DEFIXIO. - From de-figere "to fasten down" (in Greek κατάδεσμος from καταδεῖν "to bind down") it is the magical action that intends to procure harm to another by means of an execratory formula directed at infernal and maleficent powers. This formula is written on a small lead lamella rolled up and held fast with a nail or other binding and introduced into a hole in the ground, into a tomb, into a thermal spring, places believed to be in communication with the underworld.

There are Latin, Greek, Oscan, and Etruscan ones, more than 500 in number, and they are written sometimes in a language unknown to the writer because, being mysterious, they are considered more effective; sometimes they contain a jumble of letters or phrases that make no sense and are adopted for the same reason. Of the person whom one wishes to harm, the name, the surname, and the maternal descent (mater semper certa) are specified, along with the evil to which one wishes to condemn that person (H. Dessau, Inscr. lat. sel., 8748). Sometimes by means of the tablet one wishes to obtain a love not hitherto returned (ibid., 8756) or to prevent another's love from being returned (ibid., 8757). There are also defixiones against the racehorses of the opposing faction, individually named, so that they may not move forward, may not feel the bit, may turn badly, fall, and lose the race (ibid., 8754).

The defixio lamellae, all of popular origin, are of interest also linguistically for the peculiarities they present both of language and of orthography.

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: The texts of the Greek and Latin defixiones are collected in R. Wunsch in the appendix to the Corp. inscr. Attic., Berlin 1897; F. W. K. Dittenberger, Syll. inscr. Graec., Leipzig 1820, p. 333; A. Audollent, Defixionum tabellae, Paris 1904; H. Dessau, Inscr. Lat. selectae, Berlin 1906, pp. 996-1000, nos. 8746-57; R. Wunsch, Antike Fluchtafeln (Kleine Texte, 20), Bonn 1912. Studies: E. Caetani Lovatelli, Le lamine magiche di esecrazione, in Nuova Antologia, Sept. 1903, pp. 188-96; M. Jeanneret, La langue des tablettes d'exécration latine, in Revue de philologie, new series, 41 (1917), pp. 5, 153; 46 (1922), pp. 4-25; Kunehrt, Defixio, in Pauly-Wissowa, VIII, cols. 2373-77.

Nicola Turchi

@incollection{ec4_defissione, author = {Turchi, Nicola}, title = {Defissione}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1307}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/defissione} }

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