Transcript

ADAM PARKER

This is a curse tablet. This one is a replica from the city of London. The vast majority of the originals are in lead or in lead alloys. They're usually this rectangular shape on the side. And you can see it's inscribed on the front by hand in Latin cursive text on here.

PATTY BAKER

I see it has some names on it. I believe it's Titus, Ignatius, Tirianus, Defictus, est. et. And then another name, Publius, Cirilius, Felix. And what would that mean?

ADAM PARKER

In cursed tablets we have some specific formulas that included in them, for example. This one includes then the petitioner's name. It doesn't include the name of the god they're giving it to, but other examples do. Frequently Sulis or Mercury, for example.

And it also includes the name of the person who's being cursed. The one at the front is the person who's giving the curse. And the curse is laid against the name of the second person in the line down here. In the examples, particularly relating to theft, we know the name of the suspect on them. If they don't know the original person, but put a whole list of names they can attach to them.

One of these people has wronged me, and we're going to curse them as a result of that. And if we have no idea, there are a series of alternative phrases that turn up in it as well. And whether man or woman, whether a slave or free, whether a boy or girl-- and these represent the social distinctions in the Roman Empire. So no matter what your individual situation, you're able to make a curse. But how that actually happens is very much up to the individual.

PATTY BAKER

Interesting. And why does this have a hole in it?

ADAM PARKER

They have a hole in it-- and when curse tablets have been finished, when they've been written, they are rolled up together. So the text is hidden on the interior. In this example, it has been pierced by a nail. And that square hole in the interior there, that's a Roman iron nail, which have a square section shanked to them.

And that's been knocked through, right through the middle of it. It looks like it just breaks through the name of the person, which is being cursed. And that would have been a very deliberate act, that the person who was being cursed has been attacked by the nail as well as the supernatural action of the cursed tablet itself.

PATTY BAKER

Are they always made of lead?

ADAM PARKER

Yeah. Well, the vast majority are made from lead and lead alloy when we find them in the Northwestern provinces. When we go up towards the east, we find other examples in bronze and pottery and papyrus as well. But the lead is quite important in a magical sense, because of what it represents.

It's got a sympathetic relationship to the curse itself, because lead is cold, lead is dark, and lead is also quite poisonous as well. So there's the relationship between the material and the action of the curse itself. The material, it's dark and it's a little bit evil, and so is the curse.

PATTY BAKER

Fascinating. And are these found in particular places?

ADAM PARKER

Yeah, the places where they found are really important. For example, at the Temple of Aquae Sulis in Bath, they are found in the natural spring that's in the centre of the temple. And there's a strong association with watery places with them as well. We also find them associated with graves.

These are all liminal places, which are quite close to the gods and close to important things that go on in day to day life. And there are some examples which suggest that a curse tablets have been placed directly into the graves because the dead people are going to be an intermediary between the real world and the supernatural world. And they will take that message along with them to make the curse work.