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Interlude

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2024

Laura Salah Nasrallah
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

In Part 1 of this book, we have felt the heavy materiality of defixiones, the weight of the lead despite the thinness of the hammered sheets onto which letters were inscribed. These curses may have been nailed or suspended or deposited in gestures and with archival practices that paralleled contemporaneous, official legal modes of display and collection. Justin, a Christian, similarly displayed documents seeking justice by citing or appending them to his Apologies. Sotērianos placed a judicial curse in a shaft or well in Amathous, Cyprus, along with many other such lead and selenite tablets, participating in another materially constituted archival practice. The very substance and location of the curse against Babylas were mechanisms for its successful working: the cool of the lead, the watery chill of the well. Drawing upon the coldness and deadness of lead to chill or thwart the tongue of a speaker was a common strategy of curse tablets. These substantial and sensory elements were essential to the ritual efficacy of the curse.

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Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
Magic, Aesthetics, and Justice
, pp. 128 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Interlude
  • Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
  • Online publication: 02 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009405782.006
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  • Interlude
  • Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
  • Online publication: 02 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009405782.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Interlude
  • Laura Salah Nasrallah, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Ancient Christians and the Power of Curses
  • Online publication: 02 June 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009405782.006
Available formats
×