Artefact in Focus: The Welwyn Charm
Starting a sporadic series of ‘artefact in focus’ blogs, this short contribution will be one of a series which seeks to outline a single object and contextualise its imagery, circumstances of discovery and (where and if possible/relevant) to discuss its wider implications. Needless to say the objects involved will be ‘magical’ [insert semantic debate here!].
The intaglio from Welwyn, Hertfordshire or ‘The Welwyn charm’, as it may or may not be known generally, refers to a single haematite intaglio (measuring 17mm x 13.5mm x 2.4mm) well published in two different sources (Wright 1964; Frere and Tomlin 1992, no. 2423.1). It is one of a small series of similar gemstone incised with complex text and imagery from Roman Britain. To my knowledge there is not a single catalogue of the type from the Roman world, but I stand to be happily corrected on that score.
Now, copyright licenses prevent me from shameless publishing a photograph of the intaglio online, but the transitive powers of Google image search are wonderful. A grainy, black and white image associated will pop up in a google image search by following this link. Thankfully, a wonderful line drawing was published in the RIB volume. Within the bounds of Copyright Fair Use please see Fig. 1
Figure 1: Line drawing of the Welwn Charm, RIB 2423.1 (after Frere and Tomlin 1992)
The imagery on this gemstone is wonderful. Bearing in mind that it is less than 2cm in length it depicts a central figure of Isis, facing left with hand raised, towards an image of Bes, facing forwards. To the right of Isis is a lioness standing proud. Those three figures reside on a simple floor or platform, beneath which is an octopus-like ‘uterine symbol’ above a thin, seven-toothed key facing upwards. The seven Greek vowels, Α Ε Η Ι Ο Υ Ω, are dotted around them (Fig.2). This micro-scene is bound within an Ouroboros (a snake-eating its own tail) and that then surrounded by a palindrome:
Text: Α[Ε]ΜΕΙΝΛΕ[ΒΛΡW]ΘΕΡΕΘWPABEΛENIEMEA
Transliteration: AEMEINAEBAROTHEREOTHORABEAEIEMEA
Phonetically: Ay-meen-ay-baroth-ere-thorab-eaene-me-ah
Well, almost a palindrome. An extra epsilon (E) is underlined.
That’s the first side done.
The intaglio includes more on its reverse side which, if set in a ring, would never be seen. The reverse includes another Greek inscription OPWPIOYΘIΛHWIΛWAWI within which are a Scarab and a second ‘uterine symbol’.
Figure 2: Appended verison of Fig. 1
Plenty to talk about then. There are a number of elements within this single object that have ‘magical’ resonance elsewhere in the Classical world. The first is the use of the seven Greek vowels, referred to in the Papyri Grecae Magicae(PGM, see Betz 1992) a.k.a ‘the Greek Magical Papyri’. The PGM are a series of Greek papyri found in Egypt which act as a sort of beginner’s guide to making gods, demons and spirits do your bidding. It is an amazing resource for the literary study of magic, even though it is does have a little bit of ‘Hubble bubble, toil and trouble’ about it. Rarely, though can it be used to discuss artefactual evidence, and material evidence from the other side of the Roman Empire.
The PGM, like their close cousins in Britain, the curse-tablets (for curse-tablets see the blog of fellow Open University PhD adventurer, Stuart McKie), often rely upon nonsensical words and phrases, the voces magicae, to add a bit of ritual razzmatazz into the magical proceedings. Phrases may have been designed to be incomprehensible (and thus only to be interpreted by Supernaturals) or repeatable as a sort of chant – have a go at the Welwyn palindrome above and see what I mean.
The imagery is fairly clear as representing some form of protection designed for women, and possibly during childbirth – the ‘uterine symbol’ might be a giveaway there, but the lioness, Bes and even the deep red colour of the haematite are all visually relevant. Other Greek-inscribed gems in the Roman world include works like “womb” and “black” and one specific example includes the Ouroboros symbol framing an inscription calling upon the supernatural powers to “save [him/her] who wears this amulet” (van den Hoek et al. 2015, 330-331).
If that interpretation is correct it suggests that the charm is designed for use at specific liminal times and by specific people: perhaps by a women during labour, and therefore only used for (hopefully) a couple of hours at a time. It may have been worn, read out line one or multiple times, carried, dropped into food or drink before consumption. Some similar charms have the user’s name on them – this one is not so specific. It could be used by more than one woman in more than one family. Pure speculation, but it could have been hired rather than worn, or brought along on the day by a midwife.
Interestingly, Isis and Bes also team up on two different spells in the PGM (VII.222-49 and VIII.64-110). The latter of these starts:
Request for a dream oracle of Bes{a}: On your left hand draw Besa in the way shown to you below. Put around your hand a black cloth of Isis and go to sleep without giving answer to anyone. The remainder of the cloth wrap around your neck…
It then carries on for another fifty or lines of drawing Gods, shouting out Greek letters and plenty of sleep. The interesting mention of a ‘black cloth of Isis’ refers to an ‘Isis band’, a cloth or piece of material taken from the dresses of statues of the gods, particularly Isis, because they were considered magically potent (Betz 1992, 336) and used as one of the ingredients in a spell in the same way that the images of Isis and Bes are used on the Welwyn charm.
The addition of the voces magicae and unusual Greek literary forms in combination with supernaturally relevant imagery (largely designed to focus the attention of the Gods/Demons/Supernatural powers being invoked) puts this gem very firmly in the ‘magic’ camp. Such gems represent a concentration of ingredients for magical rites and incorporate the stone itself, colour, performative imagery, words and signs.
Bibliography
Betz, H. D. (ed.) 1992. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation(Including the Demotic Spells). 2nd Edition. Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press.
Frere, S. S. and Tomlin, R. S. O. (eds.). 1992. The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, Volume II, Fascicule 4. Stroud, Administrators of the Haverfield Bequest. No. 2423.1
Van den Hoek, A., Feissel, D. and Hermann Jr., J. J. 2015. “More Lucky Wearers: The Magic of Portable Inscriptions”, in Boschung, D. and Bremmer, J. N. (eds.) 2015. The Materiality of Magic (Morphomata 20). Paderborn, Wilhelm Fink. 309-356.
Wright, R. P. 1964. “A Graeco-Egyptian Amulet from a Romano-British Site at Welwyn, Herts.”, The Antiquaries Journal 44 (2). 143-146. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500018060
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