The ancient Romans were a vindictive bunch. They regularly called on the gods to harm those they perceived had wronged them, sometimes recording their curses on thin lead tablets that were usually rolled up and deposited inside graves, temples, and shrines. While examining two such tablets recently rediscovered in the City Archaeological Museum of Bologna—their provenance is unknown—researcher Celia Sánchez Natalías of the University of Zaragoza in Spain found two particularly nasty examples. “Destroy, crush, kill, strangle Porcello and wife Maurilla. Their soul, heart, buttocks, liver…” says part of a tablet dating to the fourth or fifth century a.d. Sánchez Natalías believes this is a curse directed at a veterinarian and his wife, perhaps for the death of an animal. The second curse, one of the only known examples directed at a Roman senator, reads, “Crush, kill Fistus the senator…. May Fistus dilute, languish, sink, and may all his limbs be dissolved.” One can only imagine what Fistus must have done to engender such vitriol.—Jarrett A. Lobell
Curses!!!
Recommended Articles
Features November/December 2024
Let the Games Begin
How gladiators in ancient Anatolia lived to entertain the masses
Features November/December 2024
The Many Faces of the Kingdom of Shu
Thousands of fantastical bronzes are beginning to reveal the secrets of a legendary Chinese dynasty
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2024
Egyptian Crocodile Hunt
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2024
Monuments to Youth
-
-
Letter from Iceland September/October 2012
Surviving the Little Ice Age
How a flexible economy saved a nation during a period of unpredictable climate
-
Artifacts September/October 2012
Inscribed Clay Tablet
A previously unknown ancient language is discovered on a 2,700-year-old tablet
(Courtesy Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Project) -
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2012
The Seeds of Inequality