An Adjuration of Pantokrator

Abstract

This gold tablet was found in the room of a building (Bat. V, room K) in 1938 among the extensive urban excavations of the Roman town of Hama. Bülow-Jacobsen (1985:250) describes the piece as follows:

When found it was folded once vertically and rolled up tightly. The right half, which has suffered most, seems to have been innermost in the roll. The left, right and bottom margins are marked with a thin line scratched about 1 mm from the edge. An inscription of seven lines of cursive Greek letters of the fourth or fifth century of our era is scratched and pressed into the surface with a dry point made of material a little harder than the gold, presumably of bronze.

The inscription is extremely difficult to read because of its small size, its cursive character and the damage it has suffered when rolled and unrolled.