Use the Curse Tablets Found in Ancient Burials

Twenty kinds of lead cursed pieces were found in the graves of the Gallo-Roman cemetery in Orleans, France. A tomb that dates back to the second half of the second century is particularly noteworthy in writing the curse in Gaulish. The language was used for centuries after the Roman conquest, but few written examples survived, making the cursed tablet extremely rare.

Gallo-Roman Neclopolis was excavated in 2022 at the site of the 18th-century Porte Madeleine Hospital. The cemetery has been used since the end of the first century to the third time. Archaeologists have discovered that more than 60 burials are lined up along the walls. The deceased were all adult men and were all attracted. There are no women or children, and no cremation. The specificity of this abnormality suggests that the cemetery is used exclusively by a specialized group. It was in the grave of F2199 that tightly rolled lead sheets between the legs of the deceased were found.

Defixio (curse in Latin) tablets were popular throughout the Greek and Roman world, and even outstanding in Christian times. People who feel resentful of their rivals in love and business, usually their rival sports teams, will write spells asking the underworld gods to punish their enemies. Lead is the most commonly used medium. It is stretchable, easy to carve and easy to roll up. It is also symbolic, as the cold deep metal is thought to have a connection with the chthonic or gangster gods attracted in the curse.

Defixio in F2199 in the grave is folded and rolled up. The lead sheet is very thin and after 200,000 years of tight rolling up, it requires careful treatment to unfold, remove corrosion and consolidate the surface with a clear coating, which will allow researchers to study it without damaging it. The marks and letters are visible, engraved on the soft surface of the lead with a stylus, but they are too faint to be deciphered by a naked person. The researchers used RTI (reflectivity conversion imaging) to highlight the inscriptions in the shooting light. From these images, experts can read Latin cursive scripts. They found it was written mainly in Gaulic words with some loans in Greek and Latin.

Translation of Gaulish is not simple, because it is a tried and tested language of extinction in archaeological records. It needs to be compared with other ancient Celtic languages ​​such as Old Irish and Old Breton to come up with a reasonable translation of some words. Work on the Curse tablet is still going on, but the first proposed translation read (original text in italics):

ib r…mi [m]The Art of Our Rebirth|a]nmantig
To the Mars Royal Family, his name

If Uiron Bnanon Uanderonado Brixton Sod-Be
This is the confusion of the following men and women (name)

cisi…piSSLong Atron Artemiston
Who accomplished the feat of misfortune and injustice

The moral Se-uiron Banon Quanti PiSSIantas
And all these men and women’s accomplices

Sollebne (1000), Marullia, Sulpici (1), Claudia (1000), Marullia (1000), Mat | (), Tiberius, contognati (1), (b), Queen), Queen, Queen, Tibe (Sulpicius, Queen, Queen, Queen tibe) [..]9, Ateporigis, Bed, (He) Gouisu (1000)

The duplicate name “Rejana” may be a call to the name of God. Others are believed to be the Gaul name of the person the curse is targeted.

You can check the RTI images of the expanded tablet in this online viewer and explore the entire 3D scan of the Grave F2199 below.