In archaeological museums, next to cameos and rings bearing portraits of emperors, one often finds small engraved stones with strange figures: a being with a cock's head and serpent legs, a lion-headed serpent with a crown of rays, a child seated on a lotus flower. These are magical gems, a class of objects produced mainly between the second and fourth centuries AD in the Roman Empire, with an important centre of production in Greek-speaking Egypt. They are amulets in the ancient sense of the word: objects engraved to protect and to make a divine power present.
How to recognize them
A magical gem differs from a decorative gem by some recurring features:
- the presence of inscriptions in Greek, often divine names or voces magicae such as Iao, Abrasax, Ablanathanalba;
- composite figures, combining human and animal parts according to a codified iconography;
- frequent engraving on both faces, and sometimes on the edge as well;
- the use of signs called charaktêres, small symbols shaped like lines ending in little circles.
The modern study of these objects owes much to the American Campbell Bonner, who in 1950 published Studies in Magical Amulets, still a reference today. More recently, large catalogues and databases have been launched that have recorded thousands of examples.
The stones
The choice of material was not random. Ancient sources, in particular treatises on stones and some passages in the papyri, associate a symbolic quality with each stone. Among the most used:
| Stone | Frequent iconographic use |
|---|---|
| Haematite | figures linked to the womb and to blood |
| Green and red jasper | Chnoubis, Anguipede |
| Carnelian | solar deities, Harpocrates |
| Lapis lazuli | celestial figures and stars |
| Chalcedony | inscriptions and various symbols |
The colour and name of the stone were read as signs of affinity with a deity or a star, according to the doctrine of cosmic sympathy.
The Anguipede
The most characteristic figure is the Anguipede: a human body in armour, a cock's head, legs ending in two serpents, a whip in one hand and a shield in the other. The shield often bears the name IAO, and the field of the gem the name Abrasax. For this very reason, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries these stones were called «abraxas» and attributed to the Basilidian Gnostics, on the basis of Irenaeus's reports about the use of the name Abrasax in that school. Today we know they were far more widespread and not tied to a single religious group.
The precise meaning of the figure is debated. The cock is the animal that announces the sun, the whip and shield are attributes of a god who protects and repels, the serpents point to the earth. Many scholars see in it a form of the solar god or of the supreme god invoked in the papyri.
Chnoubis
Chnoubis is a serpent with a lion's head surrounded by rays, often accompanied by a sign shaped like three S's crossed by a line. The name seems connected with the Egyptian astrology of the decans, the thirty-six divisions of the sky. In ancient tradition the figure was engraved above all on green stones.
Harpocrates on the lotus
Very common is Harpocrates, the Egyptian child god, son of Isis and Osiris, shown seated on a lotus flower with his finger to his mouth. In the Greek imagination this gesture was read as a sign of silence, although originally it simply indicated childhood. Around him there may be sacred animals, stars, a solar boat.
The Ouroboros frame
Many gems are enclosed by an Ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail. In ancient symbolism the serpent's circle indicated the eternal cycle of time and the boundary of the cosmos. On the gem it takes on a precise function: it marks out a closed and protected space within which the divine figure and the words act, separated from the outside world.
How they were used
The gems were set in rings or pendants, or carried in small containers. Some papyri prescribe engraving a certain figure on a specific stone and «consecrating» it with a formula, a perfume or an offering before wearing it. The object therefore had two lives: the material one, the work of the engraver, and the ritual one, conferred by the rite of consecration.
From a historical point of view, magical gems show clearly how Egyptian religion, Greek cult, Hebrew names and astrology merged into a single visual language, accessible even to those who did not read the great treatises.
In short
- Magical gems are engraved amulets, produced mainly between the second and fourth centuries AD.
- They are recognized by inscriptions, composite figures, engraving on several faces and signs called charaktêres.
- The main figures are the Anguipede, Chnoubis and Harpocrates, often within an Ouroboros frame.
- The stone was chosen for its symbolic affinity with a god or a star.
- Modern study owes much to Campbell Bonner and to the large recent catalogues.
