The Lore and Myths of Witches – Chapter 1: From Clay Tablets to Roman Alleyways

Embark on a thrilling journey into the origins of witchcraft—from Mesopotamian clay curses and Egyptian resurrection spells to Greek moon-drawers and Roman curse tablets. Discover how sorcery shaped laws, literature, and everyday life in the ancient world.

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This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Due to the upcoming Halloween season, the Strange History Podcast
will be celebrating with a multi part series on the
history of witches. No, we do not mean your mother
in law or the cranky lunch lady from grammar school
who always skimped on the French fries and whose hairnet
looked questionable at best. We mean witches, a person thought

(00:23):
to have magic powers, especially evil ones, popularly depicted as
a woman wearing a black cloak and pointed hat and
flying on a broomstick. Buckle up so you do not
fall off your broomstick, and get a cup of hot
cider and your furriest familiar and enjoy the next few episodes.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Welcome, dear listeners to the Strange History Podcast. I'm Amy,
your guide through history's dustiest corners and strangest broom closets.
Today we're launching an epic journey, a mega episode tracing
witches through every twist of the human story. Not just
the wardy cartoon for variety, but healers, rebels, midwives, and

(01:03):
mischief makers who shaped and sometimes terrified their societies. So
grab a mug of something warming or something bubbling if
you're feeling theatrical because we're heading back nearly five thousand
years to wear. The first whispers of witchcraft scratched themselves into.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Clay Mesopotamia sorcery on clay tablets circa two thousand to
six hundred BCE.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
The world's earliest surviving witch trials weren't held in a
gloomy courthouse, but in the mind of a worried Sumerian
farmer somewhere along the Euphrates. Goats were getting sick, grain
was failing, and neighbors began muttering about Kishpu spells meant
to blight crops or strike enemies. Cooneyformed tablets record a

(01:50):
whole lexicon of magical worry. The ashi Po think of
them as priest detectives specialized in sniffing out curses. If
you suspect did someone hext your beer supply, you called
an Ashipu, who would chant over clay figurines representing the culprit,
then burn them in a brazier. The ashes, they believed,

(02:11):
scorched the evil right out of the world. Sumer Akad, Babylon, Assyria.
Every city had archives of charms to unbind sorcery, legal
texts punishing malevolent magicians, and rituals like the maklu or burning.
This wasn't superstition in isolation. It was part of law, medicine,

(02:33):
and state craft. The king himself might order a counterspell
if omens looked bad.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
Today's Mesopotamian segment is brought to you by Hexof, trusted
since eighteen hundred BCE, whether it's kishpu or just bad irrigation.
Hexof keeps your goats happy and your neighbor's nervous.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Egypt heka isis and the magic papyri circa one thousand,
eight hundred to three hundred BCE.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Down the Nile. Magic wasn't just tolerated, It was sacred.
The Egyptians called it heca, a cosmic force as essential
as bread or sunlight. Priests used it to maintain harmony
between the gods and mortals, carving protective spells into tomb
walls or hiding amulets in linen wrappings. Ordinary people joined

(03:23):
in a mother might whisper charms over a newborn. A
fisherman might scratch prayers on a potsherd before casting his net.
The famous magical papyri spanning the late Ferionic to Greco
Roman periods read like a grab bag of life, hacks,
protection from crocodiles, formulas for seduction, recipes, to compel spirits,

(03:45):
to fetch information. Isis, queen of sorcery, set the bar
high by resurrecting Osiris with her words, proof that language
itself could restitch the world. But Egyptians also told cautionary
tales about necromancers overstepping, like setnikamwas a prince who stole

(04:05):
forbidden spells and almost doomed himself.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
This portion of our cruise up the Nile is brought
to you by Papyrus plus the only scroll tough enough
for resurrection spells and grocery lists alike.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Greece wise women, moon drawers, and tragic potions eight hundred
to one hundred BCE.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Cross the Mediterranean and you find witches with theatrical flare.
Circe in Homer's Odyssey, lives on an island surrounded by
bewitched lions and wolves previous guests who didn't mind their manners.
She lures Odysseus's crew with wine and turns them into pigs,
but later, over a polite dinner, gives him directions to

(04:48):
the underworld. Hospitality counts even in sorcery. Medea, granddaughter of Helios,
mixes her potions with a side of tragedy. She rescues
Jason within chi panted Salves, then betrayed unleash's vengeance that
makes every later breakup look mild. Philosophers argued about whether

(05:09):
charms were real or clever psychology, while poets wrote of
Thessalian witches who could draw down the moon, either a
metaphor for astronomy or a wild herbal harvest under moonlight.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
This moonlit tail is sponsored by Luna Hook for safe
effective lunar extraction. Always follow ethical moon harvesting guidelines.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Rome Law, satire and lead curse tablets first BCE to
fourth CE.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
When Rome inherited Greek culture, it imported the witch, along
with olives and drama. Romans loved a good law, and
as early as the Twelve Tables, they banned anyone from
enchanting another's crops. That didn't stop people from sneaking cursed
tablets to phixiones into wells, calling on underworld gods to

(06:01):
blight competitors or make lovers more attentive. Poets gave witches
a bad pr team Horace's Canidia stalked graveyards, brewing poisons
with wolf liver and screech owl feathers. Ovid turned spells
into punchlines, describing love charms alongside beauty tips. But satire

(06:22):
couldn't erase demand. Market stalls sold amulets, charms, and powders
for everything from toothache to treason. Roman witchcraft sat at
the crossroads of religion, gossip and state anxiety. Emperors occasionally
expelled astrologers and magicians when politics got tense, proving that

(06:43):
even the Caesars worried about the power of a good hex.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
This Roman interlude is brought to you by cursed tab
lead sheets. For every occasion, Ride it, fold it, toss
it in a fountain, and remember the gods aren't liable
for side effects.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
And there you have it. Our broomstick has flown from
river valleys and royal tombs to moonlit Aegean cliffs and
Roman back alleys. In every corner, magic lived alongside daily life,
shaping laws, stories, and dinner party gossip. Next up, we
head north, where Vikings, Celts and Slavs carved their own

(07:22):
witchy legends into ice stone and spinning huts on chicken legs.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Don't forget to like, subscribe and tell all your spooky
friends