Photo © auction.violity.com
Among the ancient items sold in the last days at the auction Violity deserves special attention an interesting artifact – a gold charm made in the II–III century in the Roman Empire. The pendant is mounted stone on the surface of which contains several characters. Such amulets are extremely rare, including in the territory of the Roman Empire. The lot was sold for $ 854, more information about it can be found on the
auction page.
Such pendants were made of precious or semiprecious stones, including hematite, green Jasper, jade, chalcedony, obsidian, onyx and others. There was a belief that some of these stones have special powers: some give wisdom, others are responsible for health, and others help to supernatural assimilate transcendental knowledge. Many amulets created in II–III centuries, contain words whose meaning cannot be explained. This is often due to the fact that the texts are abbreviations, to decipher which there are no keys.
Despite the fact that many amulets were called Gnostic, they had nothing to do with Gnosticism. These are just charms designed to protect their owners from illnesses, as well as help in financial and material well-being. As for Gnosticism, the term refers to a number of religious movements that flourished between 250 BC and 400 ad in Western Asia and Egypt. Representatives of each sect claimed to possess some divine knowledge through revelation from the Creator himself.
Photo © auction.violity.com
Photo © auction.violity.com
Photo © auction.violity.com
Photo © auction.violity.com
Photo © auction.violity.com
Photo © auction.violity.com