‘Remain like stones, unmoving, un-running’:
another Greek spell against competitors in a
foot-race*
The magical tablet published here is a rectangle
with rounded corners, 78 by 118 mm, cut from
sheet lead c. 0.5 mm thick, one face of which has
been inscribed with a very fine point. Slight
corrugation and differential corrosion on the
back suggest that it was originally rolled or
folded, but the surface has not been stressed or
cracked. It is complete except for the upper
right-hand corner, about one-third of the right-
hand edge with associated holes, a nick in the
bottom, and two nicks in the left-hand edge.
The resulting loss of text is quite small, and
most of it can be restored. The upper two-thirds
of the inscribed surface has been obscured by
slight oxidation and corrosion products, but not
so as to make the writing illegible. Overall this is
well-preserved, and there are few difficulties. It
consists of 33 lines of minute but well-formed
Greek letters c. 2 mm high, which can be dated
to the 4th century AD.
This inscribed text is an elaborate binding spell
repeated with variations four times, with
intervening sequences of magical words (voces
magicae). It is directed against three named
athletes, Antiokhos, Hierax and Kastor, evidently
runners, whose feet, sinews and other attributes
are ‘bound’ so as to ensure their failure ‘in the
stadium’.
The tablet is said to have been found in Egypt, a
provenance supported by its affinity with a lead
tablet from Oxyrhynchus, ‘the only known
applied spell of Egyptian provenance directed
against athletes’. It is confirmed by the Egyptian
names of the mothers of all three athletes.
Transcription
?????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ????
[?????]
??? ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? ???????? ???
?????? ?????, [???]
??????? ??? ?????? ?????, ??? ????????
??? ??? ??????[???]
??? ???????? ???????. ???????? ?????
???? ??????? ??? ?? ?????
5 ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ?????, ???? ??
??????? ??????? ?? ??
??????, ???? ???? ??? ????? ???
??????????? ?????????
?????. ?????? ???????????? ????????????
?????, ????-
?????, ???????? ??? ??????????? ?? ???
?????, ?? ?????, ???? ?????,
[?? ??]???, ?? ??????????? ????????
????? ???? ??? ??????? ??-
10 ???, ???? ?? ????????? ????????? ?? ??
?????? ?? ??? ???
??????? ??? ????????. ?????? ??????
??????? ??????????
?????? ?????? ???????? ???????
???????????????
?????? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ???
?????, ??? ?????????,
?? ?????, ???? ????? ???????? ???
??????? ??? ???????? ??? ???-
15 ???????????, ???? ?? ???????? ?? ??
?????? ????????, ???? ?????-
??? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ?????????
??????? ?? ?? ?????? ??
??? ??? ??????? ??? ????????, ???
????????? ? ????? ????.
???????????? ???????????? ??????????
????????[??]
?????????? ?????????? ????????????
??????????[c.5]
20 ????????? ????????? ??????? ?????,
?????????, ?[?????-]
???, ?????? ??? ??????, ??? ?????, ??
?????, ?? ??[???, ????]
????? ???????? ??? ?????? ?????, ???
??????? ?? ??[????]
?????, ??? ???????? ??? ?? ????????? ??
?????? ??[?????.]
??????? ?????? ???? ?????? ???????
??????? ????.[c.4]
25 ????????? ?????? ???????????
????????.[c.6]
?????, ?????????, ??????[?]? ????[????
???]
??????? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ?????????.
????? ?[????]
???? ?????, ?? ?????, ?? ?????, ??? ????
[?], ??? ???[???],
?? ????????? ?????????? ??????? ????
??? ??????? [??-]
30 ??? ??? ??? ?????, ??? ?? ???????
???????? ?? ??
??????, ???? ??????? ?? ????? ????????
???????.
?????, ?????, ?????, ?????, ????? ????
???????????? ??
[?]?????, ?????.
A note on the spelling
The scribe was influenced by the spoken
language in writing ? for ?? in ??????? (5, 10,
16), ????? (7), ??????? (5, 30), ???????? (30),
??????????? (8); and ? for ?? in ???????????
(6), ???????? (30), ????? (32 and 33),
???????????? (32). But he wrote ??????????
???? (14-15) correctly, and this uncertainty
makes him write ??? (16) as ???? (6, 10, 15) and
??? (30). He also wavered between long vowel
and short: ? for ? in ??????????? (8, 13), but ?
for ? in ?? (8, but correctly ??? in 22, 23, 27,
30); ? for ? in ??????? (5), ????????? (10, 16),
but ? for ? in ???? (16). These variants are all
trivial, but he was idiosyncratic in his treatment
of ? and ?: he consistently wrote ????? for
????? (4, 8, 14, 22, 28), but wavered between
????? (2) and ????? (4, 8, 14, 28), between
??????? (9) and ??????? (29). This is perhaps
why he wrote ????????? (20) instead of
????????? (PGM X 47, ????????? in III 55).
Translation
– magical words Abrasax – Hold back the feet
and the sinews and the impetus of Antiokhos
whom Tabêkh bore, and of Hierax whom Tamin
bore, and of Kastor also called Dioskoros whom
Tekosis bore. Hold back their feet and sinews
and impetus and strength, that they be not able
to proceed in the stadium, that not even one of
the aforesaid be crowned, I ask. – magical words
– Bind, bind back, hold back their purpose and
their strength, their sinews, their feet, their legs,
and the three hundred and sixty-five limbs of
their bodies, that they not be able to proceed in
the stadium in the hour of necessity of the
crown. – magical words – Hold back the spirit,
the purpose, the sinews of the aforesaid
Antiokhos and Hierax and Kastor, that they do
not take a crown in the stadium, but bind them
entirely, that they be not able to proceed in the
stadium in the hour of necessity of the crown, as
the great god may direct. – magical words
Abrasax – Bind, bind around, bind back, hold
back the running, the spirit, the legs, the sinews,
the feet of Antiokhos whom Tabêkh bore, and of
Hierax whom Tamin bore, and of Kastor also
called Dioskoros whom Tekosis bore. – magical
words – Bind, bind back, bind together, hold
back Antiokhos and Hierax and Kastor also
called Dioskoros. Bind their feet, sinews, legs,
spirit, excellence, the three hundred and fifty-
five limbs of their bodies and souls, that they be
not able to proceed in the stadium, but remain
like stones, unmoving, un-running. By force, by
force, by force. Bind, bind the aforesaid, as I
asked, by force.
Notes on the text
1. Abrasax is invoked again in 20 and 24,
and is presumably ‘the great god’ of 17, and the
subject of the second-person singular
imperatives throughout. This frequent deity is
also invoked by the Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl.
Mag. II 53, 32 and fragment A).
?????? is not found elsewhere, but may be
an anagram variant of the first syllables of the
divine name(?) ??????[?]? (PGM VII 300) or
??????????? (VII 365). ????????, however, is
well-attested as an invocation of Seth/Typhon
(PGM IV 2025; XII 370-72; Suppl. Mag. 95
(horizontal), 9, etc.).
1-2, the first three attributes. Ten
altogether are ‘bound’ in six enumerations, here
and in 4-5, 8-10, 13-14, 21-22 and 28-30, but
only ‘feet’ and ‘sinews’ occur in all six. Both
attributes are found in other binding spells, for
example Audollent DT 15 (Syria), 252 and 253
(Carthage). There is a similar list in the
Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl. Mag. II 53, 13-15), but
it has in common only ‘sinews’ and ‘the three
hundred and sixty-five limbs’ (see below, note to
9).
2-4. For the personal names (repeated in
14, 22-23, 25-26) see Preisigke, Namenbuch,
and Foraboschi, Onomasticon. The athletes bear
commonplace Greek names often found in
Egyptian papyri; Kastor, like ‘Kastor also called
Poludeukes’ and ‘Dioskoros Kastor’, owes his
alternative name to his divine namesake being
one of the twin Dioskouroi. But the mothers’
names are Egyptian, also often found: ????? is a
variant of ????? (etc.), ??????? of ??????? (etc.),
and ????? of ??????? (etc.).
Identification by maternal descent, as ‘A
whom B bore’, is standard in magical texts
(Jordan, Philologus 120 (1976), 127-32). In 2-4,
the definite article is used for the relative
pronoun as in Suppl. Mag. I 41, 10-11, and has
been attracted into the preceding genitive case;
in 23-24, this usage and that of the relative
pronoun both occur.
5. ????? (repeated in 8) is evidently an
anagram of ?????, but without magical intent,
since the other attributes are not disguised in
this way.
5, ??????? (l. ????????). Aorist infinitive,
as in 10 and 16; but present infinitive ????????
(l. ??????????) in 30.
5-6. The formulas of ‘proceeding in the
stadium’ and being ‘crowned’ (i.e. winning the
race) are repeated with variation in 10-11, 15-
17 and 30-31, but they do not occur in the
Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl. Mag. II, 53) and seem
to be unparalleled. The reference to a ‘stadium’
is too general to locate the tablet. None is
mentioned in the Oxyrhynchus watch-list (P.
Oxy. 43v, AD 295), but there is earlier reference
to the ‘hippodrome’ quarter (P. Oxy. 1028, 18-
19, AD 89).
7. ????? (l. ??????) corresponds to [?]?????
in 33. It is followed by ???, which might be the
personal pronoun ‘you’ (i.e. Abrasax) in the
genitive case the verb would require, but [?]
????? (33) is not followed by the corresponding
??. Therefore, since the next syllable (???) is
certainly ‘magical’, but does not belong to the
following logos, it should probably be taken with
??? as a magical word, ??????. This is not
attested, but compare ?????? (1) and the
magical word ?????? in PGM XIII 809 (with
similar forms in XII 487 and Suppl. Mag. I 42,
30).
7, ???????????? ????????????. This well-
known logos is repeated in 18, and with minor
variation is part of the Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl.
Mag. II 53, 7-9).
7-8, ?????, ?????????, ????????. Thus
also in the Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl. Mag. II, 53,
12-13, ?????, ?????????, with ???????? at 23).
Maltomini notes with parallels ‘the intensifying
combination of simplex and compound’, and
here two further compounds are used, ????????
in 15-16, and ????????? in 20, while the
simplex ????? is iterated in 32.
9. The restoration of [?? ??]???, not [?? ?]
???, despite Suppl. Mag. II 53, 13-15, is
required by ?? ????? in 21 and 28. The unusual
formula of ‘the three hundred and sixty-five
limbs’ (repeated with a numerical error in 29) is
shared by the Oxyrhynchus spell, where it is fully
discussed by Maltomini (Suppl. Mag. II 53, 14); in
Coptic it occurs in PGM IV 149f., and has now
been recognized by Jordan (ZPE 100 (1994), 321)
in the Syrian binding spell already cited
(Audollent DT 15, 18), but only in abbreviated
form.
10. ?? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ???????? is
repeated with minor variation in 15-16, but is
otherwise unparalleled. The constituent phrase
?? ??? ??????? occurs in PGM I 212-13, but in
quite a different context, and was evidently a
cliché: the California TLG data-base finds four
instances in patristic authors of somewhat later
date, the Apophthegmata patrum, the letters of
Barsanuphis and John, and the Greek translation
of Ephraem the Syrian.
11-13. The sequence begins with two
permutations of the eulamo logos, which is
frequent in ‘square’ permutations of six, as in
the Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl. Mag. 53, 1-6), or
in ‘wing form’ diminishing series, as in the
Isthmian spell published by Jordan (Hesperia 63
(1994), 116-7). Word-division thereafter is
conjectural, since the sequence is unparalleled.
12. ?????? is an ordinary Greek word
(‘ember’), but this is probably a coincidence.
???????? may be compounded from ?????
(‘dying untimely’), like ?????????, an epithet of
Hecate (PGM IV 2867). For ??????? compare
???????? ???????? (PGM VII 532), part of a
long Victory logos which otherwise offers no
parallel. ??????????????? may end with a
variant of ????? (the Egyptian god Thoth), but is
otherwise unparalleled.
13. ?????? ????????, although not a
palindrome, somewhat resembles the well-
known ?????????????. ?????????? may be
derived from the divine name ????????? (PGM
Index, p. 216).
17, ??? ????????? ? ????? ????. Another
cliché: compare Suppl. Mag. II 42, 19, ??? ?????
???? ??? ???????? ? ????? ????.
18-20. The sequence begins with the same
???????? logos as 7, but thereafter it is difficult.
18. ?????????? is a variant of the
palindrome ???????????? (PGM IV 3178, etc.)
with the well-attested prefix ????-. Next
????????[??] repeats the end of the ????????
logos after the syllable ??? (Baal?) found in
???????? (1) and the divine name ????????
(PGM Index, p. 218).
19. ?????????? is unparalleled, but
?????????? repeated in this line as
???????????[?????] occurs as ????????? in
Suppl. Mag. I 42, 41 and 43, 1, where Daniel
notes it was ‘(with variants) a commonly
occurring magical name, most likely for the great
god’. In Suppl. Mag. I 43, 1 and the Athenian
tablet also published by Daniel (ZPE 19 (1975),
249-55, where the name is fully discussed),
there is a horizontal stroke over ?. This would
correspond to the horizontal stroke over ? here,
the only such stroke in the whole text.
19. The intervening ???????????? is
unparalleled.
20. ????????? in variant spellings is often
associated with the ???????? logos, as here and
in the Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl. Mag. II 53, 10:
see also PGM III 53-55, X 47, Audollent DT 155A,
42-44, 255, etc.). ????????? is also well-
attested (PGM Index, p. 217, with discussion in
Suppl. Mag. I 15, 3-4).
22, ??????? (l. ???????, as in 3 and 14).
The scribe may have written final –? for –? in
anticipation of the relative pronoun, but judging
by 27 (see below), he actually thought ???????
(l. ??????) was the accusative form.
24 is a variant of another well-attested
logos, for example as ??????? ?????? ??????
??????? in Suppl. Mag. II 57, 14 (compare I 42,
49-50 with note). In writing ???????, the scribe
began with ?, which he corrected by writing ?
over it, and then continued with another ? before
?. The word after ‘Abrasax’ was probably ????
[???] again.
25. ????????? is unparalleled, but the initial
????? is an acceptable Greek compound
(‘warding-off’), so this may be another magical
epithet like ???????? (12). ?????? is also
unparalleled, but may be a hybrid between
ablanathanalba and the eulamo logos.
??????????? is a stray from the well-known
maskelli maskello logos: Jordan collects
instances of this (with variants) in ZPE 100
(1994), 328-9. ????????.[c.6] is also
unparalleled, but in view of the scribe’s
confusion between ? and ?, he may have
intended the divine name ?????? (PGM Index, p.
216). The constituent syllable ??? is frequent
enough, as in ?????????? (19), and perhaps
????????[?????] should be restored here.
27, ??????? (l. ??????). This anomalous
accusative form (compare 22) is apparently a
back-formation from the genitive ??????? which
the scribe already knew as part of his formula.
31. Simile magic: compare Suppl. Mag. II 58,
8-10 (with note), a spell to make the victims ‘as
speechless as this stone’ [actually an ostracon].
The simile in 31 is another cliché. For a
contemporary instance, see Athanasius, oratio I
contra Arianos, 22, ?? ??? ?? ????? ????? ??’
?????? ????? ???????? (a populist image of
Christ from Arian polemic).
31, ???????. The adjective is appropriate
here, but very rare: LSJ records its use only of
horses in a veterinary writer (Hippiatrica, 105).
The Oxyrhynchus spell (Suppl. Mag. II 53, 29)
more prosaically requires that the victims ‘be not
able to run’, ??? ?? ????????? ??????, and the
Isthmian spell (Hesperia 63 (1994), 117) is
almost identical, ?[?] ?????????? ???????.
32-3. ?????, ?????, ????? ... ????? is a
variant of the usual closing formulas ???? ????
and ??? ???, but seems to be unparalleled. So it
is uncertain whether it is an instrumental dative
(l. ?????? < ??????), as translated here, or an
imperative (?????? < ??????, ‘rule, rule, rule’)
supplementing ?????. Since elsewhere in the
text ????? is supplemented by its synonym
????????, or by its compounded forms
????????? (etc.), the instrumental dative seems
more likely here than a verb of different
meaning.
Wolfson College, Oxford R.S.O.
Tomlin
- (F.555a)
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