Extract

Amulets were magically potent objects worn (hence the Greek names: περίαμμα, περίαπτον) for protection against witchcraft, illness, the evil eye, accidents, robbery, etc. (hence the Greek name: φυλακτήριον); also to enhance love, wealth, power, or victory. Houses, walls, and towns could be protected in the same way. Any kind of material might be employed: stones and metals as well as (parts of) animals and plants, since to every sort of material could be attributed an inherent ‘magical’ virtue (see magic); parts of human bodies (especially of people who had suffered a violent death: *gladiators, executed criminals, victims of *shipwreck etc. ) were also used as amulets. Their efficacy might be enhanced by engraved figures, e.g. deities or symbols, especially on stones and gems in rings. Powerful names taken from exotic (especially Egyptian and Hebrew) myth and cult were popular: Abraxas, Solomon (e.g. in the formula: ‘sickness be off, Solomon persecutes you’), magical words (e.g. abracadabra) and formulae (e.