The first Graeco-Roman curses to be written down were those of the conditional type: ‘Whoever steals this, may he be accursed’. These expressions are evidently quite different from the more complex tradition of binding magic and represent a both widely attested and rather basic kind of imprecation. Nonetheless, the originally Greek practice of binding with spells changed over time, first developing into curses of the handing-over type, then into judicial prayers, diakopoi and erotic binding and leading charms. Classical spellbinding remained a certain magical type, however – a developed form of sorcery preserved in a supernatural written tradition, expressed in particular genres of magical finds. The surprisingly persistent classical tradition of defixiones is represented in most provinces of the Empire, from very early to even quite late classical contexts, curse tablets often being found singularly, but sometimes in quite large numbers as well. In fact, it is also often claimed that their influence was so widespread, popular and long-lasting that the legacy of binding spells can be seen in aspects of medieval Celtic tradition, albeit in somewhat curiously transformed usages and manners.

The earliest classical mention of an Insular Celtic curse appears in a secondcentury account. In his Annals, still unfinished at the time of his death in the year 117, the Roman historian Tacitus describes the reception faced by Imperial soldiers sent to confront the native defenders of Anglesey in AD 60:

The Roman campaign to Anglesey was slightly later than the deposition of the defixio from Chamalières, and this passage presumably represents a reliable description of a substantially native expression of Celtic cursing. The Imperial troops were not long paralysed by the fearsome old Brittonic druids they faced, however, but at the behest of their leaders rushed instead into battle.