The Heerlen curse tablet has an ancient Greek inscription. Elke Fuchs / Heidelberg University Institute for Papyrology Researchers deciphered an ancient “curse tablet” from the Roman province of Lower Germania, in what’s now the Netherlands. Dating back to the second century C.E., the lead tablet is engraved with Greek text that either directs the gods to punish four enslaved men and women—or act in their favor.
Such an artifact is extremely rare in Holland, and one written in Greek is even rarer, says archaeologist Hilde Vanneste to De Limburger’s Benti Banach. Vanneste says the inscription could be positive or negative, and that the tablet may have been used in magic rituals.
After archaeologists unearthed the tablet in the Dutch city of Heerlen, they sent it to Heidelberg University’s Institute for Papyrology in Germany. According to a statement from the university, the artifact measures less than four by two inches—about the size of a standard credit card. Researchers employed reflectance transformation imaging to get clear visuals of the piece, then worked to translate its message.
Rodney Ast, a papyrologist at the institute, says in the statement that the tablet’s Greek text is written in an Egyptian style. The letters are accompanied by a trio of magical symbols, known as “characteres.” Ast says these are likely meant to deliver the tablet’s message to supernatural powers. The symbols are followed by four names, two male and two female. These people are referred to as slaves.
“The tablet served either as a curse against these four slaves or as a curse in their name against an unnamed person,” Ast says in the statement.
Many so-called “curse tablets” have been found within the massive footprint of the Roman Empire—which in the second century stretched from the British Isles to North Africa. Both ancient Greeks and Romans created them: scratching inscriptions onto pieces of lead that directed supernatural forces to harm other people, then burying their work. More than 2,000 such curse tablets have been discovered, Jessica Lamont, a Classicist at Yale University, told YaleNews’ Lisa Prevost in 2024.
“These were very charged, aggressive, powerful ritual objects that were meant to transform threatening situations, anxiety-filled circumstances, professional rivalries and personal relationships that had soured or gone awry,” Lamont told YaleNews. “It was a way of gaining an edge over an opponent, of using ritual and the divine to improve one’s circumstances.”
The Heerlen tablet appears to be uniquely multicultural. While the men’s names are written in Latin—the language of most curse tablets found in Northern Europe—the women’s are in Greek. And the text invokes “various deities and demons in the Egyptian style,” per the statement.
When the curse tablet was created, the Netherlands were part of the Roman Empire, as was Egypt. The latter civilization, with its legendary pharaonic history and use of magic, fascinated Romans. In the first and second centuries C.E., Egyptian and Middle Eastern traditions “increasingly merged and spread throughout the entire Roman Empire,” says Joachim Quack, an Egyptologist at Heidelberg University, in the statement. The researchers think the Nile river civilization may have influenced the tablet-maker.
“It cannot be ruled out that one of the two women was the author of the inscription and had brought the supposed ability to communicate with divine powers through such curses with her from Roman Egypt,” says Julia Lougovaya, a researcher at the Institute for Papyrology, in the statement.
The newly translated curse tablet will be on display in the city hall, reports De Limburger.
The tablet’s value comes from its rarity, Vanneste tells local broadcaster L1 News. Researchers in the Netherlands haven’t found many written records from the Roman period, she says, and this artifact is uniquely, deeply personal.
Sonja Anderson is a daily correspondent for Smithsonian magazine who covers art, archaeology and culture, from newly discovered artifacts to the latest art heists.
