Witches, Disgust, and Anti -abortion Propaganda in Imperial Rome

 Introduction

The stark contrast between Greek and Roman literary depictions of witches, though well known, remains puzzling. The relatively abrupt shift from young, beautiful, desirable sorceress to elderly, hideous, disgusting hag reached its peak between the late first century B.C.E. and the mid-first century C.E., but why? 1

 The answer may relate to a specifically male source of distress that reached a near-panic point during this time period: a perceived decline in both morals and in population, especially among the aristocracy. Women's sexual behavior during this time was of particular concern, an anxiety reflected in Augustan policies designed to encourage marriage and children (Spaeth 2014, 54). Concomitantly, any action that might prevent childbearing was greeted with animosity, and literature of the Augustan age and the decades following expressed particular hostility toward the practice of abortion. This especial antipathy seems to have made its way into descriptions of witches in Roman literature, which are peculiarly tied not just to the murder of children, but to the killing of unborn children.

 1.For detailed discussions of this contrast, including the witches' physical appearances, behavior, and motivation, see especially Pollard (2008) and Spaeth (2014). Even Greek figures such as Circe and Medea, when rendered into Latin literature, become far less appealing (Spaeth 2014,42). I use Spaeth's definition for Witch (2014, 41), essentially a woman claiming or popularly believed to be a practitioner of magic. Also, I adhere to the distinction between Greek and Roman literary depictions as having no relation to whether the witch herself is Greek or Roman; a number of witches in Roman literature are Thessalian (e.g. Erictho, Meroe, and Panthia),Thessaly being the legendary home of many witches in classical literature