Defixiones from Istros
The authors publish eight more or less fragmentary preserved lead curse tablets found by chance in the tumular necropolis from Istros and dating from the 4th century BC. The first one is obviously a defixio iudiciaria, nos. 2-4 are lists of names (perhaps also defixiones iudiciariae), nos. 5-7 are hardly legible, while no. 8 is an inscribed lid. The most important text is revealed by no. 1. The commentary focuses especially on the verbum devotorium γράφειν, on the form συνεπιόντων, on the persons concerned by the curse and on their names. Nos. 2-3 reveal more rather rare personal names commented in detail. No. 8 seems to be a fragment of a lead box in which a "voodoo doll" might have been hidden. Only five boxes of this kind were known until now: four in Attica and one in the Black Sea area.
En introduction à un catalogue commenté des balles de fronde grecques portant des noms de personnes, les auteurs publient 15 balles trouvées en divers endroits de l’actuelle Dobroudja, sur le bas Danube, dont 8 portent des inscriptions grecques. Les exemplaires les plus intéressants sont les n os 1-2 (mentionnant le roi Alexandre le Grand) et 3 (mentionnant un stratège nommé Alexandre, identifié à Alexandre Lynkestis). Une balle, similaire aux n os 1-2, provient d’Olbia. Les auteurs s’estiment donc autorisés à suggérer que, pour la plupart, ces balles appartenaient à Zopyrion, stratège d’Alexandre, qui avait assiégé sans succès Olbia avant d’être tué par les Gètes pendant sa retraite par la Dobroudja (331 av. J.-C.). Ils rediscutent le contexte de la campagne de Zopyrion et pensent que la distribution géographique des balles qu’ils publient pourrait aider à reconstituer l’itinéraire parcouru par l’armée de Zopyrion pendant sa retraite.
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