Pella curse tablet - katadesmos

The Pella curse tablet is a text written in a distinct Doric Greek idiom, found in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedon, in 1986. Ιt contains a curse or magic spell (Greek: κατάδεσμος, katadesmos) inscribed on a lead scroll, dating to first half of the 4th century BC (c. 375-350 BC). It was published in the Hellenic Dialectology Journal in 1993. It is one of four texts found until today that might represent a local dialectal form of ancient Greek in Macedonia, all of them identifiable as Doric. These confirm that a Doric Greek dialect was spoken in Macedonia, as was previously expected from the West Greek forms of names found in Macedonia. As a result, the Pella curse tablet has been forwarded as an argument that the Ancient Macedonian language was a dialect of North-Western Greek, part of the Doric dialects.

Interpretation

The tablet is also described as a "mixed curse" due to the supplicative nature of the appeal. For example the word ΕΡΗΜΑ or "abandoned" is quite common in appeals to divine powers. It is a magic spell or love charm written by a woman, possibly named Dagina (Ancient Greek: Δαγίνα), whose lover Dionysophōn (Διονυσοφῶν, gen.: Διονυσοφῶντος) is apparently about to marry Thetima (Θετίμα, "she who honors the gods"; the standard Attic Greek form is Theotimē - Θεοτίμη). She invokes "Makron and the demons" (parkattithemai makrōni kai [tois] daimosi - παρκαττίθεμαι μάκρωνι καὶ [τοῖς] δαίμοσι; in Attic, παρκαττίθεμαι is parakatatithemai - παρακατατίθεμαι) to cause Dionysophon to marry her instead of Thetima, and never to marry another woman unless she herself recovers and unrolls the scroll and for her to grow old by the side of Dionysophon.

Katadesmoi or defixiones were spells written on non-perishable material, such as lead, stone or baked clay, and were secretly buried to ensure their physical integrity, which would then guarantee the permanence of their intended effects. The language is a distinct form of North-West Greek, and the low social status of its writer, as (arguably) evidenced by her vocabulary and belief in magic, strongly hint that a unique form of West Greek was spoken by lay people in Pella at the time the tablet was written. This should not, however, be taken to indicate that only those of middling or low social status practiced magic in the Ancient Greek world: quite wealthy individuals also used lead katadesmoi (curse tablets) for love, revenge, and to bind their opponents in athletic contests.

Text and translation

Greek

1. [ΘΕΤΙ]ΜΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΟΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΓΑΜΟΝ ΚΑΤΑΓΡΑΦΩ ΚΑΙ ΤΑΝ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΠΑΣΑΝ ΓΥ
2. [ΝΑΙΚ]ΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΧΗΡΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΩΝ ΜΑΛΙΣΤΑ ΔΕ ΘΕΤΙΜΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΚΑΤΤΙΘΕΜΑΙ ΜΑΚΡΩΝΙ ΚΑΙ
3. [ΤΟΙΣ] ΔΑΙΜΟΣΙ ΚΑΙ ΟΠΟΚΑ ΕΓΟ ΤΑΥΤΑ ΔΙΕΛΕΞΑΙΜΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΑΓΝΟΙΗΝ ΠΑΛLΙΝ ΑΝΟΡΟΞΑΣΑ
4. [ΤΟΚΑ] ΓΑΜΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΑ ΠΡΟΤΕΡΟΝ ΔΕ ΜΗ ΜΗ ΓΑΡ ΛΑΒΟΙ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΑ ΑΛΛ Η ΕΜΕ
5. [ΕΜΕ Δ]Ε ΣΥΝΚΑΤΑΓΗΡΑΣΑΙ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΦΩΝΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΜΗΔΕΜΙΑΝ ΑΛΛΑΝ ΙΚΕΤΙΣ ΥΜΩΝ ΓΙΝΟ
6. [ΜΑΙ ΦΙΛ]ΑΝ ΟΙΚΤΙΡΕΤΕ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΕΣ ΦΙΛ[Ο]Ι ΔΑΓΙΝΑΓΑΡΙΜΕ ΦΙΛΩΝ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΡΗΜΑ ΑΛΛΑ
7. [....]Α ΦΥΛΑΣΣΕΤΕ ΕΜΙΝ Ο[Π]ΩΣ ΜΗ ΓΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΤΑ[Υ]ΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΚΑ ΚΑΚΩΣ ΘΕΤΙΜΑ ΑΠΟΛΗΤΑΙ
8. [....]ΑΛ[-].ΥΝΜ .. ΕΣΠΛΗΝ ΕΜΟΣ ΕΜΕ ΔΕ [Ε]Υ[Δ]ΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΑΝ ΓΕΝΕΣΤΑΙ
9. [-]ΤΟ[.].[-].[..]..Ε.Ε.Ω[?]Α.[.]Ε..ΜΕΓΕ [-]


English

1. Of [Theti]ma and Dionysophon the ritual wedding and the marriage I bind by a written spell, and of all other
2. wo[men], widows and maidens, but of Thetima in particular, and I entrust upon Makron* and
3. [the] demons. And that only whenever I dig out and unroll and re-read this,
4. [then] may they wed Dionysophon, but not before; and may he never wed any woman but me;
5. and may [I] grow old with Dionysophon, and no one else. I [am] your supplicant:
6. Have pity on [Phil?]a*, dear demons, for I am Dagina* of all my dear ones and abandoned.
7. But please keep this for my sake so that these events do not happen and wretched Thetima perishes miserably
8. but let me become happy and blessed.

Points of interpretation

"Makron" (line 2) is most probably the name of the dead man in whose grave the tablet was deposited. This was commonly done in the belief that the deceased would "convey" the message to the spirits of the Underworld (the "demons" in lines 3 and 6).

The missing word in line 6 between "I am your supplicant" and "have pity" (here reconstructed as [Phil?]a) is carved at the edge of the tablet and the only things we can read of it are that it is a short word that ends in-AN. "PHILAN" is a likely reconstruction, but by no means the only one possible. If true, the word "PHILAN" could equally well be either the personal name "Phila" or the feminine adjective "phila", "friend" or "dear one". In the latter case, an alternative reading of line 6 would be: "Have pity on your dear one, dear demons". In the former case, a personal name would be perfectly placed but, as the name of the person who wrote the curse is not mentioned elsewhere, it is impossible to know with certainty what the missing word is.

The word "DAGINA" (line 6) is inexplicable and previously unattested, even as a personal name. The alternative has been suggested by Dubois, that it is a misspelling, and that the writer intended to write "dapina" (the difference between Γ and Π being a single stroke). If true, this may mean that dapina is an (also unattested) Macedonian rendering of what would be written "ταπεινή", tapeinē (humble, lowly, brought low), in standard Attic. In this case the inscription reads: "for I am lowly and abandoned by all my dear ones" etc.

Dating

According to D. R. Jordan (Duke University), the tablet has been dated to the "Mid-IV [century] or slightly earlier".

Significance

The discovery of the Pella curse tablet, according to Olivier Masson, substantiates the view that the ancient Macedonian language was a form of North-West Greek:

"Yet in contrast with earlier views which made of it {i.e. Macedonian} an Aeolic dialect (O. Hoffmann compared Thessalian) we must by now think of a link with North-West Greek (Locrian, Aetolian, Phocidian, Epirote). This view is supported by the recent discovery at Pella of a curse tablet (4th cent. BC), which may well be the first 'Macedonian' text attested (provisional publication by E. Voutyras; cf. the Bulletin Epigraphique in Rev. Et. Grec. 1994, no. 413); the text includes an adverb "opoka" which is not Thessalian."

Of the same opinion is James L. O'Neil's (University of Sydney) presentation at the 2005 Conference of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies, entitled "Doric Forms in Macedonian Inscriptions" (abstract):

"A fourth‐century BC curse tablet from Pella shows word forms which are clearly Doric, but a different form of Doric from any of the west Greek dialects of areas adjoining Macedon. Three other, very brief, fourth century inscriptions are also indubitably Doric. These show that a Doric dialect was spoken in Macedon, as we would expect from the West Greek forms of Greek names found in Macedon. And yet later Macedonian inscriptions are in Koine avoiding both Doric forms and the Macedonian voicing of consonants. The native Macedonian dialect had become unsuitable for written documents."

Sources

Bloomer, Martin (2005). The Contest of Language: Before and Beyond Nationalism. University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0268021902.
Curbera, Jaime; Jordan, David (2002-2003). "Curse Tablets from Pydna". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies (Duke University) 43 (2): 109–128. ISSN 00173916.
Damon, Cynthia; Miller, John F.; Myers, K. Sara; Courtney, Edward (2002). Vertis in usum: Studies in Honor of Edward Courtney. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3598777108.
Dubois, Laurent (1995). "Une Tablette de Malediction de Pella: S’Agit-il du Premier Texte Macédonien". Revue des Études Grecques 108: 190–197.
Fantuzzi, Marco; Hunter, Richard L. (2004). Tradition and Innovation in Hellenistic Poetry. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521835119.
Fortson, Benjamin W. (2009). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 1405188960.
Gager, John G. (1999). Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0195134826.
Jordan, D. R. (2000). "New Greek Curse Tablets (1985–2000)". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies (Duke University) 41: 5–46.
Masson, Olivier; Dubois, Laurent (2000). Onomastica Graeca Selecta. Librairie Droz. ISBN 2600004351.
Masson, Olivier (1996). Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
Voutiras, Emmanuel (1998). Dionysophōntos Gamoi: Marital Life and Magic in Fourth Century Pella. J.C. Gieben. ISBN 9050634079.