'Women and the magic of silence in the Roman Gaul'

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Silencing women was the rule in Roman times as voice was the marker of male superiority. But in the Roman Empire, the framework of speech underwent change. Gossip could result in false allegations and lead to trial. Female muteness may have served women well as a skill. Before the trial or to avoid it, litigants asked the specialist of silence to cut out dangerous tongues. Who were these experts? A Gaulish source, the so-called Plomb du Larzac, a lead curse tablet dated to 100 AD, talks about a fight of witches in a judicial context. The interpretation of the text is difficult since it is written in Gaulish. Comparing it with Ovid's Metamorphoses may promote the idea of a female expertise in the magic of silence.

SCHEID J., « Myth, Cult and Reality in Ovid's Fasti », in PCPhS, vol. 38 (1992), p. 118-131.

P.Y. Lambert, La langue gauloise, éd. Errance, 2003, p. 162-175.