Talismans - Magical gem: Four deities, Ouroboros with characteres, inscription

Magical gem: Four deities, Ouroboros with characteres, inscription

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CBd-Number:

CBd-231

ID-Number:

DE-Köln-Institut für Altertumskunde_23

Collection:

DE_Köln, Institut für Altertumskunde der Universität

Inventory:

References:

Zwierlein-Diehl, Köln 23; Michel, DMG, no. 54.2.k_5

Former Collections:

Matouk, Fouad S. Collection

Material:

haematite (black)

Dimensions:

23 x 17.4 x 3.8 mm

Dating:

second half of the 2nd–first half of the 3rd c. AD (Zwierlein-Diehl)

Iconography:

Ouroboros; gesture, ithyphallic; tripus; uterus, in the form of a cupping vessel; gesture, arms outstretched; solar disk; vessel: situla; key (3-bitted); clothing: tunic; clothing: mantle; crown, double feathers; Isis; crown, double; flail; gesture, hand raised to mouth; Harpocrates seated with knees drawn up; Bes; Khnum

Divine Names & Voces:

voces, unidentified

A: Ouroboros, head at top, to right, enclosing characteres in three lines. Top, from left to right: cross, Z-sign, six-pointed star; middle: arrow, square with slash, cross in circle, gamma; bottom: two arrows, iota. Above the Ouroboros, in the middle: the ram-headed Khnum sitting on a low three-legged stool, head to left, crowned with the solar disk, lower body and legs coated with a mantle. He extends both arms to the left, holding up a uterus. On the left: Bes, to front, with bent knees, above his head: Harpocrates sitting with knees drawn up, left hand raised to mouth, right hand holding a flail, head crowned with the double crown of Egypt. On the right: Isis standing in profile to left, wearing tunic and mantle, right hand holding the key (to the uterus), left hand holding a situla, head crowned with the double feather crown.
Inscription around the figures, beginning on the left side: see E. Zwierlein-Diel's transcription (Zwierlein-Diehl, Köln on CBd-231).

Bibliography:
Zwierlein-Diehl, Köln on CBd-231

Last modified: 2019-10-31 21:24:05

Link:cbd.mfab.hu/cbd/231

CITE THIS PAGE

CBd-231. The Campbell Bonner Magical Gems Database (2010-), developed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, editor-in-chief: Á. M. Nagy. Retrieved from: cbd.mfab.hu/cbd/231 on 09-03-2025.