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A curse tablet (Latin: tabella defixionis, defixio; Greek: κατάδεσμος, romanized: katadesmos) is a small tablet with a curse written on it from the Greco-Roman world. Its name originated from the Greek and Latin words for "pierce" [1] and "bind". The tablets were used to ask the gods, place spirits, or the deceased to perform an ...
The Pella curse tablet is a text written in a distinct Doric Greek idiom, found in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedon, in 1986. [1] Ιt contains a curse or magic spell (Ancient Greek: κατάδεσμος, katadesmos) inscribed on a lead scroll, dated to the first half of the 4th century BC (c. 380–350 BC).
Each tablet contains a curse or magic spell (Ancient Greek: κατάδεσμος, katadesmos), probably all of judicial nature, and has been dated to the 4th century BC. Three of them are merely name catalogues, while the others also contain language which indicates they were meant to influence legal proceedings.
The Pella curse tablet (Greek katadesmos): from Prof. Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, Bryn Mawr College. For administrative and political purposes, Attic Greek seems to have operated as a lingua franca among the ethno-linguistically diverse communities of Macedonia and the north Aegean region, creating a diglossic linguistic area.
Prof. Voutyras goes on to say that the language of the katadesmos belongs to the "wider group of Doric dialects" but has been influenced by Attic ("like all the local dialects of that time") and is a kekramenē (mixed) dialect. Attic influenced the dialect's syntax primarily, its morphology (grammar) to a lesser degree and its phonology even less.
The Akanthos curse tablet belongs to the broad category of erotic or amatory curses, which were intended to influence erotic relationships.Scholars further divide this category between 'separation curses', which include the more well-known tablet from Pella, and 'attraction curses', [4] of which the Akanthos tablet is among the earliest known examples. [5]
Ancient Macedonian doesn't have a clear status as a distinct language from Greek, so it should either be categorised under 'Greece' or not be included at all (assuming it a dialect of ancient Greek that evolved to Koine Greek). Have a look at an original Macedonian text at Pella katadesmos. Miskin 4 July 2005 20:54 (UTC)
The name is probably derived from the word pella, (Ancient Greek: πέλλα), "stone" which seems to appear in some other toponyms in Greece like Pellene. [1] [2] [3] Julius Pokorny reconstructs the word from the Proto-Indo-European root peli-s, pel-s, Old Indian: pāsāna, stone (from *pars, *pels), Greek: πέλλα, λίθος, stone, Hesychius (*pelsa), Pashto: parša (*plso), cliff ...