Multicultural Curse Tablet Unearthed in Netherlands Deciphered

A 1,800-year-old lead curse tablet, unearthed in Heerlen, Netherlands, has been deciphered by researchers at Heidelberg University. The tablet, dating to the 2nd century, was found in a pit beneath Heerlen's town hall square, on the site of the Roman settlement Coriovallum along the Via Belgica. It measures 3.5 by 1.8 inches and bears an ancient Greek invocation of deities and demons in an Egyptian style, a rare multicultural combination for Northern Europe where most such tablets are in Latin. The curse includes three magical symbols called characteres and four names: two masculine in Latin and two feminine in Greek, all belonging to slaves. It may have been a curse against these four or a curse in their name against an unnamed person. Researchers used reflectance transformation imaging to read the text. The tablet will go on view at the Heerlen Museum and be published in a scholarly publication.