Biography
Charlotte Spence joined St Hilda's College in October 2025 as a lecturer after previously teaching as a lecturer at New College. She completed her PhD at the University of Exeter, which examined the conceptions of the dead and the gods in ancient curse tablets. Before that, Charlotte studied Ancient History at the University of Birmingham.
Charlotte's teaching interests reflect the chronological breadth of her research; she teaches topics from Archaic Greek History through to the reign of Emperor Hadrian. She is a social and cultural historian and is particularly interested in weaving material culture into her teaching.
Charlotte's primary research continues to be on ancient curse inscriptions. She is currently working on her next monograph, which focuses on the use of Jewish and Christian powers in curse tablets in Late Antiquity. She is also co-editor of the Lived Realities in Ancient History series at Trivent Publishing.
List of publications:
- Spence, C. Forthcoming November 2025. ‘Communication with the Superhuman through Curse Tablets,’ Reaching the Superhuman (I): Ritual, Communication, and Materiality in the Ancient Mediterranean. Religion in the Roman Empire (2025), 11(3).
- Spence, C. In Proof. ‘Curse Tablets, Amulets, Spells,’ in J. Kindt (ed.) Ancient Greek Personal Religion. Cambridge.
- Spence, C. 2024. ‘Carthaginian Curse Tablets,’ Roman Carthage: A Reappraisal. Rome. 317- 338.
- Spence, C. 2022. ‘Change and Continuity in Curse Tablets from the Roman World,’ in F. Conti and E. Pollard (eds.) Nemo non metuit: Magic in the Roman World. Budapest. 53- 98.
- Spence, C. Forthcoming. Appeals to the Supernatural in Ancient Curse Tablets: The Dead and the Divine. A monograph based on my PhD thesis. Under contract with Bloomsbury Academic, submitted on 1st December 2024.
- Spence, C. Submitted. ‘Curse Tablets and the Living of Lived Religion,’ Religion in the Roman Empire.
- Denson, R. and Spence, C. (eds.) Forthcoming (late 2026). The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity. Budapest.
- Spence, C. Forthcoming (late 2026). ‘seu gen(tili)s seu Ch(r)istianus: The Bath Curse Tablets and the Questions of Individual Versus Traditional Practice,’ in R. Denson and C. Spence (eds.) The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity. Budapest.
- Spence, C. and Denson R. Forthcoming (late 2026). ‘Introduction: Issues of the Supernatural, the Christian, Magic, and Demons,’ in R. Denson and C. Spence (eds.) The Christian and the Supernatural in Late Antiquity. Budapest.
Publications in preparation:
- ‘Marginality and ‘Marginalised’ Groups in the Ancient World: A Material Approach’ edited by Sofia Bianchi Mancini, Julia Kretschmer, and Charlotte Spence. An edited volume arising from a conference panel organised for the Celtic Conference in Classics, Coimbra 2025. Proposal currently under review with Liverpool University Press.
- Bianchi Mancini, S and Spence, C. ‘Women’s Property and the Epigraphy of Justice: Curse Tablets and Agency in the Roman West’ in S. Bianchi Mancini, J. Kretschmer, and C. Spence (eds.) Marginality and ‘Marginalised’ Groups in the Ancient World: A Material Approach.
- Bianchi Mancini, S. Kretschmer, J. and Spence C. ‘Introduction: Looking for or Creating Marginality?’ in Marginality and ‘Marginalised’ Groups in the Ancient World: A Material Approach.
- A special issue of Preternature to publish proceedings from the Imaginative Landscapes and Otherworlds: Animate Beings (ILO 4) conference.
Positions
- Lecturer in Ancient History
Subjects
- Ancient and Modern History
- Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
