Casting Curses. A Study on the Religious Experiences of Women in Roman North Africa and Roman Britain.

Abstract

It is the aim of this masterthesis to uncover how defixiones (curse tablets) can contribute to our understanding of the religious experiences of women in the Roman West, more specifically Roman North Africa and Roman Britain. Defixiones prove to be insightful sources into the lives of ancient individuals, because they provide glimpses of the lived reality of ancient men and women. Analysing defixiones based on the methodology of ‘lived ancient religion’ opens up a way for ancient historians to focus on the lived experiences of these ancient people and their daily lives. Studying the corpus of defixiones resulted in bringing nuance to existing views in the historiography regarding the ritual – religious and magical – practices of women, and by extension those of men.