Manuscript Cultures
A Coffin, a Doll, and a CurseNew edition of ‘Artefact of the Month’ published
7 December 2021
Photo: Sara Chiarini
In the latest volume of our series ‘Artefact of the Month’, the final one of the year, an unknown Athenian intrudes into a cemetery at night. The person tampers with a grave in order to influence the outcome of a trial – with the help of a curse.
Athens, 2400 BCE. A stranger sneaks into a cemetery carrying some very odd objects: a small lead coffin with a crooked doll inside it, both bearing inscriptions. He or she heads to a grave, furtively opens it, and lays those objects as close as possible to the buried corpse while whispering some forbidden formulas.
For more than two thousand years, the grave kept its secret, concealing the artefacts until they were discovered by archaeologists in the twentieth century. In the new episode of our series ‘Artefact of the Month’, Sara Chiarini, Principal Investigator of the project ‘The Materiality of Ancient Curse Inscriptions Based on the Collection of Lead Tablets from the Athenian Ceramicus’, reconstructs the mysterious events of that night long ago, and explains why the cursed persons were probably involved in a trial.
Read the full story of this unique artefact here. In every edition of 'Artefact of the Month', an expert in the field shares the story behind a special written artefact in a compelling and approachable fashion. Editorial duties are overseen by Wiebke Beyer and Karin Becker, who greatly welcome ideas for future editions.
'Artefact of the Month' is the successor of 'manuscript of the month', a full archive of which can be accessed here.