Pella curse tablet

File:Pella katadesmos.png

The Pella katadesmos: from "History of the Greek Language", Greek Literary and Historical Archive, Athens 1999, ISBN 960-201-122-X

The Pella katadesmos is a katadesmos (a curse, or magic spell) inscribed on a lead scroll, probably dating to between 380 and 350 BC. It was found in Pella (at the time capital of Macedon) in 1986; it was published in the Hellenic Dialectology Journal in 1993. It is a magic spell probably written by a woman named Phila (the first letters of the name are missing), whose lover Dionysophōn (i.e. "Light of Dionysus") is apparently about to marry Thetima (i.e. "she who honors the gods"; the standard Attic form would be Theotimē). Phila invokes "Makron and the demons" (parkattithemai makrōoni kai [tois] daimosi, Attic would be para-kata-tithemai) to cause Dionysophon to marry her rather than Thetima, and never to marry another woman unless Phila herself recovers and unrolls the scroll. Katadesmoi were spells written on non-perishable material, such as lead, stone or baked clay, and were secretly buried to ensure their physical integrity, which would then guarantee the permanence of their intended effects.

The language is a harsh but distinctly recognizable northwestern form of Doric Greek, and the low social status of its writer, as evidenced by her vocabulary and belief in magic, strongly hint that a unique form of Doric Greek was spoken by lay people in Pella during the reign of Philip II of Macedon.

Text and Translation

1. [ΘΕΤΙ]ΜΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΟΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΓΑΜΟΝ ΚΑΤΑΓΡΑΦΩ ΚΑΙ ΤΑΝ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΠΑΣΑΝ ΓΥ
2. [ΝΑΙΚ]ΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΧΗΡΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΩΝ ΜΑΛΙΣΤΑ ΔΕ ΘΕΤΙΜΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΚΑΤΤΙΘΕΜΑΙ ΜΑΚΡΩΝΙ ΚΑΙ
3. [ΤΟΙΣ] ΔΑΙΜΟΣΙ ΚΑΙ ΟΠΟΚΑ ΕΓΟ ΤΑΥΤΑ ΔΙΕΛΙΞΑΙΜΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΑΓΝΟΙΗΝ ΠΑΛΙΝ ΑΝΟΡΥΞΑΣΑ
4. [ΤΟΚΑ] ΓΑΜΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΑ ΠΡΟΤΕΡΟΝ ΔΕ ΜΗ ΜΗ ΓΑΡ ΛΑΒΟΙ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΑ ΑΛΛ Ε ΕΜΕ
5. [ΕΜΕ Δ]Ε ΣΥΝΚΑΤΑΓΗΡΑΣΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΜΗΔΕΜΙΑΝ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΙΚΕΤΙΣ ΥΜΩΝ ΓΙΝΟ
6. [ΜΑΙ ΦΙΛ]ΑΝ ΟΙΚΤΙΡΕΤΕ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΕΣ ΦΙΛ[Ο]Ι
7. [...] ΕΜΕ ΔΕ

   [Ε]Υ[Δ]ΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΑΝ ΓΕΝΕΣΤΑΙ

1. I bind the formal wedding of Dionysophon and [Theti]ma, and of all other wo-
2. men, widows and virgins, but of Thetima in particular, and I entrust upon Macro and
3. [the] demons that only whenever I dig out and unroll and re-read this,
4. [then] may they wed Dionysophon, but not before; and may he never wed any woman but me;
5. and may [I], and no one else, grow old with Dionysophon. I [am] your supplicant:
6. [Phil]a, my beloved demons:
7. [...] and to me

   grant [ha]ppiness and bliss.

See also

• Doric Greek
• Ancient Macedonian language