Fun Fact

In ancient Rome, curse tablets — thin sheets of lead inscribed with maledictions and buried near temples, graves, or thrown into sacred springs — were a thriving industry. Thousands have been recovered by archaeologists across the former Roman Empire, their targets ranging from chariot race rivals to unfaithful lovers to business competitors. The tablets were addressed directly to underworld deities, asking them to deliver specific, often elaborate punishments. One recovered from Roman Bath in England curses a thief who stole a cloak so comprehensively — listing every possible gender and social status the thief might be — that historians have cited it as evidence of remarkable ancient legal thoroughness. The Romans, it turns out, took their maledictions very seriously indeed.