In this contribution, we present a representative corpus of similia similibus formulae attested in ancient Greek and Latin curse tablets or defixiones. The simile formulae, attested in about 80 tablets in widely differing states of preservation and legibility, are introduced in the context of sympathetic magic and, in contradistinction to literary similes, as performative utterances that are based on a persuasive analogy. This analogy operates in the general form of “just as X possesses property P, so let also Y possess property P”, in which Y is the target or victim of the curse, while X and P are variables that change in accordance with the intended results. We provide a provisional taxonomy of simile formulae, offer new readings and interpretations of some defixiones, and compare Greek and Latin documents. Due to its length, the paper has been divided into two parts. In the first part, presented here, we focus on comparata that reference the materiality of the tablet itself and comparata referencing corpses or ghosts of the dead. The remaining comparata, namely animals, historiolae and rituals, aversus formulae and unusual orientations of the script, “names”, and drawings, will be presented in a follow-up paper, to be published in the next issue of Philologia Classica
The most common word accepted in Mithraic historiography to refer to places of worship is “Mithraeum”. The historical sources, however, offer us a multitude of terms that diverge from this expression which could be evoking different realities and could be referring to other kind of cultic spaces. In this paper, we have collected all the mentions supported in the epigraphy and literary sources, to have a complete vision of all these terms. With these testimonies, we have revised the previous interpretations related to the use of these different names. The variety of them has little to do with location or period. Still, we propose that this terminological variation is related to the consideration that ancient Mithra’s followers had with the moment when they erected the cultic space. It is possible to connect the choice of the word “spelaeum” or “templum” with the first idea they had of what must be an “original Mithraic cave” if we consider the meaning of the verbs used by the dedicators in their inscriptions. The validity of this interpretation will allow for a better understanding of the symbolic universe in which the followers of Mithra moved, instead of the common acceptance of the modern word “mithraeum”