Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 23. 1984-1985 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1987)

Közlemények – Mitteilungen - Kákosy László: A magical amulet from Pusztaszabolcs. p. 240–242.

common to be elaborated here. Moreover, Isis and Serapis were venerated as highly respected healing divinities (GRIFFITHS 1975, 139, 236; WITT 1971. 185—197). The presence of Anubis may be explained, on the other hand, in various ways. In the version of the myth related by Plutarch (De Iside 14, 44) Anubis was the fruit of the adultery of Osiris with Nephthys. In spite of the offence committed against her status as wife, Isis was ready to adopt Anubis. (ibid., 44) In other texts it is Isis who is said to be his mother (GRENIER 1977, 19). Besides the cow-goddess Hesat (LÄ, I, 327: B. Altenmüller) also Bastet is mentioned as the mother of Anubis, (GREINER 1977, 21). This fiiliation is all the more significant for our amulet, since Bastet was regarded as the patrongoddess of love. The tradition that Osiris was the father of Anubis is attested from the XlXth dynasty {ibid., 18) on. Anubis became more and more a member of the Osiris (Serapis)-Isis-Horus family. Numerous Greek inscriptions outside Egypt are dedicated to him along with these deities, {ibid., 93—133). Anubis appears also in love charms used in Roman Egypt. {ibid., 72). In the spicy story in Josephus his mask was abused by the seducer Mundus to acquire the love of a respectable Roman lady who believed to have had a sexual intercourse with the god himself (Josephus Flavius, Antiquitates, XVIII.3.). Beside all his accessory features Anubis remained above all a funerary deity, the psychopompos of the Egyptian religion. While in the traditional Egyptian belief Anubis attended the judgement of the dead, in the Roman Period his guardian role came into prominence. As the doorkeeper of the netherworld, he is often represented with a key of Roman type (GRENIER 1977, 35—36). In this particular case he was probably thought to control the uterus in his capacity of XÂESOUXOÇ In addition to the four divinities represented here, the uterus is protected by Ororiouth, the guardian spirit of this female organ. In a Greek inscription on a gem he is invoked as "Lord of the uterus of women" {SMA 1950, 85). The seven vowels are a well-known element in magic of the Roman Period (DORNSEIFF 1925, 75-56). We find an allusion to their use even in the historical work of Ammianus Marcellinus (XXIX, 2, 28). While a product of Late-Antique syncretism, the amulet displays close links with Egyptian religion. Magic and medical science cannot be separated within Egyptian civilization. Charms and invocations to gods were used side by side with medical treatment and drugs. Egyptian physicians had special intructions for the treatment of gynaecological diseases in the Middle and New Kingdom (Pap. Med. Kahun, Pap. Ebers, no. 808—830 (GRAPOW 1954, 88—89; GRAPOW 1955, 107—108, 130). Their expertise was obviously on a high level in the Late Period too. Egyptians were concerned also with birth control as shown by contraceptive measures described in medical papyri. (LÄ, I., 1975, 1127—1128: A.T. Sandison). The amulet in Székesfehérvár may have been in possession of a woman who was, if not a devotee of the Isiac cult, at any rate believing that Egyptian gods and magic may be helpful in restoring her good health. The evidence of representations would suggest Egypt as the place of production of the magical gems. In the case of most pieces we are, however, not informed about the exact provenance (DELATTE-DERCHAIN 1964, 253, inr. 354). One piece, and precisely an uterus amulet, very similar to that one in Székesfehérvár, was found in Egypt in Tuna el-Gebel. (Some megical gems were found in Pannónia: Bilkei 1979, passim). We have to note, moreover, that according to the French traveller, Jean de Thévenot who visited Egypt in 1658, it was easy to find gems in the ruins of Alexandria at that time. (Derchaim 1974, 19—20). As to the age of the amulet, it may be dated with certainty to the Roman Imperial Period. Within this wide frame the bulk of magical amulets seems to belong to the 3—4 th century as they display close relationship with the Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri {PGM 1973, passim) of this age. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bilkei 1979 Delatte 1914 DELATTE-DERCHAIN 1964 Derchain 1974 DORNSEIFF 1925 ÉPRO GRAPOW 1954 RRAPOW 1955 GRENIER 1977 GRIFFITHS 1975 Kákosy 1964 LÄ PGM SMA 1950 WITT 1971 I. BILKEI, Die griechischen Inschriften des römischen Ungarns. Alba Regia, XVII, 23- 48. A. DELATTE, Amulettes inédites des Musées d'Athènes. Musée Belge, XIC. 75— 88. A. DELATTE PH. DERCHAIN, Les intailles magiques gréco-égyptiennes. Paris. PH. DERCHAIN, Miettes. Revue d'Égyptologie, XXVI, 7- 20. FR. DORNSEIFF, Das Alphabet in der Mystik und Magie. Leipzig— Berlin, 2

nd ed. Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans VEmpire Romain. Leiden. H. GRAPOW, Anatomie und Physiologie. Grundriss der Medizin der alten Ägypter I. Berlin. H. GRAPOW, Von den medizinischen Texten. Grundriss der Medizin der alten Ägypter II. Berlin. J.-CL. GRENIER, Anubis alexandrin et romain. ÉPRO, 57. J. GWYN GRIFFITHS, Apuleius ofMadauros. The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, XI). ÉPRO, 39. L. KÁKOSY, Osiris-Aion. Oriens Antiquus, III, 15—25. Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Wiesbaden. K. PREISENDANZ ,Papyri Graecae Magicae. Stuttgart, 2

nd ed. I— II. C. BONNER, Studies in magical amulets chiefly Graeco-Egyptian. Ann Arbor. R. E. WITT, Isis in the Graeco-Roman world. London. 242