25 September 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

Evil-Wisher Well: Ancient curse tablets 2,500-year-old found in a well in Athens

30 ancient curse tablets were found at the bottom of a 2500-year-old well in ancient Athens.

In 2020, Archaeologists from the German Archaeological Institute found 30 lead tablets engraved with curses on them at the bottom of a 2,500-year-old well in Athens‘ downtown neighborhood of Kerameikos (Ceramicus).

Discovered in the area of Kerameikos, ancient Athens’ main burial ground, the small tablets invoked the gods of the underworld in order to cause harm to others.

A total of thirty well-preserved curse tablets dating back to the Classical period ( (MÖ 480-323) were found in an ancient well which was originally discovered back in 2016, when other everyday objects—but not the tablets—were found. These curses were ritual texts, usually scratched on small lead objects.

The ancient Greeks were known to engrave curse tablets and place them to wells or graves in order to curse someone with whom they had major disagreements.

Before the discovery of the 30 specimens in the well, dozens of curses from the classical period had been found mainly in tombs of dead people who had died in an untimely manner and were therefore thought suitable to carry the spell to the underworld. One had also been found in another well. But there was good reason for the transition of ill-will from graves to wells in ancient Athens.

The rocky, muddy opening to the ancient well in Kerameikos, Athens where the curse tablets were found. Photo: Dr. Jutta Stroszeck – German Archaeological Institute

The tablets would be placed near tombs because they believed that the souls of the dead would carry these curses to the gods of the underworld.

The hexes were apparently in the well for a reason. According to Cicero (De Legibus II 66), Demetrios of Phaleron, who governed Athens from 317 to 307 B.C.E., passed legislation governing tomb administration. He also established a new magistrate’s office to ensure that the law was followed: et huic procurationi certum magistratum praefecerat.

To begin with, “black arts” were frowned upon in Athens, and with the new cemetery rule, hexes couldn’t just be placed in tombs, as had been the custom (35 had been found in the graves of Kerameikos, in previous excavations).

As a result, during the late fourth century B.C.E., ill-wishers had to discover alternative ways to communicate with the underworld gods. They appear to have devised the strategy of secretly hurling their curses into wells.

Love and Hate: This curse tablet was created against a newlywed woman named Glykera. The curse, which focuses on her vagina, was made by someone who envied the woman’s marriage. Photo: Dr. Jutta Stroszeck – German Archaeological Institute

Inside the well the archaeologists found a wealth of material, including drinking vessels (skyphoi), wine mixing vessels (krater), clay lamps, cooking pots, special broad-mouthed clay pots used to draw water (kadoi), wooden artifacts including a trinket box, a scraper used by potters, a wooden pulley, part of the drawing mechanism of the well) a number of bronze coins, as well as organic remains such as peach pits.

Since water, and especially drinking water, was sacred, it was believed that every well had a nymph to protect the water. And angering this nymph could have had dire consequences. Offerings like little containers carrying liquids and other gifts were thrown into the well to satisfy these emotionally unstable godlets.

Lead objects found at the bottom of the Kerameikos well dating back to the 5th century BC. Photo: Dr. Jutta Stroszeck – German Archaeological Institute

Kerameikos excavations

The well had not been investigated before to this, despite more than a century of excavations at Kerameikos. The archaeologist Kurt Gebauer and architect Heinz Johannes had previously worked on the area, but World War II put a stop to their efforts. None of the excavators made it through the war; Gebauer perished in an aircraft accident over Vienna in 1942, and Johannes was deployed to the Russian front and died there in 1945. Only recently were the excavations at the bathhouse resumed.

The excavations conducted by the German Archaeological Institute in the Kerameikos since 1913 unearthed about 6,500 burials.

Kerameikos archaeological site
Kerameikos cemetery.

The curse tablets were accidentally found in 2020 while archaeologists were investigating the supply of water to a 1st century BC bathhouse that was close to the well.

Cover Photo: Oval led “coffin” with a spell against Pytheas et al., ordered by Pytheas’ opponent in an Athenian law court (reading: W. Peek). Dr. Jutta Stroszeck / German Archaeological Institute.

Banner
Related Post

Ancient Egyptian cult drank a trippy mix of drugs, human blood, and bodily fluids

7 June 2023

7 June 2023

Researchers have identified some of the components of found in an ancient Bes vase dating back to Ptolemaic era Egypt....

A 1,300-year-old necklace is the ‘richest of its type ever uncovered in Britain’

6 December 2022

6 December 2022

Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) archaeologists have found a “once-in-a-lifetime” 1,300-year-old gold and gemstone necklace dating back to 630-670 AD...

The Headless Corpses of Somersham was Victims of Roman Executions

30 May 2021

30 May 2021

Excavations at Knobb’s Farm in Somersham, Cambridgeshire, unearthed three small late Roman graves on the outskirts of an agricultural village....

5000-year-old jewelry factory found in Rakhi Garhi in India’s Indus Valley region

9 May 2022

9 May 2022

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has made an important discovery by finding the remains of a 5000-year-old jewelry factory...

Archaeologists found a 2,000-year-old Roman road in Cluj-Napoca in northwest Romania

23 January 2023

23 January 2023

Archaeologists from the National Museum of the History of Transylvania have discovered a well-preserved 2,000-year-old Roman road in the city...

1,500-year-old mosaic found near the Caliph’s palace at Khirbat al-Minya on the Sea of Galilee

30 September 2022

30 September 2022

Archaeologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz uncovered an ancient mosaic that once lay in the shadow of a caliph palace...

Turkey discovers 11 new major hills near famed Gobeklitepe “Potbelly Hill”

28 June 2021

28 June 2021

Turkey reported on Sunday the discovery of 11 new hills in the vicinity of the renowned ancient site of Gobeklitepe...

Archaeologists find an Anglo-Saxon church at Stoke Mandeville excavation site

13 September 2021

13 September 2021

Archaeologists working on the HS2 project found the remains of an Anglo-Saxon church during their excavations at the former St...

Excavations in and around Yazıkaya, one of the monumental works of the Phrygians, start again after 71 years.

23 July 2022

23 July 2022

Archaeological excavations at Midas Castle in Yazılıkaya Midas Valley in the Han district of Eskişehir, located in northwest Turkey, will...

Archaeologists in Derbyshire have unearthed a 9th century Anglo Saxon house

15 July 2021

15 July 2021

A nearly complete Anglo-Saxon house, considered to date from the early ninth century and might have been the abode of...

Astonishing discovery in Kazakhstan: Bronze Age girl buried with more than 150 animal ankle bones

7 September 2023

7 September 2023

Archaeologists in eastern Kazakhstan have unearthed a Bronze Age burial mound of a girl surrounded by various grave goods in...

Neanderthals caused ecosystems to change 125,000 years ago

16 December 2021

16 December 2021

Researchers say Neanderthals changed the ecosystem by turning forests into grasslands 125,000 years ago. Around 125,000 years ago, these close...

Türkiye’s Neolithic Settlement Çayönü Hill Discovered New Tombs from Early Bronze Age

4 September 2023

4 September 2023

Archaeologists have unearthed 5 more tombs dating to the Early Bronze Age during the recent excavations on Çayönü Hill in...

Jomon Ruins Adding to UNESCO World Heritage List

26 May 2021

26 May 2021

An international advisory panel has recommended that a group of ruins from the ancient Jomon period in northern Japan is...

1500-Year-Old Mosaic Saved in illegal Excavation Operation

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

During the illegal excavation operation carried out in Izmir’s Aliağa district, a monastery built during the Roman period and about...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *