Cursing and Praying
When the Romans conquered Britain in the first century AD, they stumbled upon a great natural wonder in the southwest: a hot spring. Needless to say, the steaming hot water bubbling up naturally from the ground was seen as an opportunity for bathing. They could not resist building one of their trademark bathhouses on the site - but we will get back to that later. It was also clear to the Romans that this was a special, perhaps supernatural place. It is possible that the local tribes (we do not know very much about them, unfortunately) already believed that the spring was inhabited by a goddess named Sulis. It was customary for the Romans not to abolish local gods, but to incorporate them into the Roman pantheon by associating them with one of their own gods. Consequently, Sulis became Sulis Minerva, and a temple was built for her around her hot spring. They called the place Aquae Sulis, the waters of Sulis.
When archaeologists started excavations on the temple, they found many objects in the hot spring reservoir. It seemed like the objects had been deliberately deposited in the spring. Among the objects were many so-called curse tablets, one of which you see here. A curse tablet is a small, usually rectangular sheet of lead, inscribed with a curse text. Curse tablets have been found all over the Roman Empire, so cursing must have been a pretty widespread tradition. It seems likely that the Romans brought the tradition with them to Britain. What is so spectacular about the tablets from Sulis’ spring is first, that there are so many, about 118 inscribed tablets (including fragments), and second, that they are all aimed at cursing thieves.
The tablet we will examine here is in many ways a typical Roman curse tablet, but it also has many unique and mysterious aspects. By taking a closer look at it, we gain insight into the daily concerns of the local population in this far corner of the Roman Empire.