By Liisa Eyerly
Greeks and Romans accepted the existence of the soul after death. They believed the dead entered Hades by crossing the river Styx in a boat. The ancients regarded the underworld as a permanent state of murky darkness devoid of joy or conscious will. The afterlife was viewed by most as meaningless, where the dead flitted around without substance or purpose.
Crossing the Styx, illustration by Gustave Dore, 1861. Wikipedia.org
The philosopher Plato believed that the sons of Zeus judged souls branded with the scars of perjuries and crimes. The godless suffered eternal punishment in Tartarus, and the righteous dead were sent to the Isles of the Blessed. However, the gods restricted the Isles to heroes and the godly who achieved great deeds.
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File:Goethe Elysium crop.jpg, Wikimedia.org
A competing view was Christianity, which offered hope to all and a belief that death and demons had no dominion over them. When their God, Christ, conquered death after being crucified, buried, and rising from the dead, Christian heroes and commoners alike believed they inherited Jesus’s resurrection. Two thousand years later, they still profess, “I die with Christ and rise with Christ to live eternally with Him.”
There are conflicting accounts about whether pagans believed the dead could contact the living and visa-versa. Food was left at gravesites once a year, hinting at the dead returning to see if their relatives honored the deceased’s memory. What was agreed upon was the serious problem if you didn’t cross the river Styx—you would remain a wandering spirit or ghost, and not a happy one.
People believed these malevolent spirits, including murder victims and those who died young, had more power to intervene with the gods to cause harm. Their ghosts were invoked to carry curses inscribed on tablets to the underworld. The tablets asked for help from particular deities to get revenge on someone, promising offerings at their temple in return.
The following curse tablets depict a deity with serpents for hair, possibly the Greek goddess Hecate.
ilfattostorico, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Platonist Apuleius took the existence of daemons for granted. “They populate the air and seem to be formed of air. They experience emotions like humans, and despite this, their minds are rational.”
Plutarch, an earlier Platonist philosopher who died in 119 AD/CE, accepted that daemons existed, served as agents between the gods and humans, and were responsible for many supernatural events including bad fortune. “Some daemons are good, some are evil, but even the good ones can do harmful acts in moments of anger.”
Anyone could hire a professional magician to inscribe a curse on wood, pottery, or metal. Lead was a favorite, but you would inscribe your curse on gold or silver foil for the best chance to persuade the gods to support your cause.
To make the curse extra effective, people would break into tombs and grave sites to place their curse next to a murder victim’s corpse or ashes.
Plutarch, an earlier Platonist philosopher who died in 119 AD/CE, accepted that daemons existed, served as agents between the gods and humans, and were responsible for many supernatural events including bad fortune. “Some daemons are good, some are evil, but even the good ones can do harmful acts in moments of anger.”
Anyone could hire a professional magician to inscribe a curse on wood, pottery, or metal. Lead was a favorite, but you would inscribe your curse on gold or silver foil for the best chance to persuade the gods to support your cause.
To make the curse extra effective, people would break into tombs and grave sites to place their curse next to a murder victim’s corpse or ashes.
Stefan Kühn, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
Although Christianity condemned these curses and exhorted believers to offer forgiveness, curses from pagans, Jews, and Christians alike have been found on graves throughout the Roman Empire. Curses found on stones above tombs in the catacombs were inscribed to protect the dead. These curses were written in red ochre, a universal warning color, and were sometimes accompanied by diagrams for illiterate grave robbers.
Grave robbing was a significant issue in ancient Rome. Gifts buried with the deceased—such as clothing, jewelry, or favorite household items—were often targets. Even urns containing ashes weren’t safe from theft. Without a police force, fear of arrest was not a significant deterrent. Instead, fear of the deceased’s ghost haunting the thief or experiencing a lingering, painful death served as a more potent threat.
One curse warns: “Anyone who shall open this burial will suffer an evil end.” Another, found at an ancient grave in Beit She’arim, reads: “Jacob the Proselyte vows to curse anybody who would open this grave, so nobody will open it,” as translated by Jonathan Price, a professor of ancient history at Tel Aviv University.
Grave robbing was a significant issue in ancient Rome. Gifts buried with the deceased—such as clothing, jewelry, or favorite household items—were often targets. Even urns containing ashes weren’t safe from theft. Without a police force, fear of arrest was not a significant deterrent. Instead, fear of the deceased’s ghost haunting the thief or experiencing a lingering, painful death served as a more potent threat.
One curse warns: “Anyone who shall open this burial will suffer an evil end.” Another, found at an ancient grave in Beit She’arim, reads: “Jacob the Proselyte vows to curse anybody who would open this grave, so nobody will open it,” as translated by Jonathan Price, a professor of ancient history at Tel Aviv University.
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ilfattostorico, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In my books Obedient Unto Death and Fortunes of Death, the pagan father of Sabina, my Christian sleuth, is bound by a deathbed promise to his wife to allow Sabina to worship Christ. Fear of breaking this promise and being haunted by his wife's ghost was real in a world where superstition and magic permeated every aspect of life.
Magic of ancient Romans « IMPERIUM ROMANUM
Brenk, E. (1977). In Mist Apparelled: Religious Themes in Plutarch’s “Moralia” and “Lives”. Leiden: E.J. Brill. p. 59. ISBN9789004052413.
Tatum, J. (1979). Apuleius and the Golden Ass. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 28–29.
Mystakidou, Kyriaki; Eleni Tsilika; Efi Parpa; Emmanuel Katsouda; Lambros Vlahos (1 December 2004). “Death and Grief in the Greek Culture”. OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying. 50 (1): 24. doi:10.2190/YYAU-R4MN-AKKM-T496. S2CID144183546. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
11 of the Most Infamous Ancient Curses in History – Oldest.org
7 Ancient Roman Curses You Can Work into Modern Life | Mental Floss
Ancient Roman Curses Translated – The Language Blog by K International (k-international.com)
Benko, Stephen. Pagan Rome and the Early Christians. Indiana Univ. Press, 1986.
Stern, K. B. (2020). Writing on the wall: Graffiti and the forgotten jews of antiquity. Princeton University Press.
Disturbing Red Painted Curse Discovered In Jerusalem Catacomb | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)
The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity – Wikipedia
Magic in the Greco-Roman world – Wikipedia
Ancient Spells and Charms for the Hapless in Love | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)
In the bustling streets of ancient Ephesus, fortunes can change in an
instant. When one of the city’s wealthiest citizens is found crushed beneath
his own triumphant memorial, the powerful elite demand justice—but at what
cost? Enigmatic investigator Sabina faces her most perilous case yet. As
secrets unravel and enemies close in, she must navigate political intrigue,
dark sorcery, and forbidden love to uncover the truth. In a city where everyone
has something to hide, who can be trusted? And how far will Sabina go to solve
a mystery that could cost her everything?
Liisa
Eyerly’s Secrets of Ephesus series adds a
Christian twist to first-century Roman Empire mysteries. Her debut novel, Obedient Unto Death (2022), won the
Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award and first place in Spiritual Fiction. The
second book, Fortunes of Death, just launched. A
lifelong mystery lover, Liisa was inspired by the Apostle Paul’s depiction of
early Christians. After careers in teaching, librarianship, and stained glass,
she began writing full-time at fifty. Liisa lives in northern Wisconsin with her
husband and enjoys pickleball, Bible study, and visiting Ancient Roman sites.
Liisa's books can be purchased at CrossRiverMedia.com
Her Amazon book page https://amzn.to/4cs2bok
visit Liisa at her website www.LiisaEyerly.com
Author Facebook page at Liisa Eyerly Author page
Thank you for posting today. I'm so thankful for my faith!
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