Apotropaic Function Research Articles

Venus Figurines

In this article, the working of certain bodily processes is presented as the basis for the apotropaic meaning and function of the genitals of the Upper Palaeolithic Venus Figurines. The working of the sympathetic nervous system is identified as the cause of genital arousal due to anxiety. The simultaneous experience of anxiety and the engorgement of the labia and clitoris led to an apotropaic meaning, in addition to a sexual meaning, being assigned to the genitals during the Palaeolithic Era. The ability to think in symbols, which was developing greatly at this time, led to that which could be experienced in bodies being transferred to Venus Figurines.

Broń jako wyznacznik prestiżu, rekwizyt rytuału oraz świadectwo kontaktów w Barbaricum w młodszym okresie przedrzymskim i w okresie wpływów rzymskich

Broń jako wyznacznik prestiżu, rekwizyt rytuału oraz świadectwo kontaktów w Barbaricum w młodszym okresie przedrzymskim i w okresie wpływów rzymskich

The Early Iron Age collective tomb LCG-1 at Dibbā al-Bayah, Oman: long-distance exchange and cross-cultural interaction

Abstract

Lovely Ugly Bes! Animalistic Aspects in Ancient Egyptian Popular Religion

The popular yet demonic guardian of ancient Egypt, Bes, combines dwarfish and leonine features, and embodies opposing traits such as a fierce and gentle demeanor, a hideous and comical appearance, serious and humorous roles, an animalistic and numinous nature. Drawing connections with similarly stunted figures, great and small cats, sacred cows, baboons, demonic monsters, universal gods and infant deities, this article will focus on the animalistic associations of the Bes figure to illustrate that this leonine dwarf encompassed a wider religious significance than apotropaic and regenerative functions alone. Bes was thought to come from afar but was always close; the leonine dwarf guarded the sun god Ra along the diurnal solar circuit; the figure protected pregnant women and newborn children; it was a dancer and musician; the figure belonged to the company of magical monsters of hybrid appearance as averter of evil and sword-wielding fighter. Exploring the human and animal, demonic and numinous aspects of this leonine dwarf will not only further our understanding of its nature and function, but also its significance and popularity.

Ritual household deposits and the religious imaginaries of early medieval Dalmatia (Croatia)

This paper examines three early medieval ritual house deposits from Bribirska glavica, Dalmatia, Croatia. Discovered over the last century these items bring to the fore questions regarding the relationship between state and secular religion in a region that experienced numerous encounters and confrontations within and between different social groups. This paper explores these complexities using the term ‘religious imaginaries’ to describe how a sense of collective identity may manifest itself through individual and collective practice, focusing on the value of the discovered objects (chickens, eggs, whetstones and plant remains) and their ritual framings. In particular, the recovery of archaeobotanical remains highlights the importance of examining plant use in ritual deposits. Overall, despite some variation in the interpretations of the practice of ‘special’ offerings, the majority of studies draw the conclusion that items hidden in this manner provide a broadly protective or apotropaic function. Thus, these finds provide important insights into the development of religious and ritual beliefs in early medieval Dalmatia, suggesting that the community’s religious imaginary comprised a set of values and symbols that hybridised the Christian faith with elements of ‘folk magic’ to re-inforce the apotropaic power of their ritual acts.

Hrvatski tradicijski čestitarski ophodi, pohodi i običaji od Božića do Sveta tri kralja

U hrvatskoj tradicijskoj kulturi božićno vrijeme obuhvaća blagdane: Božić, Sveti Stjepan, Sveti Ivan, Nevina dječica, Silvestrovo, Nova godina i Sveta tri kralja. U radu se navodi i multidisciplinarno interpretira stotinjak primjera čestitarskih ophoda, pohoda i običaja od Božića do Sveta tri kralja. Ti primjeri nalaze se u literaturi od 1846. godine do naših dana, a sedamdesetak je primjera suvremenih izvornih terenskih zapisa iz Republike Hrvatske i Bosne i Hercegovine. Ti zapisi nastajali su od 2004. do 2017. godine. Neki čestitarski ophodi, pohodi i običaji iščezli su, neki su se modificirali i reducirali. U čestitarskim ophodima, pohodima i običajima ogledaju se pretkršćanski elementi. Običaj posipanja položaja žitom i položajnikovo kresanje vatre i izgovaranje želja za nastupajuću godinu ima panspermijsku funkciju. Kada bi položaj nakon položajenja došao blizu kuće svoje djevojke ukućani bi ga pozdravili pucanjem iz pušaka. Taj običaj imao je apotropejsku funkciju. Simbolično šibanje djece na blagdan Nevine dječice također ima apotropejsku funkciju. Istu funkciju ima i upotreba pirotehničkih sredstava u dočeku Nove godine. Taj običaj u hrvatskoj tradicijskoj kulturi nastao je u drugoj polovici 20. stoljeća i najmlađi je običaj koji se interpretira u radu.

Magia ascunsă a unor amulete din Dacia preromană. În legătură cu un pandantiv-căldărușă din sudul Transilvaniei / The hidden magic of some amulets from pre-Roman Dacia. About a bucket-shaped pendant discovered in southern Transylvania

A bucket-shaped pendant was recently discovered by treasure hunters in southern Transylvania, in the Dacian fortresse from Tilişca probably. More than two decades ago, it was noted that among the pendants from pre-Roman Dacia was a category of finds made of bronze or iron which resemble the shape of a miniature bucket. #ese pendants were worn around the neck on strings, sometimes in combination with other items, for example glass beads. Chronologically, such pendants were used in the Dacian environment from the 1st century BC, but they are more numerous in contexts dated to the 1st century AD. Similar ornaments were also used in the following centuries in different cultural areas, for example in the territory of the Przeworsk culture, among the communities belonging to the Carpic culture or in the Sarmatian environment. It can be therefore presumed that the use of the pendants in question had a “supra-regional” character. In pre-Roman Dacia, they are mostly encountered in the areas outside the Carpathians range, mainly in Dacian settlements on the Siret valley, whereas similar finds are quite scarce in Transylvania. More recently, the number of finds has increased due to several archaeological investigations. Some examples are provided by the investigations carried out in the garden of the medieval castle at Hunedoara, in south-western Transylvania, which unearthed a cult place used since the Early Iron Age for various ritual practices, including votive offerings and human cremations and inhumations. Regarding the function of these pendants, Pliny the Elder lists numerous medical or protective remedies based on mineral, vegetal or animal substances. In order to be efficient, these had to get in close contact with the “patient”, so different means were used to keep them attached to the body. #ese included different types of containers which could have been made of organic materials, for example leather or textiles, while others were made of more durable materials, for example metal. One of the better known examples is the bulla, which was used in the Etruscan and Roman environment. #e bucket-shaped pendants more likely had fulfilled a similar role, holding medical and protective remedies of organic origin. Since they were lacking a lid, their contents could have been replaced according to the necessities. #eir presumed apotropaic function is also supported by their association with strings of glass beads and other metal pieces. Aside from these pendants, some bracelets having a split middle or a small middle tube have been identified in pre-Roman Dacia, but also in other cultural areas. #e small tubes were more likely used in the same way as the bucket-shaped pendants mentioned above. Various materials of mineral, vegetal, or animal origin could have been inserted to protect the owners of the respective bracelets (see Pliny the Elder, Nat. Hist. XXVIII. 9 and 47). Both the pendants and the bracelets were worn in a very visible manner, though their content, which aimed to offer protection, remained concealed. In both cases, the magical power of these remedies was augmented by the act of concealing them. Lastly, the widespread circulation of the bucket-shaped pendants was a result of individual mobility across the Dacian cultural area and also in the surrounding regions. #is mobility allowed the circulation across time and space of knowledge and practices that seldom left behind archaeological traces.

“Like a Throne of Glory:” The Apotropaic Potential of Ṣîṣîṯ in the Hebrew Bible and Early Rabbinic Literature

AbstractAlthough at first glanceṣîṣîṯmeet the definitional criteria of an amulet, there are just three passages in the early rabbinic literature that only indirectly suggest such an interpretation. Yet, as it turns out, the tassels feature strong connections with the priestly clothes, and given the protective role played by the latter inside the Tabernacle,ṣîṣîṯcan be interpreted as a lay functional equivalent of the sacerdotal garment. The present paper has three main purposes: first, to scrutinize the passages from B. Men. (41a, 43b and 44a) that are often taken as witnessing to the apotropaic function of fringes; second, to contextualize tassels in the network of the priestly objects:teḵēlęṯ, ša‘aṭnēzandṣîṣ; third, to advance a hypothesis regarding the implicit apotropaic potential ofṣîṣîṯ.

Gallo-Roman whetstone building deposits. The cultural biography of the domestic sphere in northern Gaul

We discuss the ritual deposition of whetstones on native-type farmsteads in the northern-most parts of the Gallo-Roman Province of Gallia Belgica. The phenomenon occurs mainly in the lower river Scheldt valley (Belgian East and West Flanders and the southwestern Netherlands), where these whetstones, as well as other objects, are most often found in the domestic environment of timber-framed stable-houses. We show that the stone tools were buried deliberately in a specific structural component of the house, and that there was no intention of reclaiming them afterwards. By burying these whetstones, native Gallo-Roman-period farmers removed them from their primary, functional use, but at the same time initiated a new trajectory in their cultural biography. They received a ritual, apotropaic function in the course of the domestic life cycle of the house and its inhabitants, connected to the seasonal rhythm of the annual harvest cycle. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of structured (building) deposits in archaeology and, more generally speaking, to the various aspects of the cultural biography of houses.

Apotropejska i rodna simbolika nakita iz groba 134 na Štrbincima kod Đakova

U grobu 134 na kasnoantičkom groblju na Štrbincima kod Đakova, datiranom od sredine 4. stoljeća do ranog 5. stoljeća, u kojemu je bilo pokopano dijete od 2 do 3 godine starosti, nađeni su sljedeći prilozi: bula od bakarne slitine, polumjesečasti privjesak od bakarne slitine, polumjesečasti privjesak od srebra, slabo sačuvano oglavlje (dijadema) načinjeno od tri približno kvadratne pločice od prozirnog žućkastog stakla koje su najvjerojatnije bile pričvršćene na podlogu od pozlaćene bakarne slitine, 65 perli od bjelkastog, plavog i zelenog stakla, narukvica od bakarne slitine, glineni vrč. Grob je prethodno bio objavljen u sklopu objave iskopavanja iz 2007. i 2008. na Štrbincima, ali bez detaljne rasprave o pojedinačnim nalazima. U ovome radu o tim se nalazima raspravlja s aspekta apotropejske i rodne uloge u grobnom kontekstu, sa zaključkom da je dijete najvjerojatnije bilo ženskoga roda, pokopano s velikom pažnjom i željom da mu se osigura najveća moguća zaštita u onostranosti.

Objectifying the Occult: Studying an Islamic Talismanic Shirt as an Embodied Object

Abstract Islamic talismanic shirts from pre-Mughal South Asia form a stylistically cohesive subset within the larger corpus of Islamic talismanic shirts from the patrimonial-bureaucratic period. These objects have eluded sustained study due, in large part, to their wide geographical purview and dissimilarity from other period textiles. While these objects bear some similarities with talismans of smaller shape and disparate media, their form as garments has yet to be considered as integral to their function. In analyzing one of these South Asian shirts, from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, parallels between the arts of the book and the construction of armor highlight the apotropaic function of Koranic text when placed on the human body.

Early Christian Epigraphy, Evil, and the Apotropaic Function of Romans 8.31

Epigraphic evidence offers an important and yet oft-neglected dimension to the history of biblical reception. One of the most curious cases of epigraphic incidence of a biblical text is the use of Romans 8.31. Within early Christian writings, this Pauline passage is used approximately 20 times across nine different writers before 604 ce. However, the words of Romans 8.31 may be found on at least 23 epigraphic artifacts from this same period, and in particular, on the door lintels of homes. This article explores what might account for the discrepancy between the literary and epigraphic use of Romans 8.31, the possible apotropaic function of this phrase, and how such evidence might inform the interpretation and reception of this Pauline passage.

The Copy of the Chełm Icon of Mother of God in the Orthodox Church in Klesztów. Dating, Direct Inspiration, Cult

The article is a synthetic monograph of the, so far only mentioned, copy of the Chelm icon of Mother of God, which was located in the former Orthodox Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary in Klesztow near Chelm. Controversies concerning the dating of the preserved paint layers of the icon were considered, which was not facilitated by the ambiguous results of the last conservation studies (1993). In this context, a detailed comparative analysis of the Klesztow icon was conducted, including with two poorly-known copies of the Chelm icon of Mother of God – namely the oil painting of Podhorce collection of Waclaw Rzewuski (1746) and the devotional engraving (1765), now in a private collection. Whilst reconstructing the cult of the copy of Klesztow, the relationship between Weglenscy from Klesztow and Waclaw Rzewuski, the personal attitude of the latter toward the Chelm and Klesztow icons, as well as the apotropaic function attributed in the Commonwealth of Poland not only to the original, but also to its copies, worshiped by both the faithful of the Orthodox Church and the Latins, were analysed.

ОБРАЗИ ПОКРІВЕЛЬНОЇ КЕРАМІКИ ДАВНЬОГО ТАЇЛАНДУ

The article deals with the sculptural roof tiles, roof finials, and antefixes of old Thailand. Mythological images have their origins in theancient Hindu and Buddhist tradition, having received a specific Thai aspect. A sea-creature of the Hindu culture, makara, was very popular. It appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga and of the sea god Varuna and the insignia of the love god Kamadeva.Due to the iconography of Hinduism and Buddhism images of the mythological makara were widely spread throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia. Its prototypes were crocodiles and river dolphins. Hamsa, or hon, was an aquatic bird of passage, a goose, which served as the vahana for the Supreme God Brahnma and has been adopted as the symbol of the Mon people. The Mon tradition was a major source of influence on the culture of Thailand. The widespread motif of medieval Thai antefixes is Buddha who has attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. It was a powerful Buddhist symbol of protection. Nāgas, a group of deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, were among the images of roof tiles and finials too. They took the form of gigantic snakes – specifically, the king cobras. These serpent deities, the most faithful worshippers of the Buddha, were regarded as the guardians of the Buddhist relics and temples. They were connected with the water element. We argue that there was a semantic similarity between these images and the ancient Mediterranean ones as both performed an apotropaic function as the guards of the roof.

A case study on the evolution of Chinese religious symbols from talismanic paraphernalia to Taoist liturgy

AbstractThe mid-fifteenth-century Taoist Canon (Zhengtong daozang正統道藏) contains five specimens of a religious artefact called “Great Peace Symbol” (“Taiping fu” 太平符), dispersed between five texts spanning about a millennium. The introduction to this paper discusses the meaning of the Chinese wordfu符 and its most widely used English rendition, “talisman”. The article briefly presents the source of each specimen, attempts a deconstruction of its morphology, and analyses itsmodus operandi, thus providing a basic methodological model to outline the historical evolution of the category of “fu” artefacts from early medieval portable devices endowed with specific apotropaic functions – like charms and amulets – to multipurpose ritual implements designed for use within the framework of early modern Taoist liturgy. The epilogue introduces a sixth specimen, differently named but morphologically and functionally related to the latest three “Great Peace Symbols”.

The Fist-and-Phallus Pendants from Roman Catterick

AbstractA collection of six fist-and-phallus amulets from excavations at Catterick, North Yorks., is here reconsidered alongside their unique context. The group consists of five amulets from a single infant inhumation and a sixth found separate from the rest. All exhibit features defining them as a clear group of objects; they are all curved with a phallus and a fist making themanus ficajoined in the centre by a scallop shell. There are three left-handed and three right-handed fists. The traditional interpretation of fist-and-phallus type amulets relates to military ideas of strength and virility, but in the context provided by this small group it is clear that their apotropaic function should be given additional credence. No other context in Roman Britain directly associates the fist-and-phallus type and infant inhumation.

Descensus ad Inferos: Taming (Easily) the Monsters in the Daunian Pictorial Tradition. The Exorcism of the Underworld and the Representation of Opposites Boundaries

The city of Canusium (Canosa di Puglia) is one of the most important archaeological sites of southern Italy. The archaeological contexts of chamber tombs shed light on constructions of gender, personal identity, family relationships, and how the living interacted with the deceased. The major shift of daunian pictorial tradition occurs in the second centuries BCE with new decorative system and distinctive emphasis. In this paper, I analyze crucial components of the Daunian afterlife and the preferences of the iconographic evidence. In figurative Daunian imagery,the chamber tomb, liminal space for interaction between the living and the dead, clearly merits further investigation: it is not simply replicating some sort of house, but a tomb of the dead. The Daunian dimension of the Afterlife was marked by elements symbolic of passage identifiable in the doors of the tombs ant in that sort of interim space, antechamber of Hades(vestibulum).The burial chambers were a territory of unclear boundaries: the figured representation, the Hermes’s psychopompic abilities, the high visibility of the women in procession, participants in the ritual, were intentionally positioned in the antechamber, in the cross-cultural association with death and the underworld. I argue that the terracotta statues of women in various gestures of praying or mourning, discovered arranged in small groups,were physical collaborators of the liminality. The daunian tomb is the word of the gorgon Medusa, apotropaic symbol: the snakey head of medusa in the representations on the vases with polychrome and plastic decoration has a cross-cultural association with death and the underworld. The vase, showing snakes, chthonic elements, could be related to the apotropaic function and signify the ability to travel between worlds, the earth and the underworld. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v4n1p457

Book Review: Astrology in the Renaissance: Influences: Art, Optics, and Astrology in the Italian Renaissance

Influences: Art, Optics, and Astrology in the Italian Renaissance. Mary QuinlanMcGrath (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2013). Pp. xii + 284. $35. ISBN 978-0-226-92284-3.What is transmitted to the viewer looking up at monumental vault paintings in Renaissance Italy? More than one can see, the art historian May Quinlan-McGrath argues in Influences - at least according to the makers, patrons, and viewers of these paintings. Visual communication was not even the primary purpose of these images. Transmitting the celestial rays trapped in the images, the vault paintings were thought to have quasi-magical qualities. Even for those viewers insufficiently equipped intellectually to be aware of the meanings of the astronomical images, the vault paintings had a restorative, even an apotropaic function. In short, by harnessing celestial influences, the images held power over their viewers. This is the book's central argument.The book draws upon scholarship in two disciplines, the history of science and the history of art. In the past two decades historians of science have re-habilitated the history of astrology. Among many other scholars, Robert Westman, Darrel Rutkin, and most recently, Monica Azzolini (in a book on political uses of astrology at the court in Milan, a context directly relevant to Quinlan-McGrath's Influences) have shown and illustrated the ubiquity and centrality of astrological practice in early modem science and society. Quinlan-McGrath is clearly familiar with this scholarship and uses it to her benefit in the opening chapters of the book. A second body of scholarship on which Quinlan-McGrath builds broadens the scope of art history to include the study of all images, 'high art' or not. Bildwissenschaft comes in many guises, and as a consequence, images and image theories are now studied in multiple ways, disciplines and contexts. One defining moment in the history of Bildwissenschaft has been David Freedberg's study of the history and theory of response to images: The power of images (1989). Quinlan-MacGrath's book proposes a marriage between these two bodies of scholarship. One of its central tenets is that the power of images had a physical basis, and that we need to turn to the history of astrology and the way in which it connects to optics to understand the physics of rays.Within this wide field the book has a clear focus. Its protagonist is the Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino. Quinlan-McGrath links Ficino's image theory to three monumental vault paintings commissioned by patrons who knew Ficino personally or shared his circle of friends. The first vault was in the villa of Agostino Chigi, the papal banker close to Leo X, the Medici pope who was a pupil of Ficino. Leo X commissioned the second astrological vault under discussion in the Sala dei Pontifici in the Vatican. The third case is the vault of the Sala della Cosmografia in the Famese family's villa at Caprarola. Having previously published articles on these vaults in journals such as Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes and Isis, QuinlanMcGrath only touches on them direcdy in the eighth and final chapter. …

A relic of medieval folklore: Corpus Christi Octave herbal wreaths in Poland and their relationship with the local pharmacopoeia

Ethnopharmacological relevanceHerbal wreaths are blessed all over Poland on the eighth day of the Corpus Christi Octave (usually in June). They used to contain many species of aromatic and medicinal plants, both collected from the wild and cultivated. The aim of this study was to document the present composition of wreaths using photographs (etic perspective) and questionnaires (emic perspective) and compare it with the local pharmacopoeia, the composition of Assumption Day bouquets (blessed in August) and historical data on the composition of the wreaths. Materials and methodsThe study was carried out in SE Poland (near Krosno). Photographs of 245 wreaths were taken and 133 questionnaires concerning the blessed plants and their medical use were obtained. ResultsOn average a photographed wreath contained over five species of plants and an average informant listed six species. The frequency of species in photos and questionnaires was similar. Several medicinal plants which used to be the key elements of the wreaths (e.g. Sedum acre, Asarum europaeum, Matricaria recutita, Thymus pulegioides, Alchemilla spp.) are now less frequently seen, mainly due to vegetation transformations. Nowadays only about a quarter of species in the wreaths are medicinal plants, the remaining are mainly ornamental flowers. Only a part of the local pharmacopoeia is represented in the blessed wreaths and bouquets. The wreaths were often used in fumigation practices (whole wreaths or single species taken out) for a whole continuum of purposes: from purely ritual to medicinal. Nowadays they serve a mainly apotropaic function, but help to preserve traditional ethnomedicinal knowledge. ConclusionThe blessing of herbal wreaths in Poland seems to be the last relic of a more widespread custom found in medieval times throughout northern and central Europe originally associated with summer solstice.

Maskil, Community, and Religious Experience in the Songs of the Sage (4Q510–511) 1

Abstract The present study seeks to illuminate how the recitation of the prophylactic magical hymns known as 4QSongs of the Sage engendered religious experience for worshipers. Previous research on this composition has focused on locating it within the broader streams of early Jewish magical and apocalyptic tradition, but little attention has been paid to the apotropaic function of the Songs within the larger religious experiential framework implied by the text. This study argues that despite the lack of concrete information pertaining to ritual praxis, the language of the Songs reveals that participation in the ritual was designed to bring worshipers to understand themselves as realizing essential Qumranite ideals such as perfect purity and supernal knowledge, and to experience communion with the angels in the image of “the eternal sanctuary.” It is suggested that the protection from the demons offered by the Songs is not so much the result of “magic” as it is a natural outcome of the perceived attainment of these ideals.