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A 1,700-Year-Old Antioch Curse Tablet Called on Iao to Destroy a Greengrocer
A roughly 1,700-year-old curse tablet from ancient Antioch called upon Iao—the Greek form of the divine name Yahweh—to attack an ordinary greengrocer named Babylas. Inscribed in Greek on a thin sheet of lead, the spell was not directed against an emperor, military commander or wealthy official. Its target was a man who sold fruit and…
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A Curse Tablet Found Under a Dutch Town Square Carries a Greek Spell in Egyptian Style
A small lead tablet found beneath Heerlen’s town hall square was meant to do harm. Nearly 1,800 years later, its scratched Greek words are revealing how Egyptian-style magic reached Rome’s northern frontier. Researchers at Heidelberg University have deciphered the inscription on the Roman-period curse tablet, discovered in the Dutch municipality of Heerlen. In antiquity, the…
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4,000-Year-Old Tablets Reveal How Magic Shaped Power in Ancient Mesopotamia
A vast archive of 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets is offering a rare, layered view into how ancient Mesopotamian societies understood power. The newly analyzed collection shows that governance was never purely administrative. It was ritual, belief, and control of the unseen—woven together into a single system. Researchers from University of Copenhagen and National Museum of Denmark…