The Getty Hexameterslooks in detail at a series of forty-four magical verses inscribed on a recently discovered lead tablet from Sicily in the fifth century BC, which is now in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Divided into two sections, the volume consists of a general introduction to the new inscriptions, together with a critical text and English translation, photographs, and drawings. The second section contains a collection of eleven interpretative essays which treat various aspects of the text, including religious and civic context, date and poetic language, transmission, and connections to ancient magic and ritual practice. The volume is the first complete critical edition of the Greek text to appear in print and contains important scholarship for the field of classics from an acclaimed list of contributors.

Preface Kenneth Lapatin, Curator, Getty Villa Museum
List of Abbreviations
Introduction C. A. Faraone & D. Obbink
Greek Text and Translation
Photographs and Drawings
1. The Getty Hexameters: Date, Author, Place of Composition, Jan Bremmer
2. The Language of the Hexameter Verses from Selinous Variants and Archetypes, Richard Janko
3. Spoken and Written Boasts in the Getty Hexameters, Christopher A. Faraone
4. The Ephesia grammata: Genesis of a Magical Formula, Alberto Bernabe
5. The Ephesia grammata:NBLogos Orphaikos or Apolline Alexima Pharmakaa
6. Magical Verses on a Lead Tablet: Amulet or Anthologya
7. Myth and the Getty Hexameters, Sarah Iles Johnston
8. The Immortal Words of Paean, Ian Rutherford
9. Poetry and the Mysteries, Dirk Obbink
Appendix: The Lead Tablet from Phalasarna
Bibliography
Indices