Bonner, SMA – PDF, 181.

naturally be in place on Christian amulets, and it is so found on a little gold plate, unfortunately imperfect, published by Siebourg;¹⁰⁸ the words ἀββᾶ ὁ πατὴρ σῶσον ἐλέησον leave no doubt about the Christian influence. Siebourg cites also a pagan amulet inscribed Πουβλικίανε, εἷς Ζεὺς Σέραπις ἐλέησον;¹⁰⁹ he explains that Publicianus is addressed by name, then the symbol “One Zeus Sarapis” is recited, and a prayer to the god added.

The use of an imperative seems to place in the class of amulets a carnelian without design in the Walters Art Gallery. It inscribed παρηγορι ο υυγια, that is, παρηγόρει ὦ ὑγίεια, “Comfort me, O Health.”¹¹⁰

A curious lapis lazuli in the Brooklyn Museum represents Priapus wearing the modius of Sarapis.¹¹¹ The attitude is well known from many sculptures and figurines — the tunic pulled up above the waist and used to hold a heap of fruits, thus exposing the phallus.¹¹² The borrowing of the modius is not surprising, since it was an emblem of plenty,¹¹³ but it is not so easy to account for two serpents which lift their heads before and behind the god; their tails are visible near his ankles, and their bodies are supposed to be mined round him. They may represent the chthonic character of Priapus as giver of the fruits of the earth, or they may be merely apotropaic.

On the edge of this stone is inscribed εὐπόρει, “Enjoy abundance,” followed by Ιαωο. Round the obverse design run the words καθ᾿ ἡμέραν εὐπόρειμαι (εὐπόρημαι), “Every day I have had plenty.” They may be taken as spoken by the god, or by the owner of the amulet in anticipation of the blessings that it is to bring. On the back is a badly copied palindrome, αναχαβραχαχχωθαχωτχαχαβαχανα.

Several of the most interesting longer inscriptions have been discussed earlier in these studies and must be passed over here. They are the petitions for definite boons of various kinds — cure of disease, success in love, harm to an enemy, and the like. There remain a few legends that express a religious feeling, or at least repeat phrases and sentences of religious import — that is, liturgical fragments. Such bits of prayer and praise are worth little as indications of genuine religious feeling on the part of those who made or wore the amulets; at best, they serve to link the magicians and their customers, however loosely, to certain religious groups in which the liturgical material whence the amulet texts were derived was a vehicle of true religious feeling.

Perhaps the most striking example of this small group is a carnelian in

¹⁰⁸ ARW 10 (1907), 398.

¹⁰⁹ IG XIV, 2413, 3.

¹¹⁰ D. 270. For the strange spelling of the last word see Mayser, I, 163.

¹¹¹ D. 62.

¹¹² Cf. B. M. Cat. Gems, 3022; Thorvaldsen Museum, 786; Furtwängler, Beschreibung, 7431; Roscher, III, 2, 2983.

¹¹³ For discussion of archaeological material pertinent to this type of Priapus see H. Herter, De Priapo (RGVV, XXIII), pp. 20, 104, 24, 293.

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