What were
lead curse tablets ?
Lead curse tablets, also known as curse tablets or by their ancient names defixiones (Latin, meaning something like “things nailed down” or “pierced”) and katadesmoi (Greek, meaning “bindings”), were a form of magical or supernatural practice in the ancient Greco-Roman world.
They consisted of small, thin sheets of lead (sometimes alloyed with tin or occasionally other materials like pewter) — typically about the size of a playing card or business card — onto which people scratched curses or invocations using a stylus. The text was usually in tiny letters, often in Greek, Latin, or local languages.
Purpose and How They Worked
People created these tablets to ask gods, underworld spirits, the dead, or chthonic (underworld) deities to intervene and harm, bind, or compel a specific person (or group) against their will. Common targets included:
• Rivals in love or business
• Legal opponents (e.g., cursing witnesses or adversaries in court cases)
• Thieves (very common in Roman Britain, where many tablets curse people who stole clothing or money)
• Competitors in sports/chariot races
• Enemies in general
The curses often used formulaic language like “I bind,” “I pierce,” or “I hand over” the target to supernatural forces, sometimes listing body parts, actions, or words to restrain (e.g., “may their tongue be bound” or “may they fail in court”).
To activate the curse, the tablet was typically:
• Rolled or folded up
• Often pierced with nails
• Then deposited in a liminal or underworld-connected place, such as:
• Graves or tombs
• Wells or sacred springs
• Temple precincts
• Underground sanctuaries
This placement symbolically “sent” the curse to the underworld powers.
Historical Context
• They appear from at least the late 6th century BCE in the Greek world (earliest examples from places like Sicily and Athens).
• They continued through the Roman period (and even into late antiquity or beyond in some regions).
• Thousands have been found across the Mediterranean and Roman provinces, including famous groups from:
• The sacred spring at Bath (Roman Aquae Sulis) in Britain — mostly theft-related curses
• Athens
• Carthage
• Recent finds in places like OrlĂ©ans (Gaulish examples)
Lead was chosen because it was cheap, soft and easy to inscribe/fold, and symbolically associated with the cold, heavy, inert qualities of the underworld.
The curse tablets from Bath (ancient Roman Aquae Sulis) are one of the most famous and largest collections of ancient curse tablets (defixiones) ever discovered. About 130 of them were unearthed during excavations in 1979–1980 in the sacred hot spring (the reservoir) of the Roman Baths complex in modern-day Bath, Somerset, England. They date mainly from the 2nd to 4th centuries CE.
These tablets are unique compared to many other curse tablets from the Greco-Roman world because almost all of them are “prayers for justice” rather than aggressive binding spells for love, court cases, or sports. They were personal pleas to the goddess Sulis Minerva (a syncretic deity combining the local Celtic goddess Sulis of the healing springs with the Roman Minerva) to punish thieves and recover stolen property — usually items left in the bathhouse changing rooms (apodyterium), like clothing, money, or accessories. Bathing thefts were apparently very common!
Key Features
• Material and Method: Thin sheets of lead (or lead-alloy/pewter), inscribed with a stylus in tiny, often cursive Latin script (some show British Latin vernacular influences). The tablets were typically folded or rolled up (sometimes pierced with nails), then thrown into the sacred spring as an offering to Sulis.
• Typical Formula: They hand over the thief to the goddess, asking her to afflict them (e.g., deny sleep, health, or life) until the stolen goods are returned to the temple. Common phrases include:
• “Whether man or woman, whether slave or free” (to cover all possibilities)
• Invoking punishment like “may they have no sleep” or “may the goddess inflict death”
• Language Insight: The texts provide rare evidence of everyday spoken Latin in Roman Britain, including local spellings and grammar quirks.
Famous Examples
Here are a few well-known translated excerpts (based on scholarly editions like those by R.S.O. Tomlin in the Tabellae Sulis corpus):
Docilianus’ hooded cloak (one of the most cited):
“Docilianus, son of Brucerus, to the most holy goddess Sulis: I curse the one who has stolen my hooded cloak, whether man or woman, whether enslaved or free, that…the goddess Sulis inflict death upon them…and not allow them sleep or children now and in the future, until they have brought my hooded cloak to the temple of her divinity.”
Solinus’ tunic and cloak:
“Solinus to the goddess Sulis Minerva. I give to your divinity and majesty [my] bathing tunic and cloak. Do not allow sleep or health to him who has done me wrong, whether man or woman or whether slave or free unless he reveals himself and brings those goods to your temple.”
The ‘Vilbia’ theft (unusual — possibly a person rather than an object):
“May he who carried off Vilbia from me become as liquid as water…” (Written in reverse letters for added magical potency; Vilbia might have been a woman “stolen” in a romantic or ownership sense.)
Gloves theft (Docimedis):
A simple curse against whoever stole his gloves while he was bathing.
These give a vivid picture of ordinary Romano-Britons — bathers frustrated by petty crime — turning to divine justice when human authorities couldn’t help.
Where to See Them
Many are displayed at the Roman Baths Museum in Bath itself (the main site where they were found). Others are in collections like the British Museum. They offer incredible insight into daily life, superstition, literacy, and religion in Roman Britain.
If you’d like more specific translations, details on a particular tablet, or info about visiting the site in London (or nearby Bath), just ask!
These tablets provide fascinating glimpses into everyday ancient concerns — jealousy, justice, theft, competition — and show how ordinary people used supernatural means to address problems when official channels failed.