Tablette de défixion de l'Hospitalet-du-Larzac 2

The Larzac tablet is a

lead Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate ...

curse tablet found in 1983 in the commune of L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac, Aveyron, southern France. It is now kept in the museum of Millau. It bears one of the most important inscriptions in the Gaulish language. The inscription is in

Roman cursive Roman cursive (or Latin cursive) is a form of handwriting (or a script) used in ancient Rome and to some extent into the Middle Ages. It is customarily divided into old (or ancient) cursive and new cursive. Old Roman cursive Old Roman cursiv ...

on a lead tablet preserved in two fragments, dated to about 100 AD. It is the longest preserved Gaulish text, extending to more than 1000 letters or 160 words (an unknown number of lines at the end of the text are lost). The curse tablet was excavated from a grave of La Vayssière necropolis, just north of the village of L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac, close to the ancient Roman road from Condatomagus (Amiliavum, Millau) to Luteva (Lodève), at the time crossing the provincial border between Gallia Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis. The text cannot be translated with any certainty, but it is clear that its nature is that of a magical curse, cast in the "world of women", presumably by one group of women or sorceresses against a rival group. The placement of the curse tablet in a tomb is not unusual in the

Greco-Roman world The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were dir ...

; the tomb was considered a gateway by means of which the curse would reach the infernal deities charged with its execution. The fragmentation of the tablet may also be intentional, performed by its original authors, as part of the ritual "burial" of the curse to send it on its way to the underworld. The magic invoked is clearly malicious, of a nature well attested from other parts of the Celtic world, notably

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by ...

. Sisterhoods of sorceresses or witches are also known to have existed in ancient Gaul on the authority of ancient ethnographers; thus, Pomponius Mela (III, 6, 48) records a college of nine priestesses capable of invoking tempests and adopting animal form among the Osismii, while Strabon (IV, 4, 6) is aware of a convent of women of the Samnitae possessed by

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

, installed on an island of the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

estuary. Both the context of the curse tablet and the names of the women listed as targets of the curse reflect the syncretic culture of Roman Gaul at the end of the 1st century. The name of ''Severa Tertionicna'', the "head witch" targeted by the curse, consists of a Roman

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became her ...

''Severa'' and a patronymic which combines the Roman cognomen ''Tertio'' with the Gaulish ''-ikno-'' suffix. The discovery of the text has substantially increased our knowledge of Gaulish grammar, due to its being one of the very few inscriptions containing fully formed sentences with finite verbal forms, and due to its "feminine" nature containing numerous forms of the first declension (''a''-stems) otherwise unattested. It is also important in terms of core vocabulary, among other things it is our only source for the Gaulish word for "daughter", ''duχtir'', and as evidence for certain phonological developments of the language.

Text

The inscription is in two hands, labelled ''M'' and ''N'' (''N'' being the later, responsible for deleting parts of the original text) The text of ''N'' is preserved in its entirety, on the six first lines on side ''b'' of the second fragment; parts of the original text of ''M'' have been lost. Robert Marichal identifies ''M'' as a "habitual" scribe, perhaps a professional, while the writing of ''N'' is inexpert and laborious. The text contains a curse against one Severa Tertionicna and a group of women, presumably her followers. ''Adgagsona'' seems to be the name of the principal goddess invoked for the purposes of the curse. A total of eleven or twelve names of women who were to be cursed alongside Severa Tertionicna have been preserved; most of these are identified by their given name plus a specification of a relation, identified either by one of their parents ("daughter of"), or one of their children ("mother of"), or as ''dona'' (of unclear significance, apparently "lady of", but Lambert suggested "wetnurse of" and Lejeune suggested "heiress of"). The list of names is: :1. Bano aFlatucias :2. Paulla dona Potiti s :3. Aia duχtir Adiegias :4. Potita, m tirPaullias :5. Seuera du �tirValentos do(n)a Paulli s :6. Adiega matir Aiias :7. Potita dona Primius ..Abesias : . Eiotinios?:9. Ruficna Casta dona aonus :10. Diligentim Vlationicnom :11. Aucitioni(m) materem Potiti :12. Vlatucia mat rBanonias Some of the women in the list seem to be related to one another; Lejeune suggested that this does not necessarily mean that they are biological mothers and daughters, but that the tablet might instead reveal the structure of the sorceresses' organisation, where an older member would initiate a younger novice, and the two women would be considered "mother" and "daughter" for the purposes of their order. Orel (''Studia Celtica'' 31, 1997) pointed out that ''dona'' is always followed by a proper name in ''-ius'', while ''matir'' and ''duχtir'' are followed by forms in ''-ias'', i.e. genitive singular), suggesting that the ''-ius'' may represent the instrumental plural case (< ''-ōis''), indicating clans or families rather than individuals. Based on this hypothesis, Orel makes out five such (magical) "clans" from the list,Francesca Ciurli
La Defixio De L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac: Dati Oggettivi e Proposte di Interpretazione
(2008)] :A: Rufena Casta (9); daughter Banona (1) and mother Flatucia (12) :B: daughter Aia (3) and mother Adiega (6) :C: Severa (5); daughter Paulla (2), mother Potita (4) and mother's mother Abesa :D: daughter Severa (5), mother Valenta :E: Potita (7); Prima

Notes

References

*Michel Lejeune, Léon Fleuriot, Pierre-Yves Lambert, Robert Marichal, Alain Vernhet, ''Le plomb magique du Larzac et les sorcières gauloises'', C.N.R.S., Paris, 1985, . reprint in ''Études celtiques'', XXII, pp. 88–17

*Xavier Delamarre, ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise'', Paris, Errance, 2003. *Pierre-Yves Lambert, ''La langue gauloise'', Paris, Errance, 2003. *F. Melmoth, « Épigraphie gauloise », in: « Parlez-vous Gaulois ? », ''L'Archéologue'', n° 59, 2002, pp. 22–25. *Bernard Mees, ''The Women of Larzac'', Keltische Forschungen 3, 2008, 169-188
academia.edu
. {{refend

External links

*Michaël Martin
''Les Plombs Magiques de la Gaule Meridionale'' (etudesmagiques.info)
(2012), pp. 8–10. *D. Stifter
''Old Celtic Languages'' (univie.ac.at))
(2008), p. 147f.

2nd-century inscriptions 1983 archaeological discoveries Celtic archaeological artifacts Gaulish inscriptions Curse tablets Gallo-Roman religion Archaeological discoveries in France Aveyron Lead objects

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