Amulets in Late Antiquity

Amulets of Late Antiquity from Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and Syria

We begin our investigation with the definition of the term amulet. The term is defined by ISBE as “any object supposed to be able to ward off evil influences”. I would to add to this the idea of an object benefiting a client by the spiritual forces attached to the object. It is a part of the world from magic from millennia BCE even to this day. It will help us in our investigation if we look at the ancient terms used to refer to these objects. The term amulet is held to come from the term amuletum used by Pliny in his Natural History (28:28,30:2). The Greek equivalent is phylaktrion. This Greek word can actually be used in two senses. Firstly it means a guarded post, a fort or a castle and secondly it means a safe guard or a preservative. LS states “among Jews phulaktria were strips of parchment with texts from the Law written on them, used as amulets”. The Hebrew words connected with this idea are Lehashim which means magic but in Isaiah 3:14 is translated as amulet by the RSV. The ISBE lists mezuzah, tephillin and tzitzit as representative of this word.of this word. The word used in the Talmudic period is Kemia. Most of the Aramaic inscriptions we have use this word. This words come from a root meaning something bound or hung over. The etymology of amulet is unknown but some scholars (ISBE) suggest it come from an Arabic root himlat which also means to carry something, however the connection is rejected by some scholars (JE). This means ‘to hang around” refers to the external application of the amulet not to its content.
Amulets carried out various functions. According to JE “were used to protect man or his possessions, such as houses, cattle, etc, from the evil influences of witches, demons and other mischievous powers likely to be encountered or to counteract misfortune” Some scholars maintain that originally all ornaments worn by man were in some sense amulets. The example sis drawns from the Scriptures. Proverbs 17 : 8 says “A bribe is a stone of favor (even hen) in the sight of its owner; where he turns he prospers. Here we see a stone which si supposed to give favor to the owner. Proverbs 4:9 speaks of a “garland of grace” which can be read as a garland which gives grace. The garland and the stone are seen as amulets. Amulets were very popular in late antiquity and this is the period from which our amulets come from.
As can be seen from the above amulets go back to a very early period. An excavation in Ketef Himmon, Jerusalem 1979 uncovered two silver plaques which were rolled up. They were not deciphered until 1986 and Ada Yardeni was seeking to draw them. They turned out to be a from of the priestly blessing given in Numbers 6:24-26. This blessing was designed to put Yahwah’ name on the Israelites, by its recitation. They were found in a burial cave. These plaques were made of silver and inscribed upon and so have been called amulets. However a cursory glance at the contents of these plaques and that of the other 35 to 40 plaques we have published to dater will illustrate the world of difference in content. These plaques contain only scripture and the name of no individual. Nor do that have references to any angels or spirits. Almost all the amulets we have from late antiquity are assigned to a person and are trying to gain power, health or exorcism of demons. Nor do the amulets we have, as far as I have read address people. They are addressed either to God, angels or the spirits that want to overcome. These silver plagues are addressed to a human. The script they uses they use fits the 6th century BC . Although this may not represent the typical amulets it does gives us an early example of the practice of writing on metal strips. Other precursors not to the outward form of amulets but to the contents of our amulets are observed in the book of Jubilees, Maccabees and the Dead Sea Scrolls, the powers of objects is seen in the Testament of Job.-