Amulet: Did you mean...?

Dated to the 7th century BCE, the Arslan Tash amulet (AT1) was discovered in Arslan Tash, Syria and contains the writing of Phoenician, magic incantations. The limestone plaque includes a variety of features: incantations perceived to prevent...

Material Objects & Cultures Material objects convey volumes about the people who possessed them. Cultures and societies in every generation are in part classified - either correctly or incorrectly - by the objects or symbols they select...

Faience amulet depicting the Egyptian god Shu. Late Period, 26th Dynasty, 664-525 BCE. (Art Institute of Chicago)

Dog-shaped amulet, gold sculpture, Kish, modern-day Babil Governorate, Iraq, 700-500 BCE. Kish, in ancient Mesopotamia, was one of the major centres of political power and economic activity under the Sumerians and Babylonians. Its prosperity...

The Arslan Tash Amulet AT1. Dated to the 7th century BCE, the Arslan Tash amulet (AT1) was discovered in Arslan Tash, Syria and contains the writing of Phoenician, magic incantations. (Archaeological Museum of Aleppo,Syria)

This bronze plaque represents an amulet against bad spirits and diseases. From northern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). Assyrian. Istanbul Archaeological Museums/Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.

The inscription on this blue stone amulet calls on the warrior god Ninurta for help against any evil. From Mesopotamia, Iraq. Circa 700-550 BCE. (The British Museum, London)

Egyptian Ba amulet. The ba was a human-headed bird aspect of the soul, which could speed between earth and the heavens. Gold and stone inlay. 3rd century BCE. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

A beaten gold amulet stamped with a Greek text invoking the god Apollo. The text reads: INVOCATION TO THE GOD PHOEBUS APOLLO WHO RULES OVER MAN, POURING OUT LIBATIONS TO HIM, THAT HE MAY TAKE UP ARMS AND GO THROUGH THE ENEMY'S ARMY TO...

Mesopotamian amulet covered with a quotation from a poem, the Akkadian Erra Epic, thought suitable to ward off plague. From Ashur, Northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. Neo-Assyrian Period, 800-612 BCE. The British Museum, London.