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Material Culture as Amulets: Magical Elements and the Apotropaic in Ancient Roman World
Vagner Carvalheiro Porto
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5313/2020.08.003
University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
This article aims to make a brief presentation on the elements of material culture in the ancient Palestinian region, mainly coins, which were removed from their production context and placed in funerary contexts (coins were often buried in graves), thus converted in amulets, acquiring magical and apotropaic senses. We will use examples verified in different parts of the Roman Empire, as in Pithekússai (modest island, which is in the Italian Peninsula), on the banks of the Thames, in Celtic contexts, more specifically in the current city of Lezoux, France, in the ancient city of Aquincum, present day Budapest, also in Tel Maresha and Tiberias, present-day Israel, to demonstrate how these practices were recurrent throughout the Empire. It is also our intention to observe iconographic elements that bring apotropaic content in their formulations, because, in addition to the role that coins could play in connecting the worlds of men and gods, many people believed that they had the power to project magical and apotropaic strength through images powerful that they portrayed.
archaeology, material culture, amulets, coins, numismatic, magical elements, apotropaic elements, Roman Empire, Roman Palestine
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