Richard Gordon

UT TU ME VINDICES: MATER MAGNA AND ATTIS IN SOME NEW LATIN CURSE-TEXTS

The Corpus Cultus Cybelae Attidisque (CCCA) notwithstanding, the literary tradition from Herodotus to Eustathius, as presented by Hugo Hepding in 1903, has traditionally served as the privileged source of information regarding the Roman cult of Mater Magna and Attis.1 It is the particular merit of Giulia Sfameni Gasparro in her monograph on the cult to have shown us how to peel away the accumulation of authorised readings of this literary tradition, by pointing out, for example, how Christian interpretations of Metroac symbolism have been imposed onto a thoroughly non-Christian scenario of divine absence alternating with presence, eventuating in the quite misleading assertion of an essential equivalence between Attis, Adonis, Dionysos and even Osiris.2 Her contribution on the Naassene and Neo-platonic interpretations of Metroac cult continued this exploration of the constant re-reading of these themes in antiquity, which, given the bias of our surviving source-material, plays so unwarrantably large a part in the literary record.3 Together with Robert Turcan, she was thus among the first to demonstrate the importance of appreciating the Erkenntnisinteressen of what used to be thought of as sources in this area.4 These demonstrations formed part of a wider strategy of resistance to the traditional term (Graeco-Oriental) mystery religions/cults ! names that long pre-dated both Franz Cumont and Richard Reitzenstein ! and an insistence on the heuristic value of distinguishing, with Ugo Bianchi, between Greek mystery-cults properly so-called, i.e. mainly those of Eleusis and Samothrace, mystic cults, namely the Hellenistic-Roman cults originating in the eastern Mediterraean area that projected human suffering onto the divine world, and the religious forms of world-rejection, such as Baccho-Orphism, Gnosis and Hermeticism, grouped under the term mysteriosophic.5
1 2 Hepding 1903, 5-77; Hepding did however include 63 inscriptions (1903, 78-95), both in Greek (19 many from the Roman period) and in Latin (44). Sfameni Gasparro 1985, 43-49, cf. Sfameni Gasparro 1982. The Italian edition, Soteriologia e aspetti mistici nel culto di Cibele e Attis, Palermo 1979, is not listed in the meta-database of the Karlsruhe Virtueller Katalog (KvK). Sfameni Gasparro 1981 = 2009a, 249-90; cf. 1983 = 2009a, 291-327 on Ambrosiaster and Prudentius. Cf. Turcan 1975; 1996; 1997. Sfameni Gasparro 2006a and b, summarising earlier positions. Though not entirely satisfactory, these basic distinctions continue to have heuristic value. For some comments on problems inherent in such typologies, see Gordon (forthcoming); other approaches to the oriental cults are being worked out elsewhere: Bonnet, Rpke and Scarpi 2006; Bonnet, Ribichini and Steuernagel 2008; Bonnet, Pirenne-Delforge and Praet 2009.

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R. Gordon

Recently however an unexpected type of evidence for Metroac cult has come to light in the form of lead-tablets invoking Mater Magna and/or Attis to punish those who are alleged to have wronged the principal. The first to be discovered and published, from Salacia/Alccer do Sal near Setbal in Portugal, is a classic thief-finding text of the type classified by Henk Versnel as prayers for justice.6 But if the genre was familiar, the addressee, dominus Megarus (if that is the correct reading, see below) was quite unexpected;7 furthermore the invocation of this deity evidently suggested to the principal quite specific ideas about the management of the curse, which he unselfconsciously aligned with the ordinary process of undertaking a vow.8 The second group of texts, which is also the most numerous, and can be securely dated between the reign of Vespasian and c.120 CE, was found in 1999; most come from a raised sacrificial pit situated to the rear of the temple of Mater Magna in her joint sanctuary with Isis in the centre of the civilian settlement of Moguntiacum/Mainz.9 Of the eighteen legible texts (fragments and scraps of many more were found), six are relevant in the present context because they specifically invoke Mater Magna and/or Attis; each registers more or less significant novelties.10 All are adaptations of the model of the judicial prayer to the malign curse (the classic defixio); several relish the thought that the target may meet his death through public execution, jeered at and reviled by the crowd. The last text, from Gro-Gerau in Hesse, written in good Latin by someone familiar with Greek culture, is clearly dependent on the Mainz group, but represents a still further adaptation of the scheme, apparently to take revenge upon a woman who has failed to marry the principal. Perhaps the major interest of these texts for the study of Metroac cult is the fact that they are not in the ordinary sense votives and are therefore not confined by the generic limitations that generally render votive inscriptions so uninformative. In seeking to activate the deities power (numen, cf. B5.2; C.10) in pursuit of private claims of justice, they deliberately deploy knowledge of cultic practice ! however we are to imagine that knowledge to have been acquired ! in asserting their right to demand the deities intervention. The possession of cultic knowledge is thus perceived as instrumental in gaining the principals ends, either in the form

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See most recently Versnel 2010, 278-82; on thief-finding texts, Faraone, Garnand & Lpez Ruiz 2005; Faraone & Rife 2007; Tomlin 2010. The original publications (Faria 2000, 109, dEncarnao 2001 = AE 2001, no. 1135, and dEncarnao and Faria 2002, 262) thought the addressee was Megaira, the daughter of Creon of Thebes. Significant improvements to the understanding of the text were made by Guerra 2003 and Marco Simn 2004 (drawing on p.81). See A.13: compotem facias below; also me votis condemnes in B4.17. Compos voti is the ordinary expression for having been granted ones prayer by a divinity. For the excavation, see Witteyer 2004; 2005 and DTM (forthcoming). It is conceivable that similar texts were addressed to Isis, whose temple was adjacent to that of the Mater Magna; but the relevant part of the sanctuary was inaccessible. So far however only one such text addressed to Isis is known, namely from Baelo Claudia in Baetica (AE 1988, no. 727). All the texts have been patiently deciphered by J. Blnsdorf (Mainz), with some help from P.Y. Lambert, and published in a variety of locations; the standard version will be DTM.

Mater Magna and Attis in Latin Curses

of adjuration (in the use of the preposition per), in the construction of performatives, or in providing the type of forceful images required for illocutionary effect.11 1. THE TEXTS I begin by (re-)presenting the eight texts for the readers convenience.12 Given the nature of the material base and the difficulty of reading Old Roman Cursive, many readings are doubtful, interpretation still more so. Space does not allow a fuller consideration of the numerous textual problems; for the most part, I have simply presented the editors views. 1.1. Salacia/Setbal (Portugal) During renovations to the ruined convent of Our Lady of Aracoeli in 1995, a lead tablet was found at the bottom of a small cistern (1.5 x 1.50 x 0.75m), together with a corroded coin, within the remains of a Roman-period shrine.13 At the entrance to the cella was an area for depositing votives; here were found, apart from a number of lamps, two terracotta statuettes of figures wearing phrygian caps, which perhaps indicate that the shrine was, at any rate at this period, dedicated to Mater Magna. According to the latest editor, the text reads:
domine Megare | invicte, tu qui Attidis | corpus accepisti, accipias cor|pus eius qui meas sarcinas |5supstulit, qui me compilavit | de domo Hispani illius. corpus | tibi et anima(m) do dono ut meas | res invenia(m). tunc tibi (h)ostia(m) |10quadripede(m), do(mi)ne Attis, voveo, | si eu(m) fure(m) invenero. dom(i)ne | Attis, te rogo per tu(u)m Nocturnum | ut me quam primu(m) compote(m) facias.14 Translation: Unconquered Lord Megarus, you who received the body of Attis, may you receive the body of him who who robbed me from the house of that Spaniard. I give and donate his body and soul to you, that I may find my property. I then promise you a four-footed sacrifice, Lord Attis, if I find that thief. Lord Attis, I ask you through your Nocturnus, to place me in the position of having to redeem my vow as soon as possible.

Salacia, lying at the head of the great estuary of the Rio Sado, was easily accessible to external influences and famous for its woollen cloth; votive texts recording criobolia were already known from Ossonoba (Faro de Alentejo) and the conventus capital Pax Iulia (Bejo).15 The most pressing problem is the identity of the first
11 12 13 14 15 On the importance of keeping the pragmatics of these texts in mind, see Kropp 2004. The texts are referred to in the subsequent discussion as A (Salacia); B1-6 (Mainz) and C (Gro-Gerau). Faria 2000, 103-105; Marco Simn 2004, 79-80. Text and translation (slightly revised) from Tomlin 2010, 260-64 with drawing on p.261; see also the remarks of Versnel 2010, 297-299. Pliny, N.H. 4.166 records that Salacia had the (informal?) title urbs imperatoria. Criobolia: IRCPacen, no. 1 (Ossobono); AE 1956, no. 255 = IRCPacen, no. 255 (Pax Iulia). CIL II 179 = ILS 4099 (Olisipo) records a Flavia Tyche who acted as a cernophora in the cult there as

R. Gordon

addressee. M. Meyer suggested that Megare, which is clear on the tablet, must be an error for Megale = Mater Magna; but then the nominatives domine and invicte must be taken as mistakes.16 Marco Simn and Versnel have therefore identified the great, invincible deity as Hades/Pluto.17 I am however attracted by Tomlins notion that the title is routed through the megaron of the cult, referred to in B3 below, which likewise receives the (body of) the target.18 Lord Megaron would then either be Hades/Pluto or the numen of the subterranean chamber where Attis lies. In my view, the term magali, which occurs twice in B4.10 and 12 below, a term that occurs nowhere else, must be the temple-assistants whose job it was to take care of, and presumably on occasion disinter and open, the buried cistae penetrales (see B1.5-6 below) that represented this megaron.19 That is why they are named together with the galli and bellonarii, of which they are simply a small sub-group, included in the enumeration to underline the claim to familiarity with Metroac cult-practice.20 1.2. Moguntiacum/Mainz The foundation of the temples by an imperial liberta, Claudia Icmas, and an imperial slave, Vitulus, can be firmly dated to the period 71-80 CE.21 All but three of the recovered lead tablets came from the ash-altar behind the temple; the ritual involved sacrificing an animal or other offering and melting the inscribed lead tablet in the flames so that its message passed into the other world. The melting lead was thus a metonymy for the passing of the message. Those that survive for us to read are thus those that failed to be properly transmitted. Other tablets, and numerous poppets made of clay, mud and organic substances, which have mostly not survived sufficiently well to be recovered, were deposited elsewhere in the temple area. The entire complex was levelled and covered with tiles early in the reign of Hadrian. B1: Inv., no. 201 B 36 = DTM, no. 5 = Blnsdorf 2010, 166-167, no. 2:22
Obverse (A): early as 108 CE. Garc y Bellido 1967, 50 took her, perhaps rightly, to have been a liberta Caesaris. See AE 2001, no. 1135 (p.361) Marco Simn 2004, 86; Versnel 2010, 298 (translating Lord, great and invincible). Tomlin 2010, 262. I imagine that magalus is a non-standard, even popular term, for a position that might have been more properly *megarensis, corrupted under the influence of the words gallus and bellonarius; but it could equally be a vulgar form of Matris gallus or even Ma-gallus. Cf. Seneca, Agam. 686-688: non si molles comitata viros / tristis laceret bracchia ...turba. Baslez 2004 unfortunately throws little light on the theme of (nominal) self-castration and blood-letting. See AE 2004, no. 1015. From 1014, it seems likely that they were in some capacity attached to the office of the imperial procurator responsible for the tax-receipts of the area. The only known joint priest of Isis and Mater Magna is a roughly contemporary case at Ostia (CIL XIV 429 = RICIS 501/0116). Previously published in Blnsdorf 2004a = AE 2004, no. 1026; Blnsdorf 2005b, 16, no. 6.

16 17 18 19

20

21

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Mater Magna and Attis in Latin Curses Bone sancte Atthis tyran!ne, adsi(s), aduenias Libera!li iratus. Per omnia te rogo,! domine, per tuum Castorem,!5Pollucem, per cistas penetra!les, des ei malam mentem,! malum exitum, quandius ! uita uixerit, ut omni cor!pore uideat se emori prae!10ter oculos Reverse (B): neque se possit redimere ! nulla pecunia nullaque re! neq(ue) abs te neque ab ullo deo! nisi ut exitum malum.!15Hoc praesta, rogo te per ma!iestatem tuam.

Translation: Side A: Good, holy Att(h)is, Lord, help (me), come to Liberalis in anger. I ask you by everything, Lord, by your Castor (and) Pollux, by the cistae in your sanctuary, give him a bad mind, a bad death, as long as he lives, so that he may see himself dying all over his body - except his eyes. Side B: And may he not be able to redeem himself by (paying) money or anything else, either from you or from any other god except (by dying) a bad death. Grant this, I ask you by your majesty.

B2: Inv., no. 1, 29 = DTM, no. 3 = Blnsdorf 2010, 172, no. 7:23
Obverse (Side A): Rogo te, domina Mater ! Magna, ut tu me uindices ! de bonis Flori coniugis mei.! qui me fraudavit Ulattius !5Seuerus, quemadmod<um> ! hoc ego auerse scribo, sic illi " Reverse (Side B): omnia, quidquid agit, quidquid ! aginat, omnia illi auersa fiant. ! ut sal et aqua illi eueniat.!10quidquid mi abstulit de bonis ! Flori coniugis mei, rogo te, ! domina Mater Ma<g>na, ut tu ! de eo me uindices. Translation: I entreat you, Mistress Mater Magna, to avenge me regarding the goods of Florus, my husband, of which Ulattius Severus has defrauded me. Just as I write this in a hostile way, so may everything, whatever he does, whatever he attempts, everything go awry for him. As salt (melts in) water, so may it happen to him. Whatever of the goods of Florus, my husband, he has taken away from me, I entreat you, Mistress Mater Magna, to avenge me for it.

B3: Inv., no. 111, 53 = DTM, no. 4 = Blnsdorf 2010, 173-174, no. 8:24
Obverse (Side A): Tiberius Claudius Adiutor ! in megaro eum rogo te, M<a>!t<e>r Magna, megaro tuo re!cipias. et Attis domine, te !5precor, ut hu(n)c (h)ostiam accep!tum (h)abiatis, et quit aget agi!nat, sal et aqua illi fiat. Ita tu ! facias, Domna, it quid cor eoconora ! c(?)edat" Reverse (Side B): 10 deuotum defictum ! illum menbra, ! medullas, AA (?). ! nullum aliud sit, !Attis, Mater Magn<a>. Translation: Tiberius Claudius Adiutor In the temple ! I ask you, Mater Magna, to receive him in the temple. And Lord Attis, I ask you that you may enter him in your accounts under Offerings; and whatever he does or busies himself with, may it become salt and water for him. May you

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Previously published as Blnsdorf 2005a, 672-674, no.1 = AE 2005, no. 1122; idem 2005b, 21, no.9; idem 2005c, no. 1. Tr. Blnsdorf (adapted). Previously published as Blnsdorf 2005a, 683-86, no. 4 = AE 2005, no. 1125: Blnsdorf 2005b, 18, no.7; 2005c, no. 4.

R. Gordon do, Mistress, what may cut his heart and liver - // Him cursed and caught - in his limbs, strength ! let there be nothing else ! Attis, Mater Magn(a).

This principal views the transaction as an antecedent votive, using the animals death as a source of advice about how graphically to envisage the targets death. Membra and medullae, as words for vaguely-understood inner parts, fit neatly with ordinary assumptions about how divine (and malign magical) punishment could be recognised as such. The reading of the finale is uncertain. B4: Inv., no. 182, 18 = DTM, no. 2 = Blnsdorf 2010, 180-181, no. 16:25
Quisquis dolum malum adm[isit--], hac pecun[i]a[---nec] ! ille melior et nos det[eri]ores sumus [----------------------] ! Mater deum, tu persequeris per terras, per [maria, per locos]! ar(i)dos et umidos, per benedictum tuum et o[ro et obsecro, eum qui] !5pecunia(m) dolum malum adhibet, ut tu perse[quaris--- Quomodo] ! galli se secant et praecidunt uir[i]lia sua, sic il[le--] R S Q ! intercidat MELORE pec[tus ? or pec[uniam .....]BISIDIS [ne]que se admisisse nec[...] ! hostiis si[n]atis nequis t[...] neque SUT . TIS neque auro neque ! argento neque ille solui [re]fici redimi possit. Quomodo galli, !10bellonari, magal[i] sibi sanguin[em] feruentem fundunt, frigid[us ! ad terram venit, sic et[...]CIA, copia, cogitatum, mentes. [Quem] ! admodum de eis gallo[r]u[m, ma]galorum, bellon[ariorum ---] ! spectat, qui de ea pecunia dolum malum [exhibet --------] ! exitum spectent, et a[d qu]em modum sal in [aqua liques-]!15cet, sic et illi membra m[ed]ullae extabescant. Cr[ucietur] ! et dicat se admisisse ne[fa]s. D[e]mando tibi rel[igione,] ! ut me uotis condamnes et ut laetus libens ea tibi referam, ! si de eo exitum malum feceris. Translation: Whoever has committed fraud with this money, [neither] is he the better (for it) nor we the worse (?) ..... Mother of the gods, you pursue (your enemies) across land and [sea], arid and humid [places], [I implore and beseech you], by your dear departed (= Attis) to hunt down the person who has taken the money by fraud ... [Just as] the galli lacerate themselves and sever their genitals, so may .... he cut his breast (?) or: the money And if he says he has not committed , may you not permit him to redeem himself with sacrificial offerings nor nor be he able to free or restore or redeem himself with gold or silver. Just as the adherents of Mater Magna and the priests of Bellona and the magali spill their hot blood, which is cold (when) it touches the ground, so his , his abilities, his thinking and wits ... Just as of the galli, the magali and the priests of Bellona ... (Just as) he watches the person who commits fraud concerning this money, so let (the people) watch his death and ... Just as salt will <melt in water>, (15) so may his limbs and marrow melt, may he be tortured and may he confess that he has committed sacrilege. I solemnly entrust (this) to you, in order that you may fulfil my wishes and I gladly and willingly fulfil my vow to you, if you make him die a horrible death

B5: Inv., no. 72, 3 = DTM, no. 1 = Blnsdorf 2010, 183-185, no. 17:26
Obverse (Side A):

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Tr. J. Blnsdorf (adapted). Not yet fully deciphered; previously published in varying forms as Blnsdorf 2005a, 674-677, no.2 = AE 2005, no. 1123; idem 2005b, 21-22, no.10; idem 2005c, no.2. The tablet was rolled up and then folded; in the course of the ritual it was badly damaged by fire - the lower part of the tablet is partly melted away. About one third of ll.1-5 and 12-16 is lost. Tr. Blnsdorf (adapted). Previously published in slightly different forms as Blnsdorf 2005a, 677-680, no.3 = AE 2005, no. 1124; idem 2005b, 19-21, no.8; idem 2005c, no.3.

Mater Magna and Attis in Latin Curses

Mater Magna, te rogo, ! p[e]r [t]ua sacra et numen tuum: ! Gemella fiblas meas qualis ! sustulit, sic et illam REQVIS !5 adsecet, ut nusquam sana si[t]. ! Quomodo galli se secarunt, ! sic ea [velit] nec se secet sic, uti ! planctum ha[be]at quomodo ! et sacrorum deposierunt !10 in sancto, sic et tuam vitam ! valetudinem, Gemella. ! Neque hostis neque au!ro neque argento redi!mere possis a Matre !15 deum, nisi ut exitum ! tuum populus spectet. ! Verecundam et Pater!nam: sic illam tibi com!mendo, Mater deum !20 Magna, rem illorum ! in AECRVMO DEO UIS qua!le rogo co(n)summent[.], ! quomodo et res meas vire!sque fraudarunt, nec se !25 possint redimere ! nec hosteis lanatis" Reverse (Side B): nec plum{i}bis ! nec auro nec ar!gento redimere!30 a numine tuo, ! nisi ut illas uorent ! canes, ! vermes adque ! alia portenta, !35 exitum quarum ! populus spectet, ! tamquam quae {C} FORRO ! L auderes comme...ES ! duas !40 TAMAQVANIVCAVERSSO ! scriptis istas ! AE RIS . ADRICIS . S. LON!a . illas, si illas cistas ! caecas, aureas, sacras !45 E[--]I[-]LO[--]AS ! O {OV}[-]EIS mancas A. Rough translation: I beg you, Mater Magna, by your sacred rites and your divine power: - Gemella, who stole my brooches ! so may (something) cut (?) her too 5 ... so that no part of her be healthy. Just as the galli have cut themselves, so (may) she want to do (?). And may she not cut herself so that she may lament herself (?). As they have deposited the holy things 10 in the sanctuary, so also your life and health, Gemella. Neither by offerings nor by gold nor by silver may you be able to redeem yourself from the Mother of the 15Gods, except that the people may watch your death. Verecunda and Paterna: for thus I give her to you, Great Mother 20of the Gods, their property I ask they may be destroyed just as they have defrauded me of my property and resources; nor may they 25be able to buy themselves free either by offering sheep // or by lead (tablets); neither by gold nor silver may they buy themselves free 30 from your divine power, until dogs devour them, worms and other horrible things; 35may the people watch their death just as ... two ... 40 ... with writings .... them (acc.), if [someone takes?] those hidden, gilded, holy containers 45 . holy ones (acc. plur. fem).

B6: Inv., no. 31, 2 = DTM, no. 6 = Blnsdorf 2010, 186-187, no. 18:27
Obverse (Side A): Quintum in hac tabula depono auersum ! se suisque rationibus uitaeque male consum!mantem. ita uti galli bellonariue absciderunt concide!runtue se, sic illi abscissa sit fides fama faculitas. nec illi !5in numero hominum sunt, neque ille sit. quomodi et ille ! mihi fraudem fecit, sic illi, sancta Mater Magn<a>, et relegis ! cu[n]cta. ita uti arbor siccabit se in sancto, sic et illi siccet ! fama fides fortuna faculitas. tibi commendo, Att{i}hi d(o)mine, ! ut me uindices ab eo, ut intra annum uertente[m] .. exitum !10illius uilem malum." Reverse (Side B), at 90 to obverse: ponit nom(en) huius mari!tabus / si agatur ulla !res utilis, sic ille nobis ! utilis sit suo corpore. !15 sacrari horr<e>bis. Rough translation: In this tablet I turn Quintus upside-down, (so that) it may go ill with him and his plans and his well-being.28 Just as the galli or the priests of Bellona have castrated or cut themselves, so may his good name, reputation, ability to conduct his affairs be cut away. Just as they are 5not numbered among mankind, so may he too not (be so numbered). Just as he cheated me, so

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Tr. by Blnsdorf (adapted). Previously published: Blnsdorf 2005a, 686-89, no. 6 = AE 2005, no. 1126; Blnsdorf 2005b, 23f., no. 11; idem 2005c, no. 6. Here I follow the suggestion of Faraone and Kropp 2010, 386 regarding the meaning of Quintum in hac tabula depono aversum. As they point out, in A.7 the words Quinti nomen appear upside-down (omitted in the printed text here).

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R. Gordon may you (deal with him), holy Great Mother, and take everything away from him. Just as the tree shall wither in the sanctuary, so may his reputation, good name, fortune, and ability to conduct his affairs wither. I hand (him) over to you, Lord Atthis, that you may punish him for me, so that by the end of the year (he may suffer a) horrible bad 10death . (The reading of the reverse is full of uncertainties, and I omit a translation).

C. Gro-Gerau late Ip- early IIp The tablet was found by chance by M. Hbner in the course of last-minute rescuework on a new housing-estate, a site on the edge of the Roman vicus, which was established at the same time as the castellum, c. 70 CE. The latter was part of the forward defences of Mainz, pushing out into the Agri Decumates. The date suggested by the editors on the basis of the letter-forms and a nearly-new as of Vespasian found nearby falls within the period of military occupation (until c. 120-130), exactly contemporary with the finds in the joint temple in Mainz.29 The archaeological context, with many fragments of painted plaster, suggests that the provenience was a half-timbered dwelling-house. The AE text, slightly improved over the reading of the original editors, runs:30
Obverse (Side A): Deum Maxsime Atthis Tyranne ! totumque duodecatheum, comme!ndo deabus iniurium fas ut me vindic!(e)tis a Priscil(l)a Caranti (f.) quae nuberi er(r)a!5vit. Pe[r] Matrem Deum vestrae {ut} ! [v]indicate sacra pater[na or-ni?] ! P[ri]scil(l)[a] ! pere[at] Reverse (Side B): Per Matrem Deum intra dies C(?) cito !10vindicate numen vestrum magnum ! a Priscilla quae detegit sacra, Pris!cillam usqu(a)m nullam numero, nu[p]!sit gentem tremente Priscilla ! quam !15er(r)ante. Translation: Side A: Greatest of all gods, Atthis, Lord, and all the Twelve Gods! I lay the wrong done me as a claim before the goddesses, that you may punish Priscilla, the daughter of Carantus, for me, who has done wrong in getting married (?). By the Great Mother, may you punish (her betrayal of) the ancestral rites (or: sacred objects)! May Priscilla die! Side B: By the Mother of the Gods, may your grand divine power punish Priscilla within X days, quickly, who betrays the sacred rites! I value Priscilla as nothing worth. She has married a worthless fellow(?), because Priscilla is as weak as she is unsteadfast (?).

Although the readings and (especially) the translation are at several points uncertain, if not indeed wrong, the details do not affect my concerns here, which relate specifically to the appeal to Attis and the Mater Magna.31 The correct transpositi29 30 31 Scholz and Kropp 2004, 33. Scholz and Kropp 2004, 34-35 = AE 2004, no. 1006. Scholz 2004, 71 speculates that the house may have been that of Priscilla herself. My translation differs in several details from those offered by the first editors and AE. Versnel 2010, 301-303 offers several improvements over the first editors efforts. He rightly dismisses the idea that deum maxsime (A.1) might be Jupiter rather than part of the address to Attis; and suggests iniuriam in l.3 rather than iniurium (which the editors take with fas to mean mein ungerechtes Schicksal, which to my mind too is quite unwarranted). I think iniurium could stand, but in the sense of a neuter noun, derived from the common expression iniurium est. His suggestion of reading fac for fas in the same line, however, forgets that the addressees are now plural; I take it in apposition to iniurium, in the sense of claim. Carantus

Mater Magna and Attis in Latin Curses

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on of "#"$%& '$() into duodeca theum (A.2), otherwise known in Classical Latin only as the name for a powerful medicinal plant, and the device of the ritual "*&+,-., both indicate an educated writer at home in Greek religious culture.32 The time-frame and the physical proximity to Moguntiacum, as well as the aspiration in Atthis and the appellation tyrannus, all suggest a relatively close dependence on the usages of that centre.33

Fig. 1: Parabiago lanx: detail of Mater Magna and Attis in their car, surrounded by armed Corybantes, evoking the galli (IVp). Photo: Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici per la Lombardia.

2. CULTIC KNOWLEDGE AS SUASIVE RESOURCE The first question relates to the selection of these particular divinities. Is there an elective affinity of some sort between Magna Mater and the punishment of those who can be claimed to have wronged the principal? In general, in the case of prayers for justice and analogous texts, it is the standing of the deity in the local pantheon, such as Sulis (Minerva) at Bath or Mercurius at Uley, that seems to be

32

33

(A.4) is a relatively common cognomen in northern Gaul and the Germanies, e.g. CIL XIII 3301, 7248, 11655 etc.; cf. OPEL s.v. Versnel may be right to see sacra in A.6 and B.3 as the sacred objects of the sanctuary, thought pater[na or Pater[ni rather urge against the idea. It seems more likely to me that sacra refers to the private family rites, so we should prefer pater[na. At any rate they can hardly be the speakers secrets, as the first editors thought. In ll. B.4-7 one despairs of finding much sense. Gentem as worthless fellow seems far-fetched, unless it is somehow routed through expressions such as unde gentium .... The meaning pagan in late Latin is routed though the term gens/gentes used for the Jews and barbarians. Knowledge of Greek: Scholz and Kropp 2004, 35-36. Versnel 2010, 303 rightly notes the use of a ritual diabole, to arouse the gods particular wrath. Dodecatheon (hesitantly identified by W.H.S. Jones as the primrose, for reasons unclear to me): Pliny, N.H. 25, 28; 26, 107; the plant is otherwise unknown under this name and is not mentioned by e.g. Diosc., Mat. med. Atthis: B1.1 and 6.8; tyrannus: B1.1-2. The aspirated form also occurs in CIL XIII 6664 (Mainz). A second vigorous curse text from Gro-Gerau has also turned up recently: Blnsdorf 2007.

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decisive.34 In relation to Mater Magna, one might invoke mythic precedent, for example the version in which Agdistis in frenzy breaks up the marriage-party.35 But this is not the kind of knowledge of the cult that the principals seem to have been interested in, or that seemed to them an effective communicative resource. We should rather invoke the very common representation of Mater Magna with a lion or a pair of lions by her throne; and especially those versions in which her car is drawn by bounding lions (fig.1).36 A sub-type developed for lamps shows the goddess alone seated on a leaping lion.37 Once an iconographic item is established, its evocation cannot be controlled. Moreover, at least in Mainz, there was evidently a contrapuntal relationship between public processions, particularly during the so-called March festival, where the galli and other servants of the goddess slashed themselves and bespattered the by-standers with their blood, and the writing of the tablets demanding punishment the blood forming a metonymic link, among other things, to the spectacle of public execution.38 Again, the idea of Mater Magna pursuing the guilty across land and sea, wet and dry (B4.3-4) plausibly derives from the image, so familiar that in Rome and Ostia it was used for tilerevetments, of the goddess sailing in her ship to Ostia, accompanied, naturally, by lions (fig.2).39 Here again it is not the official significance of the image we should insist on, but the possible evocations of it by spectators of and participants in the processions the goddess sailing over the sea suggested the thought, expressed in a double catch-phrase, that her anger could reach everywhere. Perhaps the most unexpected feature of these texts, however, is the high valuation placed on Attis: deum maxsime (C.1), tyranne (B1.1-2, C.1), domine
34 35 Kropp 2008, 98-101. In normal defixiones, however, underworld deities are pre-eminent a point which, given the subterranean hot spring, may even apply to Sulis at Bath. Agdestis scatens ira convulsi a se pueri et uxoris ad studium derivati convivantibus cunctis furorem et insaniam suggerit: Arnob., adv. nat. 5.7 = Hepding 1903, 39. But in this version Agdistis is explicitly distinguished from Mater deum. In Ovids version, Cybele is angered by the nymph Sagaritis: hinc poenas exigit ira deae: Met. 4.230 = Hepding 1903, 19. On the theme of madness that destroys the impious, see Sfameni Gasparro 1985, 69. Lucr., Rer. nat. 2.601; 621-23: sedibus in curru biiugos agitare leones..(galli) telaque praeportant violenti signa furoris,/ ingratos animos atque impia pectora vulgi / conterrere metu quae possint numini divae. The Parabiago lanx is CCCA 3, p.107-109, no. 268 pl. CVII. A fine example of the lion-drawn car, though the animals are not leaping but sedately walking, is the bronze group in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv., no.184012 (= CCCA 3 p.39, no. 205, pls CIII-CV), illustrated for example in Beard, North & Price 1998, 2: 47 fig. 27c; also the well-known altar of L. Cornelius Scipio Orfitus from the Via Appia, now in the Villa Albani, where the goddess approaches Attis pine tree in her lion-drawn car: CCCA 3 p. 101, no. 357 (= CIL VI 505 = 30781 = ILS 4143) . E.g. CCCA 7, p.2, no. 3 pl. III; p.9, no. 29; p37, no. 59; p.39, no. 134. The warm blood provides a key image of decay and death in B4.6, 9-10, 12; cf. B5.6, B6.3. Execution: B4.14; B5.15-16, 35. In B6.4-5 the fact that the galli are castrated and so not men, grounds the claim that they are not human, which in turn provides a telling image for the fate of the target. A terracotta relief with the same theme now in a private collection in Basle probably came from the shrine near the Alamo: CCCA 3, p. 96, no. 340; other antefixes: ibid. pp. 99-100, nos 350-354.

36

37 38

39

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(A.10-11, B3.4). Here again the myths are of no value, nor the repeated imagery of a youth falling asleep or joyfully re-awakening.40 It is rather to the cultic valuation of Attis that we should look. One aspect of this is the iconographic type of deified Attis, as represented by the famous statue dedicated by C. Cartilius Euplus in the campus at Ostia (fig. 3).41

Fig. 2: Enthroned Mater Magna entering Ostia by ship, accompanied by lions. Tile-antefix from the campus Matris Magnae at the Porta Laurentiana, Ostia. Photo: Rieger 2004, 249 Abb. 211 (b).

Fig. 3: Head of the Attis dedicated by C. Cartilius Euplus in the campus at Ostia (mid-IIp). Photo: Rieger 2004, 141 Abb.108b.

Here, through the complex play of iconic references to other deities, Attis appears as himself a sovereign lord: Nicht im Bild sondern auf einer Ebene auerhalb der Figur des Attis tritt die Gttin auf in the reference by Euplus to a dream sent by the goddess.42 Another aspect is the iconographic evidence stars placed on his phrygian cap, notably on a plate in the Hildesheim treasure ! that already from the late first century CE Attis was being understood as a cosmic deity, with implicitly

40 41

42

Cf. Vermaseren 1966; 1981a; 1986. Found in the south portico, apparently deliberately placed in a cache; now in the Vatican Museums MGP inv., no. 10785. See Vermaseren 1977 pl. 44 = CCCA 3 p.123, no. 394 = Vermaseren 1986 (LIMC), no. 312 = Rieger 2004, 282, no. MMA3. The inscription is dedicated numini Attidis ...ex monitu deae (CIL XIV 28). Fine observations by Rieger 2004, 139-41.

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universal powers.43 The appellation Deum Maxsime Atthis Tyranne in C exactly resumes this tendency, and indeed reinforces it by implying, in the appeal to the totum duodecatheum, that Attis is on a par with these grand, universal divinities of the Empire.44

Fig. 4: Representation of the sacred pine-tree, with its decoration; the snake signals both time and renewal (mid-IIp). From the Attideum of the campus in Ostia. Mus. Arch. Ost. inv. no. 172. Photo: Rieger 2004, 132 Abb.96.

In other cases, however, it seems to be Attis unfathomable or mysterious aspects that evoked the principals interest: the vanishing of his body and its preservation in the megaron (A.1-3), the cistae in the temple, which seem to be where the body, but also the vires lie (B1.5-6; B5.43-45) a recently-published inscription from Alzey indicates that priests of the Mater Magna ! Roman citizens, that is ! continued to castrate themselves well into the second quarter of the third centu-

43

44

Sfameni Gasparro 1981, 389 = 2009a, 283-284; Turcan 1996; Alvar 2008, 38. Hildesheimer Schatz: CCCA III, p.123, no. 394 = Vermaseren 1986 (LIMC), no. 345. The very existence of the two dishes, which are equal in size, and differ only in the central tondo, implies the equality of Mater Magna and Attis. Images on which Attis and Mater Magna are represented as equals are not uncommon, e.g. CCCA 2, p.92-93, nos. 308-309 (both from Piraeus, now in Berlin); 3, p.101, no.357 pls CCVIII-CCIX; 4 p.11, no. 21 (lamp from Herculaneum); 5, p.53, no.175 (Arepanum, Macedonia); Vermaseren 1966, 23 with pl. XII.1 (Venice). For the coin evidence, see Turcan 1983.

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ry;45 the ritual of the nocturnus or nocturnum, presumably the night-long bewailing of his death (A.12); the drying out and withering of the felled pine-tree, which was evidently left for a considerable period in the temple (B6.7), and whose fantastic decoration was central to the thematic imagery of presence and absence in the cult (fig. 4).46 The reference to Attis Castor and Pollux (B1.4-5) must likewise refer to some (supposed) feature of the cult; I would suggest that it is an interpretation of the twin figures that seem to have featured in processions as supporters or attendants of the goddess throne, for example on the ba se in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (where the throne is vacant).47 In this context, we may also note the re-assertion of the asymmetry between the goddess and her erstwhile favourite in the phrase benedictus tuus benedictus being the proper expression for a beloved person now dead (B4.4); here the mythic allusion is in48 strumentalised as a pathetic device to sharpen the goddess anger. We may note finally the repeated use of quasi-jural formulae based on cultic knowledge in the attempt to arouse and focus the deities attention.49 It seems highly probable that the basic pattern was provided by the standard testamentary oath-formula under the Principate, per Iovem et genium Caesaris or variations upon that style.50 The adjuration obtains its illocutionary effect by setting up sacred or sacralised institutions as quasi-mediatory instances; they are not explicitly guarantors, but nor are they mere decoration. In contexts such as the quasi-judicial prayers, their communicative function is even less clear we might call them asseveration-tokens. The most unspecific are those that invoke the deitys selfrespect as a divine power: per maiestatem tuum (B1.15), per numen tuum (B5.2). Per Matrem Deum (C5-6) in an address to Attis immediately segues into a command in the plural, as though both deities were now to act together. As we have seen, per benedictum tuum (B4) alludes indirectly to a mythical background, however that was made operative in the cult. The most insistent and unusual of these
45 AE 2007, no. 1047: [M(atri) d(eum) M(agnae) et v]iribus Patrici Cybelici ... (Alzey, 237 CE); the same man acts as a priest in ibid. 990 (Trier); see Boppert 2007 (with reservations). Note also viribus sacrum on an altar from Rome in the Louvre (CCCA 3, p.85, no. 313 with pl. CLXXIX). I assume that these human vires were kept, either actually or notionally, in the cistae, where notionally Attis also lay. With the development of the tauro-/criobolum, these animal vires presumbly were added. Cf. Arboris excisae truncum portare per urbem: Poet. lat min. (ed. Baehrens) 3 p.292 l.108. The pine-tree was evidently also employed performatively by individual galli: according to Statius, Theb. 10.172 (= Hepding 1903, 22) they beat their chests with (some of) the branches. CCCA 7, p.11-13, no.39 with pls XXVIII-IX. L. Budde and R. Nichols identify the figures as galli. Once again, it is a question of not facts but of how such figures in the processions were perceived. So rightly Blnsdorf 2010, 182. It is unnecessary here to emphasise the illocutionary force of the numerous performatives, e.g. commendo, depono, do dono; and the (polite) imperatives dependent upon request-verbs: vindices, vindicate, advenias, recipias .... E.g. AE 1974, no. 274: fateor autem et iuravi per Iovem et numen dei Aug(usti); 1951, no. 217: iuravique per IOM et genium [imp. Vespasiani]; 1937, no. 112: iuravitque per IOM et numina divorum Augustorum geniumque imp. Caesaris Traiani Hadriani ....

46

47

48 49

50

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R. Gordon

tokens however allude not to myth but to cultic objects or events: per tuum Nocturnum (A.12), probably a night-long vigil over the pine-tree; per ... tua sacra (B5.2), either the sacred objects, or, more generally, the rituals as a whole, are turned into grounds for the speakers appeal, a thought that elsewhere includes everything, every sacred detail: per omnia te rogo .... per tuum Castorem, Pollucem, per cistas penetrales ....(B1.3-6). These new texts have of course no special privilege, they do not provide a new key to the cult of the Mater Magna and Attis as practised in the north-western and extreme western provinces in the high Principate. But they are of special interest in that they suggest the areas of cultic activity that seemed to lend themselves to imaginative exploration for the principals proximate aims; cultic events and objects hardly known to our other sources of information that caught the imagination of participants and which they could exploit, not against the divinities concerned but, as they were determined to ensure, with them.51 The justice they seek to restore is the implied justice the gods themselves stand for and wish for, and which is also represented quite clearly if very remotely by the public authorities, with their tortures and executions. As such, these texts offer a most unusual documentary insight into the lived experience of an ancient oriental cult, and the ways it could be made to make moral sense. An inherent constituent of that experience was violence, especially the violence done to themselves by the galli, bellonarii and magali. Although some texts do refer to mala mens, the violence is scarcely psychologised, it remains at the level of the suffering body. One might almost say that it is this non-sacrificial good blood that is required to start up the motor of divine vengeance. But then again, what is such an appeal to the gods? Itself a discourse, where the speaker must make certain kinds of assumptions about the nature of gods and the proper ways they can be served or be of service, and where he needs to claim certain kinds of justification, claims which the text itself can never validate. The histories we write are necessarily our histories. BIBLIOGRAPHY
AE = LAnne pigraphique. CCCA = M.J. Vermaseren (ed.), Corpus cultus Cybelae Attidisque. EPRO 50.1-7, Leyden 197789. CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum DTM = J. Blnsdorf (ed.), Forschungen zum Mainzer Isis- und Mater-Magna-Heiligtum, 1: Die Defixionum tabellae des Mainzer Isis- und Mater-Magna-Heiligtums. Mainzer Archologische Schriften, Mainz forthcoming. EPRO= M.J. Vermaseren and successors (eds.), tudes Prliminaires aux Religions Orientales dans lEmpire Romain, Leyden 1961-1990. ILS = H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. LIMC = H.C. Ackermann and J.R. Gisler (eds.), Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae. 8 vols. in 16, Zrich 1981-1999.

51

Cf. Versnel 2002.

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OPEL = B. Lrincz et al., Onomasticum Provinciarum Europae Latinarum, Budapest, later Vienna, 1994-2002. RGRW = Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, Leyden 1990RICIS = L. Bricault, Recueil des inscriptions concernant les cultes isiaques. Mmoires de lAcadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 31, Paris 2005. Other epigraphic abbreviations as listed in the Clauss-Slaby data-base (http://www.manfredclauss. de/abkuerz.html). Alvar Ezquerra, J. 2008, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis and Mithras, RGRW 165, Leyden. Baslez, M.-F. 2004, Les Galles dAnatolie: images et ralit, Res antiquae 1, 233-45. Beard, M., North, J., and Price, S.R.F. 1998, Religions of Rome, 2 vols., Cambridge. Bianchi, U. and Vermaseren, M.J. (eds.) 1982, La soteriologia dei culti orientali nellImpero romano. Atti del Colloquio internazionale su La soteriologia dei culti orientali nellImpero Romano, Roma 24-28 Settembre 1979, EPRO 92, Leyden. Blnsdorf, J. 2004a, 'Guter, heiliger Atthis'. Eine Fluchtafel aus dem Mainzer Isis- und MaterMagna-Heiligtum (Inv.-Nr. 201, B 36), in: Brodersen and Kropp 2004, 51-58. Blnsdorf, J. 2004b, Zwischenmenschliche Dramen, 2: Fluchtfelchen aus Mainz, in: Reuter and Scholz 2004, 72-74. Blnsdorf, J. 2005a, Cyble et Attis dans les tablettes de defixio indites de Mayence, Comptes rendus de lAcadmie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 2005, 669-692. Blnsdorf, J. 2005b, The Curse-tablets from the Sanctuary of Isis and Mater Mater in Mainz, MHNH 5, 11-26. Blnsdorf, J. 2005c, Survivances et mtamorphoses des cultes orientaux dans lempire romain, in: H. Duchne (ed.), Survivances et mtamorphoses, Dijon, 95-110. Blnsdorf, J. 2007, 'Wrmer und Krebs sollen ihn befallen'. Eine neue Fluchtafel aus GroGerau, Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik 161, 61-65. Blnsdorf, J. 2008, Die defixionum tabellae des Mainzer Isis- und Mater-Magna-Heiligtums, in: Hainzmann and Wedenig 2008, 47-70. Blnsdorf, J. 2010, The defixiones from the Sanctuary of Isis and Mater Magna in Mainz, in: Gordon and Marco Simn 2010, 141-189. Bonnet, C., Rpke, J. and Scarpi, P. (eds) 2006, Religions orientales - culti misterici: Neue Perspektiven - nouvelles perspectives - prospettive nuove. Potsdamer Altertumswissenschaftliche Beitrge 16, Stuttgart. Bonnet, C., Ribichini, S., and Steuernagel, D. (eds.), 2008, Religioni in contatto nel Mediterraneo antico. Modalit di diffusione e processi di interferenza, Rome. Bonnet, C., Pirenne-Delforge, V. and Praet, D. (eds.) 2009, Les religions orientales: cent ans aprs Cumont. Bilan historique et historiographique: Colloque de Rome, 16-18 novembre 2006, Institut Historique Belge de Rome: tudes de Philologie, dArchologie et dHistoire Anciennes 45, Brussels and Rome. Boppert, W. 2007, Der gesellschaftliche Hintergrund der Magna-Mater-Kybele-Verehrer im Mainzer Raum. berlegungen zu einem neuen Magna-Mater-Altar aus dem vicus von Alzey, in: E. Walde and B. Kainrath (eds.), Die Selbstdarstellung der rmischen Gesellschaft in den Provinzen im Spiegel der Steindenkmler. IX Internationales Kolloquium ber Probleme des provinzialrmishen Kunstschaffens, Ikarus 2, Innsbruck, 225-238. Brodersen, K. and Kropp, A. (eds.) 2004, Fluchtafeln: Neue Funde und neue Deutungen zum antiken Schadenzauber, Frankfurt a.M. dEncarnao, J. 2001, A defixio de Alccer do Sal, in: G. Angeli Bertinelli and A. Donati (eds.), Varia epigraphica: Atti del Colloquio Internazionale di Epigrafia, Bertinoro, 8-10 giugno 2000, Epigrafia e antichit 17, Faenza, 245-246. dEncarnao, J. and Faria, J.C.L. 2002, O santurio romano e a defixio de Alccer do Sal, in: J. Cardim Riberio (ed.), Religies da Lusitnia. Loquuntur saxa, Lisbon, 259-267. Faria, J.C.L. 2000, Alccer do Sal ao tempo dos Romanos, Alccer do Sal.

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Faraone, C.A., Garnand, B., and Lpez Ruiz, C. 2005, Micahs Mother (Judg. 17:1-4) and a Curse from Carthage (KAI 89): Canaanite Precedents for Greek and Latin Curses against Thieves?, Journal of Near-Eastern Studies 64, 161-186. Faraone, C.A., and Rife, J.L. 2007, A Greek Curse against a Thief from the North Cemetery at Roman Cenchreae, Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik 160, 141-157. Faraone, C.A., and Kropp, A. 2010. Inversion, Adversion and Perversion as Strategies in Latin Curse-Tablets, in: Gordon and Marco Simn 2010, 381-398. Garca y Bellido, A. 1967, Les religions orientales dans lEspagne romaine, EPRO 5, Leyden. Gordon, R.L. forthcoming, On Typologies and History: Ugo Bianchi, the Cult of Mithras, and Late Orphism, in: C. Giuffr Scibona (ed.), Mysteries Dionysism Orphism: Analogies, Tangencies, Differences, Hier 13, Cosenza. Gordon, R.L. and Marco Simn, F. (eds) 2010, Magical Practice in the Latin West: Papers from the International Conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30 Sept. 1st Oct. 2005. RGRW 168, Leyden. Guerra, A. 2003, Anotaes ao texto da tabella defixionis de Alccer do Sal, Revista Portuguesa de Arqueologa 6, 335-9. Hainzmann, M. and Wedenig, R. (eds.) 2008, Instrumenta Inscripta Latina, 2: Akten des 2. Internationalen Kolloquiums Klagenfurt 2005, Aus Forschung und Kunst 36, Klagenfurt. Hepding, H. 1903, Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult, RGVV 1, Giessen. Kropp, A. 2004, Defigo Eudemum: necetis eum: Kommunikationsmuster in den Texten antiker Schadenzauberrituale, in: Brodersen and Kropp 2004, 81-97. Kropp, A. 2008a, Magische Sprachverwendung in vulgrlateinischen Fluchtafeln (defixiones), ScriptOralia 135 = Reihe A (Altertumswissenschaftliche Reihe) 39, Tbingen. Lane, E.N. 1996, Cybele, Attis and related Cults. Essays in memory of M.J. Vermaseren, RGRW 131, Leyden. Marco Simn, F. 2004, Magia y cultos orientales: acerca de una defixio de Alccer do Sal (Setbal) con mencin de Attis, MHNH 4, 79-94. Rieger, A.-K. 2004, Heiligtmer in Ostia, Studien zur antiken Stadt 8, Munich. Reuter, M. and Scholz, M. (eds.) 2004, Geritzt und entziffert: Schriftzeugnisse der rmischen Informationsgesellschaft. Schriften des Limesmuseum Aalen 57, Stuttgart. Scholz, M. 2004, Im Banne bser Absichten: Fluche, wenn irdische Gerechtigkeit versagt: Verfluchungstfelchen aus Gro-Gerau, in: Reuter and Scholtz 2004, 67 and 70-71. Scholz, M. and Kropp, A. 2004, 'Priscilla, die Verrterin'. Eine Fluchtafel mit Rachegebet aus Gro-Gerau, in: Brodersen and Kropp 2004, 33-40. Sfameni Gasparro, G. 1981, Interpretazioni gnostiche e misteriosofiche del mito di Attis, in: Van den Broek and Vermaseren 1981, 376-411 = Sfameni Gasparro 2009a, 249-90. Sfameni Gasparro, G. 1982, Sotriologie et aspects mystiques dans le culte de Cyble et dAttis, in: Bianchi and Vermaseren 1982, 472-84. Sfameni Gasparro, G. 1983, Significato e ruolo del sangue nel culto di Cibele e Attis, in: F. Vattioni (ed.), Atti della Settimana: Sangue e Antropologia nella letteratura cristiana. Roma 29 nov. - 4 dic. 1982, Centro Studi Sanguis Christi, 3 (Rome) 1, 199-232 = Sfameni Gasparro 2009a, 291-327. Sfameni Gasparro, G. 1985, Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis, EPRO 103, Leyden. Sfameni Gasparro, G. 2006a, Misteri e culti orientali: un problema storico-religioso, in: Bonnet, Rpke and Scarpi 2006, 181-210 = Sfameni Gasparro 2009b, 271-313. Sfameni Gasparro, G. 2006b, Strategie di salvezza nel mondo ellenistico-romano. Per una tassonomia storico-religiosa, in: Pagani e cristiani alla ricerca della salvezza (secoli I-III): XXXIV Incontro di studiosi dellantichit cristiana, Roma, 5-7 maggio 2005. Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 96, Rome, 21-53 = Sfameni Gasparro 2009b, 165-202. Sfameni Gasparro, G. 2009a, Misteri e teologie: Per la storia dei culti mistico e misterici nel mondo antico, Hier: Collana di studi storico-religoso 5, Cosenza.

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Sfameni Gasparro, G. 2009b, Problemi di religione greca ed ellenistica. Di, dmoni, uomini: tra antiche e nuove identit. Hier: Collana di studi storico-religoso 12, Cosenza. Tomlin, R.S.O. 2010, Cursing a Thief in Iberia and Britain, in: Gordon and Marco Simn 2010, 245-273. Turcan, R. 1975. Mithras Platonicus. Recherches sur lhellnisation philosophique de Mithra, EPRO 47, Leyden. Turcan, R. 1983, Numismatique romaine du culte mtroaque, EPRO 97, Leyden. Turcan, R. 1996, Attis Platonicus, in: Lane 1996, 387-403. Turcan, R. 1997, Les Pres ont-ils menti sur les mystres paens?, in: AA.VV., Les Pres de lglise au XXe Sicle: Histoire Littrature Thologie, Paris, 35-55. Van den Broek, R. and Vermaseren, M.J. 1981, Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religions presented to Gilles Quispel on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, EPRO 91, Leyden. Vermaseren, M.J. 1966, The Legend of Attis in Greek and Roman Art, EPRO 9, Leyden. Vermaseren, M.J. 1977, Cybele and Attis. The Myth and the Cult, London. Vermaseren, M.J. 1981a, Liconographie dAttis mourant, in: Van den Broek and Vermaseren (eds.) 1981, 419-431. Vermaseren, M.J. (ed.) 1981b, Die orientalischen Religionen im Rmerreich, EPRO 93, Leyden. Vermaseren, M.J. 1986, s.v. Attis, LIMC 2.1, 21-44; 2.2, 15-45. Versnel, H.S. 2002, Writing Mortals and Reading Gods: Appeal to the Gods as a Dual Strategy in Social Control, in: D. Cohen (ed.), Demokratie, Recht und soziale Kontrolle im klassischen Athen. Schriften des Historischen Kollegs: Kolloquien 49, Munich, 37-76. Versnel, H.S. 2010, Prayers for Justice in East and West: Recent Finds and Publications, in: Gordon and Marco Simn 2010, 275-354. Witteyer, M. 2004, Verborgene Wnsche. Befunde antiken Schadenzaubers aus MogontiacumMainz, in: Brodersen and Kropp 2004, 41-50. Witteyer, M. 2005, Curse-tablets and Voodoo-Dolls from Mainz. The Archaeological Evidence for Magical Practices in the Sanctuary of Isis and Magna Mater, MHNH 5, 105-124.