University of Leicester archaeologists unearth ancient curse [ Maglus ]

EurekAlert ^ | November 30, 2006 | University of Leicester

[SunkenCiv]

One of the most interesting finds from a site on Vine Street was a 'curse' tablet – a sheet of lead inscribed in the second or third century AD and intended to invoke the assistance of a chosen god. It has been translated by a specialist at Oxford University, and reads: 'To the god Maglus, I give the wrongdoer who stole the cloak of Servandus. Silvester, Riomandus (etc.) ... that he destroy him before the ninth day, the person who stole the cloak of Servandus…' Then follows a list of the names of 18 or 19 suspects. What happened to them is not recorded... Before the discovery of this object, archaeologists only knew of the names of three or four of the inhabitants of Roman Leicester, so the find is of great significance... The excavations have also produced many thousands of sherds of pottery, together with building materials, animal bone and a large variety of smaller objects, including Roman weighing scales, coins, brooches, gaming pieces and hairpins. A find of note from the medieval period is a piece of high status chain mail.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Dustbunny]

Darn, wish there were pictures of their finds.

[SunkenCiv]

I just wish they'd pronounce Leicester right, or change the spelling. ;')

[PzLdr]

Didn't they use a lead sheet on the HBO series "Rome" when Brutus' mother cursed Caesar and his niece?

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.null-hypothesis.co.uk/article/548

"Punishments were written by professional curse writers invoking the assistance of a chosen god to harm the thief in question. They were then rolled up and pinned to the wall of a shrine. The kind people at Leicester University sent us an image of the tablet in question - it's small, brown and a bit squiggly, not what I had in mind as a message to them upstairs..."

[Recon Dad]

Even today with see curses that should be taken seriously......"If you forget your roots a plague will be set upon you in the form of a ankle-less woman with a screeching voice."

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, that character cut stuff into lead sheets (two of them, in series, for two different victims) as she chanted her incantation, then rolled up the sheets and her slave delivered them (looked like chinks in the walls of each victim's house).

[SunkenCiv]

?

[SunkenCiv]

All this was years before the government required unleaded curses...

[SunkenCiv]

Here's a couple similar ones in addition to Fred's:

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/infocus/features/in-focus/curses-those-pesky-romans%E2%80%A6-$459644.htm

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/photo/roman-curse-tablet-$13400$180.jpg

Dutch page:

http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/70984

http://images.fok.nl/upload/061201_76599_Maglus_tablet.jpg