In Chapter II
, “National Elements and Influences,” mention was made of two amulets, apparently of Jewish origin, on one of which the seven-branched candlestick was engraved, on the other the ark of the covenant with its cherubim. They might have been made and worn by Jews; and archaeologists working in Semitic areas have found and published other purely Jewish amulets with characteristic forms and Hebrew or Aramaic inscriptions. Only a few such objects will be treated in this chapter, and those only because they are unpublished. Here we are to be concerned chiefly with some designs that were developed under Jewish inspiration, but represent a Judaism touched by Hellenistic influences and ready to use a magic which was not free from pagan elements. Amulets that had such origins were taken over by Christians, who eliminated their pagan and Jewish characteristics, or else gave them a Christian interpretation.
The first group that claims attention consists of seven unpublished stones, which I have examined minutely;2
a few previously published specimens;3
and a few in the British Museum, which I inspected cursorily. The type represented by these stones may be described as follows. A youthful rider galloping to the right is about to pierce with his spear a prostrate female figure which lifts its hands in a vain attempt at supplication or defense. The rider's head is bare, his hair confined by a band. He wears a chlamys fastened on his right shoulder, with a loose end flowing out behind him; a kilt, riding boots, and, apparently, close-fitting trousers — this detail remains uncertain because of the imperfect workmanship which, in varying degrees, characterizes the whole series. Round the chest and the haunches of the horse are two parallel straps, which are intended to hold the saddlecloth or pad in place;4
the parallel incisions may, of course, represent a single broad