Skip to main content Accessibility statement

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience.

By clicking the Accept button, you agree to us doing so. More info on our cookie policy.

Histories of Northamptonshire
View in timeline

Inscribed Roman Tile with Magical Symbols

Roman 43 - 410 CE Roman and Early Medieval

An inscribed stone tile found at Towcester dates to the Roman period. The symbols are not Latin or Greek but may be magical symbols.

Roman stone tile with inscribed symbols © NMAG
Roman stone tile with inscribed symbols
Drawing of Charaktêres (symbols or characters) on inscribed Roman stone tile found at Towcester © MOLA
Drawing of Charaktêres (symbols or characters) on inscribed Roman stone tile found at Towcester

Inscribed Roman objects from Northamptonshire, mostly in Latin, attest to a degree of literacy in the area. Translating ancient texts can be difficult, but this recently discovered inscribed fragment of stone, found near Towcester is particularly mysterious. The three columns of repeated symbols are not Greek or Latin letters. They could represent some form of indecipherable tally, or even a casual doodle. However, some of them closely resemble Charaktêres, symbols used within a Greco-Egyptian tradition of magic and ritual practice.

Magical writings from Ancient Egypt feature Charaktêres as part of elaborate spells, designed to provide aid or cause harm. Examples are known from Roman Britain, and a Latin curse tablet was buried in a Roman cemetery in the Towcester area, suggesting some degree of local familiarity with magical rituals. This Towcester inscribed tile is a simpler object - a recycled piece of stone and lacking an accompanying Latin and Greek ritual text. Its meaning remains obscure, but it hints at experimentation with these magical symbols by a local non-specialist, perhaps even illiterate, user hoping to harness the ritual power of writing.

Number 21 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.

Towcester
Contributed by MOLA

Explore related content (external site)

See our disclaimer

Previous object
Next object

Related objects

  • One of the eight bronze Roman Bowls found at Irchester in 1874. © NMAG
    Roman and Early Medieval

    Irchester Bowls

    A collection of bronze vessels, known as the Irchester bowls, found in 1874 at the site of Irchester Roman town, near Wellingborough.

  • Carved stone from Eleanor Cross, Hardingstone. © NMAG
    Medieval to Tudor

    Eleanor Cross

    This 13th century fragment of carved stone comes from the medieval cross located near Delapré Abbey, one of just three surviving Eleanor Crosses.

  • Fossil brachiopod Kallirhynchia sharpi. © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Jurassic Fossil Kallirhynchia sharpi

    168 million years ago, Northamptonshire lay beneath a warm sea teeming with marine life, including this fossil brachiopod Kallirhynchia sharpi.

  • Fossil screw pine - Pandanocarpum ooliticum (Carruthers) © NMAG
    Geologic to Prehistoric

    Screw Pine Fossil

    This screw pine fossil is a rare type specimen. Parts of Jurassic Northamptonshire were submerged in a shallow warm sea and tropical plants thrived on the nearby land.