Anonymous, circa 7th century. Amulet (Bronze, 56 mm, 30.71 g, 12 h). KЄ BOHΘH THN CHN ΔOVΛHN MPΦΓAPHTOV ('Lord, help your servant...') Womb symbol: facing head in center, from which six serpents originate towards the border, symbols in between. Rev. Circular inscription: +VCTЄPA MЄAANH MЄΛANOMЄNI OC OΦHC HΛHЄCЄ; within cross: KЄ OC AP/NHON KVMI / AΓHOC AΓHOC / AΓHOC KЄ / CABA/O ΠΛH ('Womb, black, blackening, like a serpent you coil - like a lamb you lie down - Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, full''). Apparently unpublished, but cf. J. Spier: Medieval Byzantine Amulets and their Tradition, in: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 56 (1993), 37 and 39 (for general types and legends). An exceptional Byzantine womb amulet attesting the use of magic well within the Christian period. Good very fine.



This amulet bears a magical spell intended to keep the womb calm and in its proper place. It compares the 'black and blackening womb' to a coiling serpent and commands it to lie down like a lamb. Sometimes, other beasts are included, like roaring lions, goring bulls and hissing dragons, but on our piece the spell appears in its most basic form. Following the incantation, there is a quotation from Isaiah 6:3: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory'. This phrase also served a prominent role in orthodox church liturgy and it appears as an apotropaic legend on a number of artifacts. On our piece, it could not be engraved in full, due to lack of space. It is broken off in the middle of the word πλήρης, 'full', but that evidently did not hinder its power.