Download or read book Materiality of Greek and Roman Curse Tablets written by Raquel Martin Hernandez and published by Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. This book was released on 2022-09-26 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of ancient curse tablets (defixiones or defixionum tabellae) throughout the twentieth century was based almost exclusively on the texts they contained, leaving aside, as less interesting, the analysis of the materiality of the magical artifacts on which the texts were written. The curse tablets, which were inscribed and subsequently deposited during rituals for aggressive purposes, present important material characteristics and states of preservation that deserve to be part of the analysis to which they are normally subjected. This volume contains essays on important aspects related to the materiality of lead tablets: conservation and restoration, multispectral photography, computational image processing, and paleographic analysis. The material approach to the study of the tablets in recent years is put in context in an epilogue.