3-Week SASA Reading Group: Curse Tablets: Personal Communication with the Dead and the Gods in the Ancient World

The aim of this Reading Group is to illustrate the diversity of individuals creating curse tablets in the ancient world. Many of our sources centre on the lived experiences of elite men and it can be difficult to answer the question: but what about ordinary people? We have curses written by men, women, and slaves covering a range of issues such as unrequited love, the loss of relatively small amounts of coinage or ploughs, against opponents in legal trials and even against key political figures. Throughout the weeks of this Reading Group social issues such as that of literacy levels in the ancient world, how ancient justice systems worked, and how much personal power individuals had will all arise. As well as an understanding of how the classification of these rituals as potentially magical, rather than personal religion, has impacted the study of these objects and texts.  The creation of…