The University of Oxford has published an Expert Opinion by Dr Charlotte Spence on curses and ancient tablets.
Dr Spence explains how these tablets had many uses in the ancient world, from cursing thieves, gaining an advantage over a competitor, sabotaging a business, manipulating court cases to everything in-between. Their physical format (usually in lead) could be rolled, folded and pierced, with the messages written in a spiral, backwards or in a scramble. They were not intended for human eyes, but rather to communicate with gods, goddesses, corpse-demons and members of the restless dead.
Read the full Expert Opinion on the University of Oxford's website: Should we beware of the restless dead?'
