Greek Inscription

Inscribed sheet of lead, with a Greek text of 51 lines (45 on the front + 5 on the back) in a neat, upright semi-cursive hand of the first half of the 3rd century CE. The lines on the back are squarely centered with ample margins, left and right, and are written with somewhat larger letters. There is some loss of text around the missing corners of the tablet, of which only the lower right is intact. Damaging tears in the surface of the lead in the lower left quadrant and the upper right have resulted in only a marginal loss of text. The sheet shows evidence of having been folded, although there are no signs of a piercing by a nail. This is a special example of a leaden ‘binding spell’, or defixio (Gk. κατάδεσμοs), known as an ἀγωγή -- a charm to ‘fetch’ a woman against her will, using magical spells and invocations. Remarkably, the practitioner aims to secure the sexual favors of no less than four women.

The spell combines elements of Egyptian underworld beliefs, centering on a ritual to revive, or resurrect, the god Osiris, who is considered lord of the Netherworld with Greek mythological tenets and geographical features associated with Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. The text, though written in Greek, carries names in Latin, and invokes spells with elements of ancient Egyptian.


Translation (by Roy Kotansky):

1 Let Earth open up to me! Let Hades open up to me! Let the holy [tomb of Osiris OY]-
2 SERCHENTH]ENTHEMENTHEN open up to me! O Headless Aphrodite in Hades open up for me
3 [the most holy] burial-place of OYSERTHIŌI! Woe, woe! Fire, fire! Lawlessness, lawlessness! [I call on you by the]
4 great SERPHNOUTHI, the one in heaven: raise up the great-glorious O[siris OU]-
5 SERCHECHŌCH who reclines upon the lion-faced bier [and]
6 sleeps the everlasting sleep -- it seems to me to be ‘eternal’ -- for
7 the Holy Air (= Shu) will raise you up and will give you breath in your nostrils. Open up
8 your lips, for your name is the Lion-KABARŌTH. Be raised up, O prince-father KABAPHĒ,
9 whom two maiden-priestesses, OUOR (and) OUROTH, begat! Be raised up, O four-faced faced
10 daimōn (or: deceased soul) who reclines in darkness, and look up with your eyes OUSER-
11 CHENTHEMTHEMENTHEN! For I am KOM(PH)THŌ (son) of PORTHŌ! Let the gates
12 of Hades open up for me! And, having raised him up, send up to me -- among the spirits of the dead under your control --
13 that single deceased soul, bound by fear and trembling. For it is required that he,
14 after ascending, should serve me in this very hour! Yet let the deceased soul,
15 in this place where the sacred figure of the head of this person lies, come up --
16 whether (he be) Syrian, whether Ethiopian, whether non-Greek, whether Roman, whether foreign --
17 from among the spirits here left remaining beforehand. For I bring that breath of his
18 that went out of his body that was handed over to me
19 by KRIPH. For it is required that the deceased soul in this burial-spot,
20 where the sacred figure of his lies, himself serve me against Postuma,
21 whom Tertulla bore, and against Tertullina whom Flavia bore, and
22 against Perpetua, whose sons are Volus(i)us and Faust(i)anus, and against
23 Candida, whom Successa bore. Bind them and seize them in love
24 and desire; let them lie awake; let them be anxious through the whole night and day,
25 with insane passion and desire for my love, for my lust, and passion for Gaius
26 whom Vitalis bore -- even their souls, hearts, their very insides inflamed with desire,
27 burning, tortured for the period of my life!
28 Let him, therefore, leave Tartarus; let him leave the gates of Cocytos; let him leave the lake
29 of Acheron and the pit of Hades, and let him come for my service. For I
30 am the one who is asking him, KOMPHTHŌ, son of PORTHŌ. I adjure you, deceased
31 soul-of-the-dead of this human spirit, whoever you might be, in this grave-spot,
32 by the great disembodied and embodied one over the river Golden-KYSAKMISŌ-
33 [1-2]EKASEIREAU[1-2]RAPILESTIAOR. Bind and burn; ignite; inflame
34 and fetch for me Postuma, whom Tertulla bore, and Tertullina,
35 whom Flavia bore, and Perpetua, whose sons are Volusius
36 and Faust(i)anus, and Candida, whom Successa bore, for my lust
37 and passion for Gaius -- now, quickly! -- through whole nights and days, driven with
38 insane passion, desire, for my love, for my lust. OUSENCHENTHEMEN OSO-
39 [R]ONNŌPHRI AMMARŌ [?] ALCHILŌMASŌCHELŌ[?]CHORBAI SERBŌSEM EME SERIEREY
40 [1-2]BALBĒLPHIASBIAŌ[TH]CHENOU CHĒLŌMPS PSAPSERBŌTH AIAIRAMPHILI
41 [.]OARSIŌTH NOUCHIŌSORŌSIAMEIĒISCHŌMONBEYPH -- only the (letters) EYPHPH
42 are in the museum-library -- I adjure you, deceased soul of the dead, whoever you might be, by
43 Osiris beneath the earth. I adjure you by the prince of deceased souls BAKAXICHYCH,
44 bind, compel to come Postuma and Tertullina and
45 Perpetua and Candida, for my lust, and passion for Gaius, now, now; quickly, quickly!

(Back):

46 Let them lie awake; let them be anxious through whole nights and
47 days, with insane passion, desire, driven to my love,
48 with desire, and lust for Gaius. Seize, bind,
49 and fetch, therefore, for me, Postuma and Tertullina
50 and Perpetua and Candida, for my
51 lust, and passion for Gaius.