Crucified and Beheaded: The Archaeological Context of the Amathous Curses (DTAud 22-37)

In accordance with a new textual suggestion for DTAud 27.17 this paper argues the possibility that the violently and untimely dead adjured in the defixiones from Amathous in Cyprus (DTAud 22-37) might have been criminals condemned to death. This may shed light on the archaeological context of these tablets: they could have possibly been thrown into a mass-grave for executed criminals. The souls of executed criminals, ἄωροι and βιαιοθάνατοι by definition, must have been considered powerful forces that could serve the practitioners of magic in ancient Amathous.