1. Nigella and Servandus are both listed on the curse tablet from the Vine Street house, which gives a list of all the slaves (including Servandus himself, who wrote the tablet) from that household. The fact that Servandus’ name appears as the dedicator of the tablet indicates either that he could write himself, or he had the resources to get someone else to write it for him; either way, the decision to write this in Latin suggests that Servandus judged this the appropriate language to address the god Maglus, known only in Leicester.
Here we envisage Servandus as a senior slave in Marcus’ household. Nigella (literally translated as ‘little black girl’) was one the slaves under his control. There is no reason that she could not have been literate too.
The slave quarters – paedagogium – are most likely to have been located in the western part of the house shown above with a service area, perhaps the small room north of the kitchen. They could also have been in the separate building where the tablet was found, in the top corner of the plan above. Mortar adhering to the tablet suggests that it was stuck in a wall and it was found in a pile of broken wall plaster which had been discarded during the demolition of a nearby building.
Servandus
Nigella
Credits: ULAS

2. Servandus Curse A name deleted – why?
1. Here you can see the tablet with the names of the 2 slaves and the use of the unusual word ‘paedagogium’- the slave-quarters.
2. Here is the translation of the curse tablet, which explains why Servandus looks so cold in our pictures: he’s lost his cloak. We also have the mystery of the deleted name (to be addressed in a later session).
3. From the top the fourth line down in the middle S = Servandus’ name
4. From the bottom the seventh line up N = Nigella’s name
Translation:
‘I give to the god Maglus him who did wrong from the slave-quarters; I give him who (did) theft <the cloak> from the slave-quarters; who stole the cloak of Servandus. Silvester, Ri(g)omandus, Senilis, Venustinus, Vorvena, Calaminus, Felicianus, Ruf<a>edo, Vendicina, Ingenuinus, Iuventius, Alocus, Cennosus, Germanus, Senedo, Cunovendus, Regalis, Ni(g)ella, Senicianus (deleted). I give (that the god Maglus) before the ninth day take away him who stole the cloak of Servandus.’
There are the names of 19 suspects, including one erased (probably Senicianus). They are an interesting mixture of Roman names like Servandus (e.g. Silvester), ‘Roman’ names popular in Celtic-speaking provinces (e.g. Senilis), and ‘Celtic’ names comparatively rare (e.g. Cunovendus) or even unattested (e.g. Rufaedo).
The writer seems to have twice attempted the rare word paedagogium, variously meaning ‘a training establishment for slave-boys’, ‘slave quarters’, ‘(servile) staff’
A name deleted – why?
Credits: ULAS, RSO Tomlin

3. Senicianus sagum non habet. cum domino in atrio laborat.
quis sagum habet?
Senicianus sagum non habet. cum domino in atrio laborat.
servi et ancillae dicunt “sagum non habeo. in paedagogio laboro.”
sagum non habeo.
sagum meum habeo.
cum Seniciano in atrio laboro
sagum non habeo.
in foro laboro.
sagum non habeo.
in palaestra pugno.
Cori questions suspects about the theft, asking – quis sagum habet? (who has the cloak?).  He has already questioned Senicianus and the slaves.  All other sentences use –o verb ending to indicate ‘I’, but pupils should identify this naturally from the speech bubbles.
Answers:
Primus: sagum non habeo.  in foro laboro.
Translation: I don’t have the cloak.  I’m working in the forum.
Lucius: sagum non habeo.  in palaestra pugno.
Answer: I don’t have the cloak.  I’m fighting in the training ground.
Verecunda: sagum non habeo. stolam habeo et in scaena salto.
Answer: I don’t have the cloak.  I have a dress and I’m dancing on the stage.
Marcus: sagum non habeo.  sagum meum habeo.  cum Seniciano in atrio laboro.
Answer: I don’t have the cloak.  I have my own cloak.  I’m working in the atrium with Senicianus.
Senicianus sagum non habet.  cum domino in atrio laborat.
Answer: Senicianus doesn’t have the cloak.  He’s working in the atrium with the master.
servi et ancillae dicunt ‘sagum non habeo.  in paedagogio laboro’.
Answer: The slaves and slave-girls say ‘I don’t have the cloak.  I’m working in the slave-school.’
sagum non habeo.
stolam habeo et
in scaena salto.
Credits: Giacomo Savani

4. Some useful words and phrases
sagum: cloak
habeo: I have
in atrio: in the atrium
cum domino: with the master
in paedagogio: in the slave-quarters
laboro: I work
in palaestra: on the training ground
pugno: I fight
stolam: dress
salto: I dance
in scaena: on stage
Credit: Cori, Giacomo Savani

5. Curse I deo Maglo do eum qui frudum fecit de padoio do eleum qui
furtum fecit de padaoium sagum
qui sagum Servandi involavit.
Silvester Rigomandus
Senilis Venustinus Vorvena
Calaminus Felicianus Rufaedo
Vendicina Ingenuinus Iuventius
Alocus Cennosus Germanus
Senedo Cunovendus Regalis
Nigella Senicianus (deleted).
do antae nonum diem illum tollat
qui sa(g)um involauit Servandi.
‘I give to the god Maglus him who did wrong from the slave-quarters; I give him who stole the cloak from the slave-quarters;
who stole the cloak of Servandus.
Silvester, Ri(g)omandus,
Senilis, Venustinus, Vorvena,
Calaminus, Felicianus, Rufaedo,
Vendicina, Ingenuinus, Iuventius,
Alocus, Cennosus, Germanus,
Senedo, Cunovendus, Regalis,
Ni(g)ella, Senicianus (deleted). I hope that the god Maglus before the ninth day take away him who stole the cloak of Servandus.’
The following slides give examples of curse tablets from Britain, but the practice was followed all over the Roman Empire and there are even examples of gold curse tablets (Latin: defixiones) from Macedonia.  The British examples are written on lead, which is soft and easy to write on with the stylus used for wax tablets.  This exercise uses scratch boards to replicate this.  Original curse tablets would have been folded up, which the scratch boards unfortunately don't allow.

6. Sabinianus Curse
‘Those who have stolen the silver coins of Sabinianus, that is Similis, Cupitus, Lochita, a god will strike down in this septisonium, and I ask that they lose their life before seven days.’
This is the second curse tablet found in the Vine Street house. A septisonium is a monumental façade, which incorporated images from the planetary deities representing the days of the week.  They were made popular by the North African emperor, Septimius Severus, which may explain why it appears in a house belonging to Marcus, the centurion whose legion were stationed in North Africa.
Credits: ULAS, RSO Tomlin

7. BASILIA GIVES TO THE TEMPLE OF MARS HER SILVER RING THAT SO LONG AS SOMEONE, SLAVE OR FREE, KEEPS SILENT OR KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT IT, HE MAY BE ACCURSED IN HIS BLOOD AND EYES AND EVERY LIMB, OR EVEN HAVE ALL HIS INTESTINES ENTIRELY EATEN AWAY, IF HE HAS STOLEN THE RING OR BEEN AN ACCOMPLICE.
MAY HE WHO HAS STOLEN VILBIA FROM ME DISSOLVE LIKE WATER. MAY SHE WHO HAS DEVOURED HER BE STRUCK DUMB, WHETHER IT BE VELVINNA OR EXSUPEREUS OR VERIANUS OR…PHRIX PRHOX
This curse tablet is one of a number from ancient Bath, Aquae Sulis.  It provides a good example of the type of nonsense words included to confuse nosey readers at the end.
Pupils may like to speculate on the story behind this tablet and the number of contenders for Vilbia's affections.

8. Can you write like a Roman?
More curse tablets:
For Latin alphabet see
The Duenos Inscription (c. 6th century BC), showing one of the earliest known forms of the Old Latin alphabet.
Credit: Public Domain,