Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

194 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
he will pour oil from his oil flask upon them and go down on his knees and
perform obeisance in order to be released from their power. And if a mouse
gnaws a hole in a sack of barley, he goes to an expert in order to find out what
to do. And if the expert tells him to go to a cobbler and have it stitched up, he
won’t pay any attention. Instead he’ll go away and perform a sacrifice. (Characters
16.3–6)
There are numerous references to magic in Greek literature. The
earliest is in Book 10 of Homer’s The Odyssey, where we encounter
the witch Kirke, who uses a variety of magical devices, including
salves, potions, and a magic wand, and who is capable of transforming
Odysseus’s companions into swine. Odysseus defends
himself against her by means of a magical herb called moly, which
the god Hermes provided for him. When Kirke has been subdued,
she proceeds to instruct Odysseus in the art of summoning up the
spirits of the dead, a magical practice commonly described in later
Greek literature.
From the late fifth century b.c.e. onward, individuals who wished
to evoke the dark powers beneath the earth commonly used the dead
as their go-betweens. Favored messengers were those who died
young and those who died violently, particularly suicides and murder
victims. A popular custom was to inscribe a lead tablet with the
names of the persons to be cursed and then to place the tablet in the
grave alongside the gifts that were intended for use by the deceased
in the world to come. In some cases, as many as fifteen names are
mentioned on a single tablet. Many tablets allude to the parts of a
person’s body that are to be cursed—the tongue, the eyes, the soul,
the mind, the mouth, the arms, the legs, and so forth. Various underworld
powers are invoked, including Persephone and Hermes. To
reach the other world, the lead tablet had to be “canceled” for use
by the living. For this reason, tablets are often found with a nail
driven through them. A variant on this device was a kind of antique
voodoo doll—a miniature figure made of lead whose arms were
bound behind its back. The doll was sometimes transfixed through
the breast with a needle. One of the most common reasons for cursing
in litigious Athens was a lawsuit, as we know from the discovery
of tablets that curse individuals who have allegedly given false
testimony. Magic also played an important part in religious rituals,
notably in regard to birth. Midwives, who, in the absence of male
physicians, presided unaided in the birthing room, also possessed a
variety of skills of a magical, religious, and quasi-medical nature.
As a protection against curses, bad luck, and the evil eye, amulets
were often worn around the body, particularly by young chil