Currently not on view
Curse tablet,
3rd–6th century CE
Byzantine
Late Antiquity, ca. 476–700 CE
2011-148
Information
Title
Curse tablet
Dates
3rd–6th century CE
Medium
Lead
Dimensions
approx. 8.9 x approx. 11.3 cm (3 1/2 x 4 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch to Princeton University
Object Number
2011-148
Place Excavated
Turkey, Antioch on the Orontes
Inscription
According to Sigel and Hollmann's report of 7 Sept, 2004: This 18 line inscription contains text and magical characters and is a type of spell known as a thumokatokhon, "anger-restrainer." An underworld power is called on to keep the thumos (here: "anger") and horme ("rush, onset") of Oulpianos (Ulpianus) away from the speaker, Germanos or Ermanos. This represents an interesting variation of the formula found on other thumokatokhon, which normally restrain the thumos and orge ("rage, anger") of the victim. The speaker further calls upon the underworld figure to (blind?) his victim's eyes, hinder him, and bind his mouth. The tablet ends with a set of magical characters and several logoi and magical names set out in tabular form in the center of lines 12-17. The curse is repeated in summarized form in a separate table at the ends of lines 13-15.
Period
Type
Materials
Excavated by the Princeton-led team at Antioch-on-the-Orontes, present-day Antakya, Turkey, 1931-1939; with the Museum since 1939
- William Alexander Campbell, "The third season of excavation at Antioch-on-the-Orontes", American journal of archaeology 40, no. 1 (Jan.–Mar., 1936): p. 1-10., p. 1-10, esp. 8; fig. 14; p.9; fig. 13
- Donald N. Wilber, Antioch-on-the-Orontes II: the excavations 1933 –1936, ed., Richard Stillwell, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; London: Oxford University Press; The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1938)., cat. no. 321 (Pa1013–S463), p. 122, pl. 7
-
John H. Humphrey, "Prolegomena to the study of the Hippodrome at Caesarea Maritima", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
No. 213 (Feb., 1974): p. 2-45., p. 40 -
D.R. Jordan, "A survey of Greek defixiones not included in the special corpora", Greek, Roman and Byzantine studies 26, no. 2 (Summer, 1985): p. 151-197.
, p. 193 - Florent Heintz, "Magic tablets and the games at Antioch", in ed. Christine Kondoleon, Antioch: the lost ancient city, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; Worcester, MA: Worcester Art Museum, 2000)., p. 163-167
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Alexander Hollmann, "A curse tablet from the circus at Antioch", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 145 (2003): p. 67-82.
, p. 69-71 - "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2011," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 71/72 (2012-13): p. 75-132., p. 86
