Binding Power of Lead: Magical and Amuletic Uses of Lead in Late Antique and Byzantine Periods

Öz

This study poses a specific question for a particular usage of lead in the context of magic: Was lead used in the production of Middle Byzantine amulets called hystera due to the unique apotropaic and magical qualities of the material? In order to understand the background of lead in supernatural contexts, this paper begins with a brief examination of the usage of lead from the Classical period to Late Antiquity. Lead was used across a wide range of areas from construction to medicine, due to its accessibility and malleability. In addition to its natural properties, material evidence including lead curse tablets, effigies, and coffins demonstrate the use of lead in contexts of dark magic and the underworld. Correspondingly, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine written sources refer to the deadly and malevolent nature of lead as a metal. Based on this evidence, I propose that lead was perceived as a material with supernatural power that had the ability to manipulate and bind living beings and evil spirits, contributing to the widespread production of lead hystera amulets in the Middle Byzantine period.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Lead
• Magic
• Amulets
• Greek
• Roman
• Byzantine

Kurşunun Bağlama Gücü: Geç Antik Çağ ve Bizans Dönemlerinde Kurşunun Büyü ve Muskalarda Kullanımı

Öz

Bu çalışmada, kurşunun büyü bağlamında özel bir kullanımıyla ilgili sorulara yanıt aranmıştır. Orta Bizans döneminde üretilen, hystera adı verilen muskalarda kurşunun, özel kötü güçlerden koruyucu ve doğaüstü özellikleri nedeniyle tercih edilip edilmediği incelenmiştir. Kurşunun doğaüstü bağlamda ele alınabilmesi için Klasik Dönem ile Geç Antik Çağ’da kurşun kullanımından temel hatlarıyla bahsedilmiştir. Kurşun, erişim kolaylığı ve kolay işlenebilmesi nedeniyle inşaattan tıbba kadar çok geniş bir alanda kullanılmıştır. Doğası gereği sahip olduğu özelliklere ek olarak kurşun lanet tabletleri, büyü bebekleri ve lahitler gibi çeşitli buluntular, kurşunun kara büyü ve ölüler diyarı ile ilişkili kullanımını ortaya koymaktadır. Benzer şekilde, Yunan, Roma ve Bizans yazılı kaynaklarında da kurşunun tehlikeli ve zehirli doğasından bahsedilmektedir. Bu makalede, elde edilen buluntular ışığında, kurşunun Orta Bizans Dönemi’nde hystera muskalarının üretiminde, doğaüstü güçlere sahip bir materyal olarak düşünülmesi ve canlılar ile kötü ruhları bir çıkar doğrultusunda kullanma ve bağlama özelliklerinin olması nedeniyle yaygın olarak kullanıldığı ileri sürülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Kurşun
• Büyü
• Muska
• Yunan
• Roma
• Bizans

Kaynakça

1. Aretaues. The Extant Works of Aretaeus, the Cappadocian. Edited by Francis Adams. Boston: Milford House, 1972.
2. Audollent, Auguste Marie Henri. Defixionum tabellae. Paris: Fontemoing, 1904.
3. Betz, Hans Dieter. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, including the Demotic Spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
4. Plato. Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles. Translated by Robert G. Bury. The Loeb Classical Library 234. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1929.
5. Hippocrates. Diseases of Women 1–2. Edited and translated by Paul Potter. The Loeb Classical Library 538. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018.
6. Bedjan, Paul. The Life of Saint Simeon Stylites: A Translation of the Syriac Text in Bedjan’s Acta martyrum et Sanctorum. Translated by Frederick Lent. Christian Roman Empire Series 7. Merchantville: Evolution Publishing, 2008.
7. Nicander. The Poems and Poetical Fragments. Edited by A. S. F. Gow and A. F. Scholfield. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953.
8. Origen. Contra Celsum. Translated by Henry Chadwick. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.

9. Pliny. Natural History. Translated by H. Rackham and W. H. S. Jones. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1949.
10. Rosenqvist, Jan Olof. The Life of St. Irene, Abbess of Chrysobalanton: A Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation, Notes and Indices. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1986.
11. Van den Ven, Paul. La vie ancienne de S. Syméon Stylite le Jeune (521–592). Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1962.
12. Wünsch, Richard. Defixionum tabellae Atticae. Berlin: Georgium Reimerum, 1897.
13. Altmann, Walter. Die römischen Grabaltäre der Kaiserzeit. Berlin: Weidmann, 1905.
14. Ardaillon, Édouard. Les mines du Laurion dans l’antiquité. Paris: Thorin et fils, 1897.
15. Aubert, Jean-Jacques. “Threatened Wombs: Aspects of Ancient Uterine Magic.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 30, no. 3 (1989): 421–49.
16. Avi-Yonah, M. “Three Lead Coffins from Palestine.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies 50, no. 2 (1930): 300–12.
17. ———. “Lead Coffins from Palestine.” Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 4 (1935): 87–99.
18. Aviam, Mordechai and Dina Shalem. “A Decorated Fragment of a Tyrian Lead Coffin from a Cemetery at Akhziv.” Israel Exploration Journal 64, no. 2 (2014): 208–11.
19. Baldwin, Barry. “Michael Psellus on the Properties of Stones.” Byzantinoslavica 56 (1995): 397–405.
20. Barb, Alphons Augustinus. “Diva Matrix.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 16 (1953): 193–238.
21. ———. “Antaura. The Mermaid and the Devil’s Grandmother: A Lecture.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 29 (1966): 1–23.
22. Bel, Nicolas, Cécile Giroire, Florence Gombert-Meurice, and Marie-Hélène Rutschowscaya. L’Orient romain et byzantin au Louvre. Arles: Actes sud, 2012.
23. Besnier, M. “Le commerce du plomb à l’époque romaine d’après les lingots estampillés.” Revue Archéologique 12 (1920): 211–44.
24. Blake, Robert P. “The Circulation of Silver in the Moslem East Down to the Mongol Epoch.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 2, no. 3/4 (1937): 291–328.
25. Boulakia, Jean David C. “Lead in the Roman World.” American Journal of Archaeology 76, no. 2 (1972): 139–44.
26. Bouras, Laskarina, Alexandra Petrides and Popi Tsakirakis. The Griffin through the Ages. Athens: Midland Bank plc, 1983.
27. Brants, Johanna P. J. “A Lead Coffin from Palestine in Leiden.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies 52, no. 2 (1932): 262–63.
28. Brashear, William and Roy Kotansky. “A New Magical Formulary.” In Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, edited by Paul Mirecki and Marvin Meyer, 3–24. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 141. Brill: Leiden, 2002.
29. Chéhab, Maurice. “Sarcophages en plomb du Musée National Libanais.” Syria 15, no. 4 (1934): 337–50.
30. Clermont-Ganneau, C. S. “Royal Ptolemaic Greek Inscriptions and Magic Lead Figures from Tell Sandahannah.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 33, no. 1 (1901): 54–58.
31. Conybeare, Frederick Cornwallis. “The Testament of Solomon.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 11, no. 1 (1898): 1–45.
32. Cumont, Franz. After Life in Roman Paganism: Lectures Delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922.
33. ———. Recherches sur le symbolisme funéraire des Romains. Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1942.
34. Dafi, Evangelia. “A Byzantine Lead Amulet from Samos.” In Byzantine Small Finds in Archaeological Contexts, edited by Beate Böhlendorf-Arslan and Alessandra Ricci, 241–47. Byzas 15. Istanbul: Ege Yayınları, 2012.
35. Davidson, Gladys R. The Minor Objects. Corinth 12. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1942.
36. Davies, Oliver. Roman Mines in Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1935.
37. Deissmann, Adolf. Licht vom Osten: Das Neue Testament und die neuentdeckten Texte der hellenistisch-römischen Welt. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1923.
38. Dessenne, André. Le Sphinx: Étude iconographique I. Des origines à la fin du second millénaire. Paris: E. de Boccard, 1957.
39. Dugas, Charles. “Figurines d’envoûtement trouvées à Délos.” Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 39 (1915): 413–23.
40. Durand, Jannic and Bernard Flusin, editors. Byzance et les Reliques du Christ. Centre de Recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance Monographies 17. Paris: Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, 2004.
41. Eliopoulos, T. “Athens: News from the Kunosarges Site.” In Neue Forschungen zu griechischen Städten und Heiligtümern: Festschrift für Burkhardt Wesenberg zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Heide Frielinghaus and Jutta Stroszeck, 85–92. Beiträge zur Archäologie Griechenlands 1. Möhnesee: Bibliopolis, 2010.
42. Faraone, Christopher A. “The Agnostic Context of Early Greek Binding Spells.” In Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion, edited by Christopher A. Faraone and Dirk Obbink, 3–32. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
43. ———. “Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of “Voodoo Dolls” in Ancient Greece.” Classical Antiquity 10, no. 2 (1991): 165–205.
44. Fontenrose, Joseph E. Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959.
45. Forbes, R. J. Metallurgy in Antiquity: A Notebook for Archaeologists and Technologists. Leiden: Brill, 1950.
46. Gager, John G. Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
47. Garber, Marjorie B. and Nancy J. Vickers, editors. The Medusa Reader. London: Routledge, 2003.
48. Gill, M. V. “The Small Finds.” In Excavations at Saraçhane in Istanbul, Volume 1, edited by R. M. Harrison, 226–77. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
49. Gowland, William. The Early Metallurgy of Silver and Lead: Part I. Westminster: Nichols & Sons, 1901.
50. ———. “Silver in Roman and Earlier Times.” Archaeologia 69 (1918): 121–60.
51. Hofman, Karl B. Das Blei bei den Völkern des Altertums. Berlin: Carl Habel, 1885.
52. Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri. Stories from the Hidden Harbor: The Shipwrecks of Yenikapı. Istanbul: Istanbul Archeological Museums Press, 2013.
53. Jordan, D. R. “Two Inscribed Lead Tablets from a Well in the Athenian Kerameikos.” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Athen 95 (1980): 225–39.
54. ———. “Defixiones from a Well near the Southwest Corner of the Athenian Agora.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens 54, no. 3 (1985): 205–55.
55. ———. “New Archaeological Evidence for the Practice of Magic in Classical Athens.” In Praktika tou XII Diethnous Synedriou Klasikēs Archaiologias: Athēna, 4-10 Septembriou 1983, vol. 3, 273–77. Athens: Hypourgeio Politismou kai Epistēmōn, 1988.
56. King, Charles W. “The Roman Manes: The Dead as Gods.” In Rethinking Ghosts in World Religions, edited by Mu-chou Poo, 95–114. Leiden: Brill, 2009.
57. Kornbluth, Genevra. “‘Early Byzantine’ Crystals: An Assessment.” Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 52/53 (1994/95): 23–32.
58. Kagarow, Eugen G. Griechische Fluchtafeln. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1929.
59. Kotansky, Roy. “An Early Christian Gold Lamella for Headache.” In Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, edited by Paul Mirecki and Marvin Meyer, 37–46. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 41. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
60. Kotansky, Roy and J. Curbera. “Unpublished Lead Tablets in the Getty Museum.” Mediterraneo Antico: Economie, Società, Culture 7 (2004): 681–91.
61. Kyriakakis, James. “Byzantine Burial Customs: Care for the Deceased from Death to Prothesis.” Greek Orthodox Theological Review 19 (1974): 37–72.
62. Laurent, V. “Amulettes byzantines et formulaires magiques.” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 36, no. 2 (1936): 300–15. Leeming, David. Medusa: In the Mirror of Time. London: Reaktion Books, 2013.
63. McCann, Anna Marguerite. Roman Sarcophagi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978.
64. Mouterde, René. “Divinités et symboles sur des sarcophages de plomb.” Mélanges de l’Université Saint Joseph 21 (1937): 201–12.
65. Mango, Cyril. “Diabolus Byzantinus.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 46 (1992): 215–23.
66. Needlemen, Lionel and Diane Needleman. “Lead Poisoning and the Decline of the Roman Aristocracy.” Echos du monde classique: Classical Views 4, no. 1 (1985): 63–94.
67. Nriagu, Jerome O. Lead and Lead Poisoning in Antiquity. New York: Wiley, 1983.
68. ———. “Saturnine Gout among Roman Aristocrats: Did Lead Poisoning Contribute to the Fall of the Empire?” The New England Journal of Medicine 308 (1983): 660–63.
69. Ogden, Daniel. “Binding Spells: Curse Tablets and Voodoo Dolls in the Greek and Roman Worlds.” In Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome, edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clarke, 1–90. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
70. Ogle, M. B. “Laurel in Ancient Religion and Folk-Lore.” American Journal of Philology 31, no. 3 (1910): 287–311.
71. Oikonomides, Nicolas. “The Usual Lead Seal.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 37 (1983): 147–57.
72. ———. Byzantine Lead Seals. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, 1985.
73. Petit, L.“Typikon du monastere de la Kosmosotira près d’Aenos (1152).” Izvestiia Russkogo arkheologicheskogo instituta v Konstantinopole 13 (1908): 17–77.
74. Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, Lucia. L’oro dei Romani: Gioielli di età imperiale. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 1992.
75. Pitarakis, Brigitte. “‘Git, Git Nefret Edilen!’: Bizans’ta Büyü, Sağlığı Koruma ve Kötülüğü Kovma Sanatı.” İstanbul Araştırmaları Yıllığı 1 (2012): 15–30.
76. Pulsifer, William Henry. Notes for a History of Lead and an Inquiry into the Development of the Manufacture of White Lead and Lead Oxides. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1888.
77. Rahmani, L. Y. “A Christian Lead Coffin from Caesarea.” Israel Exploration Journal 38, no. 4 (1988): 246–48.
78. ———. “Five Lead Coffins from Israel.” Israel Exploration Journal 42, no. 1/2 (1992): 81–102.
79. ———. A Catalogue of Roman and Byzantine Lead Coffins from Israel. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 1999.
80. Schlörb-Vierneisel, Barbara. “Eridanos-Nekropole I: Gräber und Opferstellen.” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Athen 81 (1966): 4–111.
81. Sever Georgousakis, Deniz. “Profane and Private: Sacred and Profane Elements on Late Antique and Middle Byzantine Amulets.” Codex Aquilarensis 33 (2017): 13–26.
82. ———. “Byzantine Amulets in the Eastern Mediterranean and Constantinople.” In Materials for the Study of Late Antique and Medieval Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Istanbul: A Revised and Expanded Booklet, edited by Ida Toth and Andreas Rhoby, 127–31. Oxford: Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2020.
83. Spier, Jeffrey. “Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 56 (1993): 25–62.
84. ———. Late Antique and Early Christian Gems. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2007.
85. Toynbee, Jocelyn M. C. Death and Burial in the Roman World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1971.
86. Vernant, Jean-Pierre. “Death in the Eyes: Gorgo, Figure of the Other.” In Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays, edited by Froma I. Zeitlin, 111–38. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
87. Vikan, Gary. “Art, Medicine, and Magic in Early Byzantium,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 38 (1984): 65–86.
88. Vryonis, Speros. “The Question of the Byzantine Mines.” Speculum 37, no. 1 (1962):1–17.
89. Waldron, H. A. “Lead Poisoning in the Ancient World.” Medical History 17, no. 4 (1973): 391–99.
90. Waldron, Tony and Calvin Wells. “Exposure to Lead in Ancient Populations.” Transactions and Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia 1, no. 2 (1979): 102–15.
91. Walker, Susan. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. New York: Routledge, 2000.
92. White, Donald. “Of Coffins, Curses and Other Plumbeous Matters: The Museum’s Lead Burial Casket from Tyre.” Expedition 39, no. 3 (1997): 3–14.
93. ———. “The Eschatological Connection between Lead and Ropes as Reflected in a Roman Imperial Period Coffin in Philadelphia.” Israel Exploration Journal 49, no. 1/2 (1999): 66–91.
94. Wilk, Stephen R. Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
95. Wilson, J. B. “Lead and Tin in Ancient Times.” Princeton Theological Review 15 (1917): 443–50.
96. Wright, Theodore F. “Exploration and Discovery.” The Biblical World 20, no. 3 (1902): 215–19.
97. Wünsch, Richard. Antike Fluchtafeln. Bonn: A. Marcus und E. Weber, 1907.
98. Zalesskaia, N. “Amulettes Byzantines magiques et leurs liens avec la littérature apocryphe.” In Actes du XIVe Congrès international des études byzantines, Bucarest, 6–12 septembre, 1971, edited by Mihail Berza and E. Stinescu, 243–47. Bucharest: Editions de l’académie de la République socialiste de Roumanie, 1972.