Richard Gordon - Mater Magna and Attis

8/14/2019 Richard Gordon - Mater Magna and Attis

1/19


2/19


3/19

Richard Gordon

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

TheCorpus Cultus Cybelae Attidisque (CCCA) notwithstanding, the literary tradi-tion from Herodotus to Eustathius, as presented by Hugo Hepding in 1903, hastraditionally served as the privileged source of information regarding the Romancult 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 theaccumulation of authorised readings of this literary tradition, by pointing out, forexample, how Christian interpretations of Metroac symbolism have been imposedonto a thoroughly non-Christian scenario of divine absence alternating with pre-sence, eventuating in the quite misleading assertion of an essential equivalencebetween Attis, Adonis, Dionysos and even Osiris.2 Her contribution on the Naas-sene and Neo-platonic interpretations of Metroac cult continued this explorationof the constant re-reading of these themes in antiquity, which, given the bias ofour surviving source-material, plays so unwarrantably large a part in the literaryrecord.3 Together with Robert Turcan, she was thus among the first to demonstratethe importance of appreciating the Erkenntnisinteressen of what used to bethought of as sources in this area.4 These demonstrations formed part of a widerstrategy of resistance to the traditional term (Graeco-Oriental) mystery religi-ons/cults ! names that long pre-dated both Franz Cumont and Richard Reitzen-stein ! and an insistence on the heuristic value of distinguishing, with Ugo Bian-chi, between Greek mystery-cults properly so-called, i.e. mainly those of Eleusisand Samothrace, mystic cults, namely the Hellenistic-Roman cults originating inthe eastern Mediterraean area that projected human suffering onto the divineworld, and the religious forms of world-rejection, such as Baccho-Orphism, Gno-sis and Hermeticism, grouped under the term mysteriosophic.5

1 Hepding 1903, 5-77; Hepding did however include 63 inscriptions (1903, 78-95), both inGreek (19 many from the Roman period) and in Latin (44).2 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 ofthe Karlsruhe Virtueller Katalog (KvK).

3 Sfameni Gasparro 1981 = 2009a, 249-90; cf. 1983 = 2009a, 291-327 on Ambrosiaster andPrudentius.

4 Cf. Turcan 1975; 1996; 1997.5 Sfameni Gasparro 2006a and b, summarising earlier positions. Though not entirely satisfacto-

ry, these basic distinctions continue to have heuristic value. For some comments on problemsinherent in such typologies, see Gordon (forthcoming); other approaches to the oriental cultsare being worked out elsewhere: Bonnet, Rpke and Scarpi 2006; Bonnet, Ribichini andSteuernagel 2008; Bonnet, Pirenne-Delforge and Praet 2009.


4/19

R. Gordon4

Recently however an unexpected type of evidence for Metroac cult has cometo light in the form of lead-tablets invoking Mater Magna and/or Attis to punishthose who are alleged to have wronged the principal. The first to be discoveredand published, from Salacia/Alccer do Sal near Setbal in Portugal, is a classicthief-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 cor-rect reading, see below) was quite unexpected;7 furthermore the invocation of thisdeity evidently suggested to the principal quite specific ideas about the manage-ment of the curse, which he unselfconsciously aligned with the ordinary processof undertaking a vow.8 The second group of texts, which is also the most nume-rous, and can be securely dated between the reign of Vespasian and c.120 CE, wasfound in 1999; most come from a raised sacrificial pit situated to the rear of thetemple 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 andscraps of many more were found), six are relevant in the present context becausethey specifically invoke Mater Magna and/or Attis; each registers more or lesssignificant novelties.10 All are adaptations of the model of the judicial prayer tothe malign curse (the classicdefixio); several relish the thought that the target maymeet his death through public execution, jeered at and reviled by the crowd. Thelast text, from Gro-Gerau in Hesse, written in good Latin by someone familiarwith Greek culture, is clearly dependent on the Mainz group, but represents a stillfurther adaptation of the scheme, apparently to take revenge upon a woman whohas failed to marry the principal.

Perhaps the major interest of these texts for the study of Metroac cult is thefact that they are not in the ordinary sense votives and are therefore not confinedby the generic limitations that generally render votive inscriptions so uninformati-ve. In seeking to activate the deities power (numen, cf. B5.2; C.10) in pursuit ofprivate claims of justice, they deliberately deploy knowledge of cultic practice ! however we are to imagine that knowledge to have been acquired ! in assertingtheir right to demand the deities intervention. The possession of cultic knowledgeis thus perceived as instrumental in gaining the principals ends, either in the form

6 See most recently Versnel 2010, 278-82; on thief-finding texts, Faraone, Garnand & Lpez

Ruiz 2005; Faraone & Rife 2007; Tomlin 2010.7 The original publications (Faria 2000, 109, dEncarnao 2001 = AE 2001, no. 1135, anddEncarnao and Faria 2002, 262) thought the addressee was Megaira, the daughter of Creonof Thebes. Significant improvements to the understanding of the text were made by Guerra2003 and Marco Simn 2004 (drawing on p.81).

8 See A.13:compotem faciasbelow; alsome votis condemnes in B4.17.Compos voti is theordinary expression for having been granted ones prayer by a divinity.

9 For the excavation, see Witteyer 2004; 2005 and DTM (forthcoming). It is conceivable thatsimilar 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 ad-dressed to Isis is known, namely from Baelo Claudia in Baetica ( AE 1988, no. 727).

10 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 .


5/19

Mater Magna and Attis in Latin Curses 5

of adjuration (in the use of the preposition per), in the construction of performati-ves, 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 thenature of the material base and the difficulty of reading Old Roman Cursive, manyreadings are doubtful, interpretation still more so. Space does not allow a fullerconsideration of the numerous textual problems; for the most part, I have simplypresented the editors views.

1.1. Salacia/Setbal (Portugal)

During renovations to the ruined convent of Our Lady of Aracoeli in 1995, a leadtablet was found at the bottom of a small cistern (1.5 x 1.50 x 0.75m), togetherwith a corroded coin, within the remains of a Roman-period shrine.13 At the en-trance to thecella was an area for depositing votives; here were found, apart froma 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 toMater Magna. According to the latest editor, the text reads:

domine Megare | invicte, tu qui Attidis | corpus accepisti, accipias cor|pus eius qui meas sar-cinas |5supstulit, qui me compilavit | de domo Hispani illius. corpus | tibi et anima(m) do do-no 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 pri-mu(m) compote(m) facias.14

Translation:Unconquered Lord Megarus, you who received the body of Attis, may you receive the bodyof him who who robbed me from the house of that Spaniard. I give and donate his body andsoul to you, that I may find my property. I then promise you a four-footed sacrifice, Lord At-tis, if I find that thief. Lord Attis, I ask you through your Nocturnus, to place me in the positi-on 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 accessi-ble to external influences and famous for its woollen cloth; votive texts recordingcriobolia were already known from Ossonoba (Faro de Alentejo) and the conven-tus capital Pax Iulia (Bejo).15 The most pressing problem is the identity of the first

11 On the importance of keeping the pragmatics of these texts in mind, see Kropp 2004.12 The texts are referred to in the subsequent discussion as A (Salacia); B1-6 (Mainz) and C

(Gro-Gerau).13 Faria 2000, 103-105; Marco Simn 2004, 79-80.14 Text and translation (slightly revised) from Tomlin 2010, 260-64 with drawing on p.261; see

also the remarks of Versnel 2010, 297-299.15 Pliny, N.H. 4.166 records that Salacia had the (informal?) titleurbs imperatoria. Criobolia:

IRCPacen, no. 1 (Ossobono); AE1956, no. 255 = IRCPacen, no. 255 (Pax Iulia).CIL II 179= ILS 4099 (Olisipo) records a Flavia Tyche who acted as acernophora in the cult there as


6/19

R. Gordon6

addressee. M. Meyer suggested that Megare, which is clear on the tablet, must bean error for Megale = Mater Magna; but then the nominativesdomine and invicte must be taken as mistakes.16 Marco Simn and Versnel have therefore identifiedthe great, invincible deity as Hades/Pluto.17 I am however attracted by Tomlinsnotion that the title is routed through themegaron of the cult, referred to in B3below, which likewise receives the (body of) the target.18 Lord Megaron wouldthen either be Hades/Pluto or thenumenof the subterranean chamber where Attislies. In my view, the termmagali, which occurs twice in B4.10 and 12 below, aterm that occurs nowhere else, must be the temple-assistants whose job it was totake care of, and presumably on occasion disinter and open, the buriedcistae pe-netrales (see B1.5-6 below) that represented thismegaron.19 That is why they arenamed together with thegalli and bellonarii, of which they are simply a smallsub-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 imperialliberta,Claudia Icmas, and an impe-rial slave, Vitulus, can be firmly dated to the period 71-80 CE.21 All but three ofthe recovered lead tablets came from the ash-altar behind the temple; the ritualinvolved sacrificing an animal or other offering and melting the inscribed leadtablet in the flames so that its message passed into the other world. The meltinglead was thus a metonymy for the passing of the message. Those that survive forus to read are thus those that failed to be properly transmitted. Other tablets, andnumerous poppets made of clay, mud and organic substances, which have mostlynot survived sufficiently well to be recovered, were deposited elsewhere in thetemple area. The entire complex was levelled and covered with tiles early in thereign 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 alibertaCaesaris.

16 See AE2001, no. 1135 (p.361)

17 Marco Simn 2004, 86; Versnel 2010, 298 (translating Lord, great and invincible).18 Tomlin 2010, 262.19 I imagine thatmagalus is a non-standard, even popular term, for a position that might have

been more properly *megarensis, corrupted under the influence of the wordsgallus and bel-lonarius; but it could equally be a vulgar form of Matris gallus or even Ma-gallus.

20 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 andblood-letting.

21 See AE 2004, no. 1015. From 1014, it seems likely that they were in some capacity attachedto the office of the imperial procurator responsible for the tax-receipts of the area. The onlyknown joint priest of Isis and Mater Magna is a roughly contemporary case at Ostia (CIL XIV429 = RICIS 501/0116).

22 Previously published in Blnsdorf 2004a = AE 2004, no. 1026; Blnsdorf 2005b, 16, no. 6.


7/19


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.!15 Hoc 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 thecistae in your sanctuary, give him a bad mind, abad death, as long as he lives, so that he may see himself dying all over his body - except hiseyes.Side B:And may he not be able to redeem himself by (paying) money or anything else, either fromyou or from any other god except (by dying) a bad death. Grant this, I ask you by your maje-

sty.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! hoc ego auerse scribo, sic illi" Reverse (Side B):omnia, quidquid agit, quidquid! aginat, omnia illi auersa fiant.! ut sal et aqua illi eueni-at.!10quidquid mi abstulit de bonis! Flori coniugis mei, rogo te,! domina Mater Mana, uttu ! de eo me uindices.

Translation:

I entreat you, Mistress Mater Magna, to avenge me regarding the goods of Florus, my hus-band, of which Ulattius Severus has defrauded me. Just as I write this in a hostile way, somay 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, hehas 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!tr Magna, megaro tuore!cipias. et Attis domine, te!5 precor, ut hu(n)c (h)ostiam accep!tum (h)abiatis, et quit agetagi!nat, sal et aqua illi fiat. Ita tu! facias, Domna, it quid cor eoconora! c(?)edat " Reverse (Side B):10deuotum defictum! illum menbra,! medullas, AA (?).! nullum aliud sit,! Attis, Mater Magn.Translation:Tiberius Claudius Adiutor In the temple! I ask you, Mater Magna, to receive him in thetemple. 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

23 Previously published as Blnsdorf 2005a, 672-674, no.1 = AE 2005, no. 1122; idem 2005b,21, no.9; idem 2005c, no. 1.

24 Tr. Blnsdorf (adapted). Previously published as Blnsdorf 2005a, 683-86, no. 4 = AE 2005, no. 1125: Blnsdorf 2005b, 18, no.7; 2005c, no. 4.


8/19

R. Gordon8

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 animalsdeath as a source of advice about how graphically to envisage the targets death. Membra and medullae, as words for vaguely-understood inner parts, fit neatlywith ordinary assumptions about how divine (and malign magical) punishmentcould 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 su-mus [----------------------]! 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]!5 pecunia(m) dolum ma-lum adhibet, ut tu perse[quaris--- Quomodo]! galli se secant et praecidunt uir[i]lia sua, sicil[le--] R S Q! intercidat MELORE pec[tus ? or pec[uniam .....]BISIDIS [ne]que se admisis-se nec[...] ! hostiis si[n]atis nequis t[...] neque SUT . TIS neque auro neque! argento nequeille solui [re]fici redimi possit. Quomodo galli,!10bellonari, magal[i] sibi sanguin[em] fe-ruentem 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 pecu-nia dolum malum [exhibet --------]! exitum spectent, et a[d qu]em modum sal in [aqua li-ques-]!15cet, sic et illi membra m[ed]ullae extabescant. Cr[ucietur]! et dicat se admisissene[fa]s. D[e]mando tibi rel[igione,]! ut me uotis condamnes et ut laetus libens ea tibi refe-ram, ! si de eo exitum malum feceris.

Translation:Whoever has committed fraud with this money, [neither] is he the better (for it) nor we theworse (?) ..... Mother of the gods, you pursue (your enemies) across land and [sea], arid andhumid [places], [I implore and beseech you], by your dear departed (= Attis) to hunt down theperson who has taken the money by fraud ... [Just as] thegalli lacerate themselves and severtheir genitals, so may .... he cut his breast (?) or: the money And if he says he has notcommitted , may you not permit him to redeem himself with sacrificial offerings nor norbe he able to free or restore or redeem himself with gold or silver. Just as the adherents ofMater Magna and the priests of Bellona and themagali spill their hot blood, which is cold(when) it touches the ground, so his , his abilities, his thinking and wits ... Just as of thegalli, themagali and the priests of Bellona ... (Just as) he watches the person who commitsfraud concerning this money, so let (the people) watch his death and ... Just as salt will , (15) so may his limbs and marrow melt, may he be tortured and may he confessthat he has committed sacrilege. I solemnly entrust (this) to you, in order that you may fulfilmy wishes and I gladly and willingly fulfil my vow to you, if you make him die a horribledeath

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

25 Tr. J. Blnsdorf (adapted). Not yet fully deciphered; previously published in varying forms asBlnsdorf 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 dam-aged by fire - the lower part of the tablet is partly melted away. About one third of ll.1-5 and12-16 is lost.

26 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.


9/19


Mater Magna, te rogo,! p[e]r [t]ua sacra et numen tuum:! Gemella fiblas meas qualis! sus-tulit, sic et illam REQVIS!5 adsecet, ut nusquam sana si[t].! Quomodo galli se secarunt,! sicea [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 argentoredi!mere possis a Matre!15deum, nisi ut exitum! tuum populus spectet.! Verecundam et Pa-ter!nam: sic illam tibi com!mendo, Mater deum!20 Magna, rem illorum! in AECRVMO DEOUIS qua!le rogo co(n)summent[.],! quomodo et res meas vire!sque fraudarunt, nec se!25 pos-sint redimere! nec hosteis lanatis" Reverse (Side B):nec plum{i}bis! nec auro nec ar!gento redimere!30a 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 stolemy brooches ! so may (something) cut (?) her too5 ... so that no part of her be healthy. Just asthegalli have cut themselves, so (may) she want to do (?). And may she not cut herself so thatshe may lament herself (?). As they have deposited the holy things10 in the sanctuary, so alsoyour life and health, Gemella. Neither by offerings nor by gold nor by silver may you be ableto redeem yourself from the Mother of the15Gods, except that the people may watch yourdeath. Verecunda and Paterna: for thus I give her to you, Great Mother20of the Gods, theirproperty I ask they may be destroyed just as they have defrauded me of my property andresources; nor may they25be able to buy themselves free either by offering sheep // or by lead(tablets); neither by gold nor silver may they buy themselves free30 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 containers45 . 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 con-sum!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 frau-dem fecit, sic illi, sancta Mater Magn, et relegis! cu[n]cta. ita uti arbor siccabit se insancto, sic et illi siccet! fama fides fortuna faculitas. tibi commendo, Att{i}hi d(o)mine,! utme 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.!15sacrari horrbis.

Rough translation:In this tablet I turn Quintus upside-down, (so that) it may go ill with him and his plans and hiswell-being.28 Just as thegalli or the priests of Bellona have castrated or cut themselves, somay his good name, reputation, ability to conduct his affairs be cut away. Just as they are5notnumbered among mankind, so may he too not (be so numbered). Just as he cheated me, so

27 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.

28 Here I follow the suggestion of Faraone and Kropp 2010, 386 regarding the meaning ofQuin-tum in hac tabula depono aversum. As they point out, in A.7 the wordsQuinti nomen appearupside-down (omitted in the printed text here).


10/19

R. Gordon10

may you (deal with him), holy Great Mother, and take everything away from him. Just as thetree shall wither in the sanctuary, so may his reputation, good name, fortune, and ability toconduct 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 bad10

death . (The reading ofthe 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 rescue-work on a new housing-estate, a site on the edge of the Romanvicus, which was established at the same time as thecastellum, c. 70 CE. The latter was part of theforward defences of Mainz, pushing out into the Agri Decumates. The date sugge-sted by the editors on the basis of the letter-forms and a nearly-newas of Vespasi-an 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 archaeo-logical context, with many fragments of painted plaster, suggests that the prove-nience was a half-timbered dwelling-house. The AE text, slightly improved overthe reading of the original editors, runs:30

Obverse (Side A): Deum Maxsime Atthis Tyranne! totumque duodecatheum, comme!ndo deabus iniurium fas utme 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[naor-ni?] ! P[ri]scil(l)[a] ! pere[at]Reverse (Side B):Per Matrem Deum intra dies C(?) cito!10vindicate numen vestrum magnum! a Priscilla quaedetegit 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 aclaim 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 be-trayal 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 aworthless fellow(?), because Priscilla is as weak as she is unsteadfast (?).

Although the readings and (especially) the translation are at several points uncer-tain, if not indeed wrong, the details do not affect my concerns here, which relatespecifically to the appeal to Attis and the Mater Magna.31 The correct transpositi- 29 Scholz and Kropp 2004, 33.30 Scholz and Kropp 2004, 34-35 = AE 2004, no. 1006. Scholz 2004, 71 speculates that the

house may have been that of Priscilla herself.31 My translation differs in several details from those offered by the first editors and AE . Vers-

nel 2010, 301-303 offers several improvements over the first editors efforts. He rightly dis-misses the idea thatdeum maxsime (A.1) might be Jupiter rather than part of the address toAttis; and suggestsiniuriam in l.3 rather thaniniurium (which the editors take with fas tomean mein ungerechtes Schicksal, which to my mind too is quite unwarranted). I thinkiniurium could stand, but in the sense of a neuter noun, derived from the common expressioniniurium est . His suggestion of reading fac for fas in the same line, however, forgets that theaddressees are now plural; I take it in apposition toiniurium, in the sense of claim. Carantus


11/19


on of"#"$%& '$() intoduodeca theum (A.2), otherwise known in Classical La-tin 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 aspira-tion in Atthis and the appellationtyrannus, all suggest a relatively close depen-dence on the usages of that centre.33

Fig. 1: Parabiagolanx: detail of Mater Magna and Attis in their car, surrounded by armed Cory-bantes, evoking thegalli (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 anelective affinity of some sort between Magna Mater and the punishment of thosewho can be claimed to have wronged the principal? In general, in the case ofprayers for justice and analogous texts, it is the standing of the deity in the localpantheon, such as Sulis (Minerva) at Bath or Mercurius at Uley, that seems to be

(A.4) is a relatively common cognomen in northern Gaul and the Germanies, e.g.CIL XIII3301, 7248, 11655 etc.; cf.OPEL s.v. Versnel may be right to seesacra in A.6 and B.3 as the

sacred objects of the sanctuary, thought pater[na or Pater[ni rather urge against the idea. Itseems more likely to me thatsacra refers to the private family rites, so we should prefer pa-ter[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 asunde gentium.... The meaning pa-gan in late Latin is routed though the termgens/gentes used for the Jews and barbarians.

32 Knowledge of Greek: Scholz and Kropp 2004, 35-36. Versnel 2010, 303 rightly notes the useof a ritualdiabole, to arouse the gods particular wrath. Dodecatheon (hesitantly identified byW.H.S. Jones as the primrose, for reasons unclear to me): Pliny, N.H. 25, 28; 26, 107; theplant is otherwise unknown under this name and is not mentioned by e.g. Diosc., Mat. med .

33 Atthis: B1.1 and 6.8;tyrannus: B1.1-2. The aspirated form also occurs inCIL XIII 6664(Mainz). A second vigorous curse text from Gro-Gerau has also turned up recently: Blns-dorf 2007.


12/19

R. Gordon12

decisive.34 In relation to Mater Magna, one might invoke mythic precedent, forexample 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 havebeen interested in, or that seemed to them an effective communicative resource.We should rather invoke the very common representation of Mater Magna with alion or a pair of lions by her throne; and especially those versions in which her caris drawn by bounding lions (fig.1).36 A sub-type developed for lamps shows thegoddess alone seated on a leaping lion.37 Once an iconographic item is establis-hed, its evocation cannot be controlled. Moreover, at least in Mainz, there wasevidently a contrapuntal relationship between public processions, particularly du-ring the so-called March festival, where thegalli and other servants of the goddessslashed themselves and bespattered the by-standers with their blood, and the wri-ting 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 Ma-ter Magna pursuing the guilty across land and sea, wet and dry (B4.3-4) plausiblyderives from the image, so familiar that in Rome and Ostia it was used for tile-revetments, of the goddess sailing in her ship to Ostia, accompanied, naturally, bylions (fig.2).39 Here again it is not the official significance of the image weshould insist on, but the possible evocations of it by spectators of and participantsin the processions the goddess sailing over the sea suggested the thought, ex-pressed in a double catch-phrase, that her anger could reach everywhere.

Perhaps the most unexpected feature of these texts, however, is the high va-luation placed on Attis:deum maxsime (C.1), tyranne (B1.1-2, C.1),domine

34 Kropp 2008, 98-101. In normaldefixiones, however, underworld deities are pre-eminent apoint which, given the subterranean hot spring, may even apply to Sulis at Bath.

35 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 versionAgdistis is explicitly distinguished from Mater deum. In Ovids version, Cybele is angered bythe nymph Sagaritis:hinc poenas exigit ira deae: Met . 4.230 = Hepding 1903, 19. On thetheme of madness that destroys the impious, see Sfameni Gasparro 1985, 69.

36 Lucr., Rer. nat . 2.601; 621-23:sedibus in curru biiugos agitare leones..(galli) telaque prae- portant violenti signa furoris,/ ingratos animos atque impia pectora vulgi / conterrere metuquae possint numini divae. The Parabiagolanx is CCCA 3, p.107-109, no. 268 pl. CVII. Afine 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 theVilla Albani, where the goddess approaches Attis pine tree in her lion-drawn car:CCCA 3 p.101, no. 357 (=CIL VI 505 = 30781 = ILS4143) .

37 E.g.CCCA 7, p.2, no. 3 pl. III; p.9, no. 29; p37, no. 59; p.39, no. 134.38 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 thegalli are castrated and so notmen, grounds the claim that they are not human, which in turn provides a telling image forthe fate of the target.

39 A terracotta relief with the same theme now in a private collection in Basle probably camefrom the shrine near the Alamo:CCCA 3, p. 96, no. 340; other antefixes: ibid. pp. 99-100, nos350-354.


13/19


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

Fig. 2: Enthroned Mater Magna entering Ostiaby ship, accompanied by lions. Tile-antefixfrom thecampus Matris Magnaeat the PortaLaurentiana, Ostia. Photo: Rieger 2004, 249Abb. 211 (b).

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

Here, through the complex play of iconic references to other deities, Attis appearsas himself a sovereign lord: Nicht im Bild sondern auf einer Ebene auerhalb derFigur 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 hisphrygian cap, notably on a plate in the Hildesheim treasure ! that already from thelate first century CE Attis was being understood as a cosmic deity, with implicitly

40 Cf. Vermaseren 1966; 1981a; 1986.41 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 dedica-tednumini Attidis ...ex monitu deae(CIL XIV 28).

42 Fine observations by Rieger 2004, 139-41.


14/19

R. Gordon14

universal powers.43 The appellation Deum Maxsime Atthis Tyrannein C exactlyresumes 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 ofthe Empire.44

Fig. 4: Representation of the sacred pine-tree,with its decoration; the snake signals both timeand renewal (mid-IIp). From the Attideum ofthe 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 aspectsthat evoked the principals interest: the vanishing of his body and its preservationin themegaron (A.1-3), thecistae in the temple, which seem to be where the bo-dy, but also thevires lie (B1.5-6; B5.43-45) a recently-published inscriptionfrom 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 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 ofthe two dishes, which are equal in size, and differ only in the central tondo, implies the equa-lity of Mater Magna and Attis.

44 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 plsCCVIII-CCIX; 4 p.11, no. 21 (lamp from Herculaneum); 5, p.53, no.175 (Arepanum, Mace-donia); Vermaseren 1966, 23 with pl. XII.1 (Venice). For the coin evidence, see Turcan 1983.


15/19


ry;45 the ritual of thenocturnus or nocturnum, presumably the night-long bewai-ling 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 who-se fantastic decoration was central to the thematic imagery of presence and ab-sence in the cult (fig. 4).46 The reference to Attis Castor and Pollux (B1.4-5) mustlikewise refer to some (supposed) feature of the cult; I would suggest that it is aninterpretation of the twin figures that seem to have featured in processions as sup-porters or attendants of the goddess throne, for example on the ba se in theFitzwilliam 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 hererstwhile favourite in the phrasebenedictus tuus benedictus being the properexpression for a beloved person now dead (B4.4); here the mythic allusion is in-strumentalised as a pathetic device to sharpen the goddess anger.48

We may note finally the repeated use of quasi-jural formulae based on culticknowledge in the attempt to arouse and focus the deities attention.49 It seemshighly probable that the basic pattern was provided by the standard testamentaryoath-formula under the Principate, per Iovem et genium Caesaris or variationsupon that style.50 The adjuration obtains its illocutionary effect by setting up sa-cred or sacralised institutions as quasi-mediatory instances; they are not explicitlyguarantors, but nor are they mere decoration. In contexts such as the quasi-judicialprayers, their communicative function is even less clear we might call them as-severation-tokens. The most unspecific are those that invoke the deitys self-respect 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 com-mand in the plural, as though both deities were now to act together. As we haveseen, per benedictum tuum(B4) alludes indirectly to a mythical background, ho-wever 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, 237CE); the same man acts as a priest in ibid. 990 (Trier); see Boppert 2007 (with reservations).Note alsoviribus sacrumon an altar from Rome in the Louvre (CCCA 3, p.85, no. 313 withpl. CLXXIX). I assume that these humanvires were kept, either actually or notionally, in thecistae, where notionally Attis also lay. With the development of the tauro-/criobolum, theseanimalvires presumbly were added.

46 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 individualgalli: according toStatius,Theb. 10.172 (= Hepding 1903, 22) they beat their chests with (some of) the bran-ches.

47 CCCA 7, p.11-13, no.39 with pls XXVIII-IX. L. Budde and R. Nichols identify the figures asgalli. Once again, it is a question of not facts but of how such figures in the processions we-re perceived.

48 So rightly Blnsdorf 2010, 182.49 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 ....

50 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 etnumina divorum Augustorum geniumque imp. Caesaris Traiani Hadriani ....


16/19

R. Gordon16

tokens however allude not to myth but to cultic objects or events: per tuum Noc-turnum (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, areturned into grounds for the speakers appeal, a thought that elsewhere includeseverything, every sacred detail: per omnia te rogo .... per tuum Castorem, Pollu-cem, per cistas penetrales ....(B1.3-6).

These new texts have of course no special privilege, they do not provide anew key to the cult of the Mater Magna and Attis as practised in the north-westernand extreme western provinces in the high Principate. But they are of special in-terest in that they suggest the areas of cultic activity that seemed to lend themsel-ves to imaginative exploration for the principals proximate aims; cultic eventsand objects hardly known to our other sources of information that caught the ima-gination of participants and which they could exploit, not against the divinities

concerned but, as they were determined to ensure,with them.51

The justice theyseek 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 publicauthorities, with their tortures and executions. As such, these texts offer a mostunusual 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 ofthat experience was violence, especially the violence done to themselves by thegalli, bellonariiand magali. Although some texts do refer tomala mens, the vio-lence is scarcely psychologised, it remains at the level of the suffering body. Onemight almost say that it is this non-sacrificial good blood that is required to startup the motor of divine vengeance. But then again, what is such an appeal to thegods? Itself a discourse, where the speaker must make certain kinds of assumpti-ons about the nature of gods and the proper ways they can be served or be of ser-vice, and where he needs to claim certain kinds of justification, claims which thetext itself can never validate. The histories we write are necessarilyour histories.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AE = LAnne pigraphique.CCCA = M.J. Vermaseren (ed.),Corpus cultus Cybelae Attidisque. EPRO 50.1-7, Leyden 1977-

89.

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 Archologis-che Schriften, Mainz forthcoming.

EPRO= M.J. Vermaseren and successors (eds.), tudes Prliminaires aux Religions Orientalesdans 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.


17/19


OPEL = B. Lrincz et al.,Onomasticum Provinciarum Europae Latinarum, Budapest, later Vien-na, 1994-2002.

RGRW = Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, Leyden 1990-

RICIS = L. Bricault, Recueil des inscriptions concernant les cultes isiaques.Mmoires delAcadmie 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 ofCybele, Isis and Mithras, RGRW 165, Leyden.

Baslez, M.-F. 2004, Les Galles dAnatolie: images et ralit, Res antiquae1, 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 Mater-Magna-Heiligtum (Inv.-Nr. 201, B 36), in: Brodersen and Kropp 2004, 51-58.

Blnsdorf, J. 2004b, Zwischenmenschliche Dramen, 2: Fluchtfelchen aus Mainz, in: Reuter andScholz 2004, 72-74.

Blnsdorf, J. 2005a, Cyble et Attis dans les tablettes dedefixioindites de Mayence,Comptesrendus de lAcadmie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres2005, 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 Gro-Gerau, Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik 161, 61-65.

Blnsdorf, J. 2008, Diedefixionum tabellae des Mainzer Isis- und Mater-Magna-Heiligtums, in:

Hainzmann and Wedenig 2008, 47-70. Blnsdorf, J. 2010, Thedefixiones 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: NeuePerspektiven - nouvelles perspectives - prospettive nuove. Potsdamer AltertumswissenschaftlicheBeitrge 16, Stuttgart.

Bonnet, C., Ribichini, S., and Steuernagel, D. (eds.), 2008, Religioni in contatto nel Mediterraneoantico. Modalit di diffusione e processi di interferenza, Rome.

Bonnet, C., Pirenne-Delforge, V. and Praet, D. (eds.) 2009, Les religions orientales: cent ansaprs Cumont. Bilan historique et historiographique: Colloque de Rome, 16-18 novembre 2006 ,

Institut Historique Belge de Rome: tudes de Philologie, dArchologie et dHistoire An-ciennes 45, Brussels and Rome.

Boppert, W. 2007, Der gesellschaftliche Hintergrund der Magna-Mater-Kybele-Verehrer imMainzer Raum. berlegungen zu einem neuen Magna-Mater-Altar aus demvicus von Al-zey, in: E. Walde and B. Kainrath (eds.), Die Selbstdarstellung der rmischen Gesellschaftin den Provinzen im Spiegel der Steindenkmler. IX Internationales Kolloquium ber Pro-bleme des provinzialrmishen Kunstschaffens, Ikarus 2, Innsbruck, 225-238.

Brodersen, K. and Kropp, A. (eds.) 2004,Fluchtafeln: Neue Funde und neue Deutungen zum anti-ken Schadenzauber, Frankfurt a.M.

dEncarnao, J. 2001, Adefixio de Alccer do Sal, in: G. Angeli Bertinelli and A. Donati(eds.), Varia epigraphica: Atti del Colloquio Internazionale di Epigrafia, Bertinoro, 8-10giugno 2000, Epigrafia e antichit 17, Faenza, 245-246.

dEncarnao, J. and Faria, J.C.L. 2002, O santurio romano e adefixio 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.


18/19

R. Gordon18

Faraone, C.A., Garnand, B., and Lpez Ruiz, C. 2005, Micahs Mother ( Judg. 17:1-4) and a Cur-se from Carthage (KAI89): Canaanite Precedents for Greek and Latin Curses against Thie-ves?, 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 atRoman Cenchreae, Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik160, 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 fromthe International Conference held at the University of Zaragoza, 30 Sept. 1st Oct. 2005.RGRW 168, Leyden.

Guerra, A. 2003, Anotaes ao texto databella defixionis de Alccer do Sal, RevistaPortuguesa de Arqueologa 6, 335-9.Hainzmann, M. and Wedenig, R. (eds.) 2008, Instrumenta Inscripta Latina, 2: Akten des 2. Inter-

nationalen 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 unadefixio de Alccer do Sal (Set-

bal) 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 In- formationsgesellschaft . Schriften des Limesmuseum Aalen 57, Stuttgart.Scholz, M. 2004, Im Banne bser Absichten: Fluche, wenn irdische Gerechtigkeit versagt: Ver-

fluchungstfelchen 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 29nov. - 4 dic. 1982, Centro Studi Sanguis Christi, 3 (Rome) 1, 199-232 = Sfameni Gasparro2009a, 291-327.

Sfameni Gasparro, G. 1985,Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis, EPRO103, 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 tasso-

nomia 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 Epheme-ridis 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 mon-do antico, Hier: Collana di studi storico-religoso 5, Cosenza.


19/19


Sfameni Gasparro, G. 2009b,Problemi di religione greca ed ellenistica. Di, dmoni, uomini: traantiche 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, EPRO47, 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 XX e 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, LIMC2.1, 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 Mogontiacum-Mainz, in: Brodersen and Kropp 2004, 41-50.

Witteyer, M. 2005, Curse-tablets and Voodoo-Dolls from Mainz. The Archaeological Evidencefor Magical Practices in the Sanctuary of Isis and Magna Mater, MHNH 5, 105-124.

Richard Gordon - Mater Magna and Attis

Documents

Transcript of Richard Gordon - Mater Magna and Attis