Human

Series Of Old Magic Spells Discovered In Serbia

Brooke James
First Posted: Aug 11, 2016 06:12 AM EDT

Witches have been burned at the stake back in the olden times, and as the years went by, people have come from fearing witchcraft to ignoring them, to passing them off as part of science. There is no way to fully understand it, but the thing is, there is a possibility that magic could be real.

We are not talking "Harry Potter" here. According to Science Alert, researchers in Eastern Serbia found a series of magic spells that have been etched onto rolls of gold and silver, placed in small lead amulets, buried alongside remains of humans who died almost 2,000 years ago. Researchers are still trying to work out exactly what the spells say, and will have to study further to know what they are used for. However, the incantations seem to invoke divine powers - as it is with magic, these could be for good or for evil.

Chief researcher Miomir Korac from the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade told Reuters, "The alphabet is Greek, that much we know. The language is Aramaic - it's a Middle Eastern mystery to us." The incantations are placed in tiny pieces of precious metal only about the size of a candy wrapper, but they still would have been incredibly valuable at the time.

There is little that the researchers understood. Archaeologist Ilija Dankovic said that they read some of the names of a few demons that are today connected to the territory of modern-day Syria. Often, however, the spells are love charms that are ordering people to fall in love - although there are times when they turn pretty dark.

Reuters also noted that magic charms were usually buried with dead children or adults wo suffered a violent death, because people back then believe that "souls of such people took longer to find rest and had a better chance of finding demons and deities and pass the wishes to them so they could do their magic."

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