One of the many defixiones—lead curse tablets—found at the site of Aquae Sulis (modern Bath) is from Docilianus. It’s famed for its Roman majuscules inscribed in a…

Stieg Hedlund in Deru Kugi

Aug 20, 2018

Secundina’s Beef

The rhetoric of pleas for justice (Defixiones, Part 5)

Defixiones (curse tablets) can be roughly divided into two types, preemptive ones seeking to injure without presenting any particular reason, and backward-looking, so-called pleas…

Stieg Hedlund in Deru Kugi

Jul 29, 2018

The Sum of Its Versions

Getting comparatist with “Snow White” (DeDisneyfication, Part 9B)

Stieg Hedlund in Deru Kugi

Jul 29, 2018

Through a Magic Mirror Marred

Of pantos, dwarves, and “Snow White” (DeDisneyfication, Part 9A)

While in Bath, we attended the Theatre Royal’s production of Snow White. This show was what is known as a pantomime, or as the locals say…

Stieg Hedlund in Deru Kugi

Jul 29, 2018

Bargaining with the Gods

Votives and value in Roman religion (Defixiones, Part 4)

Stieg Hedlund in Deru Kugi

Jul 25, 2018

Sympathy for Sauron

The analogies employed for action at a distance (Defixiones, Part 3)

There’s a pop-culture connection between the ancient defixiones (curse tablets) of Roman Britain and our own times. It’s also interesting because it…

Stieg Hedlund in Deru Kugi

Jul 24, 2018

Malefic Traditional

Our continuing ties to ancient curses (Defixiones, Part 2)

In the Graeco-Roman world, if you had a problem, you might visit a shrine and use an iron stylus to write a note on a lead slip to a deity you thought might be…

Stieg Hedlund in Deru Kugi

Jul 21, 2018

The Curses of Aquae Sulis

A reexamination of the defixio (Defixiones, Part 1)

While visiting Bath, we went to the Roman ruins there. To be frank, my expectations were not high; at street level, the town center is all gray Palladian orderliness built…