2nd-mid 8th century AD. Remains of a magical lead scroll with letters presumably written in an indecipherable form of Aramaic and Greek, incised on a lead tablet preserved in three distinct fragments. See Collins, D., Magic in Ancient Greek World, Oxford, 2011. 315 grams total, 39.7cm including stand (15 1/2"). Ex central London gallery; acquired on the UK art market in 1998. According to the expert Derek Collins binding spells had known formulas and named involved parties, like gods and people, and then connected them to actions or results. You could use a binding spell to invoke an upcoming athletic victory or ensure your happy marriage to a new partner, and to do so, you would use powerful strings of words passed on by magicians. Binding magic takes two forms: (1) a binding spell or curse, written on a variety of media, including wax, potsherds, and commonly thin sheets or tablets of lead, which are then rolled or folded and sometimes pierced with a nail; and (2) a figurine, often made of wax, clay, wool, occasionally lead and bronze, and very rarely marble, roughly approximating the form of a man or woman whose limbs can be bound or twisted. [No Reserve]