Tag: Hellenismos

One English translation of defixio (plural: defixiones) is ‘curse tablet,’ though they are not necessarily used only for harmful magic. This common name comes to us by way of French from the Latin ‘defixionis,’ but the practice itself originates in Ancient Greece, where the term is katadesmos (κατάδεσμος). Both words describe a ‘binding.’ At core,…