Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XXIV 19-20 Jan 2021
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ANCIENT NEAR EAST. Gold Aramaic Talismanic Scroll and Scrollcase. Late 3rd-6th centuries AD. (Embossed sheet gold: 15.6 x 3.6cm). A scroll case with loop for suspension to hold a gold sheet (now flattened), embossed with a talismanic text in Literary Syriac, a later adaptation of Aramaic in Western provinces of the Ancient Near East. Similiar texts have been found across the region with Christian, Zoroastrian, and Islamic prayers and protections. Cf. "Gold Curse Tablets Unearthed in Serbia," Archaeology (magazine) website article, 9 August 2016, for a similar gold document in Aramaic found at a Roman site in Serbia (https://www.archaeology.org/news/4714-160809-viminacium-curse-tablet). This piece has been professionally restored and mounted.
The practice of using these talismanic scrolls continued into much later practice in many parts of the Ancient Near East. On the border of Iraq and Iran, Mandaic scripts are found in contemporary practice. Further use of these talismanic containers and sheet prayers are common among the Turkic peoples of the Ancient Near East and were still in use to the end of the Ottoman Empire.
The practice of using these talismanic scrolls continued into much later practice in many parts of the Ancient Near East. On the border of Iraq and Iran, Mandaic scripts are found in contemporary practice. Further use of these talismanic containers and sheet prayers are common among the Turkic peoples of the Ancient Near East and were still in use to the end of the Ottoman Empire.