Rare tablets used by Romans to curse their foes are on show at Cirencester’s Corinium Museum for the first time this October 2026.
The Latin-inscribed thin lead sheets are going on display as part of Cirencester History Festival from Friday 23 October to Sunday 1 November 2026.
The tablets are on loan to the Corinium Museum from Research I Library in the United States for five years.
After they go on display as part of Cirencester History Festival, a special mount is being made to display them in the Corinium Museum’s main Roman gallery, with a formal launch in 2027.
Curses were used by Romans in an attempt to influence the lives of others, particularly those who had wronged them.
These messages were usually inscribed onto thin sheets of lead, which were then folded or rolled up and hidden in graves, buried in the ground, or cast into wells, springs and other sacred places to invoke supernatural intervention.
Romans believed that the curse would remain active for as long as the tablet stayed concealed.
Professor Roger Tomlin from Oxford University has translated some of the tablets’ scratches, revealing that at least one curse appeals to the god Mercury for justice over the theft of a cloak.
The translation includes: ‘To the god Mercury Aruerius. I complain to you Lord concerning my property, a cloak. Whoever stole this, whether slave or free, whoever stole this, the god is not to let them stand or sit, or drink or eat . . .’
Corinium Museum director Emma Stuart said: ‘The curse tablets are the first example of this type of ritual artefact we have from the Roman period. Unlike the Roman Baths, we didn’t have any examples of curse tablets in our collection until the generous offer of a loan was extended by Research I Library.
‘The Roman people scratching Latin into these tablets must have been educated even to a basic standard and, if nothing else, these objects are a wonderful example of Roman revenge.’
The lead tablets have been recently conserved and stabilised by the skilled team at Conservation and Museums Advisory Service, who used a process called raking light to enhance the lettering in recent photographs.
To coincide with the display during the History Festival, Corinium Museum is also running a children’s Halloween workshop to make your own ‘curse tablet’ on Friday 30 October 2026 at 10.30am, bookable at cirencesterhistoryfestival.org.
