A handmade Bath Vilbia Curse Tablet Replica made in authentic lead

The Bath curse tablets are a collection of about 130 Roman era curse tablets (or defixiones in Latin) discovered in 1979/1980 in the English city of Bath (Aquae Sullis). The tablets made from lead were requests for the intervention of the goddess Sulis Minerva in the return of stolen goods and to curse the perpetrators of the thefts. 

This is a faithful handmade rendering of one of the more well-known of the Roman leaden curse tablets (defixio) dating from c. AD130 and found in Bath (Aquae Sulis) in 1880. The original is in the British Museum.

This particular example is referred to in Book 3 of the Cambridge Latin Course (Stage 22) and forms the basis on a story about Vilbia.

The original lead tablets were usually rolled up before being offered up to the gods.

The original inscription reads :

(I)VQ IHIM MAIBLIV TIVALO

(V)NI CIS TAVQIL (OD)(O)MOC AVQA

(A)LLE ATVM IVQ MAE TINA

(RO)V IS ANNIVLEV SVEREPV

SXE SVNAIREV SVNIREV

ES SILATSVG(V)A SVNAITI

MOC SVNAINIMSVTAC

(A)LLINAMREG ANIVOI

Words are sometimes split between two lines - this was common with inscriptions of that time

reversing the letters of each word gives :

QVI MIHI VILBIAM INVOLAVIT

SIC LIQVAT COMO(DO) AQVA

ELLA MVTA QUI EAM VORAVIT

SI VELVINNA EXSVPEREVS

VERIANVS SEVERINVS A(V)GVSTALIS COMITIANVS

CATVSMINIANVS GERMANILLA IOVINA

A possible translation is :

May he who has stolen Vilbia from me dissolve like water

May she who has devoured her be struck dumb,

whether it be Velvinna, or Exsupereus, or Verianus, or Augustalis,

or Comitianus, or Catusminianus, or Germanilla, or Iovina

Evidently Vilbia got around quite a bit!

Other theories are that "Vilbia" is a misspelling of "fībula" (brooch), as some of the persons cursed are female and some male; another theory is that Vilbia was a slave-girl who had been stolen.

An original and unusual gift for the Latin scholar in your life or useful as an educational artefact.

These items are made to order and so each one will have slight variations, but each will be faithful to the original.