Pella curse tablet

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The Pella 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.[1] t contains a curse or magic spell (Greek:
, katadesmos) inscribed on a lead scroll, dated to the first half of the 4th century BC
(circa 375350 BC). It was published in the Hellenic Dialectology Journal in 1993. It is one of four
known texts that may represent a local dialectal form of ancient Greek in Macedonia, all of them
identifiable as Doric.[2]These suggests that a Doric Greek dialect was spoken in Macedonia, as
was previously proposed based on 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, and one of the Doric dialects.[3][4][5]
Contents
[hide]

1Interpretation

2Text and translation

o

2.1Greek

2.2English
2.2.1Points of interpretation

3Dating

4Significance

5See also

6References
o

6.1Citations

6.2Sources

7Further reading

8External links

Interpretation[edit]
The tablet is also described as a "mixed curse" due to the supplicative nature of the appeal. For
example, the word or "abandoned" is quite common in appeals to divine powers. [6]

It is a magic spell or love charm written by a woman, possibly named Dagina (Ancient Greek:
), whose lover Dionysophn (, gen.: ) is apparently about to
marry Thetima (, "she who honors the gods"; the Attic Greek form is Theotim ). She invokes "Makron and the demons" (parkattithemai makrni kai [tois] daimosi [] ; in Attic, is parakatatithemai ) 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.[7]
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 NorthWest Greek, and the low social status of its writer, as (arguably) evidenced by her vocabulary
and belief in magic, strongly suggests that a unique form of West Greek was spoken by lowerclass 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 might also use lead katadesmoi (curse tablets) for love,
revenge, and to bind their opponents in athletic contests.[8]

Text and translation[edit]

Greek[edit]
1. []
2. []

3. []

4. []

5. [ ]
6. [ ] []

7. [] []

8. [....][-]. .. []
9. [-][.].[-].[..]....[?].[.].. [-]

English[edit]
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], both widows and maidens, but of Thetima in particular, and I entrust to
Makron* and
3. [the] daimones, and (only) when I should dig up again and unroll and read this,
4. [?] that she might wed Dionysophon, but not before, for I wish him to take no other
woman than me,
5. and that [I] grow old with Dionysophon, and no one else. I [am] your supplicant:
6. Have pity on [Phil?]a*, dear daimones, for I am (a) dagina? of all my dear ones and I
am abandoned.
7. But guard [this] for my sake so that these things do not happen, and wretched Thetima
perishes miserably.
8. ... but that I become happy and blessed.
Points of
interpretation[edit]

"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 chthonic spirits of the underworld (the "daimones" 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,[9] that it is a misspelling, and that the writer
intended to write "dapina" (the difference between and being a single stroke). If true, this
may mean that dapina is an (also unattested) Macedonian rendering of what would be written
"", tapein (humble, lowly, brought low), in standard Attic. In this case the inscription
reads: "for I am lowly from all my dear ones and abandoned" etc. Another possibility is that
Dagina is perhaps related to , a doll or puppet, especially as used in magic (cf. LSJ p. 364).
Similarly, is also unexplained, but seems to be taken as a misspelling of () (i.e., Attic
), "I am."

Dating[edit]According to D. R. Jordan (Duke University), the tablet has been dated to the
"Mid-IV [century] or slightly earlier".[10]

Significance[edit]
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: [11]
"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 fourthcentury 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."
Professor Johannes Engels of the University of Cologne argues that the Pella curse tablet
provides evidence to support that Macedonian was a North-West Greek dialect:[5]
"Another very important testimony comes from the so-called Pella curse tablet. This is a text
written in Doric Greek and found in 1986 [...] This has been judged to be the most important
ancient testimony to substantiate that Macedonian was a north-western Greek and mainly a
Doric dialect."