 and note 57 infra for some examples of metrical curses excerpted from Strubbe's essay
32. I follow C. D. Buck, The Greek Dialects (Chicago, 1928) 298 no. 100 in his interpretation of as "accursed."
33. For the text of this new fragment see P. Herrman, "Teos und Abdera in 5. Jahrhundcrt v. Chr.," Chiron 11 (1981) 8-9, Frag, d, lines 35-40
34. and idem, "Molten Wax" (supra, n. 8) 77-79
35. In general, swiftness is emphasized in the Greek magical tradition. The doubling for example, is extremely common in magical incantations, especially erotic ones; see, e.g., PGM I. 262
36. and Faraone, "Amphiaraus" (infra, n. 56) 323-24
37. I wish to stress that I am not speaking broadly about all forms of desire, affection or love. By "erotic seizure" I refer to instances (as in the inscription under discussion) in which eros, pothos or himeros is said to seize, strike or otherwise attack an unwilling victim who is suddenly and otherwise inexplicably attracted to another person. I suspect that this archaic conceptualization of the onset of unwanted desire is patterned on the belief that sudden demonic attacks were the cause of epilepsy, strokes and other violent illnesses; for the most recent work that sumMarizes older bibliography, see C. A. Faraone, Talismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual (Oxford, 1992) 44-48
38. and R. Padel, In and Out of Mind: Greek Images of the Tragic Self (Princeton, 1993) 114-34
39. See, e.g., A. Carson, Eros the Bitter-Sweet (Princeton, 1986) 3-9
40. R. D. Brown, Lucretius On Love and Sex (Leiden, 1987) 47-99
41. and J. G. Griffiths, "Love as a Disease," in Atlantis and Egypt with Other Essays (Cardiff, 1991) 60-67
42. C. A. Faraone, "Sex and Power: Male-Targeting Aphrodisiacs in the Greek Magical Tradition," in D. Konstan, ed., Documenting Gender: Women and Men in Non-Literary Classical Sources, Helios 19 (1992) 92-103
43. and idem, "Deianeira's Mistake and the Demise of Heracles: Erotic Magic in Sophocles' Trachiniae," in S. I. Johnston, ed., Magic and Literature, Helios 21 (1994) 115-35
44. C. A. Faraone, "Clay Hardens and Wax Melts: Magical Role-Reversal in Vergil's Eighth Eclogue," CPh 84 (1989) 294-300
45. see also idem, "The Wheel, the Whip and Other Implements of Torture: Erotic Magic in Pindar Pythian 4. 213-19,"
46. CJ 88 (1993) 1-19, which explores erotic spells that aim at torturing the victim with various curses
47. and idem, "Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Use of 'Voodoo Dolls' in Ancient Greece," ClAnt (1991) 164-69
48. Recent work on defixiones suggests that wealthy Athenian citizens were both the targets and the users of binding curses, especially in the arena of the courts of law; see D. R. Jordan, "Two Inscribed Lead Tablets from a Well in the Athenian Kerameikos," AM 95 (1980) 225-39
49. idem, "New Archaeological Evidence for the Practice of Magic in Classical Athens," Praktika of the 12th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Sept 4-10, 1983. (Athens, 1988) 273-77
50. and C. A. Faraone, "An Accusation of Magic in Classical Athens (Ar. Wasps 946-48)," TAPA 119 (1989) 149-61
51. With the important exception of PGM XXIIa (a fragment of a late-antique handbook devoted exclusively to incantations culled from Homer; see below nn. 20 and 24-26), most of the examples cited here are discussed in detail by G. Roeper, "Homerische Talisman," Philologus 5 (1850) 162-65
52. and R. Heim, Incantamenta Magica Graeca-Latina, Jahrbücher für classische Philologie Suppl. 10 (Leipzig, 1892) 514-19, nos. 151-58
53. See J. Scarborough, "The Pharmacology of Sacred Plants, Herbs and Roots," in Faraone and Obbink (supra, n. 8) 158-59, for the significance of the magnet (a traditional contraceptive) and the homeopathic effect of the hairs of a mule, a sterile animal
54. see R. Kotansky, "Incantations and Prayers for Salvation on Inscribed Greek Amulets," in Faraone and Obbink (supra, n. 8) 118, for a description of this and other amuletic cures for gout. The particular efficacy of this verse is, however, obscure. If we assume the common misunderstanding (from the Hellenistic period onwards) that the perfect of was derived from "rough" (see LSJ s.v.), the verse may have been seen as a threat to an illness or demon which dwells in the feet, e.g., "the agora is rough and the ground groans beneath."
55. For more detailed discussion of this passage in light of Greek binding spells, see Faraone, "Binding and Burying" (supra, n. 18) 164-69
56. For a sumMary, see, e.g., most recently, W. Burkert, "The Making of Homer in the Sixth Century: Rhapsodes versus Stesichoros," in Papers on the Amasis Painter and his World (Malibu, 1987) 43-62, esp. 44-50
57. In recent years, however, a minority of scholars have questioned so late a date; see, e.g., R. Janko, The Iliad: A Commentary, vol. 4 (Oxford, 1992) 37-38
58. W. R. Halliday, The Greek Questions of Plutarch (Oxford, 1928) ad loc. suspects an Aristotelian source here and in Question 13
59. see K. Giessen, "Plutarchs Quaestiones Graecae und Aristoteles' Politien," Philologus 60 (1901) 446-71
60. For the significance of Demeter's claim to knowledge of healing magic see N. Richardson, The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Ox ford, 1974) 229-31
61. and P. Scarpi, Letture sulla religione classica: L'inno omerico a Demeter, Università di Padua Pubblicazioni della Facoltà di lcttere e filosofia 56 (Florence, 1976) 159-73
62. T. W. Allen in a brief note, "Descriptive Names of Animals in Greece," CR 9 (1895) 13
63. and then again in T. W. Allen, W. R. Halliday and E. E. Sikes, eds., The Homeric Hymns (Oxford, 1936) 155-56 suggested that the words and were euphemistic names for the worms blamed for toothaches in adults and for teething pains in children
64. 3 (Princeton, 1969) 100-101
65. R. Kotansky, in H. D. Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (Chicago, 1986) 315-16
66. M. Guarducci, Inscriptions Creticae II (Rome, 1939) 223-25 no. 7 gives brief comments and bibliography
67. Of the earlier work, much valuable information can still be got from the discussions of R. Wünsch, "Neue Fluchtafeln," RhM 55 (1900) 73-85
68. C. C. McCown, "The Ephesia Grammata," TAPA 54 (1923) 132-36
69. and P. Maas, Hesperia 13 (1944) 36-37. I give lines S and T of Jordan's text (supra, note 37) and his translation, both of which include some minor corrections suggested by Maas and Jordan; the uncorrected text is
70. For modern discussions of the difficulties involved in translating pharmakon, see C. Pharr, "The Interdiction of Magic in Roman Law," TAPA 63 (1932) 272-74
71. and F. Graf, "An Oracle against Pestilence from Western Anatolia," ZPE 92 (1992) 276-77, who discusses the use of the term in Plato and the Tean imprecations (see n. 11, supra)
72. see the wide-ranging discussion by A. L. T. Bergren, "Helen's 'Good Drug' (Odyssey 4.305)," in S. Kresic, ed., Contemporary Literary Hermeneutics and the Interpretation of Classical Texts (Ottawa, 1981) 201-14
73. West, in A. Heubeck, S. West and J. B. Hainsworth, A Commentary on Homer's Odyssey 1 (Oxford, 1988) ad loc. suggests that the additive is a famous Egyptian incense that had a number of uses, including its use as an additive to wine
74. Text: J. Dillon and J. Hershbell, Iamblichus: On the Pythagorian Way of Life (Atlanta, 1991) 13-137
75. Traditionally scholars have assumed that Empedocles is quoting Homer for magical purposes; see e.g., Heim (supra, n. 19) no. 115. In recent years, however, some scholars have claimed that this passage only describes Empedocles' lyre playing and not his singing; see, e.g., M. R. Wright, Empedocles: The Extant Fragments (New Haven, 1981) 11
76. and B.Inwood, The Poem of Empedocles, Phoenix Suppl. 29 (Toronto, 1992) 157, who translates (as his Testimonia A15) "Empedocles ... struck up what Homer calls 'pain-dissolving, anger-reducing' music 'which makes one forget everything bad.'" The Greek is admittedly vague, but there are clearly three different actions described here: changing the mode playing the lyre and then starting up something else, i.e., singing
77. See D. Obbink, "The Addressees of Empedocles," in A. Schiesaro, P. Mitsis and J. S. Clay, eds., Mega nepios: Il destinatario nell'epos didascalico, Materiali e discussioni per l'analisi dei testi classici 31 (Pisa, 1994) 80 n. 67 for discussion
78. The final verb originally used to indicate the beginning of lyre playing (literally "to strike up [the lyre]"), is used as early as Pindar to indicate the beginning of a song (see M. L. West, "The Singing of Homer and the Modes of Early Greek Music," JHS 101 [1981] 122 with n. 58, who also cites Suda s.v. and Polybios 4.22.11, where the verb is used to indicate the beginning of a speech). Since Empedocles was famed for his songs
79. For discussion of this tradition, see J. T. Hooker, The Language and Text of the Lesbian Poets (Innsbruck, 1977) 59-60
80. D. L. Page, "The Mystery of the Minstrel at the Court of Agamemnon," in Studi classici in onore di Q. Cataudella 1 (Catania, 1972) 127-31 rightly recognizes, however, that the power of the minstrel lay in the magical efficacy of his singing. If we assume that Aegisthus was attempting to enchant Clytemnestra with spells (another possible meaning of and that the aiodos was an expert in ritual incantations (including those designed to protect people against enchantment), we can understand why a shrewd man like Agamemnon appointed a singer as overseer, and why Aegisthus was stymied until he was exiled
81. For some tantalizing glimpses of its contents, see D. R. Jordan, "A Love Charm with Verses," ZPE 72 (1988) 256-57
82. Although the first two lines were clearly hexametrical at some point in their history, they seem to be corrupt beyond repair. For several possible reconstructions see W. Brashear, "Ein Berliner Zauberpapyrus," ZPE 33 (1979) 267
83. R. Merkelbach apud Brashear, R. Janko, "Berlin Magical Papyri 21243: A Conjecture," ZPE 12 (1988) 293, and L. Koenen apud Janko. In light of the parallels provided by the inscriptions discussed here, e.g., "Nestor's Cup" Tataie's cup and the recently discovered cup fragment from Eretria [; infra, n. 110) - all at the beginning of a hexameter - I have added the at the beginning of line 3, an addition which also removes an awkward hiatus. For the rare use of a masculine participle in line 6 for the feminine, see Maltomini's comments in Supp. Mag
84. For a full discussion of the importance of these new finds for the earlier dating of the handbook tradition, see F. Maltomini, "P. Mon. Gr. Inv. 216: Formulario magico," in A. Carlini et al., Papiri letterari greci, Biblioteca degli studi classici e orientali 13 (Pisa, 1978) 237-66
85. republished in A. Carlini, ed., Papiri letterari greci delta Bayerische Staatsbibliothek di Monaco di Baviera (Stuttgart, 1986) 40-55
86. The very nature of these handbooks, however, points to a long period of accretion. A. S. F. Gow, Theocritus 2 (Cambridge, 1952) 35-36 suggested long ago that the many parallels between the PGM rituals and those performed by Simaetha in Theoc. Id. 2 show that individual spells or at least isolated details within the spells of the PGM handbooks must date at least as early as the beginning of the Hellenistic period. Recent research has shown in particular that hexametrical charms preserved even in late-antique papyri can be traced back to texts composed in the classical period. Jordan (supra, n. 52) 256-57, for example, reconstructs a seven-line erotic incantation on a fourth-century C.E. defixio using the unpublished late-classical lead phylactery in the Getty Museum as his guide
87. C. A. Faraone, "Aristophanes Amphiaraus Frag. 29 (Kassel-Austin): Oracular Response or Erotic Incantation?" CQ 42 (1992) 320-27 suggests that a tradition of hexametrical love charms ending in the phrase - it appears many times in PGM texts - is parodied by Aristophanes and may even have been known to Sappho
88. For the peculiar use of a first person future verb to indicate present action in earlier Greek magical texts, see C. A. Faraone, "The 'Performative Future' in Three Hellenistic Incantations and Theocritus' Second Idyll" CPh 90 (1995) 1-15
89. C. A. Faraone, "Aphrodite's and Apples for Atalanta: Aphrodisiacs in Early Greek Myth and Ritual," Phoenix 44 (1990) 230-33 reviews and eventually dismisses the possible literary sources beginning with the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women frag. 76.17-23 MW
90. This famous example goes back, of course, to J. Austin, How to do things with words (Oxford, 1962), whose innovative work triggered a reassessment of the use of language in magical rituals, most especially in the work of Tambiah (supra, n. 8)
91. For a general discussion of the "deictic field of language" and its application to archaic Greek poetics, see J. Danielewicz, "Deixis in Greek Choral Lyric," QUCC 34 (1990) 7-17, whose work is extended to early Greek hexametrical incantations by Faraone, "Performative Future" (supra, n. 56)
92. J. Herington, Poetry into Drama: Early Greek Tragedy and the Greek Poetic Tradition, Sather Classical Lectures 49 (Berkeley, 1985) 3-5
93. On this point, see also K. Robb, Literacy and Paideia in Ancient Greece (Oxford, 1994) 99-124 for a detailed discussion (following Headlam) of the evidence of the Gortyn law code
94. There are several well documented instances, mostly dating to the Roman period or later, which involve caches of defixiones mass-produced by the same individual(s) working from a formulary. Over two hundred defixiones dating to the third century C.E. from Amathous on Cyprus seem to be written by the same person(s) who used the same elaborate formula over and over again; see D. R. Jordan, "Late Feasts for Ghosts," in R. Hägg, ed., Ancient Creek Cult Practice from the Epigraphical Evidence, Skrifter utgivna av Svenska Institutet i Athen 13 (Stockholm, 1994) 135
95. R. Wünsch, Sethianische Verfluchtungstafeln aus Rom (Leipzig, 1898) published a cache of forty-eight lead tablets from Rome, all of which have similar Greek formulas and drawings on them, suggesting that they, too, were the product of different individuals working from a model. D. R. Jordan, "Defixiones from a Well near the Southwest Corner of the Athenian Agora," Hesperia 54 (1985) 205-55 has identified the hand of a professional scribe who carefully inscribed more than twenty lead curse tablets which were deposited in four wells in different parts of the Athenian agora in the third century C.E. There is, of course, evidence that professional magicians were at work in an earlier period
96. But we need not equate professionalism with literacy and authoritative handbooks. W. Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge MA, 1992) 41-87 argues convincingly that already in the eighth century itinerant magicians were instrumental in spreading a variety of ritual technologies around the eastern Mediterranean without the benefit of writing
97. PGM XX and H. Lloyd-Jones and P. Parsons, Supplementum Hellenisticum (Berlin, 1983) no. 900.1 give the reconstructed text as it appears on p. 265 of the second volume of PGM. P. Maas, "The Philinna Papyrus," JHS 62 (1942) 33-38 reconstructed the text by joining P.Berol. 7504 and P.Amherst ii, Col.II(A) with the help of a fragmentary fourth-century C.E. version of a very similar text, Supp. Mag. 88
98. Although Maas (supra, n. 70) thought the final two hexameters had an "archaic ring" to them, scholars usually suspect that these verses are a Hellenistic composition, perhaps even influenced by Isiac liturgy; see esp. L. Koenen, "Der brennende Horosknabe: Zu einem Zauberspruch des Philinna-Papyrus," Chr. d'E. 37 (1962) 167-74, and O'Neil (supra, n. 71). More recently, however, C. A. Faraone, "The Mystodokos and the Dark-Eyed Maidens: Multicultural Influences on a Late Hellenistic Charm," in M. Meyer and P. Mirecki, eds., Ritual Power in the Ancient World (Leiden, 1995) 297-333 argues that since the myth of salvific women with jugs of lapis lazuli reflects much older Mesopotamian models, we should leave open the possibility that Maas was correct about the archaic date of the last two verses
99. R. W. Daniel, "A Note on the Philinna Papyrus (PGM XX.1-2)," ZPE 73 (1988) 306 discusses the formulaic quality of the rubrics
100. C. Bonner, Michigan Papyri 3 (Ann Arbor, 1936) 123-29 no. 154
101. See H. D. Betz, "Fragments from a Catabasis Ritual in a Greek Magical Papyrus," History of Religions 19 (1979/1980) 287-95 for discussion
102. He argues that this is a case of traditional religion being reused for more pedestrian purposes, but see Z. Stewart, "L'ascesa delle religioni soteriologiche," in R. B. Bandinelli, ed., La società ellenistica: Economia, diritto, religione, Storia e civiltà dei greci 8 (Milan, 1977) 530-61
103. and W. Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults (Cambridge, MA 1987) 12-29 for the argument that the mystery cults were always concerned with practical as well as eschatological matters
104. See also M. Smith, "Salvation in the Gospels, Paul, and the Magical Papyri," Helios 13 (1986) 63-74
105. A second-century c.E.amulet from Sicily (GMA 32) identifies itself thrice as the and contains a variation on the conditional formula discussed earlier: "If you carry it you will not fear the magos nor the binding spell, etc." The references to a recipe (PGM VII 620) or (PGM XIII 21, 229 and 382) seem to refer to whole collections of spells; see J. Gager, Moses in Greco-Roman Paganism, SBL Monograph Scries 16 (New York 1972) 134-61
106. See also M. Gaster, "The Sword of Moses," JRAl (1896) 3-52 for a similar rubric in a late-antique Hebrew text that has many close affinities to the spells in the PGM handbooks
107. M. W. Dickie, "The Identity of Philinna in the Philinna Papyrus," ZPE 100 (1994) 119-22 suggests that Philinna is the notorious mother of Philip Arridaios, the half-brother of Alexander the Great
108. The famous "Seal of Solomon" does not to my knowledge appear in any extant Greek magical handbook, but it is mentioned in several inscriptions. P. Perdrizet, REG 16 (1903) 42-61 discusses a series of rather late Greek amulets (depicting a man on horseback piercing a supine female with a long spear) that identify themselves as the Two of these amulets (Heim [supra, n. 19] nos. 61 and 62) have on their reverse versions of a corrupted hexametrical flee-formula not unlike the "Incantation of Philinna" discussed earlier (supra, nn. 37 and 69)
109. See also R. Egger, "Inschriften," Der Römisches Limes in Österreich 16 (1926) 135-56, no. 72 lines 8-9 for a second-century C.E. lead defixio (written otherwise completely in Latin) which carries the rubric G. Manganero, "Nuovi documenti magica della Sicilia orientale," Atti Acc. Linc. 18 (1963) 67-74 for similarly dated examples from Sicily
110. and R. Kotansky and J. Spier, "Notes on a Lost Gnostic Gem," Le Muséon (forthcoming) for a green gemstone labeled In this last example, D. Mastronarde suggests that the bracketed iota be retained and understood as itacism for the article
111. For general discussion see K. Preisendanz, "Xiphos," in W. H. Roscher, Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythoiogie 4, cols. 526-27
112. and R. Mouterde, Le glaive de Dard anus. Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph 15.3 (1930) 53-64, esp. 61
113. A. E. Raubitschek, "Das Denkmal-Epigramm," in L'epigramme grecque, Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique 14 (Geneva, 1967) 5-7 = idem, School for Hellas (Oxford, 1991) 247
114. A. Ford, "The Seal of Theognis: The Politics of Authorship in Archaic Greece," in T. J. Figuiera and G. Nagy, eds., Theognis of Megara: Poetry and the Polis (Baltimore, 1985) 82-95 draws some nice parallels between the sphragis, Hector's boast in the Iliad, and mnemata of Hipparchus (discussed below)
115. L. Koenen, "Der Erste Satz bci Heraklit und Herodot," ZPE 97 (1993) 95-96
116. A. P. Miller, Studies in Sicilian Epigraphy: An Opisthographic Lead Tablet (Diss. Univ. Michigan, 1973)65-110
117. but G. Zuntz, Persephone (Oxford, 1971) 277-385 calls them "Pythagorean," and W. Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults (Cambridge MA, 1987) 34 describes them as "Bacchic" in light the bacchoi in line 16 of the Hipponion tablet. The new texts from Pelinna (SEG 40.485)-which are inscribed on gold foil cut out in the form of an ivy leaf (a Dionysiac symbol) and which mention salvation offered by Lysios (i.e., Dionysus Lysios) - give added weight to the Bacchic interpretation
118. but see F. Graf, "Dionysian and Orphic Eschatology: New Texts and Old Questions," in T. H. Carpenter and C. A. Faraone, Masks of Dionysus (Ilhaca, 1992) 239-58, who finds evidence of a long tradition of assimilation between the Orphic and Bacchic traditions here
119. I give here the text and translation - with one minor exception (see the following note) -of the fifth-century archetype reconstructed by R. Janko, "Forgetfulness in the Golden Tablets of Memory," CQ 34 (1984) 89-100, who restores the meter and the standard epic dialect. The rubric (lines 1-3) appears in full only at the end of the tablet from Petelia, while the first line appears at the beginning of the Hipponion tablet and as the third line of the much later Roman-era text commissioned by Caecilia Secundina (GAM 27; see next note)
120. and Kotansky, GMA 27 ad loc. for discussion
121. In 1989, a similarly shaped leaf was discovered in a fourth-century grave at Pella with the following text: see M. W. Dickie, "The Dionysiac Mysteries at Pella," ZPE 109 (1995) 81-86. The word thrion itself is extant priMarily in Attic comedy (see LSJ s.v.) and appears to be somewhat prosaic, suggesting that here, too, we have a prosaic or technical term, much like petalon and poterion, embedded in a ritual hexametrical text
122. And one which perhaps even provides instructions on how to prepare the tablet, if the reconstruction of lines 2-3 by M. L. West, "Zum neuen Goldplättchen aus Hipponion," ZPE 18 (1975) 229-36 is correct: "When he is about to die, let him write this (i.e., the = the following text) ...." West rightly refers to the first line of the text as "eine Art Titel zum Talisman" and
123. This string of words was apparently once a series of names (some in Greek and some in demotic Egyptian) of Aphrodite-Isis. See the review of the second volume of PGM by K. W. Schmidt, Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen (1934) 172-73 for an alternate reconstruction
124. E. A. Gardiner, Naukratis 2 (London, 1888) 66 no. 798, inscribed on "a plain Black and Red bowl."
125. Athenaeus mentions the same cup in another passage (489b-c): "[It] can even now be seen in the Campanian city of Capua, a cup dedicated to Artemis, the very one which the Campanians say was Nestor's cup. It is silver with Homeric hexameters stamped in gold letters." Here Nestor's ownership of the cup is attributed to local legend, and the content of the hexametrical inscription is not revealed. Athenaeus' information probably derives from a lost treatise "On Nestor's Cup" written by the first-century writer Asclepiades of Myrlea, to whom Athenaeus refers elsewhere. Asclepiades spent much of his life in Rome and its environs (see R. Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship [Oxford, 1968] 272-73) and may have reported his autopsy of the cup at Capua
126. For example, the city of Cicaeum just south of Actium boasted a patera of Odysseus (Strabo 5.3.6), and there survived at Zeus' temple at Dodona brazen kraters that held archaic inscriptions naming Aeneas and his crew as the men who dedicated them (Dion. Hal. 1.51.1). Dionysius also speaks of a patera inscribed with Aeneas' name in archaic letters at the temple of Hera in Croton (1.51.3). See F. Pfister Der Reliquienkult in Altertum, RGVV 5 (Leipzig, 1909) 332-33 for a full discussion
127. cf. Anth. Pal. 115 and 116), where one might guess that it was sought after as a cure for wounds
128. See Faraone, "Agonistic Context" (supra, n. 8) 4 for a fully documented discussion of what follows
129. In addition to the two cup-inscriptions discussed below, I know of only three other possible examples of inscribed cup-spells. E. Diehls, "Magica Bosporana," Acta Universiyatis Latviensis 57 (1931) 391-400 published a small, one-handled cup from Panticapaeum that has on its interior surface an inscription dating to the fourth century, which he identified as a defixio against five men whose names allegedly appear in the inscription. A. Wilhelm, "Magica Bosporana," JÖAl 27 (1932) 261-64 has shown, however, that the list is not comprised of proper names of individuals, but rather of common nouns in the genitive, all of which refer to food. The purpose of this inscription remains a puzzle. The second example is a pair of late-antique lead squares that preserve an enigmatic text stamped in an inscribed circle. H. Rumpf, "Griechische Inschriften aus Trier und Xanten," BJ 50/51 (1871) 153-56 no. 3 - who knew only of the example from Xanten - gives the following text and translation: "Das Büchschen hier (mit seinem Medicamenten) macht eine beschwertliche Krankheit gelinder." Rumpf argued that the square was the lid to a medicine box and that the word here is the equivalent (like see Suda s.v.) of The word (a diminutive of "cup"), the use of the deictic pronoun and the circular pattern of the letters suggest to me that this text may originally have been inscribed around the lip of a cup that was used (with or without the medicines suggested by Rumpf) in magical cures. P. Weiss, "Zu Zwei Spiegalinschriften aus Xanten und Sucidaura," ZPE (1992) 197-99 suggests implausibly that the lead squares were mirrors used in love-magic and emends ("little circle"), which he sees as a possible designation for mirror. Finally, see Heim (supra, n. 19) no. 161 for the instructions in the Geoponica (7.14) for inscribing a wine cup or wine jug with the following incantation to render the wine powerless: Compare the instructions, also from the Geoponica, for the recitation of an Homeric verse over a cup of wine for the same purpose (supra, n. 29)
130. Berlin Museum für Volkerkunde inv. 10984. J. Boehlau, "Ein neuer Erosmythos," Philologus 60 (1901) 329 identified the inscription as part of Hipponax, frag. 119 (West), a fragment quoted in the Et. Mag. (s.v.) as an example of el used as an equivalent of in Greek prayers
131. One wonders if Hipponax' poem were part of a prayer or hymn (like Sappho fr. 1 Voigt) requesting Aphrodite or Eros to bring a lover, which itself reflects traditional Greek erotic magic; see A. Cameron, "Sappho's Prayer to Aphrodite," HTR 32 (1939), 8-10
132. C. Segal, "Eros and Incantation: Sappho and Oral Poetry," Arethusa 7 (1974), 148-49
133. A. W. Johnston and A. Andriomenou, "A Geometric Graffito from Eretria," ABSA 84 (1989) 217-20 (with pl. 41)
134. See note 8 supra for Tambiah's work and some recent applications of it to the study of classical antiquity. The degree to which the Greeks in particular were aware of the persuasive effects (magical or otherwise) of specially constructed language cannot, I think, be overemphasized. See, e.g., J. de Romilly, Rhetoric and Magic (Cambridge MA, 1975)
135. and C. Segal, "Gorgias and the Psychology of the Logos," HSCP 66 (1962) 99-155