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Curse tablet
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Eyguieres curse tablet

A curse tablet (Latin: tabella defixionis, defixio; Greek: κατάδεσμος, romanized: katadesmos) is a small tablet with a curse written on it from the Greco-Roman world. Its name originated from the Greek and Latin words for "pierce"[1] and "bind". The tablets were used to ask the gods, place spirits, or the deceased to perform an action on a person or object, or otherwise compel the subject of the curse.

Description

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One of the 130 Bath curse tablets. The inscription in British Latin translates as: "May he who carried off Vilbia from me become liquid as the water. May she who so obscenely devoured her become dumb"[2]

Curse tablets are typically very thin sheets of lead with the text scratched on in tiny letters. They were then often rolled, folded, or pierced with nails, and the tablets were then usually placed beneath the ground: either buried in graves or tombs, thrown into wells or pools, sequestered in underground sanctuaries, or nailed to the walls of temples. Tablets were also used for love spells and when used in this manner they were placed inside the home of the desired target.[3] They are sometimes discovered along with small dolls or figurines (sometimes inaccurately referred to as "Voodoo dolls"[4]), which may also be pierced by nails. The figurines resembled the target and often had both their feet and hands bound.[5] Curse tablets also included hair or pieces of clothing. This was seen as a way to give them strength through inclusion of the central essence (Greek: Ousia) of the person. This is especially the case in love spells, which calls for "hair from the head of the love target." Some love spells have even been discovered "folded around some hair," probably to bind the spell itself.[6] "Not all tablets included a personal name, but it is clear especially in the Roman period, that tablets were sometimes prepared in advance, with space left for inserting the names provided by paying customers."[7] The cursing rituals may also have incorporated physical binding gestures and spoken elements.[8]

The texts on curse tablets are typically addressed to infernal or liminal gods such as Pluto, Charon, Hecate, and Persephone, sometimes via the mediation of a dead person (probably the corpse in whose grave the tablet was deposited). Some texts do not invoke the gods, however, but merely list the targets of the curse, the crimes or conditions upon which the curse is valid, and/or the intended ill to befall them. Some tablets are inscribed with nothing more than the names of the targets, leading to the supposition that an oral spell may have accompanied the manufacture of the curse.[9] The texts on the tablets were not always curses; tablets were also used to help the dead. Those at whose grave sites these were placed had usually died at a very young age or in a violent manner, and the tablet was supposed to help lay their souls to rest in spite of their untimely deaths.[10] The language of those texts that do give context is often concerned with justice, either listing the target's crimes in great detail, handing over responsibility for their punishment to the gods, using indefinite grammar. Frequently, such curse tablets are also inscribed with additional, otherwise meaningless "curse" words such as Bazagra, Bescu, or Berebescu, seemingly in order to lend them a kind of supernatural efficacy.

Curse tablet found in London. Inscription reads: "I curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver and lungs mixed up together, and her words, thoughts and memory; thus may she be unable to speak what things are concealed, nor be able." (translation: British Museum)

Many of those discovered at Athens refer to court cases and curse the opposing litigant, asking ("May he...") that he botch his performance in court, forget his words, become dizzy and so forth. Others include erotic binding-spells, and spells ranged against thieves, and business and sporting rivals. Those curse tablets targeted at thieves or other criminals may have been more public, and more acceptable; some scholars even refuse to apply the word "curse" to such "positive" texts, preferring expressions such as "judicial prayers".[11]

In 1979/1980, the Bath curse tablets were found at the site of Aquae Sulis (now Bath in England).[12] All but one of the 130 tablets concerned the restitution of stolen goods.[13] Over 80 similar tablets have been discovered in and about the remains of a temple to Mercury nearby, at West Hill, Uley,[14] making south-western Britain one of the major centres for finds of Latin defixiones.

In Ancient Egypt, so-called "Execration Texts" appear around the time of the 12th Dynasty, listing the names of enemies written on clay figurines or pottery which were then smashed and buried beneath a building under construction (so that they were symbolically "smothered"), or in a cemetery.[15]

Voces mysticae

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Roman curse tablet with voces mysticae in Greek. The name of the target, Caius Iulius Viator, was added in Latin. Found in Tongeren (Belgium), 70-100 CE, Gallo-Roman Museum (Tongeren).

Voces mysticae are words not immediately recognizable as belonging to any known language,[16] and are commonly associated with curse tablets. Anthropologist Stanley J. Tambiah proposed in 1968 that such words were intended to represent "the language that demons can understand".[16]

Scholars from antiquity, like Christian philosopher Clement of Alexandria (ca. 200 CE), believed that human language was not appropriate for addressing the gods. Therefore, some of the inscriptions of these curse tablets are not easily translatable, because they were "invocations and secret names" which would only be understood by the spirits themselves. Another possibility is that curse tablets were produced by professionals who wished to lend their art a degree of mystique through the use of an apparently secret language that only they could understand. In support of this theory, at least some tablets appear to have blank spaces instead of a name for the target, suggesting they were prepared in advance, and that the desired target's name would be added on behalf of the customer.[17]

The element of mystique was given through a number of ways along with voces mysticae. Professionals and laypeople alike would utilize palindromes as well as boustrophedon. Pictures and charakteres gave further allure to the tablets, and occasionally specific formulae would be used and reused to relay a specifically intended tone. There were also frequent invocations of Egyptian gods and goddesses, archangels, and other biblical figures as a result of the syncretism that occurred over time throughout the Mediterranean.

Historiography

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The Greco-Roman society believed in using magic to control the natural world.[18] This practice was common among all members of society, irrespective of their economic or social status. Approximately 1,600 curse tablets have been discovered, most of which are inscribed in Greek. Notably, 220 of these tablets were found in Attica.[19]

The first set of curse tablets to be discovered came from the city of Selinus in Sicily. A total of twenty-two tablets were found, mostly coming from the early fifth century, and directed toward someone that the user was suing.[20] While the ancient Greeks may have feared the power of these tablets, some historians[who?] have compared the tablets to modern swearing, arguing that they were produced in a fit of anger, in envy towards a business competitor or athletic opponent, or in an unhealthy obsession toward a person of romantic interest.

When research first began on the topic of curse tablets, there was serious doubt that these types of artifacts truly came from ancient Greek society. E. R. Dodds, a professor of Greek at Oxford, was one of the first scholars to begin studying the topic of magic or superstition in ancient Greece,[21] and others such as Peter Green have also studied this aspect of ancient Greek society.

Erotic magic

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The use of erotic curses became especially popular during the Hellenistic period of Mediterranean history. Scholars have debated the possible motivations for using erotic magic, including unrequited love, sexual control of the intended target, financial gain, and social advancement. The love spells used were similar in design around the Mediterranean world,[22] and could be adjusted to different situations, users and intended victims. One notable type of curse was a "Diakopai", a separation spell intended to drive away rivals by making them repulsive. Another type of curse was an "Agogai", a spell that was intended to bind its target to oneself. Recent scholarship has shown that women used curse tablets for erotic magic much more than originally thought, although they were still in a minority.[citation needed]

There is also debate over the type of women that men were trying to attract with these spells. Some scholars subscribe to the idea of men trying to make fair, chaste women become filled with desire for them, while others argue that men were trying to control women whom they thought to be sexually active for their own personal benefit.[23] Christopher A. Faraone considered the spells to fall into two distinct categories; spells used for inducing passion and spells used for encouraging affection.[24] Men, according to Faraone, were the primary users of the passion-inducing spells, while women were the main users of the affection spells.

See also

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References

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Bibliography

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Curse tablet

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A curse tablet, known in Latin as a defixio and in Greek as a katadesmos, is a small inscribed object, typically a thin sheet of lead, used in ancient magical practices to bind or harm a target through intervention, often by invoking deities and depositing the rolled tablet in locations like graves, springs, or temples. These artifacts emerged in the late sixth century BCE in the Mediterranean world and persisted for over a millennium into , with approximately 3,000 examples documented, predominantly in Greek (about two-thirds) and Latin, alongside inscriptions in languages such as Etruscan, Oscan, Celtic, and possibly Iberian. Lead was the preferred material due to its durability, weight for ritual deposition, and symbolic associations with the , though alternatives like , stone, , or (a lead-tin ) appear in some regional variants. Curse tablets served personal rather than public purposes, targeting individuals in contexts such as rivalries, recovery, athletic or theatrical competitions, and erotic pursuits, where the inscriber sought to restrict the victim's actions, speech, or success. Inscriptions, often scratched with simple tools, ranged from basic lists of names to elaborate spells invoking chthonic gods like the deities or figures such as and Hermes, reflecting the practitioner's agency and local cultural adaptations across the . Archaeological finds, concentrated in sites like the Athenian , the Bath hot springs in Britain, and the of at in , reveal their widespread use from the fourth century BCE to the fifth century CE, providing invaluable evidence of ancient social tensions, linguistic evolution, and belief in ritual magic. Recent discoveries, such as 21 tablets from a Gallo-Roman in Orléans, , in 2025, continue to augment the corpus. Modern scholarship, bolstered by technologies like for deciphering faded texts, continues to expand the corpus and illuminate these artifacts' role in everyday ancient life.

Definition and Physical Characteristics

Description

Curse tablets, known as defixiones in Latin (from defigere, meaning "to fasten down" or "nail down") and katadesmoi in Greek (from katadein, meaning "to bind down"), are thin sheets of metal, primarily lead, inscribed with or binding spells designed to invoke forces to influence or harm a target against their will. These artifacts function as communications to deities or chthonic spirits, seeking to restrict the target's actions, emotions, or welfare. In their general physical form, curse tablets consist of small, thin sheets, typically a few centimeters in length, which are often rolled, folded, or pierced—sometimes with nails to symbolize binding—before being deposited to activate the spell. Common deposition sites include graves, wells, sanctuaries, and theaters, chosen for their proximity to the or significance, ensuring the curse reaches the intended supernatural agents. The tablets are usually written by the commissioner or a specialist on their behalf, with the ritual act serving as a performative dedication to underworld powers. The basic mechanics involve inscribing the names of the victim and commissioner, often alongside requests to harm the target's body, mind, or fortunes, with texts sometimes written in retrograde script or accompanied by magical symbols known as charaktêres to amplify potency. These elements underscore the tablets' role within broader ancient magical practices, where written words and ritual deposition were believed to compel divine intervention.

Materials and Production

Curse tablets, known as defixiones in Latin, were predominantly crafted from thin sheets of lead, valued for its malleability, abundance, low cost, and pliability that facilitated easy inscription. Lead's allowed it to be hammered into small, portable rectangles or squares, typically measuring a few centimeters in size, making it suitable for concealment and deposition. Occasionally, variants employed other materials such as tin, especially in regions like where local mining favored it, or rarer metals like silver and for specific contexts; was also used in some Greco-Egyptian examples as an alternative medium. Production began with hand-inscribing the soft lead surface using a sharp tool, such as a , nail, or , to scratch or engrave text directly into the metal. Tablets were often inscribed on one or , with some featuring double-sided writing to maximize space for the curse , though this could complicate upon unfolding. Techniques varied to enhance the ritual's , including folding the sheet multiple times or rolling it into a to conceal the text from eyes, thereby directing it solely to the invoked deities. In certain cases, the folded or rolled tablet was pierced with to symbolically bind the curse's target, fixing the malevolent intent and preventing reversal. The choice of lead carried deep symbolic weight, tied to its perceived toxicity and heavy, enduring nature, which evoked associations with the and chthonic realms in ancient belief systems. This material's somber qualities aligned with invocations to deities like Hermes or , guardians of the subterranean world, amplifying the curse's potency in s aimed at harm or binding. Rarer uses of silver or in higher-status curses may have signified elevated power or appeals to brighter divine forces, contrasting lead's dark symbolism. Over time, production techniques evolved from basic scratches on early lead sheets to more intricate engravings incorporating magical diagrams, reflecting refinements in craftsmanship while preserving the core mechanics.

Historical Development

Origins

The earliest known curse tablets, known as katadesmoi in Greek, emerged in the late Archaic period within Greek colonial contexts in , with the oldest examples dating to around 500 BCE. These artifacts were discovered in the sanctuary of Malophoros at , a site yielding approximately 45 lead tablets inscribed with names of individuals targeted for binding or harm. The tablets from Selinunte, inscribed in Greek, represent the foundational instances of this practice in the Mediterranean world, appearing shortly after the development of alphabetic writing in around the 8th century BCE. This written form of cursing evolved from earlier oral traditions and literary depictions of binding spells in , such as those found in Homeric works. In the Iliad and Odyssey, characters invoke formulas to bind enemies or compel supernatural aid, reflecting a cultural familiarity with verbal curses that could immobilize or harm opponents. The transition to inscribed tablets likely built on these oral precedents, adapting them into a more permanent medium to ensure the curse's efficacy through ritual deposition, often folded and buried to symbolize restraint. However, the Selinunte tablets emphasize written actions like "inscribing" or "recording" names, suggesting influences from emerging legal and epigraphic practices rather than purely performative orality. Cultural precursors to Greek curse tablets can be traced to Near Eastern practices, particularly Egyptian execration rituals from the Middle Kingdom (circa 2000 BCE onward), where enemies' names were inscribed on , figurines, or before being shattered or burned to invoke divine destruction. Mesopotamian texts also feature inscribed s against foes, often embedded in royal inscriptions or protective spells. Unlike these state-sponsored or temple-based rituals, which typically involved breaking objects as a destructive act, Greek curse tablets were distinct in their use of durable lead sheets for personal, individualized magic, allowing the inscribed words to be concealed underground near chthonic powers for ongoing effect. In their initial phases, curse tablets served primarily judicial purposes, especially in democratic contexts like from the mid-5th century BCE onward, where they targeted litigants to impair their speech, memory, or performance in court. Approximately 300 Attic tablets from this period onward address legal disputes, reflecting users' strategies to counter perceived injustices in the assembly or courts. These early curses frequently invoked chthonic deities such as , queen of the , alongside her mother , to bind the victim's tongue and actions, as seen in the Selinunte deposits from her sanctuary. Such invocations underscored the tablets' role in harnessing subterranean forces for retribution.

Chronology and Evolution

Curse tablets, known as defixiones in Latin and katadesmoi in Greek, experienced their initial proliferation during the Classical period but reached a peak in usage from the 4th to 1st centuries BCE, particularly in where over 1,500 examples have been documented, many from and other urban centers. This era saw a surge in judicial and competitive curses, reflecting social tensions in expanding city-states and leagues. By the late , production shifted toward more diverse applications, incorporating erotic and commercial motives alongside traditional legal bindings. The practice persisted and evolved into the Roman Imperial period (1st–4th centuries CE), with approximately 500 Latin-inscribed tablets identified, marking a transition from elite Greek contexts to widespread provincial adoption across the empire. In Roman territories, curse tablets became more democratized, produced en masse by non-elites in regions like Britain, , and the Germanies, often invoking local deities such as Sulis at Bath. Evolutionary changes included the integration of syncretic elements, such as Jewish mystical phrases or Egyptian chthonic invocations in Romano-Egyptian examples, blending Greco-Roman traditions with Eastern influences. Linguistically, adaptations featured increasing Latin usage alongside Greek from the BCE, with bilingual tablets appearing in frontier zones. Formulaic structures also advanced, progressing from simple lists of names in early Greek specimens to elaborate Roman compositions incorporating palindromic phrases and instructions for enhanced efficacy. This complexity peaked in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE, as seen in the 160 tablets from Bath, which combined personal pleas with standardized binding motifs. By the 5th century CE, curse tablet use declined sharply, coinciding with the , which condemned such practices as pagan and demonic invocation, leading to their suppression through imperial edicts and rhetoric. The latest known examples date to , including 4th-century specimens from and , after which archaeological evidence dwindles, likely due to both religious shifts and material of lead. In 2025, 21 additional curse tablets were discovered in a Gallo-Roman cemetery in Orléans, , including one inscribed in the language, further illustrating the practice's persistence in provincial contexts.

Geographical Distribution

Mediterranean Core

The core geographical concentration of curse tablets, known as katadesmoi in Greek and defixiones in Latin, lies in the classical Mediterranean heartland, particularly and , where they reflect the ritual practices of urban communities engaging with chthonic deities to address interpersonal conflicts. In , abundant examples have been unearthed in , particularly from the Kerameikos cemetery and wells, where numerous tablets have been recovered, including a 2020 discovery of 30 from a well used as a depository to activate the curses' supernatural efficacy. Additional significant finds come from Attica's broader region and , notably at , where approximately 45 tablets have been discovered in a context, underscoring their role in urban judicial and social disputes among Greek-speaking populations. These artifacts, often inscribed in Greek and folded or nailed to bind their targets, highlight the integration of literacy and ritual in everyday Athenian and Sicilian life. In , Roman curse tablets exhibit a strong presence in urban centers like , Pompeii, and the surrounding region, where they number in the hundreds and demonstrate adaptation to Latin legal and cultural frameworks. Examples from Pompeii, inscribed on lead and deposited in domestic or public spaces, illustrate how curses served as extrajudicial tools amid the empire's bureaucratic tensions, with texts invoking powers in a distinctly Roman idiom. This Italian corpus, comprising a substantial portion of the approximately 550 known Latin tablets, often features formulaic language that blends indigenous traditions with imported Greek elements, reflecting 's role as a hub for Mediterranean magical practices. Beyond and , other core Mediterranean areas such as Asia Minor and yield important examples, contributing to the majority of the over 1,600 known tablets from the . In Asia Minor, judicial curses have been found at sites like and in the Meander Valley, inscribed in Greek and deposited to influence legal outcomes in Hellenistic urban settings. In , Greco-Egyptian syncretism is evident in lead tablets from sites like the Fayum, where bilingual inscriptions merge Greek binding formulas with Egyptian deities like , adapting the practice to Ptolemaic and Roman multicultural contexts. Across these core areas, curse tablets show distinct depositional patterns, with high concentrations in sanctuaries dedicated to chthonic gods and in theaters, where public performance spaces facilitated rituals tied to competitive urban environments. Such placements, often in wells, graves, or temple precincts, underscore the tablets' role in channeling social tensions through appeals to subterranean forces, a practice that later extended to provincial regions of the empire.

Provincial Extensions

The practice of inscribing curse tablets extended beyond the Mediterranean heartland into the Roman Empire's provincial frontiers, where local cultural elements influenced their form and , reflecting adaptations to indigenous beliefs and lower rates among users. In these peripheral regions, tablets often incorporated native deities and simplified, , diverging from the more elaborate Greco-Roman traditions while maintaining core purposes like retribution against thieves or rivals. In , over 130 curse tablets were deposited in the sacred spring of at Bath during the 2nd to 4th centuries CE, primarily invoking the syncretic goddess—combining Roman with the Celtic —to recover stolen property or punish wrongdoers. These lead sheets, typically measuring around 9 by 12 cm, were rolled or folded before submersion, with inscriptions in revealing everyday grievances such as thefts of s, gloves, or bath towels. Examples from other British sites further illustrate this focus on theft: a tablet from , dated to the 2nd century CE, curses a thief named Senecianus by invoking the local god Maglus, demanding the return of a stolen under threat of torment; similarly, fragments from target pilferers of personal items, emphasizing the prevalence of "prayers for " in a prone to petty crime. Overall, at least 250 such tablets have been found across Britain, with the majority from Bath (~130) and the temple of Mercury at Uley (~94 including nearby sites), highlighting the adaptation of the practice to insular contexts. In Gaul and Iberia, curse tablets demonstrate linguistic blending and regional variations, with finds in Mainz (modern Germany) yielding around 34 examples from the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE, often rolled and deposited in the temple of Isis and Magna Mater, addressing personal disputes in Latin with occasional Celtic influences. A recent discovery in Orléans, France, announced in January 2025, includes 21 lead tablets from a Gallo-Roman cemetery (1st-3rd centuries CE), one inscribed in Gaulish—a rare Celtic vernacular—invoking chthonic powers for vengeance, alongside Latin texts showing bilingual traces that reflect the coexistence of Roman and indigenous scripts. In Iberia, tablets from Emerita Augusta (modern Mérida, Spain) invoke local deities like Ataecina, a goddess of the underworld syncretized with Proserpina, as seen in a 2nd-century CE example cursing adversaries in legal or racing contexts, with inscriptions blending Latin and potential Iberian elements to suit lower-literacy provincial users. These artifacts underscore formulaic repetitions in phrasing, adapted for accessibility in areas with limited formal education. Further extensions appear in and the regions, where Carthaginian sites produced over a hundred curse tablets from the 2nd to 5th centuries CE, blending Punic traditions with Roman forms and invoking local chthonic entities like or alongside infernal gods, often in contexts of commercial rivalry or theft in refounded . In the frontier, including , Latin tablets from military forts and civilian settlements (2nd-3rd centuries CE) occasionally reference indigenous Dacian or Thracian deities, such as river gods or underworld figures, in curses against enemies, with sparse Greek examples indicating cultural mixing in these militarized zones. Provincial adaptations prominently featured the integration of indigenous deities, as evidenced by British invocations of Celtic —a and —at the temple, where a 4th-century CE tablet curses Senicianus for stealing a ring, binding his health to its return and demonstrating with or Mercury. In and Iberia, similar incorporations of local figures like Ataecina or Gaulish infernal powers replaced or supplemented classical chthonic gods, while reduced literacy in these frontiers led to standardized, repetitive formulas—often simple pleas for justice—facilitating use by non-elite scribes or even semi-literate individuals, thus broadening the practice's accessibility.

Types and Purposes

Judicial Curses

Judicial curses, known in Latin as defixiones iudiciariae, constituted the most prevalent category of curse tablets in the ancient world. These inscriptions targeted legal disputes, aiming to hinder opponents, witnesses, or even judges through intervention, often by "binding" their ability to speak, remember, or act effectively in court. Predominantly employed by individuals who perceived themselves as underdogs in formal legal proceedings, such curses sought to level perceived imbalances in adversarial systems where access to was uneven. The structure of judicial curse tablets followed a ritualized formula designed to invoke chthonic deities and ensure the curse's potency. Inscriptions typically began with an identification of the victim, either by name (e.g., "against X son of Y") or through sympathetic descriptions when the identity was unknown (e.g., "whoever stole my cloak" or "the one who harms me in "). This was followed by a binding request, such as paralyzing the target's tongue, mind, or actions—"I bind their mouth, their tongue, their speech"—and an appeal to underworld powers like Hermes, , or the for enforcement. Tablets were often folded, pierced with nails, or buried in graves, wells, or sanctuaries to activate the magic, emphasizing the performative aspect of the ritual. Prominent examples illustrate the genre's evolution and application. In fourth-century BCE , over a dozen tablets recovered from the Agora well targeted courtroom rivals, explicitly cursing their forensic abilities; one reads, "I bind down the tongue and mind of [opponent] so that he may not succeed against me in the lawsuit." These reflect the intense litigation culture of , where curses supplemented or subverted public trials. By the Roman period, the practice persisted in provincial settings; in fourth-century CE (modern ), lead tablets unearthed in the Moselle region invoked similar bindings against legal adversaries, such as silencing witnesses in property disputes, demonstrating adaptation to imperial legal frameworks. Socially, judicial curses reveal grassroots efforts to pursue outside elite-dominated courts, highlighting tensions in ancient legal systems where the poor or marginalized turned to for . Analysis of commissioner identities shows patterns varying by region: in core Mediterranean areas like , most were commissioned by men involved in public disputes, whereas in northern provinces such as Britain and (including ), women initiated a notable proportion—up to 30% in some assemblages—often in cases of or personal harm, underscoring 's role as an accessible tool for female agency in unequal societies.

Erotic and Love Magic

Erotic and represented a significant category of curse tablets, known as amatory defixiones, which were inscribed lead sheets designed to compel romantic or , often through binding spells that targeted the desires of individuals such as lovers, rivals, or prostitutes. These spells were typically agonistic in nature, emphasizing harm to competitors or of the desired person rather than mutual affection, spanning from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE across the . The structure of these curses often followed patterns such as direct binding formulas using first-person verbs, prayer formats invoking deities, or wish constructions in the , incorporating the target's name with for specificity, references to body parts like the heart or mind to "bind" emotions, and sometimes or magical symbols. Invocations commonly addressed chthonic entities like daimones, Hermes, , or Eros, with requests to inflame passion or prevent seduction by others; in Egyptian-influenced examples, gods such as or were called upon to enforce the spell. These mechanics shared similarities with judicial curses in their use of binding language but focused on intimate control rather than legal retribution. Notable examples include four 4th-century BCE Greek tablets from the Heroön of Opheltes at , which targeted women to prevent seduction and invoked powers to bind their affections. From , the 1st-2nd century CE Agoge III spell bound Sarapias to another woman, Herais, invoking and Hermes to seize her mind and body, illustrating same-sex applications inspired by broader Hellenistic traditions. Socially, these curses were predominantly commissioned by men seeking to dominate women's desires, reflecting patriarchal power imbalances, in romantic rivalries, and anxieties over sexuality in ancient relationships; while women and other genders occasionally participated, often using milder spells for , the majority reveal male-driven efforts to control intimacy across social classes. This pattern underscores how erotic magic served as a tool for navigating personal vulnerabilities in competitive social environments.

Other Types

Curse tablets also addressed a range of everyday disputes beyond legal or romantic conflicts, including , , and commercial , reflecting the integration of magical practices into routine social tensions. These less common types often invoked chthonic deities or forces to recover losses or hinder opponents, demonstrating the versatility of defixiones in resolving personal grievances. A prominent category targeted thieves, with tablets seeking the return of stolen items or punishment of the culprit. In , particularly at the Bath hot springs, numerous lead tablets from the 2nd to 4th centuries CE named suspected thieves and implored deities like to afflict them until the goods were restored, such as gloves, cloaks, or money. For instance, one tablet curses the thief of a bathing tunic, demanding the perpetrator's suffering akin to the victim's loss. These artifacts highlight how , a common urban issue, prompted ritual appeals to divine justice when legal recourse was inaccessible. Similar practices appear in Greek contexts, like a 4th-century BCE tablet from the Koutsongila Cemetery in invoking underworld gods against a thief named Caecilius for stolen property. Athletic and competitive curses focused on undermining rivals in games or spectacles, often binding their physical abilities to ensure victory. In the , tablets targeted charioteers, gladiators, or their animals, with inscriptions rolled and deposited near tracks or arenas to immobilize opponents. A notable example is a 4th-5th century CE Greek tablet from the circus at , which curses rival charioteers and their horses, calling on a to blind and bind them so they could not compete against the Domninos. Earlier instances include 2nd-century CE Greek binding spells against racehorses in hippodromes, where spells sought to lame or confuse the animals during races, underscoring the high stakes of public competitions. Such curses reveal the intense and professional pressures in ancient sports. Business and trade-related curses, though rarer, aimed to sabotage merchants, apprentices, or competitors by invoking misfortune or illness. These tablets often targeted economic rivals in markets or workshops, seeking to disrupt their trade or health to gain advantage. In 4th-century CE Antioch, , a Jewish lead tablet curses Babylas, a and son of , invoking (as Iao) to bind and strike him, drawing on biblical plagues against , likely due to commercial rivalry over fruit and vegetable sales. Rare medical variants extended this to inflict illness on foes, such as a curse from against a business opponent, petitioning for debilitating sickness to halt their operations. Jewish variants in , like those from or , frequently cursed general enemies in similar economic or personal contexts, blending Hellenistic magical formulas with monotheistic elements. These examples illustrate how curse tablets served as tools for economic self-preservation in competitive ancient societies.

Linguistic and Magical Elements

Voces Magicae

, often translated as "magical voices," consist of unintelligible nonsense syllables, palindromic sequences, or loanwords from non-Greek languages that appear prominently in ancient curse tablets (defixiones), serving as mystical utterances believed to embody divine or potency beyond their semantic content. These elements differ from the vernacular Greek or Latin used in the curses' narrative portions, functioning instead as a specialized "other " intended to resonate with gods, demons, or chthonic powers rather than human comprehension. Their inclusion underscores the syncretic nature of Greco-Roman , where such words were seen as conduits for esoteric authority, detached from everyday discourse. In curse tablets, primarily function to circumvent the perceived limitations of ordinary human language, directly compelling entities to enact the curse's intent by invoking hidden or primordial names that hold inherent coercive power. This bypasses rational persuasion or negotiation, instead leveraging the words' phonetic and structural qualities to bind targets or summon aid from the divine realm. Frequently, they are arranged in palindromic forms or ring-composed patterns—where phrases mirror each other symmetrically around a central element—to evoke cosmic harmony and amplify the ritual's efficacy, mirroring the ordered and trapping malevolent forces within linguistic enclosures. Such structural was thought to enhance the spell's inescapability, much like the physical binding of the lead tablet itself. Prominent examples include the palindrome ABLANATHANALBA, a 15-letter sequence appearing in third-century CE Greek curse tablets from the Roman Empire, often inscribed alongside invocations to underworld deities to ensure the curse's potency. Another key term is IAO, an Egyptian-derived vocable with Jewish-Gnostic influences, representing a vocalization of the divine name (from Semitic Yahō); it features in late antique defixiones, such as a fourth-century tablet from Antioch invoking IAO to bind and afflict a greengrocer named Babylas. These Greek palindromic formulas, like those in tablets from and Roman provinces, illustrate how blended linguistic experimentation with ritual precision. Scholarly interpretations trace the origins of to Semitic traditions (e.g., IAO's ), Coptic demotic influences, and Egyptian priestly loanwords, reflecting the multicultural exchanges of the Hellenistic and Roman periods that infused Mediterranean with exotic elements. Their role in establishing "otherworldly" authority lies in this opacity: by sounding foreign or invented, they signal direct access to transcendent powers, elevating the curse from mere plea to irrevocable command and deterring counter- through incomprehensibility. This interpretive framework, advanced in analyses of defixiones corpora, highlights how such words transformed personal grievances into cosmically enforced edicts.

Inscription Styles

Curse tablets exhibit distinctive writing conventions that often deviate from standard epigraphic practices, reflecting both magical intent and the varying of their creators. Retrograde script, where text is written from right to left with letters sometimes reversed or mirrored, appears in several examples to enhance the ritual's potency or to symbolically bind the curse's target. For instance, a tablet from West Crimea dating to 320–270 BCE employs this style, with characters flipped to face rightward. writing, alternating direction line by line like an plowing a field, is another technique used to disorient or invoke forces, as seen in some Sicilian and British tablets from the Roman period. Erratic spelling, phonetic approximations mimicking , and intentional misspellings further contribute to this , possibly to confuse malevolent spirits or prevent unauthorized reading, while abbreviations—such as shortened divine names or common phrases—indicate practical adaptations by semi-literate inscribers. These features underscore the performative nature of the inscriptions, where form amplified the curse's efficacy beyond mere words. Symbols and layouts on curse tablets frequently incorporate non-alphabetic elements to augment their magical properties, revealing influences from diverse cultural traditions and the scribes' skill levels. Charaktêres, abstract magical signs derived from modified Greek or Latin letters often encircled with rings, serve as encrypted invocations or protective frames around the text; they are particularly prevalent in North African defixiones, where about one-third of the 38 tablets featuring them come from sites like Hadrumetum and , such as a 2nd-century CE curse against charioteers outlined by eight such symbols. Grid patterns or tabular arrangements organize victim names for systematic binding, while occasional victim effigies—simple drawings of bound figures—symbolize the curse's physical restraint, though these are rarer on lead due to the material's limitations. Orthographic errors, irregular letter forms, and pseudo-inscriptions highlight fluctuating , with many tablets showing hands that blend monumental capitals, scripts, and rudimentary scratches, suggesting production by non-professionals or in haste. In British contexts, cross-hatching over names, as in Bath's Sulis Minerva temple tablets from the 2nd–4th centuries CE, visually "nails down" the targets, combining text with linear bindings. Linguistic features of curse tablets evolved with regional and imperial dynamics, transitioning from predominantly Greek in the Classical and Hellenistic periods to Latin dominance under Roman influence, with in border zones reflecting multicultural authorship. Early Mediterranean defixiones, such as those from 5th-century BCE , were inscribed in Greek to align with local magical traditions, but by the 1st century CE, Latin became standard in the western provinces, as evidenced by the over 500 Roman-era tablets cataloged in the Sylloge of Defixiones. In areas like or , bilingual tablets mix Greek invocations with Latin pleas, or incorporate indigenous elements like , to broaden the curse's appeal to hybrid deities or audiences. Egyptian defixiones often blend Greek with demotic or Coptic, occasionally featuring pictorial elements such as sketched deities or symbolic motifs alongside text, as in 3rd-century CE examples from the that depict bound figures or hieroglyphic-inspired icons to merge pharaonic and Greco-Roman practices. This linguistic flexibility not only accommodated local vernaculars but also enhanced the inscriptions' perceived universality in invoking underworld powers.

Discovery and Modern Scholarship

Major Archaeological Finds

One of the most significant collections of curse tablets was unearthed during excavations at the Roman Baths in Bath, Britain, between 1979 and 1980. Over 130 lead and pewter tablets were recovered from the sacred spring dedicated to the goddess , where they had been deposited as offerings seeking divine intervention in cases of or . These tablets invoke , often equated with , and feature a mix of Latin inscriptions alongside Celtic personal names, such as Docilosa and Lovepicta, reflecting the Romano-British cultural context. In , the cemetery has yielded a substantial corpus of curse tablets since excavations began in the 19th and early 20th centuries. More than 300 lead defixiones, primarily dating to the 4th century BCE, were found in graves and associated deposits, with a strong emphasis on judicial curses aimed at opponents in legal disputes. These artifacts, often rolled and nailed, were placed in tombs to harness chthonic powers, highlighting the site's role as a key locus for magical practices. Other notable discoveries include a series of 19 curse tablets excavated in , , during the from the sanctuary of and Magna Mater, focusing on legal and competitive curses against rivals in court or business. At Antioch in , a 3rd- or 4th-century CE lead tablet targeting a greengrocer named Babylas was recovered from an urban context, exemplifying business-related curses invoking deities like Iao to harm competitors' livelihoods. Preservation of these lead artifacts poses significant challenges due to natural , which forms thick layers of oxides and sulfides that obscure inscriptions and can cause structural degradation over centuries in or . Modern techniques, such as computed , have enabled non-destructive imaging of rolled or folded tablets, allowing researchers to virtually unroll and read texts without risking further damage during physical conservation.

Historiography

The study of curse tablets, known as defixiones in Latin and katadesmoi in Greek, began in the amid broader philological interest in ancient and . Early scholars, such as Otto Weinreich, approached these artifacts through a lens of and , often classifying them as remnants of primitive magical practices akin to folk traditions rather than integral elements of Greco-Roman religious life. Weinreich's contributions, including his 1897 appendix to earlier catalogs, emphasized their and ritual deposition, but dismissed them as marginal to elite literary culture. A pivotal advancement came with Auguste Audollent's 1904 publication, , which compiled 305 texts from across the Mediterranean, providing the first comprehensive catalog and enabling systematic analysis. This work shifted focus from isolated curiosities to a coherent corpus, highlighting regional variations and linguistic patterns, though it retained a philological emphasis on textual transcription over contextual interpretation. Audollent's catalog remains a foundational reference, though subsequent discoveries have expanded the body of evidence. In the , scholarship evolved toward recognizing curse tablets as windows into popular religion and social dynamics, distinct from elite discourses. Christopher A. Faraone's contributions in the 1991 edited volume Magika Hiera: Ancient Magic and Religion explored the poetics of binding spells, arguing that these texts employed rhetorical strategies to invoke divine intervention in everyday conflicts like litigation and , thus framing curses as performative acts of popular devotion rather than mere . This period also saw increased acknowledgment of their role in non-elite spheres, with studies emphasizing how they reveal agency among ordinary individuals in judicial and agonistic contexts. Post-2000 research has embraced interdisciplinary methods, incorporating , analysis, and . Databases such as TheDeMa (Thesaurus Defixionum Magdeburgensis), launched in 2010, and its successor TheDefix in the 2020s, have digitized thousands of inscriptions, facilitating searchable access to texts, translations, and metadata for cross-cultural comparisons. Studies on materiality, exemplified by Sofía Torallas Tovar and Klaas A. Worp's 2022 examination of lead as a technological medium, highlight how the metal's durability and symbolic associations with the shaped inscription and deposition practices. Social historical approaches have illuminated aspects like dynamics—women appear as both commissioners and targets in erotic curses—and provincial life, where tablets from Roman frontiers reflect multicultural interactions and economic tensions. As of 2024, Inscriptiones Graecae III.4 published a comprehensive edition of all known curse tablets, incorporating approximately 85 new examples. In January 2025, 21 additional Roman-era curse tablets, one inscribed in , were discovered in a in Orléans, , further expanding the corpus and revealing linguistic variations in provincial contexts. Contemporary debates center on transitions from pagan to Christian practices, with of imprecatory formulas persisting in early Christian funerary inscriptions, suggesting continuity in cursing traditions amid religious shifts. Ethical considerations in ancient curse practices, such as the moral implications of invoking harm through divine proxies, continue to inform discussions of agency and in pre-modern societies. The total published corpus now exceeds 3,000 tablets, with ongoing excavations adding to this number and refining our understanding of their cultural ubiquity.

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