For millennia, people across Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome turned to magic for protection, for healing, to curse their enemies, and to seek favor from powers beyond the human realm. Ancient magic was woven into daily life and ritual practice—sometimes accepted and sometimes feared. Cursed! invites visitors to step into an exciting world of spells, amulets, and protective figures dating from 2000 BCE to 300 CE. 

This exhibition brings exceptional works in a variety of materials to Toledo, including intricately carved ivory wands, brilliant gems, rare magical papyri, and lead curse tablets from the Louvre, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other institutions. These objects reveal a shared human desire: to influence the unseen forces shaping life and death.

Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World is made possible through the generous support of Presenting Sponsors Susan and Tom Palmer, Season Sponsor Taylor Automotive Family, and Silver Sponsors Edward W. and Barnwell E. Lane III, Toledo Museum of Art Ambassadors, the Rita Barbour Kern Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.