New research has deciphered two 1,600-year-old curses from the Late Roman Empire. Written in Latin and Greek on thin lead tablets, the inscriptions include drawings of their intended victims and a snake-haired figure thought to be Hekate, Greek goddess of witchcraft. The tablets were originally acquired by the Museo Archeologico Civico di Bologna in the 19th century. Celia Sánchez Natalías, a doctoral student at the University of Zaragoza, has published a translation of their contents. ‘Part of the Greek text is similar to other curses known to invoke Hekate,’ Celia told CWA, ‘but the representation of the deity with snakes