This book stems from the author’s 2017 doctoral dissertation and presents a clear, well-structured analysis of 607 curse tablets from 126 locations in the western Roman Empire, dating from the first to the fifth centuries ce. The book proposes a ‘paradigm shift’ in the study of defixiones by applying the Lived Ancient Religion (LAR) approach. Its aim is to reframe curse tablets not as data to be classified by motive or linguistic variation, but as the product of individual responses to personal crises, embedded in specific social and material contexts.
This is a laudable aim, and, in many respects, McK. achieves it. He convincingly demonstrates how curse writers were inspired by the world around them and shaped their rituals through the resources, relationships and spatial settings available to them. The introduction clearly lays out the theoretical frameworks – anthropology, material religion, ritual theory – that support this approach, making the book accessible to non-specialists and particularly suitable as an entry point into the field. The statement, however, that prior scholarship has focused excessively on classification and language change, while overlooking the experiential and social embeddedness of curses (p. 3), is not entirely accurate. Important studies published from the 1990s onwards – especially by E. Eidinow, C. Faraone, D. Frankfurter, R. Gordon, H. Versnel and others – have stressed many of the same points. The general thesis that curses are personal responses to social situations is thus not entirely new.
McK. also rejects the idea of a widespread pan-Mediterranean or even pan-imperial tradition of cursing practice, suggesting instead that rituals were locally adapted and largely heterogeneous. But this seems overstated. While there is indeed significant variety, recurring features – such as the use of lead tablets, retrograde writing, formulas invoking binding or fixation, or even shared depositional contexts – suggest a shared ritual grammar (D. Urbanová, Acta Ant. Hung. 57 [2017]). These patterns, far from contradicting the LAR approach, may point to the ways in which ritual templates were adapted by non-specialist practitioners, including people acting spontaneously.
Chapter 2 defines the corpus and outlines the geographical and chronological spread of the tablets, using D. Jordan’s inclusive definition of curse tablets as texts ‘seeking to influence people against their will’ (p. 12). The provincial divisions of the Principate are adopted for clarity, and McK. wisely treats Pannonia, Raetia and Noricum as a single analytical unit, given their sparse evidence. The map on pp. 14–15 offers a useful visual reference, and the chapter as a whole provides a solid introduction to essential concepts like magic, religion, lived religion and Romanisation. Particularly welcome is McK.’s insistence that cursing rituals were not separate from normative Roman religious life – a position well supported and convincingly articulated.
Chapter 3 applies the LAR framework to the ritual process, moving from the procurement of materials to the final act of deposition. McK. rightly insists that rituals involved not just text, but gestures, movements and physical manipulation. He supplements his analysis with personal experiments (e.g. writing on lead) to understand better the embodied experience. While this attention to the materiality of ritual is commendable, it is inaccurate to say (p. 23) that previous scholarship had neglected it entirely. Important work since the 2010s has already begun to shift the focus towards embodied practice (D. Frankfurter, ‘Magic and the Forces of Materiality’, in: D. Frankfurter [ed.], Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic [2019]). Still, McK. presents these ideas in a clear and digestible format that will be helpful for readers.
One especially valuable contribution appears on p. 37, where McK. challenges the long-held assumption (following W. Harris) that literacy in the Roman Empire was limited to about 10% of the population. Curse tablets, he argues, show that writing was a ritual technology accessible to a broad spectrum of society, not just elites. This inclusive view is reinforced by his discussion of cemeteries as ritual spaces: rather than interpreting curse deposition in graveyards as transgressive or impious, McK. sensibly points out (pp. 51–3) that people in the ancient world regularly deposited all kinds of objects there. This contextualisation is both careful and persuasive.
Chapter 4 turns to the motivations behind cursing. Rather than relying on the conventional typologies – erotic, juridical, competitive, commercial or prayers for justice – McK. shifts the focus to the broader social frameworks that made cursing an appropriate or meaningful reaction to conflict. He raises a critical question: why, for example, are theft curses especially common in Britain but far less so elsewhere, even where similar social tensions or crime rates might be assumed? While he acknowledges the limitations of the archaeological record, McK. argues that such uneven distributions are too patterned to be dismissed as random. He proposes a contextual model, grounded in anthropological theory, in place of rigid categorisation. This shift is welcome, though its conclusions are not entirely new: scholars such as Eidinow, Faraone and Versnel have highlighted the socially embedded nature of cursing practices – albeit without drawing on anthropological literature. McK.’s model ultimately echoes theirs in many respects, though with greater emphasis on gossip, rumour and the diffuse mechanisms of social tension and indirect confrontation.
At pp. 89–90 McK. draws on anthropological studies to suggest that curses arose from a social climate of endemic tension, where rumour and suspicion shaped interactions. In this view curses did not replace ‘hard words’ but extended them through magical means. This argument is well developed, and this reading of the curses as vehicles of public humiliation, even when not publicly displayed, is an especially strong point. The discussion of symbolic death – i.e. the ruin of someone’s reputation through divine punishment – is developed across pp. 93–7 and strengthened by compelling examples. Here, McK. links common curse targets (such as eyes and minds) to widely understood signs of divine vengeance. Although he sees these ailments as mechanisms for divine exposure, it is worth considering that blindness and insanity may also have been targeted because they incapacitated victims in socially disruptive ways, more so than, say, a broken limb.
Chapter 5 develops the themes of agency, power and interpersonal relationships. McK. argues that curses offered marginalised individuals (women, slaves, non-citizens) a means of spiritual agency and direct access to divine power. While this is an attractive idea, it is difficult to verify, since most tablets are anonymous or only preserve the victim’s identity. More problematic is McK.’s claim (p. 107) that such rituals circumvented elite religious structures. This overlooks the fact that many curses were deposited in temples or other elite-controlled spaces. If the goal was to bypass traditional mediation, why choose these settings? This contradiction remains unresolved.
One of McK.’s most interesting and convincing contributions lies in his analysis of naming strategies. He distinguishes between curses where the victim’s name was known, supposed or unknown, and examines the social implications of each. Naming, he argues, was not just a practical necessity but also a ritual assertion of power. Identifying someone – by name, maternity, legal status or profession – allowed the curser to gain symbolic control. This reinforced the curse’s efficacy while also undermining social hierarchies. Everyone, regardless of gender or status, could be cursed – and this levelling effect had real implications for power and vulnerability in Roman society.
The book concludes with a short epilogue and an appendix listing the curse texts. The bibliography and notes are rich, if occasionally conservative in their engagement with more recent work. Overall, the volume is a clearly written, methodologically transparent and thematically coherent contribution. It does not radically overturn existing paradigms but rather refines them with welcome clarity. Its strongest contributions lie in the integration of anthropological theory, the critique of rigid typologies and the insistence on contextualised ritual action. It will serve as a valuable introduction for non-specialists and a reliable reference work for scholars in search of a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of western Roman cursing practices.
