Home -> Articoli -> Roma - Magia

Tabulae Maledictoriae

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

The curse of the Tabulae Mledictoriae
The “Table Maledictoriae” were some leaden tablets with which people invoked on their enemies illness and death and dedicated them to the infernal gods: Hecates, Ermes and Persephones. Then, to be more sure of the success of the rite, these persons were literally chained to these thin plates and so they stood nailed to the reign of death. This sorcery was called a “Vow to Death”, and was practiced taking a leaden tablet on which, in the hope to completely damage him, all the parts of the body and all the spiritual faculties of the victim, were listed. Then the name of the enemy so “Vowed to Death” was written on the tablet and circled by a net of threads that, according to the intention of the man doing the rite, would keep him tied to the “Tabula Maledictoria” on which the curse had been inscribed. This was afterward wrapped around an iron nail and buried in a given site. The magicians who did this were always male.
People firmly believed in the “Tabulae Maledictoriae” and dreaded them. To cite an example when Germanicus, who at this moment was proconsul in Asia Minor, fell ill, both him and Agrippina, his wife, didn’t think that the cause of his ailing could have been typhus, cholera or one of the other deadly plagues that depopulated these hot climate areas. They immediately decided that the cause of it had to be a poison given by Piso. Besides they were sure that this man didn’t stop to a simple deadly brew and were sure that to definitely condemn him to his death, Piso, turning himself to the potent local magicians, had contrived to put in act a series of curses and among them also the “Tabulae Maledictoriae” were mentioned.
“ The firm belief to have been poisoned by Piso strengthened in him (Germanicus ) the violence of his illness: Rests of disinterred human bodies had be found along the walls; magic formulae against Germanicus sculpted on leaden tablets were found in the palace; then half burned bones soiled with decayed blood and other curses by which people believed to consecrate the souls of enemies to the infernal gods were also discovered.”
These historical news were widely reported in the ancient texts both for the importance of the dead man, who, son of the younger brother of Emperor Tiberius, was very much loved by the Roman people, and also for the outcry that the case against Piso stirred up. The trial went on and also if, how it was proved by many witnesses, Piso was innocent, when he found himself accused of poisoning and murder, not having any hope to be acquitted, he killed himself, and with this he put an end to a bad story based on sheer superstition.