★ An interesting engraved religious amulet ★

Uncertain, circa 6th century. Amulet (Bronze, 24 mm, 6.22 g, 1 h). CTOKTP [...] KVΛKAΓV Nimbate Holy Rider on horseback to right, spearing female demon; to left above, uncertain object; to right above, cross; below, magical characters. Rev. AΓIOC AΓIOC AΓIOC XPICTE BOHΘI VΓ [...] ('Holy, holy, holy. Christ, help. Health') In left field, the Virgin seated to right holding Infant Christ; in right field, uncertain object surmounted by cross within diadem; to left and above, cross. Cf. Bonner 298-325. An interesting engraved religious amulet with attractive earthen highlights. Pierced, otherwise, good very fine.

'Holy Rider' imagery appears on a large and heterogeneous group of mostly haematite, bronze and lead amulets. Their date is debated, but most objects appear to originate from the 5th and 6th centuries. On the gems, the holy rider is usually named 'Solomon' in allusion to the late antique tradition of King Solomon as master of demons. Another group of bronze pendants does not name the rider, but has the generic legend 'The One God who conquers evil' paired with iconography similar to our amulet. The reverse of the present piece has the trisagion (Holy, holy, holy), used here for its apotropaic property. The last word is likely VΓ[IA], 'health', indicating that the amulet was used to ward off sickness.