Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here there's an inscription attached to the wall of a tomb in the ancient Italian city of Pompeii. That's not honoring the deceased, far from it. It reads, in translation, stranger, stay a short while, if it is not too troublesome, and learn what to avoid. This man, who I hoped was a friend of mine, brought prosecutors to me and instigated proceedings. I am grateful
to the gods and my innocence. I am free from all trouble. He who deceived us, may he not receive the household, gods nor the underworld. This perhaps petty piece of archaeological graffiti is known as a cursed tablet. It was written by an ex friend of the deceased and put on display for the whole city to read after his death. Though it might seem strange today, writing cursed tablets was a common practice in ancient Roman Greece. But what was the purpose of these objects, aside from the
obvious and who was writing them? Today we're talking all things cursed tablets. A cursed tablets essentially did what the name implies they were objects, usually from ancient Greece and Rome, upon which somebody wrote a curse. For the article, this episode is based on how Stuff Works. Spoke with Dr Stuart McKee, a scholar of Roman history at Durham University in the UK. He said, the standard definition is that their intention is to influence by supernatural means people and
animals against their will. This definition was originally put forth by the late David Jordan's, former director of the Canadian Institute. In Greece. All sorts of objects, from shards of pottery to scraps of papyrus to graves could be turned into cursed tablets. McKee said There's one really cool one that was written on a lamp, but the most common curse tablets by far were written on thin scraps of lead.
A lead is a byproduct of silver mining, which was a major source of wealth in ancient Greece and Rome, particularly in the Greek city state of Athens. This means that there was a lot of extra lead lying around at the time. The ancient Romans frequently used it as a cosmetic or to line their drinking vessels and pipes, which we know today to be a kind of curse in itself, as blood poisoning is no joke, but they also used it to inscribe messages, especially ones to the gods.
A Scholars think that the choice of lead as a writing material was part practical a lead is soft and therefore easy to scratch marks into, but also part aesthetic has to works also spoke with Dr Britta Ager, a classicist at Arizona State University. She said, you get the sort of silvery fluid looking line against the oxidized surface
of the metal. It just looks magical. Cursed tablets had bursts of popularity across Greek and Roman history, but when they were fashionable, they were ubiquitous across social classes and situations. Wealthy politicians would sometimes curse their political rivals or the opposing party in a legal battle. Working class folks would curse thieves, murderers, their crushes, or the chariot racing team that they wanted to lose. There are records of enslaved
people using curses. The wealthy and educated could, of course hand right their own curses if they so chose, but many folks may have relied on a third party for their cursing needs. Ager said, if you weren't literate enough to write one of these, you could go to a professional who would do it for you. These local magicians acted kind of like contract attorneys, drafting up cursed templates for their clients and letting them fill in the blanks.
Archaeologists have even found cursed tablets where the name of the person being cursed was slightly too long to fit in the blank. The letters had to be smooshed together as a result. And of course, where there are curses, there are counter curses. McKee described it as a sort of magical arms race. Amulets to ward off curses like the Evil Eye were and still are popular in many
parts of the world. Some cursed tablets detailed protective measures in case the cursed person discovered the spell and decided to retaliate, and other cursed tablets even included clauses to ensure that the curse circumvented popular protective measures. So when did cursed tablets go out of fashion for good? The answer depends on how you look at it. By the fourth century, cursed tablets in the Roman Empire were becoming scarce.
The answer depends on how you look at it. By the fourth century CE, cursed tablets in the Roman Empire were becoming scarce, McKee said. In some of the later Roman law codes from Constantine onward, you do sti to get much more heavy policing of religious options, and also, you know, culture changes. However, the basic human feelings powerlessness, frustration, jealousy, and anger that drove people to write cursed tablets never went away. Take for example, Twitter, which some would argue
is absolutely cursed. Back in British, Twitter users took their political frustrations to the Internet in the immediate aftermath of the Panama Papers reveal. For several days, the hashtag curse David Cameron was trending, attached to messages like this one from user mr Tickle three, may every sock you wear be slightly rotated just enough for it to be uncomfortable.
Whether or not those Twitter users actually believed they were going to curse the then British Prime Minister, the message was clear this person had done harm and they wanted justice, be it divine or online. M In that sense, some key and Ager say, regardless of religious belief, we all still use curses, McKee said, it's only a short step from spreading malicious gossip about someone to writing a curse.
Today's episode is based on the article ancient folks didn't have Twitter, But Boy did they have curse tablets on how stuff works dot Com written by Joanna Thompson. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang and Ramsey Young. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen into your favorite shows