To browse Academia. This research presents a detailed examination of inscribed magical amulets, focusing on gold, silver, copper, and bronze lamellae from Greek history. It provides a comprehensive commentary on the texts of known provenance, discussing their origins, inscriptions, and possible functions within the context of ancient rituals.
The findings contribute to understanding the use of these artifacts in religious practices and their historical significance. The present study examines two gold amulet capsules unopened and four gold sheets lamellae , inscribed in Greek, that were recovered from rescue operations of gravefields at ancient Juliopolis in Bithynia. The finds ,which come from three separate Chamosoria rock-carved cistern tombs , , and and one chamber tomb from the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, spotlight the Judaeo-Christian inscriptions addressed to the monotheistic God on each of the four unrolled gold "scrolls," presented here as first editions.
Inherent Jewish and Christian elements found on the sheets further bind the group of diverse finds to a common religio-magic textual milieu. During the first excavation campaign of the Paphos Agora Project 3rd July β 6th August , an interesting object was discovered.
The obverse of the amulet contains a schematic, simplified figure of a sitting Harpocrates and below the mummy of Osiris in a boat, as well as depictions of animals a crocodile, a rooster and a snake and symbolic astrals a half-moon and a star. Both the depiction and the text carved into the surface of the amulet clearly indicate the influence of the Orient and the context of solar ideas; the object may be dated to the 5th-6th century AD.
The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 8 , pp. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
