Pella curse tablet

Pella curse tablet
The Pella curse tablet
Material	Lead
Created	c. 380–350 BC
Discovered	1986 Pella, Central Macedonia, Greece
Present location	Archaeological Museum of Pella
Language	Ancient Greek

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] Ιt contains a curse or magic spell (Ancient Greek: κατάδεσμος, katadesmos) inscribed on a lead scroll, dated to the first half of the 4th century BC (c. 380–350 BC). It is held in the Archaeological Museum of Pella. It was published in the Hellenic Dialectology Journal in 1993.^[2] The Pella curse tablet exhibits some of the typical Northwest Greek features,^[3] as well as a cluster of unique Doric features that do not appear in other subdialects of this family (e.g. Epirote, Locrian). It represents the same or a very similar vernacular dialect that is also attested in the other Doric inscriptions from Macedonia.^[4] This indicates that a Doric Greek dialect was not imported, but proper to Macedon.^[5] As a result, the Pella curse tablet has been forwarded as an argument that the Ancient Macedonian language was a dialect of Northwest Greek, and one of the Doric dialects.^[6][7]

The spell was written by a woman, possibly named Dagina or Phila. It was intended to prevent the marriage of her love interest, Dionysophon, with Thetima, and secure that Dionysophon would marry and live a happy life with her instead. The spell was entrusted to the corpse of a deceased man, named Macron.^[8][9]