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• Catullan Labyrinths in Vergilian Ecphrasis

  73–99.

  Péter Somfai

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  61

  This study aims to investigate the intertextual connections of the labyrinth passage of Catullus 64 and the ecphraseis of Book 6 and 8 of Vergil’s Aeneid. The ecphrastic nature of these passages provides an opportunity to analyze the relations of these texts by taking the phenomenon of intermediality into consideration. In addition, my objective is to examine the role of ecphraseis within the narratives of Catullus 64 and the Aeneid, and to analyze how the poetic and thematic dimensions of the depicted artworks extend to the framing texts, which can thus be interpreted as peculiar labyrinths, that of a textual kind. Bearing in mind that ecphraseis can provide an interpretative framework for their wider context, it may be of critical significance that the labyrinth gets evoked in those books of the Aeneid that focus on Roman history in close connection with Augustan ideology.

• Magic Symbols (Charaktêres) on North African Curse Tablets as a Regional Feature

  199–215.

  György Németh

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  292

  This study examines the practice of magic symbols in North Africa to find out whether there was a regional peculiarity in the use of charaktêres that distinguished this area from other parts of the Roman Empire. Two phenomena appear to be more common in North Africa, though they may also occur elsewhere: first, charaktêres as encrypted names, and second, charaktêres as framing devices. First and foremost, though, some introductory remarks concerning charaktêres in general are made.