Lead Tablet with Incantations (The Getty Hexameters)
4th century B.C.
Six unjoined fragments of a folded piece of lead. Two columns of text are preserved on the front surface, and a third on the reverse. The text includes invocations to Paean (Healer) and a series of magical incantations that promise remedy from harm for individuals, animals, ships, and the city state (polis). A mythic narrative describes a Child who descends from the garden of Persephone, leading a she-goat sacred to Demeter to be milked. The text also includes the so-called Ephesian Letters ("Ephesia Grammata"), which are uttered by Hecate. These are a set of seemingly nonsensical syllables that serve to ward off evil.
The following translation is given by Faraone, Christopher A. and Obbink, Dirk, eds. *The Getty Hexameters. Poetry, Magic, and Mystery in Ancient Selinous* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013):
Side A, column i
(traces of letters?)
1 ...and I sing incantations that are not ineffective.
2 Whoever hides in a house of stone the notable letters
3 of these sacred verses inscribed on tin,
4 as many things as broad Earth nourishes shall not harm him
5 nor as many things as much-groaning Amphitrite rears in the sea.
6 Paean, for in every direction you send averting charms,
7 and you spoke these immortal verses to mortal men:
8 "As down the shady mountains in a dark-and-glittering land
9 a child leads out of Persephone's garden by necessity for milking
10 that four-footed holy attendant of Demeter,
11 a she-goat with an untiring stream of rich milk
12 laden; and she follows, trusting in the bright goddesses
13 with their lamps. And she leads Hecate of the Roadside,
14 the foreign divinity, as she cries out in a frightening voice:
15 "I by my own command through the night...
16 ...having sallied forth, I recount divinely [uttered?]...
17 ...to mortals and of the goddess of the splendid [gifts'"
18-20 (individual letters and traces of letters)
Side A, column ii
21 [traces of letters]
22 ...of/from lawless h[ou]ses...
23 [Paean,] for you yourself [send] averting charms,
24 give ear in your mind to sweet h[ymnic song]!
25 I command you to utter for mortals...
26 whenever [doom] among the...good-at-war, and the ships
27 [comes] near bringing death to mortals.
28 ...[and] near the flocks-and-herds and the handiworks of mo[rtals]
29 ...uttering night and by [day]
30 ...keeping pure of mouth
31 ...is for/to the city, for best are the things from the beginning(?).
32 [Paean, for you] in every direction are cure-bringing and exce[llent].
33 "...*kataskia assia asia endasia*"
34 a she-goat for milking...the she-goat from the g[arden by] force!
35 and for the one who has the name of sw[eet] Tetragos,
36 TETROAN lead, then, Tetrag[
37... windy headland of the waters...
38 Blessed is the one for whomever from overhead "Io" is scattered
39 on the carriage-way [and] whoever him[self] [down along] the
40 carriage-way [holds] in his heart the speech [of the blessed]:
41 …T]etrag[os…
42 [a single letter]
Side B, column i
43 [letters and traces of letters]
44 …command…!
45 [letters and traces of letters]
46…son of Zeus,…completely evil…
47…with your bow…and of the Hydra, many-…
47 of the [so]n of Zeus. And be mindful of the Far-Shooting A[pollo…
48….with your bow… and of the Hydra, many-…
49 [Pa]e[a]n, for he himself [sends] averting charms,
50 Nor would anyone harm [us?] armed with powerful dr[ugs]…
The following translation is given by Faraone, Christopher A. and Obbink, Dirk, eds. *The Getty Hexameters. Poetry, Magic, and Mystery in Ancient Selinous* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013):
Side A, column i
(traces of letters?)
1 ...and I sing incantations that are not ineffective.
2 Whoever hides in a house of stone the notable letters
3 of these sacred verses inscribed on tin,
4 as many things as broad Earth nourishes shall not harm him
5 nor as many things as much-groaning Amphitrite rears in the sea.
6 Paean, for in every direction you send averting charms,
7 and you spoke these immortal verses to mortal men:
8 "As down the shady mountains in a dark-and-glittering land
9 a child leads out of Persephone's garden by necessity for milking
10 that four-footed holy attendant of Demeter,
11 a she-goat with an untiring stream of rich milk
12 laden; and she follows, trusting in the bright goddesses
13 with their lamps. And she leads Hecate of the Roadside,
14 the foreign divinity, as she cries out in a frightening voice:
15 "I by my own command through the night...
16 ...having sallied forth, I recount divinely [uttered?]...
17 ...to mortals and of the goddess of the splendid [gifts'"
18-20 (individual letters and traces of letters)
Side A, column ii
21 [traces of letters]
22 ...of/from lawless h[ou]ses...
23 [Paean,] for you yourself [send] averting charms,
24 give ear in your mind to sweet h[ymnic song]!
25 I command you to utter for mortals...
26 whenever [doom] among the...good-at-war, and the ships
27 [comes] near bringing death to mortals.
28 ...[and] near the flocks-and-herds and the handiworks of mo[rtals]
29 ...uttering night and by [day]
30 ...keeping pure of mouth
31 ...is for/to the city, for best are the things from the beginning(?).
32 [Paean, for you] in every direction are cure-bringing and exce[llent].
33 "...*kataskia assia asia endasia*"
34 a she-goat for milking...the she-goat from the g[arden by] force!
35 and for the one who has the name of sw[eet] Tetragos,
36 TETROAN lead, then, Tetrag[
37... windy headland of the waters...
38 Blessed is the one for whomever from overhead "Io" is scattered
39 on the carriage-way [and] whoever him[self] [down along] the
40 carriage-way [holds] in his heart the speech [of the blessed]:
41 …T]etrag[os…
42 [a single letter]
Side B, column i
43 [letters and traces of letters]
44 …command…!
45 [letters and traces of letters]
46…son of Zeus,…completely evil…
47…with your bow…and of the Hydra, many-…
47 of the [so]n of Zeus. And be mindful of the Far-Shooting A[pollo…
48….with your bow… and of the Hydra, many-…
49 [Pa]e[a]n, for he himself [sends] averting charms,
50 Nor would anyone harm [us?] armed with powerful dr[ugs]…
Images courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)