E01031: A round terracotta disk with an inscription referring to *Raphael (the Archangel, S00481). Found at Anemourion (Isauria, southern Asia Minor). Probably late antique.
online resource
posted on 2015-12-30, 00:00authored bypnowakowski
A round terracotta mould with a Latin cross in the centre and an inscription, running around the edge, in mirror writing:
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Pilgrimage
Cult Activities - Relics
Ampullae, eulogiai, tokens
Cult Activities - Cult Related Objects
Ampullae, flasks, etc.
Discussion
James Russell plausibly argues that this was a mould designed for the production of amuletic discs, but it is also not unlikely that it was made to stamp bread (that it was a stamp, or mould, is suggested by the use of mirror-writing).
Bibliography
Edition:
Hagel, St., Tomaschitz, K., (eds.), Repertorium der westkilikischen Inschriften (Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Denkschriften der philosophisch-historischen Klasse 265, Ergänzungsbände zu den Tituli Asiae Minoris 22, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1998), no. Anm 46.
Russell, J., "The evil eye in early Byzantine history. Archaeological evidence from Anemurium in Isauria", Jahrbuch der österreichsichen Byzantinistik 32 (1982), 542-543.
Reference works:
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 39, 1425.