Amulet MS 5236

MS 5236 (inventory number of the Schøyen Collection) is an ancient Greek amulet of the 6th century BC, which is unique in two respects: it is the only known magic amulet of the time inscribed with a text that was stamped as opposed to incised, and it is the only extant specimen of ephesia grammata made of gold. The only partially comprehensible inscription is an invocation of the god Phoebus Apollo and may have been composed in central Greece or western Asia Minor. As such magical amulets are known to have been mass-produced, the existence of MS 5236 indicates that, despite the singularity of the foil, an inkless block printing process was practised in ancient Greece to a certain degree, for texts of some length, beyond the examples known from Roman lead pipe inscriptions and the many types of stamps used to mark bricks and pottery with the maker's name and other details.

The lamella is registered under the inventory number MS 5236 by the private Norwegian Schøyen Collection, where it was studied by the British classicist Dominic Montserrat. The printing technique of the inscription was specifically analysed by the German typographer Herbert Brekle in 2010.

MS 5236 is made of a thin, rectangular gold sheet of 2.8 x 9.0 x 0.1 cm, which is inscribed on one side. The ancient Greek text comprises six lines written from left to right; margins all around the text body suggest that its contents are fully preserved. The surface of the gold foil is marked by many small creases that have grown together into cracks. Unlike later amulets, it appears to have never been rolled up or folded for personal use.

The palaeographic analysis of the letterform indicates an early, archaic date. The script used does not clearly match any local variant of the Greek alphabet: certain letter shapes indicate an origin in Attica or Euboea, while other letters point to the ductus common in western Asia Minor, particularly that of Knidos. Overall, the comparison with other early Greek documents suggests a creation of the text in the middle of the 6th century BC.

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