2.1 A quick birth?

I’m Helen King. I’m Professor of Classical Studies at The Open University. I’m here today to talk to Dr. Laurence Totelin of Cardiff University about amulets. So what are amulets?

So amulets are something that you wear on the body, and it can have magical or medical properties. One of the names for an amulet in Greek is periapton and that literally means something that is attached.

So it’s attached to your body. It’s actually touching you.

That’s right. It is. And sometimes it is worn over the clothes and sometimes under the clothes, and it can be attached to various parts of the body-- to the arm, to the loins.

Wow, so it could be anywhere. So what sort of things are they? What are they actually made of?

Well, it varies a lot. Some are made of perishable materials. So for instance, you have amulets made of wool. You also have amulets that are simply the root of a plant that is worn again on the body. And some are made of much more durable material so stones or metals.

So how do we know about the perishable ones?

Well, we know through text. So this is an excellent example where the text complements the archaeological material evidence. So we have evidence in the ancient medical texts that amulets could be made of wool or plants.

So what do you use them for? Are they use to help you get better or to stop you getting ill in the first place?

Well, for both really. So sometimes they’re used as prophylactics so to prevent you becoming ill. Sometimes they’re used to cure a disease or make it better, especially in cases of chronic ailments so like back pain or sciatica. And sometimes they are worn in cases where your health could be endangered. So here the main case would be childbirth, which can be a very dangerous situation.

And I understand that, if I’ve got this right, Pericles, the great general Pericles, wore an amulet.

Well, that’s right there is a story. We don’t know whether it’s a true story or legend, but it’s a nice story of Pericles being given an amulet by a woman because he was afflicted with the plague.

Must have made him feel slightly better.

Yes, there is an aspect of placebo effect in the wearing of amulets. It can make you feel better. We certainly have that evidence in the medical writings. So the physician Soranus did say that he didn’t really believe in amulets, but he felt it would make his female patients feel better.

Very understanding. So we’ve actually got an example of an amulet here, which is one of these child birth, possibly--

It is, yes.

--Womb amulets. So this is about a centimetre or so.

Yes

It’s made of hematite.

That’s right, so--

Is that significant?

Yes, it is. So hematite is the bloodstone, and so it’s red like blood. And it’s certainly significant because blood is the liquid, the fluid, that characterises women.

Yeah, so whether that’s because you want to let the blood out or whether you are letting out too much and you want to stop it, could it be used for either of those?

For either because so you see on this amulet there’s a picture of the womb?

Oh, that’s a womb.

That’s a womb, yes. So this vessel-like thing is a womb. And then there’s a key that opens the womb, and so well, it either opens it or closes it. So it can open the womb so to let the blood out or let a child out in childbirth, or it can lock the womb so that the blood is kept inside the womb and is then used to create a baby.

Right, so it’s multi-purpose?

That’s right.

So what else have we got on the amulet? What else is happening on it?

Well it’s very rich, especially it’s only a centimetre high, so it’s really tiny. And around the amulet you have what is called a Ouroboros, and that’s a snake that bites its own tail. And then you have representations of various Egyptian gods. So this amulet was produced in Greco-Roman Egypt, and then you have a lot of text in Greek.

And who are all of the other people? There’s one who seems to be holding the key of the womb.

That’s right, and then you have various divinities.

So they’re just assorted gods you’re calling on?

That’s right, yes.

So what’s actually having the power here to make you better or to help you give birth properly? Is it the images? Is it the material?

It’s a bit of both. So it is the material, that is the bloodstone. It is the images, and it’s also the words that are very significant.

So that’s a very powerful piece of equipment.

Very powerful.

Thank you very much