Over a decade ago an ancientĀ grave located northeast of Piraeus near Athens, revealed the cremated remains of a young women and five lead curse tablets fromĀ 2,400 years ago.
Four of the curse tablets are engraved with curses to be cast upon four different husband-and-wife tavern keepers in Athens.
The tablets invoked the names of “chthonic” or underworld gods, asking them to target the tavern keepers, while the fifth tablet was blank and most likely was used by having a spell or incantation orally spoken over or into the tablet.
Archaeologists with Greece’s Ephorate for Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities found all five tablets pierced with an iron nail and folded in the grave. It was believed in ancient times that the grave acted as a medium of transport, providing a path to the underworld’s gods for the tablets. The gods of theĀ underworldĀ would then complete the curse by taking action on the engraved incantations.
The tablets are currently being studied at the Piraeus Museum, where they are kept.
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