Multilingual Magical Texts in Early Byzantine Epigraphy

Early Byzantine epigraphy (4th – 8th centuries CE) has yielded thousands of inscriptions, conventionally termed “magic,” that enrich our knowledge of the complexities of religious life, ritual practice and mentality. This paper examines a smaller subset that also attest multilingualism and language choice. Textual amulets on metal sheets, for example, occasionally mix Greek and Aramaic, and curse tablets on lead may combine Greek and Latin. Central questions are whether, and to what extent, the generic constraints (and liberations) of “magic” cause its epigraphy to diverge from regional norms in the eastern Mediterranean, and which aspects of their epigraphic message can be seen to respond to the different languages used.