The virtue believed to be inherent in precious stones was thought to gain an added potency when the stone was engraved with some symbol or figure possessing a special sacredness, or denoting and typifying a special quality. This presupposes a considerable development of civilization, since the art of engraving on precious stones offers many mechanical difficulties and thus requires a high degree of artistic and mechanical skill. It is true that the earliest engraved stones, the Babylonian cylinders and the Egyptian scarabs, were both designed to serve an eminently practical purpose as well, namely, that of seals; but in a great number of instances these primitive seals were looked upon as endowed with talismanic power, and were worn on the person as talismans.
The scarab, so highly favored by the Egyptians as an ornamental form, is a representation of the scarabæus sacer, the typical genus of the family Scarabæidæ. They are usually black, but occasionally show a fine play of metallic colors. After gathering up a clump of dung for the reception of the eggs, the insect rolls this along, using the hind legs to propel it, until the material, at first soft and of irregular form, becomes hardened and almost perfectly round. A curious symbolism induced the Egyptians to find in this beetle an emblem of the world of fatherhood and of man. The round ball wherein the eggs were deposited typified the world, and, as the Egyptians thought that the scarabæi were all males, they especially signified the male principle in generation, becoming types of fatherhood and man. At the same time, as only full-grown beetles were observed, it was believed these creatures represented a regeneration or reincarnation, since it was not realized that the eggs or larval and pupa stages had anything to do with the generation of the beetle. Thus the scarab was used as a symbol of immortality.
While, however, this was the popular view, it seems unlikely that such close observers as were the more cultured Egyptians should have been entirely unfamiliar with the real genesis of the Scarabæus sacer; but, in this case also, there would have been no difficulty in finding it emblematic of immortality in the various stages through which it passed. The larval stage might well signify the mortal life; the pupa stage, the intermediate period represented by the mummy, with which the soul was conceived to be vaguely connected, in spite of its wanderings through the nether-world; and, lastly, the fully developed beetle could be regarded as a type of the rebirth into everlasting life, when the purified and perfected soul again animated the original and transfigured form in a mysterious resurrection.
Scarabs are frequently engraved with the hieroglyph ☥(anch, “life”) and hieroglyph (ha, “increase of power”). The emblem of stability hieroglyph (tet) is also employed, as well as many others. In addition to these simple symbols, many scarabs bear legends supposed to render them exceptionally luck-bringing. The following are characteristic specimens.169
3 hieroglyphs maat ankh neb, “Lord of Truth and Life.”
4 hieroglyph3 “abounding in graces” (very deeply cut as a seal).
“May thy name be established; mayst thou have a son.”
2 hieroglyph (within ornamental border), “good stability.”
3 hieroglyph ikht neb nefer, “All good things.”
(Inlaid). “A good day” (a holiday).
“A mother is a truly good thing” or “Truth is a good Mother.”
The scarab, for the Egyptians a type of the rising sun and hence of the renewal of life after death, was copied by the Phœnicians from the Egyptian types and modified in various ways to suit the religious fancies of the various lands to which they bore the products of their art. Much of the original significance of this symbol must have been lost; probably in many cases little was left but a vague idea that an amulet of this form would bring good luck to the wearer and guard from harm.
Funeral scarabs were often made of jasper, amethyst, lapis-lazuli, ruby, or carnelian, with the names of gods, kings, priests, officials, or private persons engraved on the base; occasionally monograms or floral devices were engraved. Sometimes the base of the scarab was heart-shaped and at others the scarab was combined with the “utat,” or eye of Horus, and also with the frog, typifying revivification. Set in rings they were placed on the fingers of the dead, or else, wrapped in linen bandages, they rested on the heart of the deceased, a type of the sun which rose each day to renewed life. They were symbols of the resurrection of the body.170
Some of the Egyptian scarabs were evidently used as talismanic gifts from one friend to another. Two such scarabs are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. One bears the inscription “May Ra grant you a happy New Year,” the text of the other reading as follows: “May your name be established, may you have a son,” and “May your house flourish every day.” It is a curious fact that the modern greeting “Happy New Year” was current in Egypt probably three thousand years ago.171
On the Egyptian inscribed scarabs used as signets were engraved many of the symbols to which a talismanic virtue was attributed. The uræus serpent, signifying death, is sometimes associated with the knot, the so-called ankh symbol, denoting life. Often the hieroglyph for nub, gold, appears; this symbol is a necklace with pendant beads, showing that gold beads must have been known in Egypt in the early days when the hieroglyph for gold was first used. All these symbolic figures, of which a great number occur, served to impart to the signet a sacred and auspicious quality which communicated itself to the wearer, and even to the impression made by the seal, this in its turn acquiring a certain magic force. Few of us would be willing to confess to a belief in the innate power of any symbol, but the suggestive power of a symbol is as real to-day as it ever was. Any object that evokes a high thought or serves to emphasize a profound conviction really possesses a kind of magical quality, since it is capable of causing an effect out of all proportion to its intrinsic worth or its material quality.
Many scarabs and signets exist made of the artificial cyanus, which was an imitation lapis-lazuli made in Egypt. This was an alkaline silicate, colored a deep blue with carbonate of copper. Often a wonderful translucent or opaque blue glass was used. The genuine lapis-lazuli was also used to a considerable extent for scarabs and cylinders, in Egypt and Assyria, and gems were also cut from it in imperial Roman times.172 A notable instance of the use of lapis-lazuli in ancient Egypt was as the material for the image of Truth (Ma), which the Egyptian chief-justice wore on his neck, suspended from a golden chain.173
In Roman times some of the legionaries are said to have worn rings set with scarabs, for the reason that this figure was believed to impart great courage and vigor to the wearer.174
The Egyptian amulets of the earliest period, up to the XII dynasty (circa 2000 B.C.), differ considerably from those made and worn after the beginning of the XVIII dynasty (1580 B.C.). Those of the earlier period are not numerous and present but a small number of types, animal forms or the heads of animals constituting the most favored models. The precious stone materials are principally carnelian, beryl, and amethyst. After the close of the so-called Hyksos period, the age during which foreign kings ruled over Egypt, came the brilliant revival and development of Egyptian civilization that characterized the XVIII dynasty. Some of the old forms were entirely cast aside while others were greatly modified in form and significance, the animal forms losing much of their fetichistic quality and coming to be more and more regarded as images of the multifarious divinities worshipped in this later period. In many cases the animal type was entirely or partially discarded and the amulets figured the conventional types given to the various divinities. However, while some of these images were wholly human, many of them show a human body with an animal head. Various symbolic designs were also favored, one believed to signify the blood of Isis having the form of a knot or tie. A frog fashioned out of lapis-lazuli and having eyes of gold is one of these amulets of the XVIII dynasty or later.
An interesting Egyptian talisman in the Louvre is engraved with a design representing Thothmes II seizing a lion by the tail and raising the animal aloft; at the same time he brandishes in the other hand a club, with which he is about to dash out the lion’s brains. The Egyptian word quen, “strength,” is engraved beneath the design and indicates that the virtue of the talisman was to increase the strength and courage of the wearer, the inscription being a kind of perpetual invocation to the higher powers whose aid was sought.175
The children of Israel, when in the desert, were said to have engraved figures on carnelian, “just as seals are engraved.”176 This statement, repeated by many early writers, may perhaps have arisen from an identification of carnelian with the first stone of the breastplate, the odem, unquestionably a red stone, and very possibly carnelian. There can be no doubt that this was one of the first stones used for ornamental purposes and for engraving, as a number of specimens have been preserved from early Egyptian times. Because of the cooling and calming effect exercised by carnelian upon the blood, if worn on the neck or on the finger, it was believed to still all angry passions.177
A class of amulets even older than the Egyptian scarabs is represented by the engraved Assyrio-Babylonian cylinders. There has been much discussion among scholars as to the original purpose for which these cylinders were made, some holding that they were exclusively employed as seals or signets, while others incline to the belief that many of them were intended only for use as amulets or talismans.
These cylinders are perforated and were worn suspended from the neck or wrist, as is most frequently the case with talismans, and the engraved designs often represent religious or mythological subjects, the accompanying inscription merely consisting of the names of the gods. Cylinders of this type could not have been used as personal signets, and it is quite possible that Dr. Wiedemann is right in supposing that their imprint on a document was considered to impart a certain mystic sanction to the agreement, and render the divinities or spirits accountable for the fulfilment of the contract.178
The oldest known form of seal is the cylinder. Babylonian and Assyrian cylinder-seals are known of a date as early as 4000 B.C. From the earliest period until 2500 B.C. they were made of black or green serpentine, conglomerate, diorite, and frequently of the central core of a large conch shell from the Persian Gulf. From 2500 B.C. to 500 B.C. the cylindrical form was prevalent, and the materials include a brick-red ferruginous quartz, red hematite (an iron ore), and chalcedony, a beautiful variety of the last-named stone known as sapphirine being sometimes used. On the cylinders produced from 4000 B.C. to 2500 B.C. the designs most frequently represent animal forms; on those dating from 2500 B.C. to 500 B.C. are generally inscribed five or six rows of cuneiform characters. Up to the last-named date the work was all done by the sapphire point, and not by the wheel, and it is not until the fifth century B.C. that wheel work is apparent in any Babylonian or Assyrian stone-engraving. In the course of the sixth century B.C. the cylindrical seals became less frequent, and the tall cone-like seals came into use.179
A new type makes its appearance about the fifth or sixth century B.C., namely, the scaraboid seal introduced from Egypt. From the third century B.C. until the second or third century A.D., the seals became lower and flatter, and the perforation larger, until they sometimes assumed the form of rings; later the ring form becomes general. They are usually hollowed a little in the middle, which gives them the shape and size of the lower short joints of a reed; indeed, it has been suggested that the original seal was rudely patterned after a reed joint. The materials used for these cylinders include lapis-lazuli, very freely used and probably from the Persian mines, jasper, rock-crystals, chalcedony, carnelian, agate, jade, etc.; a hard, black variety of serpentine is perhaps the most common of all the materials used for this purpose.180
On one side are seven lines of characters, principally consisting of the seven Greek vowels used to denote the Ineffable Name. On the reverse is cut a laurel branch with 18 leaves, enclosed within each of which are characters expressing the name of one of the personifications of Gnostic theosophy. Brought from Egypt and deposited by its possessor, General Lefroy, in the Rotunda at Woolwich. Now in the Egyptian Department of the British Museum. (See page 129.)
A good example of these talismanic cylinders shows the figure of the god Nebo, seated on a throne and holding a ring in his left hand. Before him are two altars, over which appear, respectively, a star and the crescent moon; in front of the god is the figure of a man in an attitude of adoration. Borsippa, where the cylinder was found, was the special seat of the worship of Nebo, whose name appears in those of the kings Nebuchadnezzar, Nebopalasser, and Nabonaid. Regarded as the inventor of writing and as the god of learning, Nebo was the lord of the planet Mercury, and this shows a close connection between Babylonian and Græco-Roman ideas in reference to the god associated with that planet. Nebo was also believed to be the orderer of times and seasons, and this character is indicated by the star and the crescent.181
The Cretan peasants of to-day set a high value upon certain very ancient seals—dating perhaps from as early as 2500 B.C.—which they find buried in the soil. These seals are inscribed with symbols supposed to represent the prehistoric Cretan form of writing. Of course these inscriptions, which have not yet been deciphered by archæologists, are utterly incomprehensible for the peasants, but they undoubtedly serve to render the stones objects of mystery. The peasants call them galopetræ, or “milk-stones,” and they are supposed to promote the secretion of milk, as was the case with the galactite.182 The careful preservation of these so-called galopetræ by Cretan women has served the purpose of archæological research, as otherwise so large a supply of these very interesting seals would not now be available.
1. ENGRAVED HELIOTROPE.
Head of Serapis surrounded by the twelve Zodiacal symbols. From Gori’s “Thesaurus Gemmarum Antiquarum Astriferarum,” Florence, 1750. Vol. i, Pl. XVII.
Many engraved stones of the Roman imperial period bore the figures of Serapis and of Isis, the former signifying Time and the latter Earth. On other stones the symbols of the zodiacal signs appear, referring to the natal constellation of the wearer. The astrologers, who derived their lore from the Orient, were consulted by all classes of the Roman people, and it is therefore very natural that the signet, or the ring worn as an amulet, should frequently have been engraved with astrological symbols. These designs were usually engraved on onyxes, carnelians, and similar stones, in Greek and Roman times; but occasionally the emerald was used in this way, and more rarely the ruby or the sapphire. Here the costliness of the material was probably thought to enhance the value of the amulet. The emerald ring of Polycrates must have possessed some other than a purely artistic value in his eyes, when it could be regarded by him as the most precious of his possessions.
In Roman times the image of Alexander the Great was looked upon as possessing magic virtues, and it is related that when Cornelius Macer gave a splendid banquet in the temple of Hercules, the chief ornament of the table was an amber cup, in the midst of which was a portrait of Alexander, and around this his whole history figured in small, finely engraved representations. From this cup Macer drank to the health of the pontifex and then ordered that it should be passed around among the guests, so that each one might gaze upon the image of the great man. Pollio, relating this, states that it was a common belief that everything happened fortunately for those who bore with them Alexander’s portrait executed in gold or silver.183 Indeed, even among Christians coins of Alexander were in great favor as amulets, and the stern John Chrysostom sharply rebukes those who wore bronze coins of this monarch attached to their heads and their feet.184
Nowhere in the world was the use of amulets so common as in Alexandria, especially in the first centuries of our era, and the types produced here were scattered far and wide throughout the Roman world. Amulets made from various colored stones had been used for religious purposes in Egypt from the very earliest period of its history, so that the custom was deeply rooted in that land. When, therefore, Alexandria was founded in the fourth century B.C., and became a great commercial centre, attracting men of all races and all religions, it is not surprising that the population eagerly adopted the various amulets used by the adherents of the different religions. The result was a combining and confusion of many different types. With the rapid rise and growth of the Christian religion, a new element was introduced. Unquestionably the leading Christian teachers were strongly opposed to such superstitious practices, but the rank and file of the faithful clung to their old fancies.
In the second century the Gnostic heresy gave a new impulse to the fabrication of amulets. This strange eclecticism, resulting from an interweaving of pagan and Christian ideas, with its complicated symbolism, much of which is almost incomprehensible, found expression in the creation of the most bizarre types of amulets, and the magic virtues of the curious designs was enhanced by inscriptions purposely obscure. The incomprehensible always seems to have a mysterious charm for those devoted to the magic arts, and the adepts willingly catered to this taste, so that we can often only guess at the signification of the words and names engraved upon the Gnostic or Basilidian gems. So widespread was their use throughout the Roman Empire, that there were factories entirely devoted to the production of these objects.185
Regarding the sacred name Abrasax, which was inscribed on so many Gnostic gems, we read in St. Augustine’s treatise De hæres., vi, “Basilides asserted that there were 365 heavens; it was for this reason that he regarded the name Abrasax as sacred and venerable.”
1. Gnostic gem, heliotrope, with Abraxas god. Gorlaeus Collection. From the “Abraxas seu Apistopistus” of Macarius (L’Heureux) Antwerp, 1657, Pl. II.
2. Another type; with seven stars.
3. Gnostic gem. Type of Abraxas god and mystic letters I A W. From Gori’s “Thesaurus Gemmarum Antiquarum Astriferarum,” Florence, 1750, vol. i, Pl. CLXXXIX.
4. Abraxas gem, jasper, mystic letters I A W. From Gorlaeus, “Cabinet de Pierres Gravées,” Paris, 1778.
5. Jasper engraved with the symbol of the Agathodaemon Serpent. The type of amulet noted by Galen as that used by the Egyptian king “Nechepsus” (Necho 610-594 B.C.). Original at one time in the collection of Johann Schinkel. From the “Abraxas seu Apistopistus” of Macarius (L’Heureux) Antwerp, 1657, Pl. XVII. See page 385.
According to the Greek notation the letters comprising this name give that number:
| α = | 1 |
| β = | 2 |
| ρ = | 100 |
| α = | 1 |
| σ = | 200 |
| α = | 1 |
| ξ = | 60 |
| 365 |
It is, however, not unlikely that the 365 days in the solar year are signified; and this enigmatical name might thus be brought into connection with Mithra, the solar divinity, who was worshipped throughout the Persian and Roman empires in the first and second centuries of our era.
A very recondite but ingenious explanation of the Gnostic name Abrasax is given by Harduin in his notes to Pliny’s “Natural History.”186 He sees in the first three letters the initials of the three Hebrew words signifying father, son, and spirit (ab, ben, ruah), the Triune God; the last four letters are the initials of the Greek words ἀνθρώπους σώζει ἁγίῳ ξύλῳ or “he saves men by the sacred wood” (the cross). This seems rather far-fetched, it must be confessed, and yet to any one familiar with the vagaries of Alexandrine eclecticism, and with the tendency of the time and place to make strange and uncouth combinations of Greek and Hebrew forms, there is nothing inherently improbable in the explanation. Indeed, the Hebrew and Greek words in this composite sentence might have been regarded as typifying the union of the Old and New Testaments, and such an acrostic would certainly have been looked upon as possessing a mystic and supernatural power.
Many explanations have been offered as to the origin and significance of the characteristic figure of the Abrasax god engraved on a number of Gnostic amulets. There seems to be no doubt that this figure was invented by Basilides, chief of the Gnostic sect bearing his name, and who flourished in the early part of the second century A.D. While the details of the type as perfected were undoubtedly borrowed from the eclectic symbolism of the Egyptian and western Asiatic world it is almost impossible to conjecture the reasons determining the selection of this particular form.
A jasper engraved with the famous Gnostic symbol was set in the ring worn by Seffrid, Bishop of Chichester (A.D. 1159). This ring was found on the skeleton of the bishop and is now preserved in the treasury of the Cathedral of Chichester. Undoubtedly the curious symbolic figure was given a perfectly orthodox meaning, and, indeed, it was not really a pagan symbol, as the Gnostics were “indifferent Christians,” although their system was a fanciful elaboration of the doctrines of the late Alexandrian school of Greek Philosophy and an adaptation of this to the teachings of Christian tradition. In many cases, however, gems with purely pagan designs were worn by Christians, designs such as Isis with the child Horus, which was taken to be the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus.
A curious amulet, apparently belonging to the Gnostic variety, and intended to bring success to the owner of a racehorse, is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York. The material is green jasper with red spots. On the obverse the horse is figured with the victor’s palm and the name Tiberis; on the reverse appears the vulture-headed figure of the Abraxas god and the characters, “ZACTA IAW BAPIA,” which have been translated, “Iao the Destroyer and Creator.”187 Possibly this amulet may have been attached to the horse during his races to insure victory, as we know that amulets of this kind were used in this way.
As illustrating the eclectic character of some of the amulets used in the early Christian centuries, we may note one in the Cabinet de Médailles, in Paris. This has upon the obverse the head of Alexander the Great; on the reverse is a she-ass with her foal, and below this a scorpion and the name Jesus Christ. Another amulet of this class, figured by Vettori,188 also has the head of Alexander on the obverse, while the reverse bears the Greek monogram of the name Christos.
After the third or fourth century of our era the art of gem-engraving seems to have been lost, or at least to have been very seldom practised, and it is noteworthy in the matter that after this period writers who treat of the virtues of engraved gems as talismans rarely, if ever, use the words “if you engrave” such or such a figure on a stone, but write “if you find” such a figure.
The figures engraved on precious stones were supposed to have a greater or lesser degree of efficacy in themselves independent of the virtues peculiar to the stone on which they were engraved, and this efficacy depended largely upon the hour, day, or month during which the work was executed. For the influence of the planet, star, or constellation which was in the ascendant was thought to infuse a subtle essence into the stone while the appropriate image was being engraved. However, to exert the maximum power, the virtue of the image must be of the same character as the virtue inherent in the material, and the gem became less potent when this was not the case. Certain images, those symbolizing the zodiacal signs for instance, were looked upon as possessing such power that their peculiar nature impressed itself even upon stones inherently of different quality; others again were only efficacious when engraved on stones the quality of which was in sympathy with them.189
Naturally, many of the ancient gems which had been preserved from Greek and Roman times were recognized as being purely products of art, but in medieval and later times the idea of the magic quality of all engraved gems had become so deeply rooted that in many cases a magical character was ascribed to them entirely foreign to the intention of the engraver. Great ingenuity was often displayed in seeking and finding some analogy between the supposed significance of the design and the fancied power of the stone itself. Taking the agate as an illustration, Camillo Leonardo says that its many different varieties had as many different virtues, and he finds in this an explanation of the multiplicity of images engraved on the various kinds of agate, without realizing that the true reason was that this material lent itself more readily to artistic treatment than did many others.
The idea that some special design should be engraved upon a given stone became quite general in the early centuries of our era. The emerald, for instance, according to Damigeron, was to be engraved with a scarab, beneath which was to be a standing figure of Isis. The gem, when completed, was to be pierced longitudinally and worn in a brooch. The fortunate owner of this talisman was then to adorn himself and the members of his family, and, a consecration having been pronounced, he was assured that he would see “the glory of the stone granted it by God.”190 Possibly this may have meant that the stone would become luminous.
A list of these symbolic designs is said to have been given in the “Book of Wings,” by Ragiel, one of the curious treatises composed about the thirteenth century under the influence of Hebrew and Greco-Roman tradition. Although it owes its origin to the Hebrew “Book of Raziel,” it bears little if any likeness to that work. As will be seen in the following items, the fact that the design is on its appropriate stone is always insisted on:
The beautiful and terrible figure of a dragon. If this is found on a ruby or any other stone of similar nature and virtue, it has the power to augment the goods of this world and makes the wearer joyous and healthy.
The figure of a falcon, if on a topaz, helps to acquire the goodwill of kings, princes, and magnates. The image of an astrolabe, if on a sapphire, has power to increase wealth and enables the wearer to predict the future.
The well-formed image of a lion, if engraved on a garnet, will protect and preserve honors and health, cures the wearer of all diseases, brings him honors, and guards him from all perils in travelling.
An ass, if represented on a chrysolite, will give power to prognosticate and predict the future.
The figure of a ram or of a bearded man, on a sapphire, has the power to cure and preserve from many infirmities as well as to free from poison and from all demons. This is a royal image; it confers dignities and honors and exalts the wearer.
A frog, engraved on a beryl, will have the power to reconcile enemies and produce friendship where there was discord.
A camel’s head or two goats among myrtles, if on an onyx, has the power to convoke, assemble, and constrain demons; if any one wears it, he will see terrible visions in sleep.
A vulture, if on a chrysolite, has the power to constrain demons and the winds. It controls demons and prevents them from coming together in the place where the gem may be; it also guards against their importunities. The demons obey the wearer.
A bat, represented on a heliotrope or bloodstone, gives the wearer power over demons and helps incantations.
A griffin, imaged on a crystal, produces abundance of milk.
A man richly dressed and with a beautiful object in his hand, engraved on a carnelian, checks the flow of blood and confers honors.
A lion or an archer, on a jasper, gives help against poison and cures from fever.
A man in armor, with bow and arrow, on an iris stone, protects from evil both the wearer and the place where it may be.
A man with a sword in his hand, on a carnelian, preserves the place where it may be from lightning and tempest, and guards the wearer from vices and enchantments.
A bull engraved on a prase is said to give aid against evil spells and to procure the favor of magistrates.
A hoopoo with a tarragon herb before it, represented on a beryl, confers the power to invoke water-spirits and to converse with them, as well as to call up the mighty dead and to obtain answers to questions addressed to them.
A swallow, on a celonite, establishes and preserves peace and concord among men.
A man with his right hand raised aloft, if engraved on a chalcedony, gives success in lawsuits, renders the wearer healthy, gives him safety in his travels and preserves him from all evil chances.
The names of God, on a ceraunia stone, have the power to preserve the place where the stone may be from tempests; they also give to the wearer victory over his enemies.
A bear, if engraved on an amethyst, has the virtue of putting demons to flight and defends and preserves the wearer from drunkenness.
A man in armor, graven on a magnet, or loadstone, has the power to aid in incantations and makes the wearer victorious in war.191
An Italian manuscript, dating from the fourteenth century, gives the following talismanic gems:
If thou findest a stone on which is graven or figured a man with a goat’s head, whoever wears this stone, with God’s help, will have great riches and the love of all men and animals.
If a stone be found on which is graven or figured an armed man or the draped figure of a virgin, bound with laurel and having a laurel branch in her hand, this stone is sacred and frees the wearer from all changes and haps of fortune.
When thou findest a stone on which is graven the figure of a man holding a scythe in his hand, a stone like this imparts strength and power to the wearer. Every day adds to his strength, courage and boldness.
Hold dear that stone on which thou shalt find figured or cut the moon or the sun, or both together, for it makes the wearer chaste and guards him from lust.
A jewel to be prized is that stone on which is graven or figured a man with wings having beneath his feet a serpent whose head he holds in his hand. A stone of this kind gives the wearer, by God’s help, abundant wealth of knowledge, as well as good health and favor.
Shouldst thou find a stone on which is the figure of a man holding in his right hand a palm branch, this stone, with God’s help, renders the wearer victorious in disputes and in battles, and brings him the favor of the great.
Finding the stone called jasper, bearing graven or figured a huntsman, a dog, or a stag, the wearer, with God’s help, will have the power to heal one possessed of a devil, or who is insane.
A good stone is that one on which thou shalt find graven or figured a serpent with a raven on its tail. Whoever wears this stone will enjoy high station and be much honored; it also protects from the ill-effects of the heat.192
The original meaning of the swastika emblem has been variously explained as a symbol of fire, of the four cardinal points, of water, of the lightning, etc. Still another explanation is given by Hoernes, who inclines to the belief that it is simply a conventionalized representation of the human form, the lower shaft being the two legs joined together, the two horizontal shafts the outstretched arms, and the upper shaft the trunk of the body; the four projections would stand for the feet, the two hands and the head.193
The Egyptian crux ansata, the hieroglyphic symbol for “life,” and the Phœnician Tau symbol, the “mark” that was to be stamped upon the foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem (Ezek. ix, 4), and which in Early Christian art was frequently substituted for the usual cross, are both explained by Hoernes in a similar way, and he notes the fact that the swastika symbol does not appear in Egyptian or Phœnician art, drawing the inference that all three symbols originated in the same form or figure.194 To all these symbols were attributed talismanic virtues and they were frequently engraved on precious stones.
The so-called “Monogrammatic Cross” was very freely used in work of the fifth century. This is simply a modification of the monogram formed of the first two letters of the name Christ as written in Greek, a device which first appeared after the time of Constantine the Great (d. 337 A.D.). This monogram usually assumed the following form: ☧, and the “Monogrammatic Cross” was made by changing the position of the Greek X (chi), and making one of its arms serve as the straight stroke of the P (r), thus giving the following form: ⳨.
A curious amulet to avert the spell of the Evil Eye is an engraved sard showing an eye in the centre, around which are grouped the attributes of the divinities presiding over the days of the week. Sunday, the dies Solis, is represented by a lion; Monday, the dies Lunæ, by a stag; Tuesday, the dies Martis, by a scorpion; Wednesday, the dies Mercurii, by a dog; Thursday, the dies Jovis, by a thunderbolt; Friday, the dies Veneris, by a snake; and Saturday, the dies Saturni, by an owl.195 In this way the wearer was protected at all times from the evil influence.
Because of its peculiar markings, some of which suggest the form of an eye, malachite was worn in some parts of Italy (e.g., in Bettona) as an amulet to protect the wearer from the spell of the Evil Eye. Such stones were called “peacock-stones,” from their resemblance in color and marking to the peacock’s tail. The form of these malachite amulets is usually triangular, and they were mounted in silver. It is curious to note, as a proof of the persistence of superstitions, that in an Etruscan tomb at Chiusi there was found a triangular, perforated piece of glass, each angle terminating in an eye formed of glass of various colors.196
On many of the amulets fabricated in Italy for protection against the dreaded jettatura, or spell of the Evil Eye, the cock is figured. His image was supposed in ancient times to assure the protection of the sun-god, and his crowing was regarded as an inarticulate hymn of praise to this deity. He was also a type of dauntless courage. All this contributed to make him a defender of the weak, especially of women and children, against the wiles of the spirits of darkness.197 Rostand, in his “Chantecler,” has enlarged this conception, and endows the cock with the proud conviction that it is to his matutinal chant alone that the world owes the daily recurrent phenomenon of the sunrise.
In Palestine the Evil Eye is supposed to be the baleful gift of men who have light-blue eyes, more especially if they are beardless. Possibly this is the power in which some of our blond and beardless “mashers” repose their trust. As an antidote to the awful influence of these blue-eyed monsters, the Syrian women decorated themselves with blue beads, on the principle similia similibus curantur. A maiden with beautiful hair will tie a blue ribbon about it, or wear a blue bead in it, so as to ward off any evil spell cast by the blue eye that might rob her of her fair dower.198
It is a well-known fact that many amulets were made in forms suggesting objects offensive to our sense of propriety. These were thought to protect the wearers by denoting the contempt they felt for the evil spirits leagued against them. Some such fancy may have induced the peculiar designs of certain of the jewels alleged to have been pawned in Paris by the ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid for the sum of 1,200,000 francs ($240,000). According to rumor, these pledges must be sold, as the sultan has failed to redeem them, but the designs are so risqué that they cannot be offered at public sale; therefore the stones and pearls are to be removed and the gold settings are to be melted and sold as metal.
It is not exclusively characteristic of our commercial and industrial age that the price paid for a work of art should influence the popular estimation of the merits of the work, as appears in an anecdote related by Pliny. An emerald (smaragd), upon which was engraved a figure of Amymone (one of the Danaidæ), having been offered for sale in the Isle of Cyprus, at the price of six golden denarii, Ismenias, a flute-player, gave orders to purchase it. The dealer, however, reduced the price and returned two denarii; upon which Ismenias remarked, “By Hercules! he has done me but a bad turn in this, for the merit of the stone has been greatly impaired by this reduction in price.”199
A variant of the design directed by Damigeron to be placed on the emerald is recommended in a thirteenth century manuscript, where we read that to fit this stone for use as a talisman, it should be engraved with the form of a scarab, beneath which there should appear a crested paroquet.200 According to the same manuscript, a jasper should bear the figure of Mars fully armed, or else that of a virgin wearing a flowing robe and bearing a laurel branch. It should then be “consecrated with perpetual consecration.” The mythical author Cethel asserts that the owner of a jasper engraved with the sacred symbol of the cross would be preserved from drowning.201
A curious quid pro quo appears in a fifteenth century treatise on gems written in French. Here, in a list of engraved gems suitable for use as amulets, we read, “If you find a dromedary engraved on a stone with hair flowing over its shoulders, this stone will bring peace and concord between man and wife.” The original Latin text read, “If you find Andromeda on a stone with hair flowing over her shoulders,” etc.202 The translator’s art which could turn Andromeda into a dromedary almost equalled that of the enchantress Circe.
A few even of the early writers were disposed to be sceptical as to the virtues ascribed to these engraved gems, and did not hesitate to assert that the Greek and Roman engravers executed their designs for ornamental purposes rather than to fit the gems for use as talismans. This was undoubtedly true in a large number of cases but nevertheless, as we have seen, many engraved talismans were really cut in the early centuries. As the art of gem engraving was not practised in the Middle Ages, some medieval writers suppose that the engraved talismanic gems current in their time were not works of art, but of nature, and Konrad von Megenberg accepting this view, gave it as his opinion that “God granted these stones their beauty and virtue for the help and comfort of the human race,” adding that when he hoped to receive help from them he in no wise denied the grace of God.203
Damigeron writes of the sard that, if worn by a woman, it is a good and fortunate stone. It should be engraved with a design showing a grape-vine and ivy intertwined.204
A celebrated topaz was that noted by George Agricola as being in the possession of a Neapolitan, Hadrianus Gulielmus.205 It bore, in ancient Roman characters, the terse and pregnant inscription: