curse
- Museum number
- 1934,1105.1
- Description
-
Lead curse, scratched onto sheet metal.
- Dimensions
-
Length: 220 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The wishing of ill-health, or worse, on a person is typical of many Roman curses. Curses were sometimes rolled up, hidden under floors or in wall cavities, or nailed up. After this example had been inscribed it was pierced by seven holes driven through from the back of the sheet, a procedure perhaps intended to increase the power of the curse.
This example from Roman London, scratched on a fragment of lead sheet, reads:
'I curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver and lungs mixed up together, and her words, thoughts and memory; thus may she be unable to speak what things are concealed, nor be able...'
Roman Britain, 1st-4th century AD
- Location
- On display (G49/dc4)
- Acquisition date
- 1934
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1934,1105.1
