Watching a Lawsuit: A New Curse Tablet from Southern Russia

D AVID R. JORDAN has recently published with ample commentary a curse tablet said to have been found in "southern Russia."l In relation to a lawsuit an unknown person curses his opponents, as well as those who "are their supporting speakers/advocates" (acrol cruvTlYOpOVcrl aU'WlC;) and those who "observe" (nupu'tTlpoucrt). The defixio probably dates to the late fourth or early third century B.C. The expression acrol nupa'tTlPoucrl is unique in curse tablets mentioning lawsuits 2 and is moreover unknown in legal documents. The editor is cautious and rightly points out that a nupu'tTl PTl'tllC; "was someone whose presence, like that of the opponent's cruvllYoP0C;, in a possibly fourthor early third-century lawcourt north of the Black Sea was thought to be worth cursing." This paper, drawing on some parallels for the role of the public at trials, aims to show that the nupu'tTl PTl'tu [ were persons brought by the litigant to the court in order to influence the judges with their reactions or merely with their presence. The word napu'tTl PTl'tllC; is not attested as a legal terminus tcchnicus, nor does it occur in court orations or legal documents to describe an institution, a magistrate, or the ordinary participants in a trial (i. e., /lap'tup£c;. cruvTnOpOt. cruClKOl. EVOPKOl. ClKUcr'tUi, KU'tllYOPOt. etc.). In the Attic orators nupuTllPElV preserves its literal meaning, i.e., "watch, observe, look on" (Sc. a lawsuit), without judicial implications.3 Aeschines, for instance, in the only attestation of the word in a