Ancient sexual curse uncovered at Amathus
By Philippos Stylianou
AN ancient sexual curse is among the latest archaeological finds in Amathus, site of one of the island’s old city kingdoms on the southern coast close to Limassol.According to Pierre Aubert, head of the Athens Archaeological School currently working there, the curse is inscribed in Greek on a lead tablet and part of it reads: "May your penis hurt when you make love."
Speaking to The Cyprus Weekly over the phone, Aubert said the tablet also showed an erect male figure holding in his right hand something that looks like an hour-glass, while undeciphered lettering appears over his body.
What is even more interesting is that the inscription dates to the 7th century A.D. when Christianity was well established on the island.
Professor Aubert surmised that this might indicate the activity of sorcerers and soothsayers still surviving from the pagan era.
He said the discovery of ancient curses was not uncommon in archaeology, only the inscriptions were longer and older, dating to the 2nd and 3rd century BC.
Cistern
The lead inscription was found among debris in what used to be a water cistern, while in the mud underneath a number of intact large water jugs – hydriae - were discovered,
one of them exquisitely made of bronze. Many fragments of pottery were also discovered.Unlike the lead tablet, those dated from around 300 B.C. to the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD).
No human skeletons were discovered, only fragments of animal bones.
Although reluctant to go into many details before an official release about the excavations, Pierre Aubert said that judging by the cistern’s location it was probably constructed to collect water from the house roofs above.
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