Bonner, SMA – PDF, 177.

with no genitive, on the reverse of a carnelian described by Huebner, probably refers to Zeus Hypsistos, since the other side is inscribed τὸν θεὸν σοι τὸν ὕψισστον, μή με ἀδικήσις, “By the Highest I adjure you, wrong me not.”⁷⁴ At the time when I examined B. M. 56136, a green jasper inscribed μέγα τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ μόν‹ου› θεοῦ, I did not know that Peterson had expressed a doubt of its genuineness.⁷⁵ I saw no reason to suspect it. The use of μόνος suggests a Judaeo-Christian origin.

Χαῖρε, “hail,” is used, as we have seen, on the “trinitarian” stone of the British Museum, but is not a common acclamation for amulets. A black glass paste of the Seyrig collection represents the dead Osiris lying on a bier at the foot of which an uncertain figure with an animal head and hoofs seated.⁷⁶ It may be the ass-headed Set or, less probably, the cow-headed Hathor; but the head is injured by the collapse of a bubble in the paste, and the interpretation is not certain. Above are the words χαῖρε Ὄσιρι,⁷⁷ but χαῖρε here is scarcely an acclamation in the ordinary sense:but rather the “farewell” to the dead which is a part of many sepulchral inscriptions.⁷⁸

Such words as ὑγίεια, ζωή, τύχη, χάρις, χαρά, δύναμις, when inscribed on amulets, are naturally understood as good wishes for the wearer; such is surely the intent of the words χάρις ζοή ὑγία cut in relief on a carnelian the Cabinet des Médailles.⁷⁹ ὑγία follows εἷς θεός on the reverse of a haematite in London; the obverse represents the Rider Saint with the inscription Σολομ‹ῶν›.⁸⁰ The object is probably of Syrian origin, and Perdrizet thinks that all inscriptions of the ζωή, ὑγίεια type come from the Orient.⁸¹ τύχη is a pagan analogue; it appears with a figure of Anubis on a nicolo at the University of Michigan.⁸² δύναμις also, though it came to be used in Christian acclamations, occurs with pagan deities. A haematite in the British Museum bears the word on the reverse of a design showing a mummy (Osiris) upheld by an animal-headed god, probably Anubis, the funerary attendant of Osiris.⁸³ Peterson calls attention to several places in P. Oxy. 1381 where δύναμις attributed to Imouthes-Asklepios.⁸⁴

Χαρά, joy, has been found inscribed on houses and tombs in Syria, all of the late imperial period, and on a bronze stamp, also from Syria;⁸⁵ it is rarely found on amulets of the ordinary sort. On two closely similar gems

⁷⁴ Bull. dell'Instit., 1861, 24; see also Kopp, Pal. Crit., IV, 313.

⁷⁵ Peterson, op. cit., p. 209.

⁷⁶ D. 11.

⁷⁷ The use of the four-stroke sigma, which occurs in the word Osiris and in a magical word on the reverse, is so rare on magical stones as to deserve mention.

⁷⁸ For several examples from Egypt see Sammelbuch, 5839–5857; Rostovtzeff, Soc. and Econ. Hist. of the Hellenistic World, I, Pl. 37, 1.

⁷⁹ Chabouillet 274. Such words might, of course, be understood as referring to the life and health of the soul; but there is no proof that it is a Christian inscription.

⁸⁰ B. M. 56092.

⁸¹ REG 27 (1914), 278.

⁸² D. 37.

⁸³ B. M. 56038.

⁸⁴ Peterson, Heis Theos, p. 198, 2.

⁸⁵ Perdrizet, REG 27, 272–273.

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