Curse pot with over 30 inscribed names and chicken remains found in Ancient Agora

Excavations in Ancient Agora in Athens unearthed a unique object: a curse pot. The 2,300-year-old vessel was used as a tool to “bind” curses to some over 50 people whose names were inscribed on it. According to Jessica Lamont, Assistant Professor of Classics at Yale University, the object reveals new evidence on how the ancient Athenians used “magic” against their  enemies.

The ceramic pot was found buried in the back corner of an industrial and commercial building.

The exterior of the vessel was inscribed with over 30 names, many female and several new or previously unattested in Attica.

The pot contained the dismembered head and lower limbs of a young chicken.

The vessel was pierced with a large iron nail and buried with a coin beneath the floor of the Agora’s Classical Commercial Building sometime around 300 B.C.

“55 names are engraved on the pot, dozens of which are now indistinguishable,” tLamont wrote in her article on magazine “Hesperia.” She noted that the inscription seems to contain the word “bind.”

The iron nail found with the chicken in the vase probably played a role in the curse. The nails were used in ancient curses and “had an inhibitory power and symbolically immobilized or limited the abilities of the victims of the curse,” the researcher wrote.

The chicken was not older than 7 months when it was slaughtered and those who “blinded” the curse may have wanted to pass on the weakness of the young chicken to the victims whose names were on the pot.

Remains of fire with animal bones were found near the pot, which may have increased the power of the curse.

The ritual assemblage belongs to the realm of Athenian binding curses and aimed to “bind” or inhibit the physical and cognitive faculties of the named individuals.

This unique discovery offers new evidence for the practice of “magic” in the heart of ancient Athens, Lamont noted on the Abstract.

The style of writing on the pot suggests that at least two people with knowlege of the matter wrote the names. The reason why they did it is not known to scientists, but it may be related to a legal case or a case with a labor issue as the pot was buried in a building used by craftsmen.

“The large number of engraved names makes an imminent lawsuit the most likely scenario,” the researcher wrote, noting that “the authors of the curse can list all of their potential opponents, including witnesses, families and supporters of the opponents.”

Another possibility is that the curse is related to a riot that prevailed in Athens around 300 BC. after the death of Alexander the Great. According to historical records, several factions fought for control of Athens at that time.

It was “a period plagued by war, siege and the shift of political alliances,” Lamont wrote.

The vessel was excavated in 2006 and was recently analyzed and deciphered by the team of Lamont at the YEale Department of Classics.

Lamont’s article in Hesperia here

Information used on KTG’s post from naftemporiki.gr