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Young World
A tablet for a curse?
COMPILED BY ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN
Archaeologists in Leicester, England, have recently uncovered a treasure trove of Roman and medieval artefacts, including a 1,700-year-old Roman "curse tablet". Curse tablets were metal scrolls on which ancient Romans wrote spells to exact revenge for misdeeds, often thefts of money, clothing, or animals. Such tablets have been discovered previously in Britain, often near ancient Roman temple sites, but this is the first one to be found in Leicester. The Leicester tablet, which was uncovered near the ruins of a large Roman townhouse dating from the second century A.D., was found unrolled. Curse tablets were typically rolled up and nailed to posts inside temples or shrines. The newfound tablet appears to have been written by, or on behalf of, a man named Servandus, whose cloak had been stolen. The writer inscribed a curse into a sheet of lead, asking the god Maglus to destroy the thief.
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