ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS: MAGIC at ROMAN FUNERALS: PROTECTION against the RESTLESS DEAD
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Magic was common part of ancient Roman life. There are numerous examples, especially for "death" magic. Curse tablets are probably the most numerous magical objects found in Roman cemeteries. But recent discovery in Sagalassos in Turkey has shown another potentially magical practice used during Roman funerals. In one grave, several dozen twisted and bent nails, together with 24 bricks and a layer of slaked lime were found. This burial is unusual, because a man was cremated, but his remains were not collected and placed in an urn and he also had everything he needed for the afterlife, but then, 3 different methods of magical protection were used to seal this burial. The community might have feared that he would return from the dead as a revenant, or a restless "spirit" to haunt the living, so they did everything in their power to keep him in place. Nails were frequently as a protective charm against evil influences, while bricks may have been positioned in this way as an added weight, so he could not move. Slaked lime was usually used as an disinfectant - to prevent poisonous fumes of decomposing bodies of the ones that died from contagious deceases from escaping the burial. So this man may have died from a contagious illness, a curse, at young age or was murdered - either way it was something that inspired fear in the members of the 2 century AD Sagalassos community.
Source:
Claeys, J., Van de Vijver, K., Marinova, E., Cleymans, S., Degryse, P. and Poblome, J., 2023. Magical practices? A non-normative Roman imperial cremation at Sagalassos. Antiquity, 97(391), pp.158-175.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa...
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