Though there is no single agreed upon explanation of this trend, there are several explanations that can be suggested: first, this custom could have been borrowed from Early Egyptian and Babylonian spells that used maternal parentage for the purpose of identification second, matronymics was used to increase and secure the curse’s accuracy and potency (Flint 1999). Flint remarks how they also even appear in tablets where the descriptions suggest the dispute is “entirely between men.” Interestingly, in these tablets women are often addressed by their matronymic, rather than by their patronymic, as was otherwise customary.

Alone as well as noted along with men, women’s names appear frequently in tablets (Flint 1999). defixionesĪ prevalence of the names of women across the corpus of curse tablets raises important issues for gender and the treatment of women in the ancient world. In literature, Roman witches were depicted as horrific, a testimony to how males viewed women in power. As curse tablets reveal, wives who felt threatened by their husband’s slave women could resort to secretive magic methods as the Roman law was not on their side. These contrasts highlight how magic, and particularly female practitioners, was frowned upon in Roman society.įrom classical portrayals from Roman sources of the witch and witchcraft, female practitioners are depicted as powerful icons that challenge and break both physical and societal boundaries of the natural order. Generally, Roman witches were old, frightening, and immensely powerful –– an interesting contrast to Greek witches who were depicted as beautiful, youthful seductresses.

Classical literary portraits of Roman witches and witchcraft demonstrate an emblematic relationship between gender and magic. The expansive corpus of curse tablets, drawn from across Mediterranean lands and spanning a millennium, provide the best evidence for the practice of magic from 5th Century B.C.E to 5th Century B.C. For the purpose of taking into account all the different categories and distinctions, a “witch” is defined as “a person, especially a woman, claiming or popularly believed to possess magical powers and practice sorcery.” The term “magic” in antiquity, for the purposes of distinguishing witches from classical goddesses or priestesses in classical literature, will be defined as the supernatural means or instruments to control nature and compel others to do one’s bidding (Spaeth 2014). The term “witch” allows for a broad array of female practitioners in Greek and Roman sources to be categorized and distinguished by their methods, characteristics, abilities, association with animals, pejorative or euphemistic terms, and certain types of magic.

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