Curse Tablet from Lebanon
I doubt this brief item from Japan Times will get much attention elsewhere:
An excavation team from Kyoto University working in Lebanon has found a lead plate believed to date from between the second and fourth centuries that was apparently used to invoke the spirits of the dead.
The 6-cm-wide, 14.7-cm-long plate, discovered near the entrance of an underground grave, is adorned with ancient Greek text that reads “May the unjust be removed from them” and “May signs of a gag and shame, and disgrace be given to them,” along with the names of four people, the team said Tuesday.
Hiroshima University associate professor Hiroshi Maeno said, “Common people in a weak position may have made a wish for the supernatural to accomplish what they were unable to.”
The article includes a photo from Kyoto University:
… not sure ‘invoke the spirits of the dead’ is the best way to describe this. We’re clearly looking at a lead curse tablet … for comparanda, see, e.g. one from Leicester or a very interesting one from Cyprus.
This Day in Ancient History: ante diem v idus decembres
Image via Wikipedia
- 297 A.D. — martyrs of Samosata
- 303 A.D. — martyrdom of Leocadia
- 1667 — birth of William Whiston (translator of Josephus, although better known for other reasons)
- 1717 — birth of Johann Winckelmann
