Three Elusive Amulets

Author(s): A. A. Barb
Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 27 (1964), pp. 1-22
Published by: The Warburg Institute
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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS

By A. A. Barb

ach of the three amulets I am dealing with in the following

questions to which I am unable to give conclusive answ
connect the cameo (I) with a certain lady known from an histo
Are we entitled to assume an inclusion of the figure of Christ
religious syncretism of the Roman upper classes as early as the
A.D.? What was the material of the Byzantine amulet (II), know
one (or two?) electrotype copies, with its curious combination o
Jewish and Egyptian elements? and what could Christians of the si
see in the figure of 'Horus on the crocodiles' of late Egyptian
magic? To which part of Europe or the Near East and to which
can we ascribe the leather amulet (III) and what is the meanin
any-of its inscriptions in an unknown alphabet?
However inconclusive the commentary I am able to giv
amulets, each as far as I can see unique in its kind, most certa
publication. I and III are in private hands and might not easily
attention of interested scholars, while the electrotype (II), alth
and referred to since 1900oo, has never been adequately reprod
whereabouts not only of the original but also of the copy, mad
decade of the nineteenth century for the Mediaeval Department of
tage, is apparently nowadays unknown.' Perhaps better schola
up the problems where I must leave them and may produce in
more satisfactory explanations.

I. A GNOSTIC' CAMEO

The sum total of so-called 'Gnostic' or 'Abraxas' gems-a b

would be 'magic' or 'amuletic' gems2-in public and private coll
certainly run into five figures. They are all intagli, i.e. they
figures and/or inscriptions like seals although, as the letterin
dicates, they were never intended for sealing, which would ha
inscriptions the wrong way round. There exists, however, at le
belonging to this class of monument.3 I know of its existence
kindness of Professor Andreas Alf6ldi, who discovered it in th
the late Regierungsrat Leo Merz in Berne and who also sent m
graphs reproduced in Pls. I a, b. I have to thank Miss Eva Merz
details of material and measurement and for kindly permitting
this important gem.
1 Cf. K. Preisendanz in Pauly-Wissowa,
E. Kris, Die Kameen im kunsthistorischen Museum,
R.E., Suppl. viii, 1956, Col. 68I f. Vienna, I927, p. 73 f., no. 52) I should not
2 For a general survey of this class
callof
a cameo
gems proper, as it lacks a background.
see my article in Enciclopedia dell'arte antica
It rather belongs to the same class of small
sculpture cut in semi-precious stones as the
classica e orientale, iii, i960, pp. 971-74.
3 The Vienna half-sculpture ofhaematitethe child 'figurine' of a hawk with magic
Horus, cut from emerald-matrix with Horus
inscription in the Louvre (cf. A. Dain, Inscrip-
on the Lotus-flower and Greek amuletic in- tions grecques du Muse'e du Louvre. Les textes
scription engraved on its back (cf. F. Eichler-
inidits, 1933, P. I78 if., no. 204).
I

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 2 A. A. BARB

The cameo is made

two letters on the
and the reverse bei
ness 0.8 cm. The ob
Mercurius in frontal
on his right should
resting on his bent l
hand. On either sid
reverse shows the f
IAL3
ABPACAC

AALO NAIA
FIONONOM
(5) AAEIlAIAY
NAMIC+YA
A ATCOYE
BIANTnAY
AEINAN

There are two or three obvious mistakes for which t

to blame. The first letter in line 5 should be A (Al
C (Sigma) in line 7 should be an E (Epsilon); in bo
stroke of the letter has been left out. The unusual cross-form of what should
be the letter 0 (Phi) in line 6 might be a similar mistake; the cross-bar is set
so low down that it seems intended to be completed by a parallel bar above
it with the two bars connecting on both sides. The only other abnormality is
in line 2: ABPACAC instead of the usual ABPACAE. With these emendations
the inscription reads: 'ltac 'AppCacr 'AScova &yiov 6voai 'AE?lca 80ivapis qVuXdOiar
Outplcay 1TTavEivav 'Iao Abrasax Adonai, holy name Aexiai, power, preserv
Vebia [Vibia? Baebia?] Paulina!' This is one of the usual Greek magic
invocations with their frequent strongly Jewish flavour,4 quite intelligible
except for the vox magica 'Aexiai' which I have met nowhere else.5
4 For lao, the widely used Greek transcrip- p. 286 ff. and K. Preisendanz, P.G.M., Pap.
tion of the Hebrew YHWH cf. this Journal, vii, 583; iv, 1276; i, 345). 'Holy Name' cf.,
XVI, 1953, p. 216, n. 44 (and p. 227, n. 153), e.g., LXX, Ps. I o10 (I I ), 9: -lyov Kai qo Ep6v
-r 6vopa caioroo and G. Quispel, reviewing
also M. Delcor in Revue de l'histoire des religions,
cxlvii, 1955, p. 166. For Abrasax see my Scholem's book in Vigiliae Christianae, xv, 1961,
'Abraxas-Studien' in Hommages a& W. Deonna p. i18.
(Coll. Latomus xxviii), Brussels, 1957, p. 67 f.- Of more or less similar sounding voces
Adanai = Hebrew 'My Lord' is still substi- magicae I have noted: TIY1I and TYIEY (cf.
tuted today by orthodox Jews, when reciting, C. Bonner, Studies in magical amulets, Ann
for the name YHWH which must not be Arbor, 1950, p. 225 and n. 65); TEY1 occurs
pronounced. 'In rabbinic sources of in thea magic
first formula given by Alexander
and second centuries the name Dynamis Trallianus
was(cf. R. Heim, Incantamenta magica
widely used as a synonym for God graeca Himself,
latina, no. 204); TIXIAY (in tabula ansata
the esoteric use continued in the circles of the underneath lion-headed god) on a jasper
Merkabah mystics' (G. Scholem, Jewish Gnos- intaglio in Florence (Inv. no. 2948); AY1I is
ticism, Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic tradi- known as lucky acclamation in imperial times
(cf. E. Peterson, op. cit.-see below, n. 50-
tion, 1960, p. 67 ; Scholem also gives references
to the similar use in the N.T.; cf. also G. p. i8I; L. Robert, Hellenica, xi/xii, I960,
Kittel, Theologisches Wirterbuch zum N. T., ii, p. 23 ff.) and, as a Jewish graffito of Beth-

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 3
In contrast to this reverse of typical magi
was developed in Egypt and Syria, the rep
obverse appears to be a pure classical type. T
less frequent attributes, is sufficiently well att
senting Hermes6 and is usually connected w
the lyre.' But what of the mysterious letters e
reverse, both of which we must take as rel
Admittedly there are instances where genui
and sometimes also crude magical represent
recent times to genuine antique intaglios an
that this is not the case here. The form of lette
just as does the execution of the obverse, an
ferent in later centuries, not to speak of the w
in any case would not have been able to com
text.9 Besides this, the two letters on the obve
added after the cutting of the cameo and m
figure.
There are few Graeco-Roman divinities of such protean significance as
Hermes-Mercurius. He is the divine messenger and the psychopompos as well
as the god of business success-both honest and dishonest. He turns up as
the interpretatio Romana of various Celtic, Germanic and other foreign local
deities. He is identified with the Egyptian Anubis who takes care of the dead
but also with the Egyptian Thot who, as Hermes Trismegistos, becomes the
great mediator and the teacher of all secret and divine wisdom. We should,
of course, be inclined to see the latter meaning on a magic gem and the
letter e could be interpreted as the initial of Thot; but with Thot I am at a
loss to connect a word starting with X; to read XEAcVvn (=- tortoise) and to
explain the legend as 'Thot's tortoise' would hardly appeal to anybody. Apart
from its connection with the invention of the lyre and occasional symbolism
of fertility and pregnancy (which belongs more correctly to frog and toad)10
Shearim shows, the form &'co was occasion- 8 The inscription of the haematite hawk in
ally used for aOic (see B. Lifschitz in Revue the Louvre (see above, n. 3) appears, accord-
Biblique, lxviii, 1961, p. 401 f.). We also know ing to Dain, to have been added centuries
EAKAI and YEIAl as names of the Elkasaite later. The 'gnostic' figure and characters on
Gnosis, cf. E. S. Drower, The secret Adam, a
the reverse of a cameo in the Royal collection
study of Nasoraean Gnosis, 1960, passim (see at Windsor Castle (obverse reprod.
of gems
Index)-perhaps (so G. Scholem, op. cit.,
by A. B. Tonnochy in The Connoisseur Corona-
p. 67, n. 7) 'the hidden dynamis' or (cf. tion R.
Book, 1953, p. 57) is probably the addition
Macuch in Oriental. Literaturzeitung, lvi, of a Renaissance engraver or still later. The
1961,
col. 383, n. 4) 'the hidden God'? same is evidently the case with the nonsensical
'magic'
6 Cf., e.g., the intaglio pl. vii, no. 570 in lettering on the reverse of a cameo
P. Fossing, The Thorwaldsen Museum. Catalogue
in Vienna (Eichler-Kris, op. cit., no. 20, p. 62,
fig. 24) and the 'Abraxas'-figure with faked
of the antique engraved gems and cameos, Copen-
hagen, 1929, and the references, ibid., p. inscription
100oo. on a sixteenth-century Italian
cameo in the Milton Weil Collection (see
7 There was also the story of a house-bound
virgin Chelone who, summoned by Hermes Catalogue ... by E. Kris, Vienna, 1932, p. 16
to attend the wedding of Zeus and Hera and pl. v, fig. 14).
refused to do so and was punished by being 9 See, e.g., this Journal, XVI, 1953, p. 219,
transformed into a tortoise, thus carrying her n. 67.
house always about-cf. Roscher, Mythol. 10 Cf. the references in this Journal, l.c.,
Lex., i, 892. p. 214, n. 23 (Kris, Deonna, Lesky) and now

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 4 A. A. BARB

the tortoise usually is a si

the Underworld." Is our
should eE6s X86vios be
could hardly have been
manufactured. (Cf. also
There is, however, still
for the Universe, the Ko
unequivocally attested o
has been convincingly s
works of art too, at leas
Phidias as resting her f
Mercurius Avernus at Le
of Hermes holding the to
the familiar representat
characterizing him as He
magic papyri.14 Very m
Hermes and Helios app
Syria,15 a deity with an
Graeco-Egyptian Herme
of mystics, theosophists a
even be much older th
original meaning of his to
the lyre (a somewhat ill
also R. Lullies p. in
oo ff. ('Mercure H6liopolitain'); idem,
Theoria-Festsc
Schuchhardt Syria, x, 1929, p. 335 f. ('Mercure H6lio-
(Baden-Baden, i960
11 S. B. van politain
de etWalle, 'La
le Soleil'); R. Dussaud, 'Templestor
religion et la et cultes de la triade
magie heliopolitaine & Baal-
6gyptienne
Clio, v, 1953, beck',
P.Syria, 173xxiii, 1942/43,
ff.; P. 33 ff.;
L. O. Eiss-
Voe
Quartalschrift,feldt,1,Tempel1955,
und Kulte syrischer
P. Stddte
104 in f
12 W. Deonna, 'Aphrodite
hellenistisch-rimischer Zeit, 1941, PP- 53-57- su
Revue de 16The rather academic
l'histoire des and pedestrian
religio
p. 135 ff.; articlesCumont,
F. on Hermes in Pauly-Wissowa and
'L'A
Roscher might
tortue de Doura usefully be supplemented by Mo
Europos',
works like
xxvii, 1924, p. 31 W. B. if.;
Kristensen, idem,
'De goddelijke F
heraut en het (Paris,
Europos 1922-23 woord van God', Mededeel. d.
1926),
there was also an old cult of a Hermes Koninkl. Akad. van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letter-
Uranios, as we know from an inscription,kunde, D.see
70, Ser. B, no. 2, Amsterdam, 1930,
Inscriptiones Graecae, v,i, no. 559, 24.or K. Kerenyi, Hermes der Seelenfithrer ( = Albae
13H. Hardenberg, 'L'autel de Mercure Vigiliae, N.F. I, Ziurich, 1944). Only now are
Averne " Horn', L'Antiquitd classique, xv, 1946, we gradually realizing the importance of
p. 5 ff., esp. p. 29 ff. To Hardenberg's refer- older, oriental beliefs and mythology for
ences p. 14 add Esperandieu, iii, 2132 the formation of the considerably younger
(Chilon-sur-Sa6ne). 'classical' Greek religion-cf., e.g., Elements
orientaux dans la religion grecque ancienne (Col-
14 "Eplifi KOloKpdo-rcAp: Preisendanz, P.G.M.,
loque de Strasbourg 1958), Paris, 1960. Much
Pap. v, 401 ff.; Pap. xvii b, I. Trcrv-roKpdrcop:
that we are accustomed to see classified as
ibid., Pap. vii, 668 ff. Here, as in Pap. v, 402,
late 'syncretism' is rather the ancient and
he is also called 'wearer of the chlamys and
original, deep-seated popular religion, com-
the winged sandals', i.e. he is seen like the
representation on our cameo. Cf. also E. ing to the surface when the whitewash of
Heitsch, 'Zu den Zauberhymnen', Philologus,'classical' writers and artists began to peel off,
ciii, 1959, p. 215 ff., esp. p. 223 ff. cf. my remarks in 'Noreia und Rehtia',
15 Cf. H. Seyrig, Antiquite's syriennes, v, 1958,
Beitrdge zur ilteren europdischen Kulturgeschichte

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 5
and the rather insipid story of the housebou
be later explanations of an attribute which
The invocation of Hermes as "IAO' [ =YHWH
papyrus18 might not mean much in the syncr
there is a group of magic intagli which see
interpretatio iudaica of the god Hermes. Th
whose body and limbs are covered with lett
names, voces magicae, or formulae, partly the
seven vowels. Two of these stones (there are ni
the figure clearly as Hermes (cf. here Pls. I
tion for these so far unexplained inscribed fig
the Cabbalistic (or perhaps better 'Jewish-G
Komah,21 which describing God in stark an
gradually when
-Festschrift fiir Rudolf Egger, exposed to light, a fact
i, Klagenfurt,
1952, P. 173 ff., or F. v. Duhn
known in
to Pliny ('ad Deutsche
vicina crystalli descendit
Revue, xliv, 1919, P. 155.albicante purpurae defectu', N.H. xxxvii,
17 Cf. also F. Cumont, Fouilles,
123). This affinity ofetc. (see
amethyst and rock
above, n. 12), p. 208 f.: crystal
'Quelle etait
appears also in ala signi-
Hebrew list of gems
fication de la tortue? On of thel'ignorait
fourteenth century,dej~ a also read
where we
l'poque romaine .. .' that this is the stone of the tribe of Gad and
useful in war as well
18 Is Ac~ op' 'Idco - Preisendanz, P.as G.
against
M.,demons and
Pap. v, 176 f. But cf. the spirits:
deuscf.bonus
J. Trachtenberg,
puer Jewish
Phos- magic and
phorus, below, note 20, andsuperstition,
what1939, PP. 138 below,
I note and 266. Three of
p. 6 and note 27 about the these nine gems show on the reverse the
Metatron.
familiar by
19 They have been listed solar emblem
E. R. of the Lion.
Good-
enough, Jewish Symbols in the
20 P1. Greco-Roman
Ic after Thesaurus gemmarum astrifera-
period, ii, 1953, p. 269, rum and moreinterprete
antiquarum completely lo. Bapt. Passerio,
by C. Bonner, 'A miscellany cura et studioof Ant.engraved
Franc. Gori, Florence,
stones', Hesperia, xxiii, 1954, 1750, Vol.
P-.I,151pl. cxcvii.
ff. P1. Id after J. Spon,
Bonner
describes a stone in the Art Voyage Museum, Prince-
d'Italie etc., La Haye, 1724, i, p. 338.
ton University (40-392), adds
P1. I e-f the samefivestoneothers
after a plaster cast
from older publications from(1-5) and in
the original mentions
the Biblioth que Natio-
[6] a stone published by nale, Cabinet
Caylus des M6dailles,
which byhecourtesy of
thinks is a forgery. But he did
the curator, not
M. Jean realize
Babelon. As regards the
that the stones 2 (publ. inscribed by Spon) snake held
and by[6]
all seven
areof these
now both in the Cabinet des Medailles in Gnostic figures I should see some connexion
Paris where I was able to examine them with the Syrian Hermes as 'deus bonus puer
thoroughly and there cannot be a doubt Phosphorus
that (Azizus)' who holds the serpent
[6] (published by Caylus with a very which
correctsymbolizes the course of the sun-cf.
drawing) is genuinely antique. Two R. Dussaud in Syria, xxiii, 1942/43, PP. 74-
further
stones of this group, which escaped 75. Bonner's
But compare also the cabbalistic primeval
attention, are-I am counting the Princeton
serpent, 'the great servant of the creation',
intaglio as [7]-no. 3469 in A. de Ridder's
whose 'head surmounted the heighths of the
Catalogue de la Collection De Clercq, earth
vii,and2 whose tail descended into the
(19I1) = [8], and a gem published (from depths theof Hell' (G. Scholem, 'Gut und B6se
collection of Luigi Firrao) by G. Minervini,
in der Kabbala', Eranos-Jahrbuch, xxx, 1961
'Poche osservazioni intorno ad un pietra p. 57). Here, I think, we find a more likely
Basilidiana', in Bullettino archeologico napolitano, explanation than Hermes = Michael con
N.S., no. II0, Febr. 1857, pp. 89-91 and quering the dragon-cf. W. Lueken, Michael
pl. vii/3, = [9]. It seems interesting that ofG6ttingen, 1898, p. 27 f. and 78 f.
these nine stones five are cut in amethyst (not 21 Cf. The Jewish Encyclopedia, xi, 1907,
often used for Gnostic gems) and two in rockp. 298. G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, MIer-
crystal-which also might have been ori- kabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition, 1960,
ginally amethyst; its colour tends to fadep. 36 ff. Idem, 'Die mystische Gestalt Gotte

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 6 A. A. BARB

only the measurem

his 'body'. The smal
tion of the inscripti
the corruptions due
this Gnostic Jewish
tions. It seems highl
figure shows some c
sented as Hermes.24
not in Egypt but in
ment in which we find Hermes-Helios-Kosmokrator.
Similarly, I think, we must evaluate the appearance of Hermes in Aramaic
incantations from Babylonia.26 Here Hermes is identified with the Logos, with
Metatron (in Jewish mysticism the highest of the angels, the divine mediator
and, as it were, hypostasis of God himself), even with 'YAH' [= YHWH].27
These are conceptions which can hardly be explained from the Graeco-
Egyptian Hermes Trismegistos doctrines,28 but rather from Jewish-Syrian,
perhaps Chaldaean, esoteric traditions.29 I should see the same background
in the Greek inscription on a pottery lamp of early imperial times, found in
Dioscurias-Sebastopolis (east of the Euxine, now U.S.S.R.) and obviously a
in der Kabbala', Eranos-Jahrbuch, xxix, 196o 24 It might be relevant to mention that
(1961), p. 139 ff., esp. p. 145 ff. after Helios (who is competing with the
ubiquitous Jewish lao Sabaoth Adonai) no
22 Still, these antique intagli-hardly later
than the third century A.D.-should be an Greek deity is invoked nearly as often as
important help for explaining details givenHermes in the magic papyri, cf. M. Nilsson,
'Die Religion der griechischen Zauber-
in mediaeval manuscripts of the Shiur Komah
(none earlier than the I Ith cent.), a task
papyri, Bull. de la soc. roy. des lettres de Lund,
which G. Scholem (Eranos-Jahrbuch, l.c.,1947-48/ii,
p. p. 68 f. (and 63)-
25Thus Scholem, Eranos-Jahrbuch, xxix,
148) described as 'fast hoffnungslos'. P.G.M.,
Pap. v, 435 mentions the 'name of Hermes p. 151.
(consisting of) hundred letters'-analogous to26 See J. A. Montgomery, Aramaic incanta-
the secret name of the Jewish God-but failstion texts from Nippur, Philadelphia, 1913,
to write it down. nn. 2, 2; 19, 7; 25, 4 and pp. 113, 123, 208.
23 The Princeton gem published by Bonner 27 With Hermes = Metatron cf. H. Seyrig,
Antiquites syriennes, v, p. 105: 'Mercure Hdlio-
(see above, n. 19) shows the mysterious figure
in Persian costume-actually in almost politain semble avoir ete lit ' Jupiter par un
exactly the same attire as the god facing
lieu d'hypostase, qui faisait de lui le vicaire
du grand dieu'; also idem, Syria, x, I929,
King Antiochos I of Commagene (d. 34 B.c.)
on the famous relief of Nemrud-Dagh inPP. 341-46.
Syria, a god called in the inscription 'Apollo- 28 Montgomery, op. cit., p. 99.
Mithras-Helios-Hermes', see F. Saxl, Mithras,29However Hermes-Thot, Lord of the
1931, p. 3 and pl. I, fig. 5; M. J. Vermaseren, Egyptian Hermopolis Magna (cf. G. Roeder,
Hermopolis 1929-1939, Hildesheim, 1959, P-
Corpus inscript. et monument. religionis Mithraicae,
i, 1956, p. 53 f., no. 30 and fig. 5; T. Nagy in163 ff.) shows in Graeco-Roman times a
Acta Antiqua Acad. Scient. Hungar., vi, 1958,certain affinity to the Syrian-Aramaean
p. 427, n. 102-103. Cf. also H. Seyrig, 'Helio- Hermes, and the important magic Hermes-
politana' in Bulletin du Musde de Beyrouth, i, Invocation, Preisendanz, P.G.M., ii, p. 45 f.
1937, p. 85 ('cette analogie [with Mithras](Pap. viii, I ff.) is a remarkable combination
fair mieux comprendre comment le dieu-filsof Egyptian and Syrian (orJewish?) elements.
d'Hdliopolis a pu parvenire au rang d'un The fourfold appearances (according to the
four cardinal points) here ascribed to Hermes
cosmocrator') and F. Saxl's aside (op. cit., p. vi),
'der Mithriazismus erscheint uns heute fast we find otherwise ascribed to the child-sun-
als eines der gnostischen Systeme'. On god Harpokrates (cf. 'Abraxas-Studien', n. 4
Hermes-Mithras cf. also below, note 44. above, p. 8i ff.) and the same can be said for

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 7
devotional, if not a magical object;30 the insc
'the Lord Hermes-Mercurius' for salvation.31
Perhaps we are now better equipped to explain the Hermes on our cameo
and the mysterious letters E X. We find the same two letters on an 'Abraxas'-
stone reproduced in the seventeenth-century work of Macarius (L'Heureux)
and Chiflet.32 At first glance this gem seems a fake (cf. here P1. ig). The
crown33 and the form of the chalice are obviously not antique. But we never
know in these old illustrations what suspect details are due to an ignorant
draftsman working after a more or less crude sketch or blurred impression.
A comparison of this stone with our cameo leaves hardly a doubt that both
follow an identical pattern, which is most obvious in the position of the figure
and drapery of the garment as well as in the arrangement of the two letters.
There must therefore have existed at least one antique magic gem-stone
besides our cameo (and probably more than one) of this kind of figure with
the letters E X. It could have been a Hermes with a tortoise or (if the radiated
crown-although differently shaped-were really there) Helios holding some
kind of globe, which the draftsman (or perhaps some Renaissance engraver
adding an ill-conceived 'improvement') changed into the chalice; there might
even have been the whip, which Helios usually holds in his left hand, and
which, since it consists of two rather thin lines, could have vanished in the
stone-impression or been overlooked by the draftsman. Chiflet34 offers an
interpretation of this stone which is as abstrusely learned as it is absurd.
According to him the figure is Bacchus, e means 'condemnation' and X
'absolution'. For the radiated crown he refers to Liber pater = Apollo
(according to Macrobius) and the chalice reminds him of Gnostic rituals-a
tour deforce which was rejected by Montfaucon, who suggests another explana-
tion, namely Theos Christos.35 The same explanation of e X was offered, inde-
pendently of Montfaucon, by a remarkable scholar of the eighteenth century,
P. E. Jablonski, who stressed the fact that the Gnostics liked to represent
Christ as the Sun(-god).36 There are, of course, any number of possibilities
for explaining two initials which are not a familiar abbreviation."' But if we
his connexion with the 'holy ship' and thelanges de l'Univ. S. Joseph, xxix, 1952, p. 61).
Kynoskephalos (cf. my paper 'Zur Deutung
For K'ipios 'Epis cf. also Preisendanz, P.G.M.,
des Kahnfahrers vom Magdalensberg', Carin-Pap. v, 420, and particularly viii, 1-3, 14, 15-
thia I, cxlvii, 1957, p. 90 ff.). 32 Abraxas seu Apistopistus . . . (Antwerp,
30 On Hermes connected with magic lamps 1657), pl. xi, 42; according to p. 51 an onyx
cf. A. Delatte, 'Une clochette magique an-
in the possession of 'Petrus Antonius Ras-
tique' (this bell shows Hermes between Hekate casius Bagarrius'.
and Nemesis), Bull. de l'Acad. roy. de Belgique, 33 Cf. Macarius-Chiflet, op. cit., pl. xix, 77-
Cl. des lettres etc., Ser. 5, T. 40, 1954, p. 260. 78, both obviously renaissance forgeries (on
Cf. also F. Cunen, 'Lampe et coupe magi- the type no. 78 cf. this Journal, XVI, i953,
ques', Symbolae Osloenses, xxxvi, I96o, p. 65 ff.p. 218, n. 56).
31 TrEPa&OEs TrpOOXKlVE1 KUpiV 'Eq)pliv MapKOp1V 3 Op. cit., p. 86.
7rrrip acoapitas - see Vestnik Drevnej Istorii, 35 B. de Montfaucon, L'Antiquiti explique
I958/4, p. I32 f., and Bibliotheca Classica . ., ii, 2, 1769, P. 366.
Orientalis, v, 1960, col. 204; vii, 1962, col. 12 f. 36 In a paper written 1737 and reprinted
Cf. also the Syrian dedications to MEpKOVPICOby Paul de Lagarde, Altes und Neues iiber das
5co.IvC (R. Dussaud, Notes de mythologie syrienne,Weihnachtsfest, 1891, p. 213 if.; see p. 227.
p. 26), MERCUR(I)O Dom(INO) and 37 X seems familiar only for Theo(i)s
DEO MERCYRIO (Bulletin du Musie de Chthonio(i)s, 'divinities of the Nether World'
-which I cannot find makes sense on our
Beyrouth, i, 1937, p. 83 f.), MEp(Kovplov) - Mi-

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 8 A. A. BARB

are to be reduced t
might be the likelies
I may refer readers
96, 7, 'carmen Chr
invocations in the m
(P.G.M., pap. iv, 302
The idea of Christ
in itself have sug
Besides this, Herm
widespread feeling
salvation from the
Sun-God born from
the new Aion, both
of the Good Shepher
pas directement d'H
probablement cong
Syria and of the ma
polis; and it can b
of this coincidence-
six-rayed or eight-
amulet (see above,
Schlangen' in Mitteilungen d. Anthropolog. p.
connexionGesellsch.
with in Wien, lxxxii, 1952, p.the
19 ff. Just rad
the Chiflet
so 'Mithras isintaglio.
the new Saturn already at his C
Epitheta birth' (M. J. Vermaseren in quae
deorum Studia archaeologica apud
(Leipzig, G. van Hoorn oblata (Leiden,
1893 - 1951), p. 107)
Suppl.
der Mythologie) lists
and Metatron is 'the little YHWH', a 'youth' o
eleven epithets of
-cf. G. Scholem in Zeitschrift fiir Neutesta- Herm
and chelyklonos (resound
mentl. Wissenschaft, xxx, 1931, p. I70 f. But
might this 'Little YHWH'
look is also the KUplov vopa
tempting
neither and 'these traditions
this nor must have existed
any al- o
except perhaps
ready in the first century chlamyd in a Jewish milieu
chlamys), in Palestine, which was
would fitperhaps notthereally
stone. Gnostic, but may be considered as pre-
38 Cf. also L. C. Mohlberg in Rivista di (G. Quispel in Acta Congressus Mad-
Gnostic'
archeol. cristiana, xv, 1937, p. 93 f.f vigiani, i, Copenhagen,1958, p. 233)-
39 For Hermes as 'angelos' cf., e.g.,42 Th.
R. Dussaud, Notes de mythologie syrienne,
p. 61; on the cosmic symbolism of Hermes'
Hopfner, Griechisch-dgyptischer Offenbarungszau-
ber, i, 1921, ?? 135, 136, 141, 142; for goat cf. Hardenberg, 1.c., p. 16 ff.; on the
Christ
type of the 'Good Shepherd', cf. F. Saxl in
see J. Barbel, Christos Angelos. Die Anschauung
von Christus als Bote und Engel in der gelehrten und fiir Kunstgeschichte, ii (xvi), 1923,
Jahrbuch
volkstiimlichen Literatur des christlichen Altertums,
p. 88 ff.; A. Stuiber, Refrigerium interim (Bonn,
1941. 1951), PP. 151-75 ('Die Hirtenbilder der
40 The role of Hermes as the divine child, Grabeskunst').
expressing both youth and eternity, has been 43 P1. ih after Milanges de l'Univ. S. Joseph,
stressed for Mercurius Avernius by Harden- xxi, I (1937), pl. xxviii/6; P1. ii after Syria,
berg, l.c. (see above, n. 13), p. 31 ff. The xxiii, 1942/43, P. 73, fig. 18. But cf. R. Mou-
paper by G. Murray, 'Dis geniti' (Journ. of terde in Mdlanges syriennes oferts a& R. Dussaud
Hellenic studies, lxxi, 1951, p. 12o ff.) could be (1939), P- 394: 'le signe * . . . est un des
supplemented from C. G. Jung and C. signes les plus en usage jusque dans la glyp-
Ker6nyi, Essays on a science of mythology: The tique neo-babylonienne pour signifier vague-
myth of the divine child and the mysteries of Eleusis, ment ciel, ceileste, monde divin . . .' It can
New York, 1949 (The Bollingen Series, xxii). be traced back to Sumerian times!
41 See my remarks in 'Der Heilige und die

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 1

AA

c Intaglio after Thesaurus

a b-Cameo in Bern Merz Collection gemmarum astriferarum anti-
a, b-Cameo in Bern, Merz Collection (p. ) quarum, 17

M-7

f ~ a ::?--?i~ii~i
qI i~b i-- ---------ii

YWAEH 1.....
H 1YII3YIA E
ID Y WAE H

d-Intaglio after J. Spon, h

Voyage d'Italie, 724 (p. 5)

g- Gnostic ge afte e,: fOriginal~ ofd CaietdsMdales ,i seissHems

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2

a b

a, b

d-Haematite intaglio,
British Museum (p. I 5)

e-Jasper intaglio, Cabinet des

JM.dailles, Paris (p. 15)

c-Horus on the Crocodiles.

Relief in Cairo (p. I5) i f-Lost early (p.

from Alexandria Christia
I6)

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 9
symbol of Christ, to be interpreted and transfo
into monogram and cross.44
So one could well imagine that some Jewish
or Palestine who drafted the text of this am
lady interested in occultism added to the usua
considered at that time as the dernier cri in m
figure of Christ. As an adequate representat
would have suggested the figure of Hermes, wh
gem engraver after familiar classical patterns
tion did not go beyond the initials that would
precaution at that time and the accusation of
forestalled by the alibi of the Th(eos) Ch(thonio
Aristocratic and wealthy Roman ladies dabbl
apparently not rare in imperial Rome. In his J
same chapter which contains the much discus
Christ-Flavius Josephus narrates two signifi
priests of the Isis-sanctuary in Rome procur
Paulina for her hitherto unsuccessful suitor by
Egyptian God Anubis, and how a consortium
of whom posed as teacher of the mysteries o
noblewoman Fulvia-a fraud which induced th
all Jews from Rome.
Since, according to Josephus, the name of t
as of Fulvia was Saturninus, it has been suggeste
same woman, to be identified with a lady wh
cratic splendour is known from a Roman ins
L(ucii), F(ilia), FULVIA CLAUDIA PAULINA GRATTIA MAXI-
MILLA.46 No doubt there was more than one BAEBIA (or VIBIA??)
PAULINA at that time, but the Jewish-syncretistic character of the cameo
in Berne would go well with the mystic inclinations of the heroine of the
scandalous affair in the Isis sanctuary in Rome, and of the Roman lady
associating with undesirable Jewish elements.47

44 The parallelism Hermes-Christ-Mithras 46 CIL, vi, 1361--the lower part of a magni-

is enhanced by the fact, that this sign also ficent tombstone erected by [B]aebia Fulvia
occurs on Mithraic monuments (cf. W. Bins- Paulina ... for her distinguished brother and
feld, 'Neue Mithraskultgefaisse aus K61n', herself; that looks as if she was at her later
Kilner Jahrbuch fir Vor- und Friihgeschichte, age
v, separated from her husband?
I96o/6I, p. 7 I, n. 17), most strikingly and47 The two incidents are dated (cf. also
exactly in the same shape as we find it E. onM. Smallwood, 'Some notes on the Jews
innumerable Early Christian monuments, under Tiberius', Latomus, xv, 1956, p. 314 ff.)
on a recently found Mithraic cult vesselby Tacitus A.D. 19, by Josephus (and the
(Binsfeld, 1.c., p. 7o, fig. 4 and pl. 16). For
latter one implicitly by Philo) C. A.D. 30; but
new aspects on the relation Christ-Mithras possibly the first one occurred at the earlier,
cf. J. Duchesne-Guillemin in Zeitschr.the
d. second one at the later date and the
disparateness in dating might be due to the
deutsch. morgenldnd. Gesellsch., cxi, 1961, p.
469 ff. fact that both writers found it convenient to
45 S. Rogers in American Journal of Philology, deal with these two related subjects simul-
lii, 1932, p. 252 ff. taneously.
2

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 I0 A. A. BARB

II. A JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN AMULET

When studying the collection of amuletic gems in the British Museum

I was shown by the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities the
metal object reproduced here, P1. 2a-b.49 Obviously a Byzantine amul
it showed some unusual features which reminded me of an amulet I had read
about in the late E. Peterson's Heis Theos,5o that early work by a great scholar
which still remains an almost inexhaustible mine of information. Looking up
Peterson's description (it was of an electrotype in the Hermitage after a lost
original) I found it corresponded exactly with the British Museum amulet
except for the second half of the Greek inscription on the reverse.51 But this
apparent difference was due to an error, as comparison with the Russian
original publications showed.52 So this was after all the same amulet. How-
ever, the hope that here in the British Museum was the lost original was soon
disappointed. A careful examination left no doubt that this too was a galvano-
plastic copy. Still, it is most gratifying to be now in a position to study and
publish anew this important amulet from an excellent electrotype, whether
this be another copy or the same one which was last examined by Russian
scholars in I900-190I53 and has not so far been adequately reproduced.
The question which of the two sides of the amulet might be called obverse
and which reverse is hard to answer. Thus it seems preferable-following the
inscriptions and images-to call one side Christian and the other Gnostic.54
another inscription (ibid., p. 96-on a wed-
48 Cf. Annual Report of the Warburg Institute,
1952/53, P. 10. ding-ring in the Hermitage, quoted by Pridik
49The object, Reg. no. 1938, Io-io, as
I, a parallel). The illustration p. 251, fig. I15
of the English edition reproduces the illustra-
measures
was acquired2"3" X I'75"
shortly andthe
before is Second
o.I" thick.
WorldIt from Pridik's paper which, however un-
tion
War from Mme Wolkoff-Mouromtzoff in satisfactory, is still better than the one given
originally by Ainalow.
London. My attempts to get in touch with
her for further information about its proven- 53 It seems possible that the electrotype in
ance were unsuccessful. I am most gratefulthe Hermitage was lost during the upheavals
to the Trustees of the British Museum for of the Russian revolution, or even officially
permitting publication. discarded as not being an original. The other
50 Erik Peterson, Eis eEos - Epigraphische, possibility is that the owner of the original
formgeschichtliche und religionsgeschichtliche Unter-had more than one galvanoplastic copy made.
suchungen, G6ttingen, 1926. I wonder whether the copper amulet ('aus
51 Peterson, op. cit., p. 121 ff. massivem Kupfer hergestellt') published by
52 The amulet was first published (from an J. Keil in Jahreshefte des isterr. archdol. Instituts,
exclusively art-historical point of view andxxxv, 1946, p. 135 ff., which quite obviously
without discussing the inscriptions) by D. V.reproduces a gnostic intaglio is not also an
Ainalow, Ellinistickeskie osnovy vizantiiskogo electrotype and might not come from the
iskusstva, St. Petersburg, I900, p. 192 ff.; cf. same Russian workshop (and collection?) as
now the English revised edition, The Hellenisticour amulet. Actually C. Bonner found
Origins of Byzantine Art, ed. by C. Mango,(American Journal of Archaeology, liii, 1949,
New Brunswick, I96I, p. 250 ff. It was re- p. 270 ff.) that this amulet, a plaster cast of
published by E. M. Pridik in Zhurnal Minist.which was 1856 in the Museum of the Uni-
Narodn. Prosveshchznia, cccxxxvi, 1900, p. 91 ff.versity of Dorpat, was a duplicate from the
with more details and some criticisms of collection of H. K. E. K6hler in St. Peters-
Ainalow, to which the latter replied ibid., burg and that the original was said to have
cccxxxviii, p. 133 ff. Peterson had inad- been brought from South Russia by Count
vertently jumped from the first half of theSheremetyev.
Greek inscription (p. 95 of Pridik's paper) to54 So already Pridik, 1.c. (Peterson, l.c.,

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS II

The Christian side shows four horiz

of inscriptions; a further inscrip
whole. These Greek inscriptions of
tion of the few orthographic mist
io)xv Tro!S XepoTi you 6Ti OQKiTEl E IP
to my enemies as thy right hand p
-beginning and end separated by a cross-
KuptE 6 0E' S IPcOv, lPTl 860CS a0cro
there, O Lord our God, do not gi
language and style of the Septuagi
tian, but the latter element is add
is occupied by the bust of Christ,
(to heaven? abbreviated represent
angels with an eight-rayed star o
shows first a pastoral group: two sh
his hand towards a large star, the
while behind them-underneath
the Adoration of the Magi. Led by
angel with halo and sceptre, they
held by his enthroned mother, stre
child with halo). In the third row
frontal view, with halo, sceptre an
women. She on the left, touching
be the woman healed of the issue
Canaanite woman interceding f
Zacchaeus in the tree-top,61 the m
and another man clearly characte
leper."6 Left from the centre gro
takes the side with Christian scenes as obverse graphische Studien zu den Wunderszenen der
and the gnostic one as reverse). ottonischen Malerei der Reichenau (Abh. d. Bayer.
55 They are quite obvious and need not Akad., be phil.-hist. Kl., N.F. 52), Munich,
enumerated here, especially as they have been 1961, figs. 10-14 and text p. 9 f.
listed already by Pridik, 1.c., p. 95. 60 Matth. xv, 22; Mark vii, 26. Thus also
56 Cf., e.g., 6-r i TIE & L cKEora08 aoTo'S:-
Pridik, 1.c.; Ainalow's different suggestions
do not seem to make sense. Cf. also L. Reau,
Sapientia Salom., v, 16; 6rrroorpEla -ra KKI<a TroI
EXOpoi~ ~ou: Psalm 54 (53), 7. op. cit., ii/2, p. 282 f., this Journal as quoted
57 The type seems to correspond fairly
above, p. 42, n. 5, and A. Boeckler, op. cit.,
exactly to the type introduced for Christ onfigs. 78-82 with p. 33 f.
coins of Justinian II, cf. J. D. Breckenridge,61 Luke xix, 2-5; L. Reau, op. cit., iii/3
p. 1358 f.
The numismatic iconography of Justinian II, New
York, 1959, P- 46 and pl. v. Cf. also below, 62 Matth. ix, 6 ff.; Mark ii, 9 ff.; Luke v,
note 69. 24 ff. Cf. R6au, op. cit., ii/2, p. 376.
58 'Two ewes, one of which is lying down 63 Matth. viii, 2 ff.; Mark i, 40 ff. Cf.
while the other is leaping', Ainalow, op. cit., Reau, op. cit., ii/2, p. 374. Ainalow is ob-
p. 252. viously wrong explaining the figure as 'the
59 Matth. ix, 20 ff.; Mark v, 25 ff.; demoniac after he has been healed' (op. cit.,
Luke viii, 43. Cf. also L. R6au, Iconographie p. 253): the spots on the body of this figure
de 1'art chritien, ii/2, p. 380 f. (and iii/3, are clearly indicated and can be compared
p. 1314 If.), and my notes in this Journal, with
XI, the same figure reproduced by A.
Boeckler, op. cit., figs. I and 4, cf. also text
1948, p. 42 ff. For the survival of this icono-
graphical type cf. also A. Boeckler, Ikono- p. 7 ff.

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 12 A. A. BARB

fettered behind his

spirits, seen in the a
him-on the extreme
Siloam65 ('the spring
youth stretches out h
in this third row fiv
probably of the sixth
-where Greek legend
pretation.68 The botto
standing in a kind of
subject familiar fro
although without th
the marriage scene e
right five(?) loaves (o
group to a symbol of
Epithalamium of Pau
a symbol of Christian
intended as a weddin
While this 'Christian'
surface of the 'Gnost
too we find (in the l
some orthographical
following:75 oiivvos[?]76
64 Mark v, 2
viii (New York,ff.;
I906), p. 341. Luke v
similar A. 71 Cf. now E. H. Kantorowicz, 'On the
Boeckler, op. c
p. I2 ff. golden marriage belt and the marriage rings
65John ix, 7 ff. of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection', Dum-
66 Ainalow, op. cit., p. 252. This repre- barton Oaks Papers, xiv, I96o, pp. I ff., with
sentation might follow the pattern of Moses references to earlier publications.
striking water from the rock, cf., e.g., A. 72 Matth. xiv, 19; Mark vi, 39 ;John vi, Io.
Ferrua, Le pitture della nuova catacomba di via 73 For the connexion of the miracle of Cana
Latina (I960), pl. xxxv. with the Eucharist cf. Cyril of Jerusalem as
67J. Strzygowski, Das Etschmiadzin-Evan- quoted in this Journal, XI, 1948, p. 37 and
geliar, Vienna, 1891, p. 100 ff. and pl. vii. L. Reau, op. cit., ii/2, p. 364 (I).
D. Talbot Rice, The Art of Byzantium, 1959, 74 . .. tali lege suis nubentibus adstat Iesus
p. 302 and pl. 66. pronubus et vini nectare mutat aquam .. .'
68 The blind man (typhlos), the leper (lepros), (cf. E. H. Kantorowicz, l.c., p. 9 and n. 41).
the woman with the issue of blood (haimor- 75 See above, note 55-
hoousa), the sufferer from the palsy (paralytikos), 76 Pridik and following him Peterson sug-
the fettered demoniac (daimonizomenos). gested reading Bi]aiaiv[vos] but quite clearly
69 Differently from the simple round halo the first word of the legend is (as Pridik copied
without cross which Christ has in the miracle it out correctly in majuscules-1.c., p. 93)
scenes of the third row here the cross (as in XIZINNOZ.
the top row) is added again. Perhaps this 77 Pridik, Peterson, and following them
cross is reserved for Christ crucified (and Preisendanz (cf. above, n. i) read: K-r'
risen) and therefore left out in representations 'A-rdrr[ [I] - against the (demon of) Deceit.
of his human life on earth. Although this could make sense (the various
70 It might be relevant to note, that today meanings of the word Apate are enumerated
orthodox Jews still celebrate the marriage with his usual admirable erudition by L.
under a kind of baldachin, cf. EncyclopaediaRobert, Hellenica, xi/xii, I96O, p. 7 ff.) the
Judaica, v (Berlin, 1930), col. 573 (s.v. Chuppa) last letter is distinctly not a Sigma but an Ep-
and the illustration in The Jewish Encyclopedia, silon and the corroded space is much too large

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 13

Xpayil -ro0 lohopCOv6S ae Ka-cripy1raEv. MiXaxh Fr3p

aE. 'A"AlEpP~claX, i.e. 'Sisinnos Bisisinnos, trea
one that she should not have strength any m
annihilated thee. Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, R
word, Alimerbimach, appears to be a vox magica
anywhere else and which I cannot explain. Un
see the Hexagram-later so familiar as the J
flanked by two lions;79 above each of the tw
rayed star, above the Hexagram (rather faint
circles. In the centre of the upper half stands
frontal view, with halo, lion masks on his knees
hand and treading two crocodiles under his f
crocodiles' of ancient Egyptian magic.80 He i
KYPIE
for a single Eta. For the use of(= 'O Lord Akrimakragetes') to pre-
KaTcrrrWTarE
in similar magic prayers
serve parallels
the wearer from can be Drioton's
all reptiles.
found in large numbers, obviously
unconvincing with
attempt to explain Akrimakrageta
was rightly
reference to the Septuagint, censured by
Psalm 90C. (91),
Bonner (American
Journal of Philology, lxxv, 1954, p. 303 if.).
13:Vassiliev,
A. KacrrraricraES ?ovtra
Anecdota KalCd Sp&KOVra.
graeco-byzantina Cf., e.g.,
(1893), But I do not think that it is, as Bonner main-
p. 344: T6V 8i6P3oXov KTcrrrWrico Ka ci Tr6wra tains, 'a meaningless magical word'. It seems
Trois AEXpois Pou KcrT1TWcrrT co. (Cf. also below, to me that the well-known magical formula
p. 16). Akramachamari was turned here into a Greek-
78 See E. L. Ehrlich, Die Kultsymbolik im sounding noun (cf. Preisendanz, P.G.M.,
Alten Testament und im nachbiblischen Judentum, Pap. iv, 2330 'Eppij~ OeCMv dpxflyrrl; 2289
1959, P. 128 ff. (Cf. also M. Grunwald in Grab p&ycov &pXpyir1s 'Eppis; I748 &PXpyirs wTrrCv-ros
und Friedhof der Gegenwart, hrsg. von St. Hir- yvvfrEcoS; v, 402 [and 407] 'EpfiWs M6ycv [and
zel, Munich, 1927, PP. 41-44). G. Scholem yXcOTTrrs] &pxny-ra; similar vii, 670). Simi-
has shown conclusively (Commentary, viii, New larly Horus on the Crocodiles appears on an
York, 1949, PP. 243-51 ; his paper, originally elaborate late bronze amulet (we read on the
published in Hebrew in the Annual Ha'arez, reverse the name Jesus combined with lao)
Jerusalem, 1948, appeared also in a French published by W. M. Flinders Petrie, Amulets,
translation, cf. Ehrlich, op. cit., p. 128, n. 350) London, 1914, no. 135 aa, pls. xxii and xlix
that this 'symbol of Judaism' originates from with the legend Akrammachamarix, again a
its use on antique magic amulets where (just name formed from the formula assimilated to
as the pentagram) it was interpreted as the the name Abrasax which we read on the other
powerful 'Seal of Solomon', which is men- side of the figure. G. Scholem (Jewish Gnosti-
tioned also in the Greek legend of our amulet. cism ..., p. 97 if.) discovered that the formula
79 The two lions, flanking a sacred emblem, Akrammachamarei, so frequent in magic papyri
are among the most frequent motives in the and on 'Gnostic' gems, is Aramaic, meaning
art of the synagogue, from antiquity (cf., e.g., something like 'uproot the magic spells', and
B. Kanael, Die Kunst der antiken Synagoge, was simply no longer understood in Graeco-
Munich etc., I961, figs. 62, 67, 74; E. R. Roman times. Thus it could easily have been
Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco- personified in the same way, as-I think-the
Roman period, vii, p. 29 ff.) throughout the name Sisinnios originated (see anon). Inci-
Middle ages into our times. dentally we read AKPAMMAXAMAPEI (to-
80 Cf. K. C. Seele, 'Horus on the Croco- gether with magic characters) also on the
diles', Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vi, 1947, Horus-Pantheos intaglio reproduced here
p. 43 ff. While abundant on reliefs of all sizes P1. 2d. In Coptic magic texts Akrammachamari
the figure of Horus on the Crocodiles is rare turns up as a Jewish-Christian divine or an-
on engraved 'gnostic' amulets. One example gelic name, sometimes assimilated to the fami-
(cut in grey jasper) was published by E. liar angel-names by an added -el (Akramiel,
Drioton in Annales du service des antiquitis, xlv, [Akram]machamariel). Cf. A. M. Kropp, Aus-
1947, p. 83 ff. (no. 13). Here the young god gewdhlte koptische Zaubertexte, iii, 1930, p. 123-
is invoked under the name AKPIMAKPAFETA

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 14 A. A. BARB

magic characteres, of th
magic papyri, without b
ever, at the left a crescen
and underneath it (badly
branch(?) in its mouth,
the line above the Gree
monogram
0
of Christ: x-
be an ibis is standing, turned to the right, on the magic character in the same
row as the lion on the other side. The whole is surrounded by the Uroboros,
the serpent devouring its own tail, just as we find it on innumerable 'Gnostic'
engraved gems.83
The couple Sisinnos-Bisisinnos-the first usually assimilated to the
Christian Saint Sisinn os, while the name of his companion varies,s4 who are
invoked here together with Solomon and the four archangels-is familiar
from many similar magic formulae. It seems that a no longer understood
(Semitic?) vox magica, duplicated85 by popular magic glossolalia, was later
interpreted as a pair (later even turning into a kind of threesome) in Jewish
magic folklore86 of helpers against the evil (female) demon. Possibly the
three unexplained mediaeval Jewish 'angel names' (SaNVI SaNSaNVI
SaMaNGaLaPH) as well as the Byzantine couple of apocryphal saints could
be traced back through the-equally unexplained-SESENGES BAR-
PHARANGES (Sesenges, son of Pharanges ?), most frequent in Greek magic
Preisendanz in Brauch und Sinnbild-E. Fehrle
81 Cf. Th. Hopfner in Pauly-Wissowa, R.E.,
Suppl. iv, 1183 ff. Most characteristic and zum 6o. Geburtstag, Karlsruhe, 1940, p. 194 ff.;
frequent are the so-called ring-letters (Ger-W. Deonna in Artibus Asiae, xv, 1952, p.
man 'Brillenbuchstaben'), as we see them on our
163 ff.; B. H. Stricker, De grote Zeeslang,
Leiden, 1953-
amulet, signs with little circles at the end of
each line, which survived in Jewish (cf. J. 84 SISINNARIOS, SISYNODOROS, etc.
Trachtenberg, loc. cit. above, n. 19-- . 141 f.)
Cf. H. A. Winkler, Salomo und die Karina, 193 I,
and Arabic (cf. H. A. Winkler, Siegel und
passim. SISINNIS and SISINNIA ([Ilt]aivvil
Charaktere in der muhammedanischen Zauberei, Kai liTvvia) the pair is called on an early
1930, p. 150 if.) and were in general use in Byzantine
the amulet, publ. by H. Seyrig, Berytus,
occult arts of mediaeval Europe. Winkler's
i, 1934, p. 5 ff. For the frequency of the
suggestion (op. cit., p. 167) that they mightpersonal
be noun Sisinnios (Coptic Susennios)
in late antique and Byzantine sources cf.
derived from Babylonian cuneiform charac-
W. C. Till in Anzeiger der dsterr. Akad. der
ters seems to me so far the most likely explana-
tion and deserves a systematic investigation.Wissensch., xcii, 1955, P. 176. See also below,
82 The same symbols of sun and moon also n. 101.

occur on the Byzantine gold medallion of 85 Cf. the remarks by E. Norden, P.

Mersine (A. Grabar in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Maro: Aeneis Buch vi erkldrt, 2nd
vi, 1951, P. 25 ff.) and again above the two p. 136 ff. about verba geminata; H. A.
lions at the bottom of our amulet. As A. 'Die Aleph-Beth-Regel' in Oriental
Drioton (Bull. de la Soc. d'archdol. copte, x,Enno
1944, Littmann iiberreicht, Leiden, 193
p. 71 ff.) has shown, the couple sun-moon E. Peterson, op. cit., p. I17, n. I.
express in hieroglyphic writing 'Eternity'. 86 Cf. J. Trachtenberg, op. cit. (see
On the long history of this symbol and n. its
19), p. Ioi ff. To his reference
survival into mediaeval art see the studies p. 292, n. 56) I should add: H. A. W
by W. Deonna, Revue de l'histoire des Salomon und die Karina, p. 107 f.;
religions, cxxxii, 1947, p. 5 ff.; cxxxiii, 1948,Athanasius Kircher, Oedipus Aegyp
p. 49 ff. Rome, 1652, P. 322 f.; I. M. Casano
82a See Addenda, p. 22. Journal of the American Oriental Soc
83Cf. C. Bonner, S.M.A., p. 250; K. 1917, PP- 42 and 51.

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 15

papyri and on gnostic gems,87 and the Aram

to the SSM BeN PhDRS found on a Canaanit
700 B.c.s9 That would mean that a powerful vo
and misunderstood, was transmitted through m
likely by Jewish magicians.90 Thus while the
and the unobtrusive monogram on the other
text of all the inscriptions and the Hexagram
the tent of the marriage scene) appear to be m
These Jewish and Christian elements are her
figure of Horus in an attitude familiar from
ments, of which we reproduce an example o
magic stelae and on numerous magic intaglios
god with his typical fore-lock92 has been f
figure of the age-old Bes-Pantheos in similar
wings and lion's masks on his knees (see P1
missing on the usual Horus images but clearly
Now these two (together with other) charac
grotesque and sinister Bes-Pantheos figure app
representations of Satan and one might wond
amulet does not represent the evil demon, the
tion underneath it. But I find it more likely-
at first-that this figure is meant to be no other
Evidence for the fact that the figure of Hor
iconography for our Saviour was assembled
Particularly revealing in this respect is the wa
comb at Alexandria, discovered in 1858 and d

87 The late antique magicpubl. by C. Bonner

formula in Hesperia, xx, 1951,
moraccrp
artlpaEPPou (SISISRO SISIPHERMOU) on
p. 332, no. 43. P1. 2e, dark blue-green jasper
the reverse of two gems in thepublished
Cabinet des Me'dailles,
by Paris.
C. Inv.
Bonner, S.M.A., p. 312, nos. no. Y 21587(a) [Don Adrian
348-49, andBlanchet
an 19451-
(unpublished?) one in the Cf. Cabinet
also the interesting
des andMe- unusual three-
dailles, Paris (Inv. no. N headed 3508), also
rendering sounds
publ. by C. Bonner, S.M.A.,
similar. It also occurs addressed as 'Lord' pl. xxi, no. 378.
(KC0plE) on a tabella defixionis, cf. Bulletin 94 For dethe rCoFep& of our amulet we find
l'Inst. franfais d'archdol. orientale, xxxix, oEr~ivqrl
1940, (= the hated one-also female) on
p. 30. a number of Byzantine amuletic medallions;
88 G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, p. 84 ff.; cf. G. Schlumberger, 'Amulettes byzantines
94 ff. anciennes' (reprinted from Revue des itudes
89 H. Torczyner, 'A Hebrew incantation grecques, 1892), in his M'ilanges d'archeologie
against night-demons from Biblical times', byzantine (1895), p. I 17 ff. (Amulets nos. 1-3).
Journal of Near Eastern Studies, v, 1946, p. 18 ff.; 9' Hidden away in his encyclopaedic article
Scholem, op. cit., p. Ioo. on Isis in Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und. rom.
90 The Sisinnios legend has always been Mythologie, ii, col. 431 f. The article on Horus
thought to have originated in Jewish folklore, in the same Lexikon does rfot mention this fact,
but see also G. Michailidis in Bulletin de la
cf. E. Peterson, op. cit., p. 117 ff.
91 After G. Daressy, Textes et dessins ma- socie'td d'archeologie copte, xiii, 1948/49, p. 86 ff.
giques (= Catal. geinr. des antiquite's igypt. du and my remarks in 'Der Heilige und die
musee de Caire), Cairo, 1903, pl. I. Schlangen', I.c. (see above, n. 41), pp. 19-21.
92 E. Pridik, l.c., p. 92, mistook this fore- 96 Neroutsos-Bey, L'ancienne Alexandrie,
lock inside the halo for a crescent moon. Paris, I888, p. 38 ff.
93 P1. 2d, Haematite in the British Museum,

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 16 A. A. BARB

who saw it in I86o, sh

The drawing which
obviously influenced b
taken partly as a reco
allowed all the details
struck by the similari
publishes a drawing.98
cally between these tw
the monogram in the
(about which Ndrouts
Christos-monogram o
wall painting was co
BACIAICKON ETIIBHCH
is a quotation of Psalm
found on our amulet.
monogram: Christ to
KarTarrcrrTE-rE), assist
asked to 'tread down' the evil demon. While we have Christ shown in the
shape of Horus we might see the 'seal' in the Hexagram between the two
lions.
There exists an interesting affinity between out amulet and a certain grou
of amuletic bracelets of the same early Byzantine period.' ' Here, as ther
Psalm 90 is quoted in the inscription (verse 13 on the Byzantine wall painti
and less literally on the amulet, verse i ff. on the bracelets), here as there we
have the astonishing combination of familiar representations from the gospel
(Annunciation, Nativity, Baptism, Crucifixion, Resurrection on the bracele
91 After op. cit., p. 49. cf. Reallexikon zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, i,
p. I 147 f., s.v. 'Aspis'.
98 Op. cit., p. 46. It is the same relief repro-
duced after Daressy here, P1. 2c, and a com- 1oo Op. cit., p. 48.
parison of the two reproductions shows 101 Cf. J. Maspero in Annales du service des
Neroutsos-Bey to be quite competent. Cf. antiquitis d'Egypte, ix, I9o8, p. 246 ff.; for
also Cabrol-Leclercq, Dict. d'arch. chrit., further
i, literature see E. Peterson, op. cit.,
cols. 1135 ff. with figs. 285/6. (The simi- p. 91 ff., to which might be added O. Wulff,
larity of the figure on our amulet withAltchristliche
the Bildwerke . . . , Berlin, 1909,
Horus-relief reproduced by N6routsos-Bey p. 227 ff., nos. I Io9 f. On one of these brace-
was noted also by Pridik, 1.c., p. 192, who lets (Peterson, no. 7), similar to our amulet,
however failed to notice the connexion with SISINNIAS (!-for Sisinnios? but cf. above,
the Christ-representation). My suggestion n. 84) is added to the invocation of the 'Lord'.
('Der Heilige und die Schlangen'-see above, Just so, Sisinnios Sisinnarios is added also rather
notes 41 and 95-p. 21, n. 145) that the Bes-incoherently to the legend on an amulet of
mask over the Horus-figure was taken over this
as period, threatening the 'memisemene'
the head of God the Father in Christian (see above, n. 94) with Solomon, on which
iconography (cf. also Bollettino dei museiC.civici
Bonner remarks (Proc. of the Amer. Philos.
Soc., lxxxv, 1942, p. 47I, n. 22), 'Sisinnarius
veneziani, vi, i96I, no. 4, p. 14) is reinforced
by the fact that on the Alexandrianmay wall-be a brother of Sisinnius, or, perhaps
painting too God the Father as 'L'ancien more probably, the word may be a mere
des
jingling repetition of the same Sisinnius with
jours' (Neroutsos-Bey, op. cit., p. 48) appeared
above Christ-Horus. an amplified ending' (referring to parallels).
99 On the other hand the Alexandrian 'Hagie Sisinnie' (O St. Sisinnius) also added
on an amulet in Bonner's own collection, see
painting finds its iconographical continuation
ibidem, fig. 8, after the words 'There is one
in another respect in mediaeval representa-
God who conquers the evil'.
tions, as suggested by E. Male and 0. Wulff,

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 17
with figures like the Egyptian solar Chnoubis-
'Gnostic' intaglios, the 'Seal of Solomon' and Kin
back, treading down and transfixing with his
The latter image again, extant on numerous lat
(usually with the legend sphragis theou [Seal of
over as the favourite obverse of a well-known
medallions.103
These medallions as well as the bracelets are engraved in copper or bronze,
often showing silver plating (only some of the bracelets are solid silver?), and
I think it most likely that the same applies to the lost original of our amulet.104
Against the possibility that the original might have been an engraved gem-
stone105 we have the appearance of the workmanship-apparently a burin
and not the stone-engraver's drill or rotating little wheel was used-and the
spots of damaged surface which correspond more to the damage caused by
metal corrosion than to the shell-like splintering off from a gem-stone.

III. AMULETUM KIRCHERIANUM

A few years ago a London antique dealer, Mr. Ivar Mac

unusual kind of amulet which he had recently acquired t
Mediaeval Antiquities at the British Museum for an exp
102 Cf. J. Maspero, l.c., fig. I (middle
p. 252 ff. and A. V. Bank in Vizantiiskii
medallion) and fig. 2 with C. Bonner, S.M.A.,
Vremennik, viii, 1956, p. 331 ff. For the icono-
pls. iv/v, figs. 8i-ioi. I have graphical
suggested derivation
on of the motif see now
another occasion ('Abraxas-Studien' in Hom-
E. H. Kantorowicz in Art Bulletin, xxvi, 1944,
p. 207p.
mages a W. Deonna, Brussels, 1957, ff.76)
(thethat
legends of figs. 31/33 and 32/34
should
this serpent is meant to represent Godbe exchanged).
himself,
finding only later that a similar 104suggestion
We can exclude gold, as all the known
had been made by H. Gressmann goldin Zeitschr.
medallions of this period are not en-
graved,
fiir die A.-T. Wissensch., xliii, I925, p. but
i4; embossed.
for However, it might be
his derivation of the 'Darstellung des
that the Gottes
lost original was a bronze mould for
als Schlange' cf. more recently theR. Goossens
fabrication of such gold amulets; that
in La Nouvelle Clio, vi, 1954, moulds
p. 5 of
iffthis(the
kind were used is documented
Hebrew letter Nun = Serpent beyond doubt by the two identical gold
= Eternity).
I was guided to my conclusionmedallions
by the of attri-
Adana, see above, note 67. This
bute Gigantorhekta of the Chnoubis-Serpent
hypothesis would on
explain the rather puzzling
'Gnostic' intaglios. We might fact,
see that
thisourHel-
amulet shows neither perfora-
lenistic-Jewish motif on a Syrian relief
tion nor traces(cf.
of a loop, by which it could
E. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols have [etc.], vii,
been suspended. Such a loop would, of
fig. 214 and p. 191), where the ubiquitous
course, have been soldered on separately on
divine horseman (see following note),
a gold be it
medallion.
'Solomon' or some other hypostasis 105 Thereofcan
God
be no doubt that the original
himself (for Solomon - God cf., of thee.g.,
copperW. F. referred to above, note
amulet
Volbach in Amtliche Berichte53, aus
wasden Kgl. and we are used to seeing
an intaglio
Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, xxxix, both the1917/18,
Horus-Figure and the surrounding
col. 124 f.), is actually shown Uroboros in the role of
on engraved gems. The unusually
Gigantorhekta. large size would not be without parallels, cf.
103 Of the extensive literature about the the two Early Christian intagli published by
Rider-Saint-Amulets I should mention be- H. Wentzel, Miinchner Jahrbuch der bildenden
sides G. Schlumberger, 1.c. (see above, n. Kunst,
94) 3. F., viii, 1957, p. 48 ff., no. 3-4. But
and C. Bonner, S.M.A., p. 208 f. only two
our electrotype shows two flat faces of equal
more recent papers: H. Menzel in Jahrbuch
size, while on a gemstone we would expect
one side to be smaller and one convex.
des Rom.-Germ. Zentralmuseums Aiainz, ii, 1955,

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 x8 A. A. BARB
apparently quite unique obje
there, but they suggested to h
The black tablet measured
like ebony or black soapston
cracks of very old, but well pr
ment, P1. 3c). As regards any
by no means more knowledge
I had a photograph of the
promised Mr. Mackay that h
across a similar object. It was
earns one the quite undeserved
days later I opened-merely d
folios of that curiously baro
I68o); and here I saw to my
reprod.-after Kircher-P1. 3
just a very similar one. Not o
curious magic characters fait
was also the same left top cor
ing text provided another su
belonging to the collection o
lawyer and university profe
The Paduan humanist Johann
cian, philologist and antiquar
characterum varietate intricat
tantae mysteriorum sub iis r
Now I do not think that Athan
pressed leather and bronze an
Paduan collector had-consci
of our leather amulet for his
amulet is the original, as it w
of it, but practically imposs
amulet in pressed leather. Be
reveals that it was planned fo
intended to bring out a sharpe
was pressed between two mou
obviously added later by hand
surface. 110

106 Athanasius 110 On cuir bouilli cf. J.Oedipus

Kircher, W. Waterer in A Aegy
iii, Rome, History
1654, p. of Technology,
36. ed. by Chas. Singer
107 About him [a.o.],
cf. ii, 1956,,p.
C. G. I7I; but J6cher,
see also L. De Allg
Gelehrten-Lexicon, ii,
Laborde, Notice Leipzig,
des Jmaux, bijoux et objets divers 1750,
S .du Louvre,
108 Cf. ibid., iii, 1751, ii, Documents,
p. Paris, 2051. 1853,
109 On the vogue p. 238 ff.,
for who lists such
documentary evidence
casts for in th
teenth century cf.this termmy from A.D. remarks
I I85 onwards. Interest- in thi
XVI, 1953, p. 226, n. 138,
ing for this technique of the pressingto and whic
added A. Blanchet, 'La
hardening of leather correspond
are the experiments
(copying bronze
Peiresc et les faux age leather shields) reported
archdologiques' i
la Soc. nat. des byAntiquaires
J. M. Coles in Illustrated London News de of Fran
P- 99 f. 2 March 1963, p. 299 f.

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 3

iii iiii-i - --

iii~iiii~~i

a .. . . . . ?.. . .b iii~ i! ........

a, b-Leather amulet. Private collection (p. 8)

d--Bronze amulet published by Athanasius Kircher, c--Enlarged detail from b (p. i8)
1654 (p. 18)
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4

a-Inscription stone from Alm6ria, I 137 b-Inscription stone from Granada, 1367
(p. 21) (p. 21)

l3TbU VUIJAk
f l::::?:-

*IC qO..~
::X4ItH~ bV~t'
ALPHABE Hr~ktVCRUSie
*t.flVE

d-Faked 'Early Christian' in-

scription from Granada, late I6th
century (p. 21)
c-The Northern Hemisphere in 'celestial'
characters after Gaffarel, 1629 (p. 21)

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS I9
Kircher, of course, could not resist the request
and tried his very best to explain the mysteriou
and enviable self-confidence he feels able to do s
First he deals at some length with the fact that
Arabian descent,112 not satisfied with holy image
for their efficiency as amulets to 'deform' them (fo
tions of the Gnostics) 'occultis quibusdam Cabalis
depromptis characteribus'. This heretical and obj
to him from numerous crosses, medals and tablet
from all parts of the world, he sees amply manifest
of course, no difficulty in identifying on the obver
Holy Virgin, St. John the Evangelist, and three
fact that he knew only a bronze cast and not the or
pretation in a curious way. From the leather origi
of all these five figures, being the most protruding p
worn off by longish use; as the faces of the two ang
the rubbing away of the hardened top layer had
the leather to set in. But the bronze cast with a uni
nothing of the kind and led Kircher to the belief th
He explained the veiled face of Christ as signifying
intellect,113 and, in mentioning the veiling of th
appears to see mysteries in all of them. The two a
identifies as Gabriel (left) and Michael (right) 'as t
of either of them signify', not saying however anyt
In the signs surrounding the enthroned Christ he
seven apocalyptic spirits114 in characters derive
Schola', characters which at the same time corres
(But there are in fact eight signs and he does not
right.) The four signs in the four corners around th
the four 'Intelligences' presiding over the four pa
power-as is [to be found] in S. Irenaeus115-[the G
seems, from memory
111 '... summa quoque indagine ad arcanaand incorrectly. I can-
huius tabulae sacramenta penetranda
not find there a passageomnes
corresponding reason-
ably well with Kircher, although Irenaeus
animi ingeniique vires applicui.'
112 Apparently he is not thinking
mentions variousof Moris-
quaterniones (-eTrpdBas), deal-
ing with Christians
cos in Spain but of the Oriental the involved aeonialin genealogies of
Syria, Palestine, and Egypt: he marks
the various this Nearest to
gnostic systems.
paragraph at the margin as Kircher
dealing is Cap.with
XV, 3 (P.G.,
the vii, 619).
Melchitae (who incidentally were
Kircher givesreconciled
the names of these four mundi
with the Roman Church only partium
after intelligentiae
Kircher's praesides as 'Mahaziel,
death). Azael, Saviel, Azazel'. Actually the last one
113 .. . per faciem velatam, humano intel- of these is mentioned by Irenaeus (Cap. XV,
lectui inaccessam significabant, per extensam 6 - P.G., vii, 628), but in a completely dif-
manum benedicentem misericordiam, per ferent context, as an evil angel (cf. also the
absconditam, iustitiam eiusdem, ob poeni- commentary, P.G., vii, 1474). Cornelius
tentiae spem tardantem, innuebant.' Agrippa, De occulta philosophia, ii, Cap. 7, lists
114 He gives their names as Sebtaal, Zeda- these four names (two of them slightly dif-
kidl, Madamidil, Schemfidl, Nogadil, Cocha- ferently spelled) as the 'quatuor principes daemo-
bidl, Levaniel. niorum nocentes in elementis'. About the role of
115 What Kircher has in mind is obviously the four parts of the world in late antique
Irenaeus, Contra haereses, i, but he quotes, as it esoteric speculations cf. my remarks in

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 20 A. A. BARB

that Christ, the Word

of his Church'. This m
figures of the Virgin a
relief?] with two cre
Malcuth' [= the King
The two signs in relief
Greek letters Alpha an
of the idea that this '
the cross and passion
the obverse of the ta
Greek, Hebraic, and A
more powerful, a super
with many Christians
his spiritual and inte
that the reverse of th
better never have seen
as it does not contai
Kircher.
Now the 'veiled faces' by which his mystical interpretation was obviously
guided are, as I have shown, due to a misunderstanding. As regards Kircher's
interpretation of the characteres I find it difficult to comment. No doubt the
learned polyhistor knew far more about mediaeval Oriental occultism than
I do, and he may be right in some of his assertions. I do not know from what
alphabet he reads the names of the angels Gabriel and Michael. I have
doubts about his reading of Alpha and Omega: these two signs resembling
roughly an A and a W or M and turned into a quite irregular angle occur
again among the many queer relief signs with which the reverse is 'disfigured'.
(But see below, n. 128.) The signs of the Intelligentiae or planetary spirits are
not known to me in this form, but it is just possible that he found them in
some Hebrew, Arabic or Syriac manuscript.119 The signs we find in Cornelius
Agrippa's (1486-1535) Occult Philosophy120 are different, although equally
strange looking; however we know that they are not nonsensical inventions
but (as so much in the more authentic sources of Cabbala, magic, and
astrology) the results of serious and strenuous, if misguided and often mentally
abnormal speculation, as has been shown not long ago in this Journal.121 The
nonsense into which all that was turned by dilettanti, quacks, and impostors

'Abraxas-Studien', l.c. (see above, n. 4), Arabic treatise of Ibn Wahshiya

p. 8i ff. published and translated by
116'. .. multis Christianis Orientalium [-Purgstall], London, I8o6. Th
partium usitatum novimus.' See also above, and used by A. Kircher (t
known
n. 12. other similar esoteric writings),
117 See above, n. I II.manuscript different from that
Hammer
11s 'Altera vero pars Magicis (cf. his introduction
characteribus
deturpata, uti indigna fuit, quaeolder
For still lucem as-
systems cf. J. Dor
piceret, praesertim quodgraphie copte et cryptograp
nil Aegyptiacum
contineret, ita hic quoqueBulletin
minime de
apponenda
l'Institut d'Igypte,
fuit.' p. 215 ff-
120 De Occulta Philosophia,
119 No less than eighty different 'ancient' ii, Cap. 22.
alphabets are listed and reproduced
121 Vol. xii, 1949, P- 46 in
ff. andthe
196 ff.

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 THREE ELUSIVE AMULETS 21

is another story. Thus I feel reluctant

would probably be put forward as the m
these abstruse characters on our amulet
invented ad hoc to give the amulet a m
different 'alphabets'-if this expression
relief impressed from the mould and o
stylus. The messy conglomeration of t
distinct lines-looks admittedly suspicio
instance, of the two tables which Jacq
exact contemporary of Athanasius K
(P1. 4c), if we did not have his explana
etoiles en characteres c6lestes' and his
Hebrew Alphabet.123 I wonder how ma
nonsense if they were shown a sample
P1. 4d), that much discussed pious S
sixteenth century.124 But if some exp
obviously was in this case-you can r
'Liber Funda/menti Eclesiae/, Salomon
is comparatively easy, I for one wou
confronted with similar cryptic writing
not impossible that some time an expert
of these inscriptions. I must however r
Kircher did, but with a frank ignoramus
There still remains the question when
A clue seems to me to be found in the
on obverse and reverse, that horseshoe
over a square, resembling somehow th
architecture.126 Rather striking howev
mental stone slabs with Cufic or Arabic i
examples from Spain here (P1. 4a an
with his extensive knowledge of such
creation of Christian and Arabian contacts.128 Could it not be that he was
fundamentally right but erred in looking towards the Orient and not towards

122 Curiositez inouyes, sur la sculpture talis-Gaya Nufio, La arquitectura espahiola en sus
manique des Persans, Horoscope des Patriarches et monumentos desaparecidos, Madrid, 1961, p. 81.
lecture des Estoilles, Paris, 1629. (Cf. also Ars Hispanica-Historia universal ...,
123 This as well as other similar occult iv, 1949, P- 159.) Similar also the 'Gate
alphabets are reproduced in Cornelius Agrip-of Pardon' in Cordova, see F. Calvert and
pa's De occulta philosophia, iii, cap. 30o. W. M. Gallichan, Cordova, a city of the Moors,
124 T. D. Kendrick, St. James in Spain, London, 1907, pls. 56-59, I21, 126.
London, I960, p. 69 ff. Our P1. 4d is repro- 128 The 'Alpha and Omega' on our amulet
duced from this book, pl. xii(b). could also be interpreted from Islamic magi-
125 Cf. above, note 119. cal characters (cf. H. A. Winkler, Siegel und
126 Cf., e.g., Ars Hispaniae-Historia universal
Charaktere . . . [see above, n. 81], p. 145 ff.)
and the general type of our amulet-a square
del arte hispdnico, iii, I951, p. 144 ff., figs. 187
and 189. tablet perforated for suspension-has the
127 P1. 4a (Marble stele from Almeria, closest parallels I can find in the Arabic pro-
dated A.D. I 137) after Al-Andalus, xxii, 1957, tection tablets in Cairo, reproduced by
pl. 7. P1. 4b (Dedicatory inscription of the Rudolf and H. Kriss, Volksglaube im Bereich
'Maristan' in Granada, A.D. 1367), afterJ. A. des Islam, ii, Wiesbaden, 1962, figs. 20-22.

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 22 A. A. BARB

Spain with her popu

might go even furth
Christian denominat
working-I mean Co
riched the English
cordwainer (cordonnie
would seem to me the
ing the centuries, mig
In which century s
the indisputable term
Paduan collection, sa
sidered, probably for
having a bronze cast m
much for us, as from
show clearly the style
to Cordova-and I am
have to take the year
Cordova changed afte
religion. As in so ma
existing moulds were
possible for an objec
century. About this
origin of Mr. Mackay

129 Cf. 1878 (SpanishEnglish

Oxford translation, Gerona, 1879);
Dic
dovan, Cordwain,
Henri Clouzot, Cuirs dicores,Cordw
II: Cuirs de Cor-
burg, doue, Paris, 1925; T. G. Larraya,
Franzdsisches EtymolCueros artis-
ii, 1946, p. ticos
I (corioplastia).
182, Historiay
s.v.tecnicas, Barcelona,
Cor
130 Its renown can be traced back into 1956; Sociedad espafiola de amigos del arte.
Carolingian times (see the references Cordobanes
quoted y guadamacies, Catalogo ilustr. de la
by Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae exposicidn,
latini- por J. Ferrandis Torres, Madrid,
tatis, s.v. Cordebisus, Cordenisae pelles, 1955
etc.). (esp. p. 17 ff.); Exposicidn de cueros de
Cf. also Baron Ch. Davillier, Notes sur les cuirs
arte. Catdlogo ilustrado, Barcelona, 1953-
de Cordoue, guadamaciles d'Espagne etc., Paris,

ADDENDA

p. 2, n. 4: For the dominating r61e which dynamis plays in the gnostic system of S
cf. H. Leisegang, Die Gnosis, 1924, p. 88 ff.
p. 7, n. 31 : For an illustration of the lamp from Dioscurias-Sebastopolis see Illustra
News, 25-4.64, p. 644, fig. 2.
p. 14, n. 82a: About birds on King Solomon amulets cf. G. Manganaro in Rend.
dei Lincei, ser. viii, vol. xviii, 1963, p. 68 and C. Bonner in Hesperia, XX, 1
(nos. 56/7-'hoopoe').

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