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This essay addresses the use and construction of ancient Greek
poppets (ritual effigies, “voodoo dolls”); it is based primarily on
“Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil,” by Christopher Faraone,
which is cited in full at the end
of this essay. In ancient Greek such a ritual image was usually
called a Kolossos (kaw-lawss-SAUCE), a word of uncertain
origin, which can refer to an effigy of any kind. The Greek use of
these effigies dates from at least the fourth century BCE and is
similar to their use throughout the Mediterranean, although of
course there are regional differences. One distinguishing
characteristic of the Greek use of Kolossoi (kaw-lawss-SOY) is that
it is primarily defensive; it is generally aimed at containing a
hostile force, rather than destroying it.
The general purpose of Kolossoi is to bind some Subject, but the
binding can be applied to various kinds of beings for various
purposes. First, bindings may be applied to deities, which cannot be
destroyed, but may be restrained (although even this “restraint”
must be understood as a ritual action provided by the God as a
specific means by which Their energy is bound in a particular way).
Sometimes Kolossoi are used to restrain a dangerous deity, who may
cause harm or is believed to be favoring your enemies. Thus Ares, as
God of slaughter and death on battlefield, may be bound to bring
safety in battle, or to decrease the probability of war.
Protective deities also may be bound to restrain Them from
leaving. Thus the Athenians had their “wingless Victory” — wingless
to keep Her from leaving the city. This may also be the sense in
Pandora’s paradoxical trapping of Hope in the jar after she has
released all the evils in the world; we will see that Kolossoi are
often bound in jars or pots. Ares is sometimes bound in this way as
a protector, and, in the absence of an inscription, it may be
difficult to tell whether He is being bound as a hostile or a
friendly force. Perhaps He may be bound in both aspects at the same
time: constrained to stay here to protect us and prevented from
going to the enemy's side. We also have Kolossoi depicting
Hephaistos, for He is a God of both binding and unbinding (recall
the story of how He trapped Ares and Aphrodite in bed). (See
14.Diabolos in the Pythagorean Tarot
for more on Hephaistos as God of Binding and Unbinding.)
Second, Kolossoi can also be used to restrain ghosts and other
Hikesioi Apaktoi (hostile visitants). Again, they cannot be
killed (since they are already dead), but they can be bound. For
ghosts especially, the binding ceremony may follow funerary customs,
and so help to ensure that the ghost is properly laid and departs
for the Land of the Dead.
Third, Kolossoi are used to restrain mortal enemies. Such might
either be a Goês (Sorcerer), who has sent an Eidôlon
or Phasma (Phantom) against someone, or it might be a
mundane enemy (e.g. in a lawsuit). In cases where the antagonist is
unknown, a pair of Kolossoi, one male and one female, are used.
Where there are a number of enemies (e.g. a family or an army),
three Kolossoi are typically used, on the principal of pars pro
toto (a part for the whole). Finally, Kolossoi might be used to
bind the partners of an oath.
In passing, we may mention Erotic Kolossoi, which are generally
intended to bind someone in love, to constrain them to be faithful,
or to restrain a rival. They are large topic, and will not be
discussed further in this essay, although most of the same
principles apply to their construction and use (see
Winkler 1991).
One important defensive use of Kolossoi is the protection of
boundaries, for which purpose they may be buried in a wall or at a
fence-line or other boundary. Kolossoi are used for both public and
private defense. I have already indicated how they might be used to
protect a temple or other building; the public might also use them
to ward off an invading enemy. Private use would typically be to
protect an individuals and their families.
In some cases, where permanent protection is required, the
Kolossos is regularly rebound. An example of this is the yearly
binding of Ares for the protection of the city of Syedra; He is
unbound once a year during a period of general license analogous to
the Saturnalia. (This may be symbolized in the story in Book 5 of
the Iliad, where Ares is bound in a cauldron for thirteen
lunar months.) Other deities regularly bound for the protection of
the state include Artemis, Dionysos, Hera, and Athena.
In other cases the Kolossos is constructed and consecrated for a
particular crisis. It is bound and buried once (as described later)
but, especially if it was successful, may receive a regular (e.g.
monthly or yearly) sacrifice thereafter.
I will turn now to the construction of Kolossoi. They may be made
of metal (e.g. bronze, wood, silver or lead; the latter being the
most common metal), wood, clay, wax or similar malleable materials.
The image is not normally realistic, since it does not depend on
similarity of appearance to become connected with its Subject; that
is accomplished by other means (described below). Typically the
figure is nude, and often there is exaggeration of the genitals,
feet or other parts; this accords with the general principle of
using shocking or obscene images to ward off the evil eye and other
dangers (e.g., the sign of the fig and phallic amulets).
Generally some parts of the figure are twisted backward, to
indicate the incapacitation of the Subject. Often the head is
twisted backward, or at least extremely far to the left, to cause
confusion. It is also common for the feet to be backward, and
sometimes the arms or the entire torso. (So Hephaistos is sometimes
shown with His feet backward.) In some cases the Kolossos is made
with these parts backward, but usually they are made normally and
then twisted around.
The figure is often pierced with nails or needles (13 is a
popular number), typically made of iron or bronze, though animal
fangs and other materials may be used. Each nail or needle
transfixes some part of the body representing a faculty, which it
thereby paralyzes, but without destroying it. For example, nails
through the eyes, ears and mouth paralyze cognitive faculties, while
one through the heart might restrain will, and nails through the
limbs cause paralysis or loss of strength.
The Kolossos may be further mutilated to restrain the enemy; for
example the head may be hacked off and buried separately from the
body (to prevent them being rejoined), or the effigy may be burned,
melted, crushed, trampled under foot, etc. (These aggressive
measures are not normally used for laying ghosts; instead the
Kolossos is given funeral rites. A ghost is normally called by name
for three days or thrice in one day to summon it home for burial.)
Hellenistic Kolossos from Delos
In addition to being transfixed, the figure is normally bound.
For example, the arms may be bound (usually behind the back), the
legs may be bound, and sometimes the arms are bound to the legs.
There may be a collar around the neck, or a binding around the mouth
(which could hold a nail or peg in it). Sometimes the Kolossos is
bound to another object, such as an erotic amulet.
A number of materials may be used for binding, including lead
bands, bronze wires, nails and iron chains (for large Kolossoi). The
figure may even bind itself, for example with the right hand over
its mouth (perhaps holding in a nail) and the left over its anus.
The Kolossos is identified with its Subject by either incantation
or inscription, most often by both. The Subject (deity, ghost,
person) is mentioned by name if its name is known, often including a
patronymic or mentioning the Subject's mother, e.g., “NN whom NN
bore” (“NN” stands for a name). The Subject’s
name is usually inscribed on the left side of the Kolossos, most often on the hip,
leg or arm; the name may also be written in red ink. The name is
often accompanied with a binding formula (described below).
The Kolossos also may be identified with its Subject by embedding
in it Ousia (Substances): stuff connected with the Subject,
for example, a bit of hair, fingernail parings or a bit of clothing,
might be embedded in the navel of a wax figure. Finally, a wax or
clay Kolossos might be molded around a papyrus containing a spell
mentioning the Subject’s name.
The Kolossoi are really of a kind with the Defixiones or
Katadesmoi (so-called “Cursing Tablets”), since a Kolossos
may be made nearly flat to better accommodate names and spells. Thus
we may have Kolossoi in the form of lead tablets or sheets bearing
inscriptions, perhaps with inscribed pictures of the Subject(s)
bound by hostile spirits. Such lead sheets, or equivalent papyri,
can be folded or rolled, and are often pierced with a nail (hence,
defixio from defigo, to fix down) to achieve the
binding.
In addition to an identification of the Kolossos with its
Subject, there is often some formula of binding (Katadesmos,
kah-TAH-dess-maws), which may be inscribed on the Kolossos, spoken
above it, or both; it may take several forms of greater of less
elaborateness. Inscriptions may be written backwards, to increase
the Subject’s confusion. The spoken spell is usually accompanied by
ritual actions, such as the mutilation, piercing or binding of the
figure; further, the Defigens (Binder) may touch the ground
while invoking chthonic deities, or raise his or her hands to
celestial deities.
In the simplest case, the Defigens simply declares,
I hereby bind NN!
Alternately, the binding may be expressed as a wish:
May NN be defeated!
Let NN be restrained!
The spell may take the form of a prayer to some deities to restrain
the subject; often the Subject is handed over or committed to the
deity (as though being put under arrest) — a wise thing to do, since
then responsibility for the binding resides with the Gods. Although
any God or Goddess might be petitioned, it is particularly
appropriate to appeal to Hermes Katokhos (Restrainer) in the
consecration. Other deities called on for binding are Hermes
Khthonios, Gê, Hecate (Khthonia) and Persephone. For example,
O Hermes Katokhos, restrain NN!
I commit NN to the Gods,
to Gê, Hecate and Persephone!
I bind NN, born of NN,
in Your presence, Hermes Katokhos.
May s/he be restrained
in hand and foot and body!
Finally, by the magical principal of Similia Similibus (Similars
for Similars), the incantation may call for the Subject to be bound
analogically by the binding of the effigy. For example, a simple
binding is:
I hereby bind NN in leaden bonds!
Analogies may be invoked with the material of the Kolossos or its
disposition:
As this lead is cold and powerless,
also cold and powerless is NN,
cold in knowledge, thinking, memory!
His soul, his mind, his tongue, his plans:
let all these things be twisted round!
For a Kolossos buried in a graveyard:
As the dead are powerless and still,
just so powerless and still will NN be,
his feet and hands and body!
Here is a typical formula for binding the partners of an oath:
Just as this image melts and flows away,
Let he who breaks this promise likewise melt,
And perish all his seed and property!
This is a typical formula for boundary protection:
As long as savage Ares lies within the ground,
So long in this our land will foemen not be found!
The power of the spell is increased by the use of repetition and
meter; also, multiple deities may be invoked and more of Their
epithets or offices listed.
 Kolossoi
in their containers (from a grave in Ceramicus)
Sometimes the Kolossos is ritually destroyed, but for binding the
more common disposition involves confinement and burial. First the
Kolossos is usually confined tightly in a lead box with a tight
cover, or wrapped in a sheet of lead, or placed in a copper of
bronze cauldron or box. (Lead, of course, is the supreme symbol of
fixation.) Often the container is inscribed, on the inside or the
outside, with names, spells, bands, and/or bound figures. These may
also be written and drawn on papyrus, which is then used to wrap the
Kolossos. In some cases the Kolossos in its container is placed in a
clay pot, to further constrain it. Finally, you must dispose of the
Kolossos and its container(s). They may be thrown into deep water,
such as a well or the ocean
, or more commonly buried, for example, in a graveyard, a
sanctuary or uncultivated land; both earth and water are paths to
the chthonic deities. Such disposition also makes it less likely
that the Subject will find the Kolossos and thereby
loose the binding (see next).
It will be worthwhile to say a few words about removing bindings
(eklusis, EK-loo-sis, release). In general only the Defigens
or the Gods he or she invoked are capable of dissolving the bonds.
The best option for the Subject is to pray and sacrifice to the
Gods, either to Those who have bound him or her, or, if They are not
known, to all deities. The binding is also released if either the
Defigens or Subject can find the Kolossos and systematically unbind
it (i.e., remove bands and nails, turn the head and limbs around the
right way).
- Faraone, Christopher A.,
“Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of
‘Voodoo Dolls’ in Ancient Greece,” Classical Antiquity,
Vol. 10, No. 2 (Oct. 1991), pp. 165-205, with 7 figs. & 13 pls.
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Faraone, Christopher A., “The Agonistic Context of Early
Greek Binding Spells,” in Christopher A. Faraone & Dirk Obbink
(eds.), Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 3-32.
- Ogden, Daniel, Magic,
Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A
Sourcebook, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, esp. ch.
12.
- Opsopaus, John, Guide to the
Pythagorean Tarot, St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2001. See also the
online version,
omphalos.org/BA/PT.
- Strubbe, J. H. M., “‘Cursed
Be He That Moves My Bones’,” in Christopher A. Faraone & Dirk
Obbink (eds.), Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 33-59.
- Winkler, John J., “The
Constraints of Eros,” in Christopher A. Faraone & Dirk Obbink
(eds.), Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 214-43.
Banish, Bind, and Enemy Be Gone: The Anatomy of the Voodoo
Curse
“Magick is the Science
and Art of Causing Change to occur in Conformity with Will.” Aleister Crowley
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Hellenistic Kolossos from Delos
Kolossoi
in their containers (from a grave in Ceramicus)