Amulet
amulet
(Latin: amuletum, a charm)
An object of stone, metal, parchment, etc., worn as protection against disease, witchcraft, and other ills. Their use was common among early Egyptians, from whom the Romans adopted them. They were gradually repudiated by Christians as superstitions, and emblems and pious images were substituted, not, as the Council of Trent insists, because of any divinity or virtue inherent, but because they refer us to the persons or things represented.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Amulet
(Gr., phylakterionLat., amuleta).
An object generally inscribed with mysterious formulæ and used by pagans as a protection against various maladies, as well as witchcraft. Pliny (XXIX, 4,19) is the earliest writer who mentions amulets (veneficiorum amuleta). The derivation of the word is doubtful, but it probably comes from the Arabic hamala, “to carry”, amulets being borne on the person. The Oriental peoples were especially addicted to superstitious practices, and with their absorption into the Roman Empire the use of amulets became equally common in the West. Following the example of Moses, who sought to turn the minds of the Jews from the superstitious emblems to which they were accustomed in Egypt, by substituting for them symbols of an elevating character, the Church, while forbidding amulets, permitted the use of emblems which would remind the bearers of some doctrine of Christianity. Thus St. Clement of Alexandria (Pæd., III, 3) recommended the use of such symbols as the fish, the dove, and the anchor on seals and rings. A devotional medal of lead, attributed to the fourth century, represents a martyr extended on a gridiron; one of the fifth or sixth century bears the monogram of Christ and a cross between the letters and ; while a third represents the sacrifice of Abraham, and on the reverse a father offering his son before the confessio of a martyr. Pope St. Gregory the Great sent the Lombard queen, Theodolinda, on the occasion of the birth of her son, two phylacteria, one of which contained a fragment of the wood of the True Cross, the other a sentence of the Gospel. The custom of carrying portions of the Sacred Scriptures as phylacteries is mentioned by St. Jerome and St. John Chrysostom (St. Jerome, in Matthew 4:24; St. John Chrys., in Matthew hom., 73). But, especially from the fourth century, when imperial favour brought large numbers into the Church, superstitious abuses in the use of devotional emblems became so common that the ecclesiastical authorities were obliged frequently to inveigh against the use of amulets. The Council of Laodicea (latter half of fourth century) prohibited ecclesiastics from making amulets and made the penalty for wearing them excommunication (canon 36). St. John Chrysostom, preaching at Antioch, denounced as a species of idolatry the wearing of amulets, which seems to have been common among his auditors. St. Augustine also denounced the numerous charlatans who dispensed charms, and a collection of canons made by St. Cæsarius of Arles (d. 542), formerly supposed to have been canons of the Fourth Council of Carthage, imposed the penalty of excommunication on those who patronized augurs (can. 89; see Hefele, Conciliengesch., II, 76). From one of the sermons (P.L., XXXIX, 2272) of St. Cæsarius it appears that the dispensing of amulets was a regular profession; each disease had its appropriate amulet. These and similar superstitious practices survived to some extent, in one form or another, through the Middle Ages, and their suppression has always been a difficulty with which the Church has had to cope. The most ancient Christian amulet known, from Beirût, is attributed to the second century. it is made of gold and has a ring by which it was attached to the neck. The inscription on it, which is of more than ordinary interest, reads: “I exorcise thee, Satan (O cross purify me) in the name of the Lord the living God, that thou mayest never leave thy abode. Pronounced in the house of her whom I have anointed”. Leclercq sees in this invocation proofs “(1) of belief in the virtue of the sign of the cross to put demons to flight, (2) of the conferring of extreme unction, (3) and of the use of exorcisms”, whereof we have here a formula. A favourite Christian amulet in the Orient during the fourth and fifth centuries bore on one side the image of Alexander the Great. St. John Chrysostom, in one of his Antioch instructions (Ad Illumin., Cat., II, 5), censures the use by Christians of amulets with the portrait of the Macedonian conqueror. Several amulets of this class, in the Cabinet of Medals at Paris, show, on one side, Alexander in the character of Hercules, and, on the other, a she-ass with her foal, a scorpion, and the name of Jesus Christ. An amulet in the Vatican Library with the picture of Alexander, bears on the reverse the monogram of Our Lord. Magic nails, also, with inscriptions were interred with the dead; one of them for Christian use has the legend “ter dico, ter incanto, in signv Deo et signv Salomonis et signv de nostrâ Art(e) mix”. The Gnostics were especially notable for their employment of amulets; the names found most frequently in their invocations are Adonai, Sabaoth, Jao, Michael, Raphael, Souriel (Uriel), and Gabriel.
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LECLERCQ in Dict. darch. chrét. (Paris, 1905), I, 1783-1859; KRAUS, Realencyklopädie (Freiburg, 1882), I, 49-51; PLUMPTRE in Dict. Christ. Antiq. (London, 1875), I, 78, sqq.;
Realencyklopädie für prot. Theologie u. Kirche (Leipzig, 1896), 1, 467-476.
MAURICE M. HASSETT Transcribed by W.S. French, Jr.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Amulet
(Lat. amauletum, from amolior, to avert evil; French amulette; according to others, originally from the Arabic hamail, a locket suspended from the neck). From the earliest ages the Orientals have believed in the influences of the stars, in spells, witchcraft, and the malign power of envy; and to protect themselves against the maladies and other evils which such influences were supposed to occasion, almost all the ancient nations wore amulets (Plin. Hist. Nat. 30, 15). These consisted, and still consist, chiefly of tickets inscribed with sacred sentences (Shaw, 1:365; Lane’s Mod. Egypt. 2, 365), and of certain stones (comp. Plin. Hist. Nat. 37, 12, 34) or pieces of metal (Richardson, Dissertation; D’Arvieux, 3, 208; Chardin, 1, 243 sq,; 3, 205 sq.; Niebuhr, 1, 65; 2, 162). Not only were persons thus protected, but even houses were, as they still are, guarded from supposed malign influences by certain holy inscriptions upon the doors. The previous existence ofthese customs is implied in the attempt of Moses to turn them to becoming uses by directing that certain passages extracted from the law should be employed (Exo 13:9; Exo 13:16; Deu 6:8; Deu 11:18). The door-schedules being noticed elsewhere SEE DOOR-POSTS, we here limit our attention to personal amulets. By this religious appropriation the then all-pervading tendency to idolatry was in this matter obviated, although in later times, when the tendency to idolatry had passed away, such written scrolls degenerated into instruments of superstition (q.v.).
The ear-rings in Gen 35:4 (, nezamim’; , inaures), were obviously connected with idolatrous worship, and were probably amulets, taken from the bodies of the slain Shechemites. They are subsequently mentioned among the spoils of Midian (Jdg 8:24), and perhaps their objectionable character was the reason why Gideon asked for them. Again, in Hos 2:13, decking herself with earrings is mentioned as one of the signs of the days of Baalim. Hence in Chaldee an ear-ring is called , kaddisha’, sanctity. But amulets were more often worn round the neck, like the golden bulla or leather lorum of the Roman boys. Sometimes they were precious stones, supposed to be endowed with peculiar virtues. In the Mirror of stones the strangest properties are attributed to the amethyst, Kinocetus, Alectoria, Ceraunium, etc.; and Pliny, speaking of succinum, says It is useful to bind upon children like an amulet (37, 12, 37). They were generally suspended as the center-piece of a necklace (q.v.), and among the Egyptians often consisted of the emblems of various deities, or the symbol of truth and justice (Thmei). A gem of this kind, formed of sapphires, was worn by the chief judge of Egypt (Diod. 1:48, 75), and a similar one is represented as worn by the youthful deity Harpocrates (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 3, 364). The Arabs hang round their children’s necks the figure of an open hand, a custom which, according to Shaw, arises from the unluckiness of the number 5. This principle is often found in the use of amulets. SEE SERAPHIM.
The (lechashim’, charms) of Isa 3:20 (Sept. , Tulg. inaures, Auth. Vers. ear-rings), it is now allowed, denote amulets, although they served also the purpose of ornament. They were probably precious stones, or small plates of gold or silver, with sentences of the law or magic formulae inscribed on them, and worn in the ears, or suspended by a chain round the neck. Ear-rings is not perhaps a bad translation. It is certain that ear-rings were sometimes used in this way as instruments of superstition, and that at a very early period, as in Gen 35:4, where Jacob takes away the ear-rings of his people along with their false gods. Ear-rings, with strange figures and characters, are still used as charms in the East (Chardin, in Harmer, 3, 314). Schroeder, however, deduces from the Arabic that these amulets were in the form of serpents, and similar probably to those golden amulets of the same form which the women of the pagan Arabs wore suspended between their breasts, the use of which was interdicted by Mohammed (Schroeder, De Vestitu Mulierum, cap. 11, p. 172, 173; Grotefend, art. Amulete, in Ersch and Gruber’s Encyclop.; Rosenmuller, ad Isa 3:20; Gesenius, ad eund.; and in his Thesaurus, art. ).
Thus the basilisk is constantly engraved on the talismanic scarabaei of Egypt, and, according to Jahn (Bibl. Arch. 131), the lechashim of Isa 3:23, were figures of serpents carried in the hand (more probably worn in the ears) by Hebrew women. The word is derived from , lachash’, to hiss, and means both enchantments (comp. Isa 3:3) and the magical gems and formularies used to avert them (Gesenius, s.v.). It is doubtful whether the Sept. intends as a translation of this word (Schleusner’s Thesaurus). For a like reason the phallus was among the sacred emblems of the Vestals (Smith’s Dict. of Ant. s.v. Fascinum). SEE EAR-RING. That these lechashim were charms inscribed on silver and gold, was the opinion of Aben-Ezra. The Arabic has boxes of amulets, manifestly concluding that they were similar to those ornamental little cases for written charms which are still used by Arab women. These are represented in the first figure of cut 1. Amulets of this kind are called chegab, and are specially adapted to protect and preserve those written charms, on which the Moslems, as did the Jews, chiefly rely. The writing is covered with waxed cloth, and enclosed in a case of thin embossed gold or silver, which is attached to a silk string or a chain, and generally hung on the right side, above the girdle, the string or chain being passed over the left shoulder. In the specimen here figured there are three of these chegabs attached to one string. The square one in the middle is almost an inch thick, and contains a folded paper; the others contain scrolls. Amulets of this shape, or of a triangular form, are worn by women and children; and those of the latter, shape are often attached to children’s head-dress (Lane’s Modern Egyptians, 2, 365). Charms, consisting of words written on folds of papyrus tightly rolled up and sewed in linen, have been found at Thebes (Wilkinson, 1. c.), and our English translators possibly intended something of the kind when they rendered the curious phrase (in Isaiah 3) (houses of the spirit) by tablets. It was the danger of idolatrous practices arising from a knowledge of this custom that probably induced the sanction of the use of phylacteries (Deu 6:8; Deu 9:18, , billets, frontlets). The modern Arabs use scraps of the Koran (which they call telesmes or alakakirs) in the same way. SEE PHYLACTERY.
The superstitions connected with amulets grew to a great height in the later periods of the Jewish history. There was hardly any people in the whole world, says Lightfoot (Hor. Hebr. ad Matthew 24, 24), that more used or were more fond of amulets, charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchantments . The amulets were either little roots hung about the neck of sick persons, or, what was more common, bits of paper (and parchment) with words written on them, whereby it was supposed that diseases were either driven away or cured. They wore such amulets all the week, but were forbidden to go abroad with them on the Sabbath, unless they were
approved amulets;’ that is, were prescribed by a person who knew that at least three persons had been cured by the same means. In these amulets mysterious names (especially the tetragrammaton, or sacred name, ) and characters were occasionally employed in lieu of extracts from the law. One of the most usual of these was the cabalistic hexagonal figure known as the shield of David’ and the seal of Solomon’ (Bartoloc. Bibliotheca Rabbinica, 1, 576; Lakemacher, Observatt. Philol. 2, 143 sq.). The reputation of the Jews was so well established in this respect that even in Arabia, before the time of Mohammed, men applied to them when they needed charms of peculiar virtue (Mishkat ul-Masabih, 2, 377). A very large class of amulets depended for their value on their being constructed under certain astronomical conditions. Their most general use was to avert ill-luck, etc., especially to nullify the effect of the evil eye ( ), a belief in which is found among all nations. Some animal substances were considered to possess such properties, as we see from Tobit. Pliny (28, 47) mentions a fox’s tongue worn on an amulet as a charm against blear-eyes, and says (30, 15) that beetles’ horns are efficacious for the same purpose perhaps an Egyptian fancy. In the same way one of the Roman emperors wore a seal-skin as a charm against thunder. Among plants, the white bryony and the Hypericon, or Fuga daemonum, are mentioned as useful. On the African pieces of medicine a belief in which constitutes half the religion of the Africans (see Livingstone’s Travels, p. 285 et passim).
Many of the Christians of the first century wore amulets marked with a fish, as a symbol of the Redeemer. SEE ICHTHUS. Another form is the pentangle (or pentacle, vide Scott’s Antiquary), which consists of three triangles intersected, and made of five lines, which may be so set forth with the body of man as to touch and point out the places where our Savior was wounded (Sir Thos. Brown’s Vulg. Errors, 1, 10). Under this head fall the curious arts ( ) of the Ephesians (Act 19:19), and in later times the use of the word Abracadabra, recommended by the physician Serenus Samonicus as a cure of the hemitritseus. Among the Gnostics, Abraxas gems (q.v.) were used as amulets. At a later period they were formed of ribbons, with sentences of Scripture written on them, and hung about the neck. They were worn by many of the Christians in the earlier ages, but were condemned by the wiser and better of the clergy as disgraceful. Chrysostom mentions them for the purpose of reprehension (In Psalms 9, 15; also Hom. 6, Cont. Judceos). The Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364, condemns those of the clergy who pretend to make them, declaring that such phylacteries, or charms, are bonds and fetters to the soul, and ordering those who wore them to be cast out of the Church (Can. 36). Augustine (Tract. 7, in Ison.) expostulates with those that wore them in this language: When we are afflctecd with pains in the head, let us not run to enchanters and fortune-tellers, and remedies of vanity. I mourn for you, my brethren; for I daily find these things done. And what shall I do? I cannot yet persuade Christians to put their only trust in Christ. With what face can a soul go unto God that has lost the sign of Christ, and taken upon him the sign of the devil? The practice of wearing these periapta was most probably taken from the custom of the Jews, who wore the tephilim, or phylacteries. The Council of Trullo ordered the makers of all amulets to be excommunicated, and deemed the wearers of them guilty of heathen superstition. Faith in the virtue of amulets was almost universal in the ancient world; it need not, therefore, excite our surprise that some of the less-informed should have adhered to the heathenish practice after their admission into the Christian Church. Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. 16, ch. 5, 6.
See, generally, Hubner, Amuletorum historia (Hal. 1710); Schwabe, Ueb. e. teutsches Amulet, in Meusel’s Geschichtsforscher, 1, 121; Schumacher, De amuleto quodam Gnostico (Guelph. 1774); Emele, Ueber Amulete (Mainz, 1827); Kopp, Paleographia crit. 3, 15. SEE SUPERSTITION.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Amulet
amu-let (, kema, , lehashm, , mezuzah, , tephilln, , ccith; , phulakterion): Modern scholars are of opinion that our English word amulet comes from the Latin amuletum, used by Pliny (Naturalis Historia, xxviii, 28; xxx, 2, etc.), and other Latin writers; but no etymology for the Latin word has been discovered. The present writer thinks the root exists in the Arabic himlat, something carried (see Dozy, Supplment aux Dictionnaires Arabes, I, 327), though there is no known example of the use of the Arabic word in a magical sense. Originally amulet denoted any object supposed to have the power of removing or warding noxious influences believed to be due to evil spirits, etc., such as the evil eye, etc. But in the common usage it stands for an object worn on the body, generally hung from the neck, as a remedy or preservative against evil influences of a mystic kind. The word amulet occurs once in the Revised Version (British and American) (Isa 3:20) but not at all in the King James Version.
1. Classes of Amulets
The substances out of which amulets have been made and the forms which they have taken have been various.
(1) The commonest have consisted of Amulets of pieces of stone or metal, strips of parchment with or without inscriptions from sacred writings (Bible, Koran, etc.). The earliest Egyptian amulets known are pieces of green schist of various shapes – animal, etc. These were placed on the breast of a deceased person in order to secure a safe passage to the under-world. When a piece of stone is selected as an amulet it is always portable and generally of some striking figure or shape (the human face, etc.). The use of such a stone for this purpose is really a survival of animism.
(2) Gems, rings, etc. It has been largely held that all ornaments worn on the person were originally amulets. (3) Certain herbs and animal preparations; the roots of certain plants have been considered very potent as remedies and preservatives.
The practice of wearing amulets existed in the ancient world among all peoples, but especially among Orientals; and it can be traced among most modern nations, especially among peoples of backward civilization. Nor is it wholly absent from peoples of the most advanced civilization of today, the English, Americans, etc. Though the word charm (see CHARM) has a distinct meaning, it is often inseparably connected with amulets, for it is in many cases the incantation or charm inscribed on the amulet that gives the latter its significance. As distinguished from talisman (see TALISMAN) an amulet is believed to have negative results, as a means of protection: a talisman is thought to be the means of securing for the wearer some positive boon.
2. Amulets in the Bible
Though there is no word in the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures denoting amulet, the thing itself is manifestly implied in many parts of the Bible. But it is remarkable that the general teaching of the Bible and especially that of the Old Testament prophets and of the New Testament writers is wholly and strongly opposed to such things.
(1) The Old Testament
The golden ear-rings, worn by the wives and sons and daughters of the Israelites, out of which the molten calf was made (Exo 32:2 f), were undoubtedly amulets. What other function could they be made to serve in the simple life of the desert? That the women’s ornaments condemned in Isa 3:16-26 were of the same character is made exceedingly likely by an examination of some of the terms employed. We read of moonlets and sunlets (Isa 3:18), i.e. moon and sun-shaped amulets. The former in the shape of crescents are worn by Arab girls of our own time. The ear-drops, nose-rings, arm chains and foot chains were all used as a protection to the part of the body implied, and the strong words with which their employment is condemned are only intelligible if their function as counter charms is borne in mind. In Isa 3:20 we read of lehashm rendered ear-rings (the King James Version) and amulets (Revised Version (British and American)). The Hebrew word seems to be cognate with the word for serpent (nehashm; l and r often interchange), and meant probably in the first instance an amulet against a serpent bite (see Magic, Divination, and Demonology among the Hebrews and Their Neighbours, by the present writer, 50 f, 81; compare Jer 8:7; Ecc 10:11; Psa 58:5). Crescent-shaped amulets were worn by animals as well as human beings, as Jdg 8:21, Jdg 8:26 shows.
At Bethel, Jacob burned not only the idols (strange gods) but also the ear-rings, the latter being as much opposed to Yahwism as the former, on account of their heathen origin and import.
In Pro 17:8 the Hebrew words rendered a precious stone (Hebrew a stone conferring favor) mean without question a stone amulet treasured on account of its supposed magical efficacy. It is said in Pro 1:9 that wisdom will be such a defense to the one who has it as the head amulet is to the head and that of the neck to the neck. The words rendered in the Revised Version (British and American) a chaplet of grace unto thy head mean literally, something bound to the head conferring favor, the one word for the latter clause being identical with that so rendered above (hen). The Talmudic word for an amulet (kema) denotes something tied or bound (to the person).
We have reference to the custom of wearing amulets in Pro 6:21 where the reader is urged to bind them (i.e. the admonitions of father and mother) … upon thy heart and to tie them about thy neck – words implying a condemnation of the practice of trusting to the defense of mere material objects.
Underneath the garments of warriors slain in the Maccabean wars amulets were found in the shape apparently of idols worshipped by their neighbors (2 Macc 12:40). It is strange but true that like other nations of antiquity the Jews attached more importance to amulets obtained from other nations than to those of native growth. It is probable that the signet ring referred to in Son 8:6; Jer 22:24; Hag 2:23 was an amulet. It was worn on the heart or on the arm.
(2) The Phylacteries and the Mezuzah
There is no distract reference to these in the Old Testament. The Hebrew technical term for the former (tephilln) does not occur in Biblical. Hebrew, and although the Hebrew word mezuzah does occur over a dozen times its sense is invariably door-(or gate-) post and not the amulet put on the door-post which in later Hebrew the word denotes.
It is quite certain that the practice of wearing phylacteries has no Biblical support, for a correct exegesis and a proper understanding of the context put it beyond dispute that the words in Exo 13:9, Exo 13:16, Deu 6:8 f; Deu 11:18-20 have reference to the exhortations in the foregoing verses: Thou shalt bind them (the commands previously mentioned) for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontiers between thy eyes. And thou shalt write them upon, the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates (Deu 6:8 f). The only possible sense of these words is that they were to hold the precepts referred to before their minds constantly as if they were inscribed on their arms, held in front of their eyes, and written on the door-posts or gate-posts which they daily passed. That the language in Exo 13:9, Exo 13:16 does not command the use of phylacteries is obvious, and that the same is true of Pro 3:3; Pro 6:21; Pro 7:3 where similar words are used is still more certain. Yet, though none of the passages enjoin the use of phylacteries or of the mezuzah, they may all contain allusions to both practices as if the sense were, Thou shalt keep constantly before thee my words and look to them for safety and not to the phylacteries worn on head and arm by the heathen. If, however, phylacteries were in use among the Jews thus early, it is strange that there is not in the Old Testament a single instance in which the practice of wearing phylacteries is mentioned. Josephus, however, seems to refer to this practice (Ant., IV, viii, 13), and it is frequently spoken of in the Mishna (Berakhoth, i, etc.). It is a striking and significant fact that the Apocrypha is wholly silent as to the three signs of Judaism, phylacteries, the mezuzah and the ccith (or tassel attached to the corner of the prayer garment called , tallith; compare Mat 9:20; Mat 14:36 the King James Version where hem of the garment is inaccurate and misleading).
It is quite evident that phylacteries have a magical origin. This is suggested by the Greek name phulakterion (whence the English name) which in the 1st century of our era denoted a counter charm or defense (phulasso, to protect) against evil influences. No scholar now explains the Greek word as denoting a means of leading people to keep (phulasso) the law. The Hebrew name tephilln (= prayers) meets us first in post-Bib. Hebrew, and carries with it the later view that phylacteries are used during prayer in harmony with the prayers or other formulas over the amulet to make it effective (see Budge, Egyptian Magic, 27). See more fully under CHARM.
Literature
In addition to the literature given in the course of the foregoing article, the following may be mentioned. On the general subject see the great works of Tyler (Early History of Mankind, Primitive Culture) and Frazer, Golden Bough; also the series of articles under Charms and Amulets in Hastings’ Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics and the excellent article Amulet in the corresponding German work, Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. See further the article Amulet in Jewish Encyclopedia, and on Egyptian amulets, Budge, Egyptian Magic, 25ff.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Amulet
Fig. 35Amulets. 1. Modern Oriental. 2, 3, 4, 5. Ancient Egyptian
Amulet (Isa 3:20). From the earliest ages the Orientals have believed in the influences of the stars, in spells, witchcraft, and the malign power of the evil eye; and to protect themselves against the maladies and other evils which such influences were supposed to occasion, almost all the ancient nations wore amulets. These amulets consisted, and still consist, chiefly of tickets inscribed with sacred sentences, and of certain stones or pieces of metal. Not only were persons thus protected, but even houses were, as they still are, guarded from supposed malign influences by certain holy inscriptions upon the doors.
The previous existence of these customs is implied in the attempt of Moses to turn them to becoming uses, by directing that certain passages extracted from the law should be employed (Exo 13:9; Exo 13:16; Deu 6:8; Deu 11:18). The door-schedules being noticed elsewhere, we here limit our attention to personal amulets. By this religious appropriation the then all-pervading tendency to idolatry was in this matter obviated, although in later times, when the tendency to idolatry had passed away, such written scrolls degenerated into instruments of superstition.
The earrings (Authorized Version) of Isa 3:20, it is now allowed, denote amulets, although they served also the purpose of ornament. They were probably precious stones, or small plates of gold or silver, with sentences of the law or magic formulae inscribed on them, and worn in the ears, or suspended by a chain round the neck. It is certain that earrings were sometimes used in this way as instruments of superstition, and that at a very early period (Gen 35:4), and they are still used as charms in the East. Augustin speaks strongly against earrings that were worn as amulets in his time.
Fig. 36Shield of David
Some have supposed that these amulets were charms inscribed on silver and gold similar to those ornamental little cases for written charms which are still used by Arab women. This is represented in the first figure of the above cut (fig. 35). The writing is covered with waxed cloth, and enclosed in a case of thin embossed gold or silver, which is attached to a silk string, or a chain, and generally hung on the right side, above the girdle, the string or chain being passed over the left shoulder. Amulets of this shape, or of a triangular form, are worn by women and children; and those of the latter shape are often attached to children’s head-dress.
The superstitions connected with amulets grew to a great height in the later periods of the Jewish history. ‘There was hardly any people in the whole world,’ says Lightfoot, ‘that more used or were more fond of amulets, charms, mutterings, exorcisms, and all kinds of enchant-merits. The amulets were either little roots hung about the neck of sick persons, or, what was more common, bits of paper (and parchment), with words written on them, whereby it was supposed that diseases were either driven away or cured. They wore such amulets all the week, but were forbidden to go abroad with them on the Sabbath, unless they were approved amulets, that is, were prescribed by a person who knew that at least three persons had been cured by the same means. In these amulets mysterious names and characters were occasionally employed, in lieu of extracts from the law. One of the most usual of these was the cabalistic hexagonal figure known as the shield of David and the seal of Solomon.’
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Amulet
a charm or supposed preservative against diseases, witchcraft, or any other mischief. They were very frequent among the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans, and were made of stone, metal, animal substances, or, in short, any thing which a weak imagination suggested. The Jews were very superstitious in the use of amulets, but the Mishna forbids them, unless received from some person of whose cures, at least, three instances could be produced. The phylacteries worn by the Pharisees and others of the Jewish nation were a sort of amulets.
Amulets among the Greeks were called,
, , , , , and . The Latins called them amuleta, appensa, pentacula, &c. Remains of this superstition continue among ignorant people even in this country, which ought to be strongly discountenanced as weak or wicked. The word amulet is probably derived from amula, a small vessel with lustral water in it, anciently carried in the pocket for the sake of purification and expiation.