Bonner, SMA – PDF, 13.

some investigator is patient enough to follow up all the leads, but at present they are still undeciphered. Even if, as is likely, they represented something definite to those who invented them, there is little doubt that they were ignorantly imitated and repeated by later and less learned operators, in whose hands they became mere hocus-pocus.

The crowded appearance of the work on many magical stones is very noticeable. A single figure may be surrounded by an inscription of many letters, or the field may be dotted with characters; and sometimes groups of several divinities or demonic creatures are forced into a surprisingly small space. Even when the obverse of such stones shows only a single figure in an adequate field, the reverse will often contain an inscription running into several scores of minute letters; and since it is evident that some of these stones were set in rings, the inscription, being invisible, was the wearer's secret, and hence exerted greater magical power. Even the beveled edges of some ring stones and pendants had magical words carved upon them; and these were completely hidden by the setting of the stone.

The lettering is in general of a kind known from the second century on, with much greater use of rectilinear letter forms, because of the difficulty of cutting curves on the hard stone; but the lapidary's indifference to certain distinctions gives some trouble to the reader. The cross stroke of Α is omitted so often that Α may be read as A, and Α and Δ are not always carefully distinguished from each other. Neglect of the middle stroke of Ε causes it to be confused with the square sigma (). Theta is usually lozenge-shaped, and when the cross stroke is slighted, as is often done, it may be mistaken for omicron; when it is square, omission or shallow cutting of the right-hand upright may cause it to be read as E. K and Β are sometimes almost undistinguishable, and one may hesitate between Γ and T. Xi is regularly like a zeta with a short stroke across the diagonal, and since this is often neglected or lightly scratched, the two letters may be confused. Failure on the part of editors to take account of such epigraphic laxities makes it necessary to correct the readings of many inscriptions, particularly those published by the early students of these objects.

Although the workmanship of Graeco-Egyptian amulets is far inferior to that of classical and Hellenistic gems, they were not always cheaply executed. Occasionally the more valuable stones were used, and the work, even on the cheaper materials, must have been expensive. Some of the designs show several figures carefully differentiated by costume or attributes. There are long inscriptions, some of which must have been copied from written directions, since different gems show them, with only slight variations; and even rude cutting of an inscription running to a hundred letters or more would cost many hours of labor. The expense of making the more elaborate amulets shows clearly how important a part magic had come to play in the lives of the wealthier classes; and the remarkable pieces of magical apparatus found at Pergamon, adorned with carefully executed symbols and inscriptions, as well as with the three forms of Hecate, prove that a master

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