Love sick and struggling to get over an old flame? What if you turned to magic?
This sounds like the start of a dark fantasy romance novel, which is a much safer place to put the the curse tablets that ancient Greeks and Romans used. Probably best not to take after them.
Ancient practitioners hammered lead into delicate sheets, then carved their deepest desires and darkest intentions into the malleable surface with bronze styluses. Archaeologists have uncovered approximately 1,600 of these tablets, known as defixiones in Latin or katadesmoi in Greek.
The words they etched weren’t meant for mortal eyes. Messages targeted the gods of the underworld, deities who controlled fate and could bend reality to match human will. Hecate, Persephone, Charon. Lead connected the curse to Pluto’s realm since the metal belonged to the underworld, making it the perfect messenger between worlds.
Folding the tablet trapped the target’s fate within its creases.
Nails bound the magic tight, ensuring the gods couldn’t ignore the petition.
This love magic had a bite, seeking to bind the target’s will, create obsessive thoughts, or cause physical discomfort until the victim surrenders to the petitioner’s desires.
Personal items often accompany the tablets to strengthen the magical connection. Strands of hair, bits of clothing, or even bodily fluids from the intended target create a sympathetic link. These items contain the target’s essence (ousia), establishing a magical bridge between the tablet and victim. This connection ensures the curse finds its mark, regardless of physical distance.
Practitioners deposit tablets in locations where the boundary between the living and dead grew thin. Graves, wells, temple foundations, and underground springs became repositories for longing and desperation. Wells and springs provide access to underground water systems that connect to the realm of the dead. Temple foundations rest on sacred ground where divine power concentrates. Crossroads were good too, spaces where multiple worlds intersect. Using graves let petitioners recruit the restless dead as supernatural messengers, carrying their requests to underworld deities.
Here is one example of a tablet for love magic from Papyrus Stories, this one written by a man about another man. I like the poetry of it and how it’s like part magical spell, part stream of conscious desperation.
If he stands you will not let him stand, if he sits you will not let him sit, if he sleeps you will not let him sleep! He will seek after me from village to village, from city to city, from field to field, from land to land, until he comes to me and he subjects himself beneath my feet – me, Apapolo, the son of Nooe – his hands filled with all good things, until I fulfil with him the desire of my heart and the request of my soul in a good desire and an unbreakable affection, now, now, quickly, quickly, do my work!”
Curse You
If you have ever experienced gender norms about men and women, it won’t surprise you that men were more likely to try inducing passion while women asked for affection. However, the sample size isn’t very big. And not all of the discovered artifacts were created for romance since, you know, they were curse tablets.
Court cases inspired many curses. Litigants bound their opponents’ tongues and minds to ensure victory. Victims of theft created tablets naming stolen items and cursing unknown thieves. Athletes and performers cursed rivals before competitions.
Many tablets contain specialized vocabulary or voces mysticae. Magical words and phrases believed to carry supernatural power. These mysterious utterances appear to be nonsensical combinations of Greek, Egyptian, and Hebrew sounds that possibly represented a special language only demons could understand or words more appropriate for conversing with gods than human language. Not sure why but I love the idea of writing gibberish and then calling it a super special magical language.
Sources
Gay Paranormal Romance 
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