As tabellae defixionum da região do Lácio (i aec – ii ec): tradução, análise textual e hábito epigráfico

Abstract

When we think about the theme of magic in Antiquity, we evidence the existence of a practice aimed at obtaining an object of desire or destroying an enemy that was called tabellae defixionum. Such magical practice comprises a discourse of violence at the most varied levels, which ranges from the destruction of a subject to the imposition of obtaining a person's love. Lead blades had their origin in Ancient Hellas (from the 5th century BC) and circulated through the Ancient Mediterranean, to the point of gaining a strong application in the Roman Empire. Thus, we aim to analyze the specificities of the defixiones that were found in the region of Lazio and its surroundings, in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. In this study, we discuss the definitions of magic scientifically, as well as the course of anthropological studies that have impacted research on magical practices. We analyze the concept of magic in Antiquity and the portrait of the agent of magic that we have emerges from literary documentation. In this research, we seek to understand the magical practice of defixiones through its documentary typology: the epigraph. Furthermore, we explore the discursive structure, as well as the support that integrates the definitions in the Ancient Mediterranean. We delimited our study in a quantitative of twenty-two slides that are located in the lacial cities. Thus, we seek to weave historical and linguistic reflections on the elements that make up the discourse of the slides, seeking to understand the terms inscribed within the context, as well as the evoked deities and their connections with these magical practices.