Ancient Greek jar holds curse against 55 people

The Greek Reporter wrote about the 2006 discovery of an ancient Greek jar used to cast curses on people that was discovered by a University of Cincinnati graduate student during an excavation in Athens.

UC Classics doctoral student Marcie Handler was working on the Athenia Agora, a marketplace in the heart of the ancient city, when she found a jar with interesting inscriptions on its exterior.

Many of the inscriptions were the names of the intended victims of the cast curses, according to Yale University Professor Jessica Lamont, who studied the relic for a study published in the journal Hesperia.

The curse involved the sacrifice of a young chicken. Chicken bones were found in the jar.

Lamont said the jar contained 55 inscribed names and Greek writing suggesting the “binding“ of the intended victims. The curse jar featured a large nail that was thrust through the pottery.

According to Yale's Lamont, nails often figure into ancient Greek curses as they had an inhibiting force and symbolically immobilized the intended victim.

Writer Philippe Bohstrom said ancient Greek curses were levied against antagonists in lawsuits, business or sports opponents and former love interests or rivals.

Read the Greek Reporter story.

Featured image at top: A bas relief sculpture adorns the enrance to UC Classics' Blegen Hall. UC Classics graduate Marcie Handler discovered a curse jar while working at an excavation in Athens in 2006. Photo/UC Classics