Magic Names (Fragment)

Abstract

Excavations of the so-called Urnenfeld at Regensburg in 1869 yielded the following finds: beneath a 1½ foot high heap a 9-foot thick stratum containing cremation-urns, lamps, coins of Antoninus Pius, Macrinus, Alexander Severus, and bronze and iron fragments (Bauer 1877: 68f.). Somewhat beneath this cultural stratum (following a layer of empty soil), diggers found remains of a female skeleton, wearing bronze bracelets and glass pearls about the neck. On the skeleton’s chest, in the original position worn, lay a cylindrical capsule of silver (L. 2.5 cm.; 0.8 cm. diam.; Bauer 1877: 69; Ebner 1892: 162). The capsule had two silver eyelets for suspension, one of which broke off (cf. Grimm 1969: 216, Abb. 37). Rolled up inside this tubular case was a copper, a silver, and a gold lamella. The copper piece (Inv. Nr. Sttz. 1513) proved too oxidized to be extracted and read. Unfortunately, much of the texts of the other two tablets was lost when a digger carelessly flattened out their surfaces with a hard instrument; hence, the silver piece (Inv. Nr. Sttz. 1513 H. 3.35; W. 2.1 cm.) yields only a few stray letters (Fig. 14b), and the gold, little more.