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.