We may think that trolling is a modern phenomenon, but the Romans wrote vile messages wishing ill on others, centuries before social media was invented. A collection of 130 ancient 'curse tablets' featuring gruesome messages of revenge has been added to the World Heritage register. They include wishes that thieves should go blind and mad, while cheaters become as 'liquid as water.' Curses! A collection of 130 ancient 'curse stones' (pictured) featuring gruesome messages of revenge have been added to the Unesco heritage register The wishing of ill-health and death on a person is typical of many Roman curses. People inscribed pieces of lead and pewter with nasty messages asking gods and spirits to act on their behalf.
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A collection of 130 'curse tablets' has been added to Unesco's 'Memory of the World' register of outstanding documentary heritage
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Tablets were dedicated to Celtic and Roman goddess Sulis Minerva to address wrong doings
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Found in Bath, the include wishes that thieves should go blind and mad
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While another asks for an adversary's intestines to be ‘quite eaten away’
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One of the tablets is written in British Celtic, the only text known to survive
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Most are written in Latin on copper and lead and thrown in sacred springs
In what could be the @placeholder version of modern-day trolling, the authors poured bile on their enemies and called for revenge in the most gruesome ways.
The two goddesses were gradually rolled into one so that British Romans came to worship @placeholder.