> The idea behind curse tablets is that my situation will improve if I can ‘bind’ somebody, make them unattractive, ineffective in speech, make their chariot wheel fall off

hmm, well, has anybody tried it? binding a curse on lead sheet to make a chariot wheel fall off?

everyone that manifests, or prays, or wishes become enamored with their chosen concept when a tangentially related improbability occurs that they retroactively assign to their wish. the predictive quality is zero but the retroactive attribution feels good, and the failures are attributed to yourself for not manifesting, praying or wishing hard enough - or building a value system more congruent with the metaphysical framework.

I’m curious why they fell out of disuse? Just the fall of the roman empire?

Seems like a resurgence in magical thinking could make these really popular. There is a high chance that all religious and magic beliefs were made more palatable to appeal to broader populations, so the “true” version would seem both archaic and lost to time, there is demand for hints at what may be the true thing.