The Magic Tablet from Pergamon:
A Window into Ancient Ritual Power
The magic tablet from Pergamon is an extraordinary artifact that offers profound insight into the world of ancient Greco-Roman magical practices. Pergamon, an ancient city in what is now modern-day Turkey, was renowned as a cultural and religious center, and it played a significant role in the development of magical and religious traditions in the ancient world. The magic tablet, discovered near Pergamon, reflects the syncretic nature of ancient Mediterranean religions, blending Greek, Roman, and Egyptian elements, and sheds light on the rituals, beliefs, and supernatural forces revered by its creators.
This essay explores the significance of the magic tablet within its historical and cultural context, examining its inscriptions, purpose, and the broader role of magical tablets in antiquity. In addition, it analyzes how this artifact reflects the cosmological and spiritual beliefs of its time, providing insights into the interaction between magic, religion, and everyday life in the ancient world.
The Context of Pergamon: A Crossroads of Magic and Religion
Pergamon was a major Hellenistic city and an important cultural hub during the Roman Empire. Famous for its library, second only to the Library of Alexandria, Pergamon was a center of learning, philosophy, and religion. It was also home to the Asclepion, one of the most famous healing sanctuaries in the ancient world, dedicated to the god Asclepius. Healing, religion, and magic were closely intertwined in Pergamon, with many pilgrims visiting the city in search of cures for their ailments, often engaging in magical or religious rituals to gain divine favor.
The magic tablet from Pergamon must be understood within this rich religious landscape. Magic in antiquity was often viewed as a practical extension of religion—a way to directly interact with divine forces and manipulate supernatural powers to achieve desired outcomes. The tablet is one of many such objects found in the Mediterranean, part of a broader corpus of inscribed materials that were believed to hold power through the words and symbols they bore. These magical objects were often used to invoke gods, spirits, or other supernatural entities for protection, healing, love, vengeance, or personal gain.
Description of the Magic Tablet
The Pergamon magic tablet, dated to the Roman Imperial period, is a thin, inscribed sheet of lead. Lead was commonly used for magical tablets (defixiones) because of its malleability and its perceived connection to the underworld and chthonic deities. The inscriptions on these tablets were often intended to be hidden or buried, reinforcing their connection to the underworld and the dead.
The inscriptions on the Pergamon tablet consist of a mixture of Greek text and magical symbols, with invocations to divine or supernatural forces. In many cases, these inscriptions are voces magicae—nonsensical or foreign-sounding words believed to carry inherent magical power. These words were thought to have an efficacy beyond their meaning, functioning as a form of linguistic magic that could compel spiritual forces to act in accordance with the wishes of the tablet’s creator.
The tablet also contains the names of various deities and spirits, some of whom belong to the Greco-Roman pantheon, while others are of Egyptian or Near Eastern origin, reflecting the syncretism typical of magic in the Roman Empire. Deities such as Hecate, Hermes, and Anubis were frequently invoked in magical texts, as they were associated with liminality, transitions, and access to the spirit world.
The Purpose and Function of the Tablet
Magical tablets like the one from Pergamon were used for a variety of purposes, depending on the desires of the person commissioning them. In many cases, these tablets were created as defixiones or curse tablets, designed to bind or curse a person or entity. The inscriptions would typically include the name of the target, a description of the desired outcome, and an invocation of supernatural powers to enforce the curse. For example, a common use of these tablets was in love magic, where the practitioner might ask for the undying love or attention of another person, or in legal disputes, where curses were placed on opponents to ensure victory.
Another common function of such tablets was protection. In this context, the inscriptions would call upon divine or spiritual entities to guard the person who owned or carried the tablet. Protective magic was often sought in situations of illness, danger, or travel, and the protective forces invoked were expected to shield the individual from harm, sickness, or misfortune.
The tablet from Pergamon, like many others, was likely buried in a specific location, such as a grave, sanctuary, or crossroads, where it was believed to have greater potency. This act of concealment was a crucial part of the ritual, as the connection to the earth and the underworld strengthened the magic’s effectiveness.
Magical Tablets and the Broader Magical Tradition
The Pergamon tablet fits within the larger tradition of magical tablets and inscriptions in antiquity. Known as defixiones or curse tablets, these objects were widespread across the Greco-Roman world, with many thousands of examples discovered in locations such as Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Britain. While often associated with cursing or binding magic, these tablets were also used for protection, healing, and invoking divine favor.
Lead tablets were a key element of ancient magical practice due to the belief that lead’s heaviness and coldness connected it to the underworld. Practitioners would often write their desires on the tablet in the form of a curse or spell, invoking deities or demons who would carry out the act. The language of these inscriptions was often formulaic, borrowing from traditional phrases found in religious texts or other magical papyri, and the use of voces magicae was common, as it was believed that these “power words” could compel the divine to act.
The influence of Egyptian, Greek, and Near Eastern religious practices is evident in these magical traditions. The Egyptian god Thoth, for example, often appears in magical texts as the divine scribe, capable of inscribing powerful words that can affect the material world. Similarly, the Greek deities Hermes and Hecate, associated with liminal spaces and the passage between worlds, are frequently invoked in magical practices.
The Cosmology of Magic: Interaction with Divine and Demonic Powers
The magic tablet from Pergamon reflects a worldview in which divine and supernatural forces were deeply integrated into daily life. Magic in antiquity was not seen as distinct from religion, but rather as a means of interacting with the same gods, spirits, and forces that religious rituals sought to engage. The magician, through the use of tablets, inscriptions, and rituals, could command or petition these forces to act on their behalf.
In this cosmology, the boundary between the human world and the divine was permeable, and objects like the Pergamon tablet served as a point of contact between the practitioner and the supernatural. Whether through invoking the gods of Olympus or chthonic deities associated with the underworld, magic sought to manipulate these forces for practical ends. This reflects a broader magical worldview, in which the manipulation of words, symbols, and rituals could exert real influence over the world of spirits, gods, and the forces of fate.
The magic tablet from Pergamon is an important artifact that illuminates the complex intersection of magic, religion, and daily life in the ancient world. Through its inscriptions, we can glimpse the ways in which ancient practitioners sought to harness supernatural powers for personal gain, protection, or vengeance. The tablet’s mixture of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian elements reflects the rich cultural syncretism of the time, where religious and magical traditions from different regions blended into new forms of ritual practice.
Ultimately, the Pergamon tablet is a testament to the enduring human belief in the power of words and symbols to influence the unseen forces that govern the cosmos. Through such objects, we can explore the ancient conception of a universe filled with divine forces that could be invoked, petitioned, or commanded by those with the knowledge and skill to use magic.
Sources:
Gager, John G. Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World. Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Faraone, Christopher A. Ancient Greek Love Magic. Harvard University Press, 1999.
• Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World. Harvard University Press, 1997.
• Ogden, Daniel. Greek and Roman Necromancy. Princeton University Press, 2001.
• Versnel, Henk S. Faith, Hope and Worship: Aspects of Religious Mentality in the Ancient World. Brill, 1993.