[[1]] See Edmond Doutté, Magie & Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Paris, 1984), for a discussion of the continuation of magical traditions in the region.

[[2]] On Septimius Severus and astrology, see F.H. Cramer (1954), 208-17. Cf. A.R. Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emperor (New Haven, 1988), which is a full biography of the emperor.

[[3]] Apuleius, Florida 15.4; SHA, Geta II.6

[[4]] On astrologers, see Augustine, Confessions IV.3. On the magician, see Conf. IV.2.3. On Augustine and diviners, see the discussion in E.R. Dodds (1973), 173-6.

[[5]] Apuleius, Apologia 97.

[[6]] Augustine, Confessions 4.2.3

[[7]] Such magic manuals used to exist throughout the ancient world. Only a small fraction have survived the ravages of time by being buried beneath the sands of Egypt. Most of these texts are in the corpus Papyri Graecae Magicae (= P.G.M. ), and are translated in H.D. Betz (1986). On their discovery over the past century, see also W. Brashear (1992). More recently discovered texts concerning medical magic can be found in R.W. Daniel & F. Maltomini (1992), 91-275.

[[8]] Plato, Republic II, 364C; discussed by J. Gager (1992), no. 140.

[[9]] On the magical handbooks discovered in an Egyptian "magical workshop" in which several individuals appear to have been active, see P. Mirecki (1994).

[[10]] D.R. Jordan (1996), 122, announces the recent discovery of a folded papyrus sheet that was preserved because it was folded inside a lead tablet. The papyrus has not yet been opened, so there is no way of telling whether it features a magical t ext or designs.

[[11]] D.R. Jordan (1988), 119, has identified approximately forty-five curse tablets from Hadrumetum alone that were most likely produced by professionals, and states that this was the case for the published tablets from Carthage as well.

[[12]] J. Gager (1992), 20. Gager's book is the best and most recent study of defixiones, and my discussion here owes a great deal to this work.

[[13]] For a photograph of such a curse tablet, see J. Gager (1992), 19.

[[14]] J. Gager (1992), 37n.88, citing C.A. Faraone (1991), 17.

[[15]] J. Gager (1992), 18-20; J.B. Rives (1995), 198.

[[16]] J. Gager (1992), 14 & 118.

[[17]] J.B. Rives (1995), 198-9.

[[18]] See D.R. Jordan, "Defixiones from a Well near the Southwest Corner of the Athenian Agora," Hesperia 54 (1985), 234-6.

[[19]] C.A. Faraone (1991), 23n.11 provides references.

[[20]] J.B. Rives (1995), 197, has identified such a pattern in the case of North African defixiones.

[[21]] D.T. 109. On the problems raised by these tablets, see C.A. Faraone (1991), 24n.19. See also J. Gager (1992), 34n.39.

[[22]] For an example of a similar instruction in the magic papyri, see P.G.M. VII.579-90.

[[23]] C. Bonner (1946), 38-9 & 46.

[[24]] Pliny, Natural History 28.5.27.

[[25]] R. Kotansky (1994), no. 62. On "Sword of Dardanos," see P.G.M. IV.1716-1870; discussed in section on "How to Make an Erotic Magic Gem".

[[26]] N. Ferchiou & A. Gabillon (1985), Fig. I (= A.E. 1984, no. 933); cf. J.B. Rives (1995), 193. Discussed later in section on "Magic at Eye Level."

[[27]] Cicero, On Divination 2.24.51 (Loeb trans.).

[[28]] Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 4.1.13 (trans. F. Legge).

[[29]] V. Valens, Anthologiae V.12; cf. F.H. Cramer (1954), 168.

[[30]] On Severus, SHA Geta II.6. On Hadrian, SHA Aelius Verus III.8-9. On astrology and politics, see F.H. Cramer (1954) and T. Barton (1994).

[[31]] Cicero, On Divination 1.58.132 (Loeb trans.). (Click here for full text.)

[[32]] Pliny, Ep. 6.2.2.

[[33]] Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 4.4.7 (trans. F. Legge). Book Four of the Refutation is devoted to magicians - as well as some religious practices which he sought to dismiss as "magic" - while the other chapters concerned pagan philosophers and others with whom the bishop strongly disagreed.

[[34]] Hippolytus, Ref. Haer. 4.4.15.

[[35]] Hippolytus's Refutation of All Heresies has received relatively little attention from scholars, although E.R. Dodds (1973) does mention this work and provides some other references.

[[36]] Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 14.4.2 (on eggs) and 14.4.3 (on sheep).

[[37]] On charlatans, prophecies, and mass unrest, see R. MacMullen (1966), 128-62.

[[38]] Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 8.7.3. For full text, Click here.

[[39]] J.B. Rives (1995), 198.

[[40]] Although there are 120 published tablets, there are actually 122 texts, since two tablets featured two spells each.

[[41]] J. Gager (1992), 78.

[[42]] See index entry in R.W. Daniel & F. Maltomini (1992), 319. See also H. Philipp (1986), no. 32, a magic gem featuring the sun deity Helios. The curse tablet from North Africa is D.T. 242.

[[43]] J. Gager (1992), no. 36, discusses this spell, especially the clearly Jewish traces in the text.

[[44]] Augustine, Confessions IV.2.3.

[[45]] J. Gager (1992), 117-8. Gager presents a broad and useful examination of such judicial tablets, although he focuses on Greek evidence rather than Roman and gives no reason for this choice.

[[46]] D.T. 218.

[[47]] See, for example, D.T. 213, 216-26 and 303. See the Catalog of Published Curse Tablets from North Africa for more references.

[[48]] Ennius, quoted in Cicero, On Divination 1.58.132.

[[49]] See J. Gager (1992), 42ff., for a discussion of defixiones in athletic and theater competitions. For Carthage's race-course, see J. Humphrey, The Circus and Byzantine Cemetery at Carthage (Ann Arbor, 1988). Mosaics from Carthage depicting horse races can be found in J.W. Salomonson, La mosaïque aux chevaux de l'antiquarium de Carthage (La Haye, 1966), and also see K.M.D. Dunbabin (1978), 88-108.

[[50]] D.T. 295; trans. J. Gager (1992), no. 11. (Click here for full text.)

[[51]] D.T. 246-54.

[[52]] Mosaics discussed by K.M.D. Dunbabin (1978), 65-87 et passim.

[[53]] D.T. 248.

[[54]] D.T. 250.

[[55]] J. Gager (1992), 151-74 discusses this phenomenon, as does C.A. Faraone (1991), 11.

[[56]] J. Gager (1992), 173-4.

[[57]] On amulets before Roman times, see Pierre Cintas, Amulettes Puniques (Tunis, 1946), and Jean Leclant, "Egyptian Talismans in the Cemeteries of Carthage," Archaeologia Viva I, no. 2 (1968-69), 95-102, who both discuss sca rabs and other amulets imported from Egypt as far back as the 7th cent. B.C.E. Cf. the discussion of a punic curse tablet by S. Ribichini, "Un episodio di magia a Cartagine nel III secolo av. Cr.," in Magia: Studi di storia delle religioni in memoria di Raffaela Garosi (Rome, 1976), 147-56. (I am grateful to Prof. Gideon Bohak for this last reference.)

[[58]] Apuleius, Apologia 61ff.

[[59]] A. Merlin (1940) provides a selection of Judaeo-Christian amulets against forces of ill will such as the Evil Eye (invidia). Y. Le Bohec (1981) has collected references to several amulets with obvious Jewish influences that had previous ly been published. S.E.G. IX.844-6 are three lapis gemstones, one with a figure that is possibly Hercules, the next simply including the word Chnoubis in Greek, and the third "IAO," an abbreviation of the Jewish god's name common in magic. Three lamellae - two gold and one silver - are republished in R. Kotansky (1994) as nos. 62-4; none of the three appear to have been meant to be worn, so they are not discussed here (although no. 64 is discussed below in a different cont ext).

[[60]] A. Merlin (1940). On amulets targetting the Evil Eye, see C. Bonner (1950), 97-100 (pg. 98 discusses owls and the Evil Eye).

[[61]] S.E.G. IX, 2, no. 818. Discussed by C. Bonner (1950), 97, who says that the reading is uncertain.

[[62]] See G. Charles-Picard (1954), 234-43.

[[63]] Leptis Magna phalluses discussed in G. Charles-Picard (1954), 238, and Vergata Caffarelli & E. and G. Caputo, The Buried City: Excavations at Leptis Magna (London, 1966), 111.

[[64]] Ballu, BAC (1919), 159.

[[65]] This discussion of mosaics is largely based on K.M.D. Dunbabin (1978), 161-72.

[[66]] Published by N. Ferchiou & A. Gabillon (1985) (= A.E. 1984, no. 933).

[[67]] R. Kotansky (1994), no. 11A-B, pp. 46-52

[[68]] R. Kotansky (1994), 50, and N. Ferchiou & A. Gabillon (1985), 112, discuss A.E. 1939, no. 136, a 6th- or 7th-century lead cross from elsewhere in Tunisia, upon which was written a prayer against hail. Apparently, placing wooden cros ses upon rooftops became a popular way of warding off hail during the Christian period. N. Ferchiou & A. Gabillon (1985), 112, also provide references to similar inscriptions in Asia Minor and Sicily. C.A. Faraone (1992), 86n.2 cites several example s of farmers using magical practices to restrain the weather.

[[69]] J.B. Rives (1995), 193

[[70]] R. Kotansky (1994), no. 64, pp. 375-6

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