Dr. Boudwen,

Below is the translation of FS554-558, the “plaster tablets”.

There were two separate parts to translate. The first is what was written on the surface of the plaster that covered the tablets and the second is what was written on the tablets themselves.

Plaster Etching Translation:

“These tablets are a recording of the Forgotten War, thus named because the Olympians themselves want it to be forgotten and will enforce this wish through killing whomever reads the words under this coating, which should only be removed when there is peace between Olympian and mortal. Below is a list of those who have fallen to the curse. Think carefully before removing this coating.”

Below this is a list of names that, comparing to the authors of the previous tablets, are most likely scribes that lived during the early Trojan Empire. I did a quick scan of the tablets that I believe were written after these and I can see no mention of any of the scribes mentioned.

The tablet itself seems to be some sort of creation myth, a variation on the standard Greek story. I’ve attached the full translation to this message.

If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll help after I’ve slept for 20 hours.

Lisa

Curse Tablet - Stock Image

Lisa clicked send, leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes, stretching to her full six feet. She hated dealing with tablets from the Troy collection because that meant her office had to be in the Archaeology Research Center, aka, where everyone went to party after a dig. Fortunately for her everyone was home for holiday break and the ARC was dead quiet. There wasn’t even the usual smell of gin and leather that so commonly permeated the building, instead everything smelled like a forest.

She walked over to put on her jacket and go out for a smoke, checking to make sure she had at least one clove left.

As she walked out of the ARC to the rear of the building, she couldn’t help but think about the tablet she just translated.

She always thought it was a little odd that according to myth the gods decided to draw lots to see who would rule what. Why would they do that? Why wouldn’t they turn on each other? It seems that at least one ancient writer decided to answer that question.

She tried to imagine what the event, “The Forgotten War” as the tablet called it, looked like.

Most of the deities are not mentioned in this story, only the “Three Kings”, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. After they won the Titan War, they argued over what the world would be like and so, indirectly, who would rule. Zeus wanted a world with a vast and great sky, Poseidon wanted mostly water to cover the world and Hades wanted a lifeless world of perfect stillness. They failed to reach an agreement and fought for many, many “years”. During the day Zeus would call down lightning and send his allies from the Titan War to attack his enemies, while Poseidon would summon things from the depths to try and dislodge Zeus from the mountains, and at night Hades ruled all through his command of the deep earth and the dead. She wondered how long this would have gone on before the gods came together and negotiated the truce that, according to the tablet, holds true even today. "When Kings go to war only death is the victor. Therefore, we vow that the Kings will honor the Covenant and not raise weapons against each other until the world is broken and remade anew."

Lisa shivered as she thought of the word “death”. For her sake she hoped the curse wasn’t real or that there was peace between Olympian and mortal, whatever that meant. Lisa lit her cigarette and looked out into the clear sky. She was almost done for the day. She just had to check on the scans of the tablets and lock up on her way out. As the first translator, she had her thesis in the bag, and might even have an extra box of pasta in the back of the cupboard for dinner when she got home.

She took another drag and noticed that woodsy smell again, right after she heard movement behind her. She casually reached into her jacket pocket to grab her collapsible baton, somewhat sad that she couldn’t go a single semester without someone trying to get handsy.

In a single smooth motion, she turned to face the sound, pulled the baton out of her pocket, and extended it with a practiced flick before taking in what was behind her, causing her to stare in wide eyed shock.

It wasn’t often that she saw a man with horns and goat legs coming out of a bush.

It was going to be a long night...