Chapter 17 May the Thief Become as Liquid as Water: Persuasion and Power in a Curse Tablet from Roman Bath
In: Inscriptions and the Epigraphic HabitSearch for other papers by Sarah Brucia Breitenfeld in
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Abstract
Although the epigraphic habit has principally been used to examine public, monumental and stone-cut inscriptions, the curse tablets of Roman Aquae Sulis speak to the impact of individual voices on our surviving inscriptional evidence. In this chapter, I examine the epigraphic choices of the petitioner who composed tablet RIB 154 and recorded the desire that the victim “become as liquid as water” (sic liquat comodo aqua). I aim to show how the petitioner may have intended this persuasive analogy to operate. First, I address the significance of water in Aquae Sulis. Second, I perform a close reading of RIB 154’s text. Third, I track the creation and deposition of this pewter tablet into the sacred spring. Finally, I reflect on how RIB 154’s site, text and object function together to clarify the meaning of the phrase sic liquat comodo aqua. I argue that by inscribing these words and throwing the tablet into the spring of Sulis Minerva, the petitioner of RIB 154 articulated a desire to melt, drown or bleed the curse’s victims.