Prompt Cast
Curse Tablets: Ancient Roman and Greek Curses Explained
TLDR Curse tablets were common in ancient Rome and Greece and were used to curse individuals who had wronged the person who inscribed the tablet. They were accessible to people of all social classes and are often compared to modern forms of cursing, such as Twitter.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Curse tablets are ancient Roman or Greek tablets inscribed with curses, often done after someone's death.
01:45
Curse tablets were common in ancient Rome and Greece and were used to curse individuals who had wronged the person who inscribed the tablet, with the hope that their souls would not reach the afterlife.
03:31
Lead was a popular material for carving curse tablets because it was easy to write on and had a cool, silvery appearance when carved.
05:08
The hosts discuss unrelated topics and tease upcoming content before taking a break to talk about cursed tablets.
07:18
Curse tablets were often used to curse rivals, including political rivals, business rivals, and romantic rivals, by invoking the gods to bring harm to them.
09:24
Curse tablets were accessible to people of all social classes, with the wealthy paying someone to write them and the less wealthy relying on magicians who provided templates to fill in the blanks, sometimes resulting in humorous and creative curses.
11:00
Cursed tablets fell out of popularity, but some argue that our society is still very much like them, with Twitter being a modern version of a cursed tablet.
Categories:
Society & Culture
