Palindrome Inscription Found on Ancient Amulet in Cyprus.pdf

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Palindrome Inscription Found on Ancient Amulet in Cyprus

Palindrome Inscription Found on Ancient

Amulet in Cyprus

Ioanna Zikakou

September 17, 2021

The ancient amulet found in Cyprus features a palindrome in

Ancient Greek.

Credit: Jagiellonian University in Krakow at Paphos Agora

A team of Polish archaeologists in Nea Paphos, Cyprus have unearthed a 1,500-

year-old two-sided amulet depicting a palindrome inscription written in ancient

Greek.

Palindromes are phrases that are read the same both forward and backwards.

The amulet’s 59-letter inscription reads:

“ΙΑΕW ΒΑΦΡΕΝΕΜ ΟΥΝΟΘΙΛΑΡΙ ΚΝΙΦΙΑΕΥΕ ΑΙΦΙΝΚΙΡΑΛ ΙΘΟΝΥΟΜΕ

ΝΕΡΦΑΒW ΕΑΙ,” which roughly translates to “Iahweh [a god] is the bearer of the

secret name, the lion of Re secure in his shrine.”

Although written in ancient Greek, there are a number of spelling errors,

indicating the creator and owner of the object were not educated or may not

have been native Greek speakers.

Ancient amulet found in Cyprus features ancient Greek,

Egyptian gods

The amulet is particularly unique and strange in that it features a fascinating

image on the other side, which includes references to

ancient Egyptian and

Greek gods.

On its other side of the palindrome, the amulet features three main images, one

of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris lying in a boat, a cynocephalus, or a god with

the head of a dog, and the body of a man and the ancient Greek god of silence,

Harpocrates, sitting on a stool.

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A crocodile, snake, moon, and star are also shown on the amulet.

Osiris, who is depicted on the amulet wrapped up like a mummy, was the

Egyptian

god of the underworld.

Perhaps most strangely, Harpocrates is depicted holding his hand up to his lips,

and the cynocephalus is shown doing the same, mimicking the gesture of the

god.

Both the cynocephalus and Harpocrates are shown with lines across their

bodies, perhaps indicating that they, like Osiris, were

meant to be mummiﬁed.

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In the case of the cynocephalus, there are images of the creature mummiﬁed.

Yet, Harpocrates is never depicted this way anywhere else.

This may indicate that the creator of the amulet was not familiar with the

religious imagery surrounding Harpocrates, but knew how to depict the ancient

Egyptian ﬁgures.

Christianity was oﬃcial religion at the time

Amulets such as this

were used for protection

since ancient times in many

pagan beliefs.

During the sixth century, when the amulet was found, Christianity was the

oﬃcial religion of Cyprus. Yet clearly, pagan beliefs were still quite strong in the

country during the period.

The artifact was found in a 2015 dig at the ancient agora of Nea Paphos,

southwest Cyprus, where archaeologists have been working for a long time.

The agora used to operate as a gathering place for the worship of the ancient

goddess, Aphrodite.

“Paphos, which has been inhabited since the Neolithic period, was a center of

the cult of Aphrodite and of pre-Hellenic fertility deities. Aphrodite’s legendary

birthplace was on the island of Cyprus, where her temple was erected by the

Mycenaeans in the 12th century BC and continued to be used until the Roman

period,” noted UNESCO.

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Palindrome Inscription Found on Ancient Amulet in Cyprus.pdf

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