Roman Lead Curse Tablet Targeting a Legionary Commander and His Military Unit. Late 1st century A.D. The names of high-ranking officers of a Roman legion engraved in two columns in retrograde script, inter alia the Senatorial Commander of a Roman Legion (legatus legionis), two Tribunes and several Centurions being cursed; with holes to fix it to an object with nails, both being magical practices of antiquity aiming for the malediction of enemies; a unique and important document; it has been proposed to identify the legate with Q. Pomponius Rufus, consul in the year A.D. 95. Rothenhoefer, P., Römische Offiziere auf einer tabella defixionum. Ein außergewöhnliches Dokument magischen Schadenzaubers gegen eine Legionskommandeur und weitere Mitglieder des Offizierskorps, Epigraphica 78, 2016, pp.235-251; Sánchez Natalías, C., Sylloge of Defixiones from the Roman West. A Comprehensive Collection of Curse Tablets from the Fourth Century BCE to the Fifth Century CE, Oxford, 2022, no.149. 151 grams total, 87 mm each (3 3/8 in.).

Private collection of the gentleman, J.L. Fernández, Switzerland, before 2000. From the private academic collection of Professor P.M.A.R. Accompanied by a copy of the academic paper Rothenhoefer, P., Römische Offiziere auf einer tabella defixionum. Ein außergewöhnliches Dokument magischen Schadenzaubers gegen eine Legionskommandeur und weitere Mitglieder des Offizierskorps, Epigraphica 78, 2016, pp.235-251, where this unique curse tablet is published. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

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