Currently not on view
Curse tablet,
3rd–6th century CE
Byzantine
Late Antiquity, ca. 476–700 CE
2011-146
Information
Title
Curse tablet
Dates
3rd–6th century CE
Medium
Lead
Dimensions
approx. 10.7 x 8.2 cm (4 3/16 x 3 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch to Princeton University
Object Number
2011-146
Place Excavated
Turkey, Antioch on the Orontes
Inscription
According to Sigel and Hollmann's report of 7 Sept, 2004: the tablet inscribed with 26 lines of text in Greek, magical characters, and two drawings. The inscription begins with the borphor logos (cf. tablets 3603-I56 and 4740-I 130c). It calls for the victim to undergo an alternately chilling and burning fever (cf. tablet 3421-I45) and be confined to bed. Lines 15-21 contain magical characters. Lines 20-22 contain two remarkable drawings of birds, which appear to be doves. Inside the body of the smaller of the two birds the letter IAÔ appear, which represent the name of the Jewish god and which occur frequently on curse tablets. Research is underway to determine a possible symbolic connection between the bird and the name IAÔ.
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. 2
- 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)., p. 148
-
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)., cat. no. 53; pg. 165 (illus.).
-
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., illustrated p. 98
