While researching the Asakusa (浅草) amusement district, popular during the Taishō period (大正時代, 1912–26), I ran across a curious term: acharaka (アチャラカ)…

One of the many defixiones—lead curse tablets—found at the site of Aquae Sulis (modern Bath) is from Docilianus. It’s famed for its Roman majuscules inscribed in a…