On October 7, 2019 Live Science posted a story about a 1,500-year-old Greek engraved tablet being finally deciphered. This decipher revealed a curse set upon a dancer named Manna. This tablet calls upon numerous demons to harm the dancer. It is thought the author was a competitor to Manna and was found in an ancient theater in Israel.
It is thought that this person named Manna was a popular dancer and that this competition had a large prize. The person who engraved this tablet seemed to really want Manna to lose saying “tie the feet together, hinder the dance on Manna”. Calling for the assistance of several Gods as well including Thoth, an ancient god of magic and wisdom.
This “cursed tablet” was discovered in between 1949 – 18954 by an Italian archaeological team. It was dated back to the Byzantine Empire near the 6th century. The tablet contains 110 lines which is lengthy compared to other tablet during that time. It was finally deciphered by Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). This is a computer program that compiles hundreds of photos from different lighting angles and used these images to create an enhanced image. This tablet now sits in the Archaeological Museum of Milan.
You can read the full article here: https://www.livescience.com/ancient-curse-of-dancer-deciphered.html
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Art & Arch 