Cursing Your Enemies—In Lead
If you wanted to hex your enemy in ancient Rome, you scratched a curse on a thin sheet of lead and rolled it up tight.
Unknown — "Head from a Figure with a Beaded Headdress" (12th–early 13th century), public domain
Hexes Etched in Lead
Want revenge? Grab a thin sheet of lead. Ancient Romans scratched curses—sometimes whole paragraphs—naming enemies, crimes, and punishments to the underworld gods. The result is a tightly rolled, nail-pierced tablet, meant to be hidden away.
Found in Graves and Wells
Archaeologists have dug up over 1,500 of these curse tablets across the Roman Empire. Most get buried deep—in tombs, wells, or even sacred springs, where spirits could deliver the message. Some contain hair or bits of clothing to make the curse stick.
More than 1,500 of these 'defixiones'—curse tablets—have turned up across the Roman world, from Bath to Carthage. Names, crimes, even hair clippings were buried with the tablet, often in wells or graves, to reach the spirits below. One tablet from Bath, England pleads for ‘those who have stolen my cloak’ to lose their minds, eyes, and limbs until it’s returned. Vengeance, outsourced to the dead.
