archeologist working in Serbia have chance upon flyspeck parchments of gold and silver inscribe with what looks like a serial of ancient curse .
Thecurse tablet were found alongside human skeletons at an dig siteat the invertebrate foot of a coal - fire power station in Kostolac in northeastern Serbia . archaeologist lead by Miomir Korać are currently scrub the area in preparation for further construction at the site , which was once home to the ancient Romanic metropolis of Viminacium .
A calendar week ago , Korać ’s team uncovered two amulets made of leash that were buried alongside the skeletons . Each amulet contain tiny roll of silver and gold that were cover in symbols and writing . The archaeologists believe Greco - Romans used the artefact to ask the gods , purport , or the at peace to perform some sorting of activeness on another person or an object , or to invoke some kind of curse . These spells could be benignant , such as a love spell , or they could have evil design , such as wishing a special ill luck upon an foe or rival .
One of the newly discover curlicue moderate textbook written in ancient Aramaic , and not Greek . That presents a mystery to the scientist , but it ’s also an important clew . The researcher have identify several devil associated with the territory of what is today Syria , including Baal , Yahweh , Thobarabau , Seneseilam , and Sesengenfaranges . Invoking the powers of both Baal and Yahweh on a single lozenge is unprecedented .
The History Blogoffers more contextabout these curse lozenge :
Found throughout the Greco - Roman reality even well into the Christian era , curse tablets called on heart , demonic or divine superpower to control a target — destroy an foeman , force restitution of steal goods , get someone in the sack or make the opposing team lose . The tablets were thin rag of lead on which invocation against the targets were scratched . They would then be wind or folded up and placed in a relevant surface area ordinarily below the ground , graves , H. G. Wells , temples , sanctuaries or the home of the cursed .
The earliest known extant curse tablet were found in the Greek colony of Selinunte in Sicily ( forward-looking - day Castelvetrano where they grow the greatest brilliant gullible olives ) and date to the other fifth century B.C. The 22 Selinute tablets were mostly litigation swearword mean to kneecap opponent in a lawsuit . Other pop types of curses include ones against rival sports team , rival businesses , thieves and sexual love or sexuality spells . Men lean to deploy curse tablets to arouse women ’s passion , while women mostly used curses to stimulate humans ’s affection .
The other roll found at the web site do n’t arrest any recognizable texts , and are rather inscribed with unknown symbols , possibly representing astrological signs or cosmic forces . The archaeologist are presently trying to trace these symbols , along with the Aramaic text , in an effort to learn more .
[ The Guardian , The History Blog ]
ArchaeologyHistoryScience
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