[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
The book Apotropaia and Phylakteria: Confronting Evil in Ancient Greece is the outcome of a conference held in 2021 in Athens, hosted by the Swedish Institute. As the title suggests, the aim of the conference was to address the concept of apotropaia in Ancient Greece, in other words the manifestations of the belief that evil forces could harm individuals and communities and the measures taken to confront such danger. The chronological span of the book covers the period from the early Archaic to the Late Roman era, and the geographical area on which the individual contributions focus is obviously Greece, with a very few exceptions concerning sites in Magna Graecia or objects of Greek manufacture uncovered or exhibited in foreign countries. The volume consists of a short preface and twenty-two papers, each with extensive footnotes, its own bibliography, a catalogue of the objects examined when necessary, and a plethora of high-quality photographs. The overall presentation and editing of the volume are exceptional. Thesepapers are all very interesting and well written, demonstrating the authors’ ability for perceptive analysis of their subject. Due to the number of the contributions, it is not possible to do justice to all and only some of the points brought up will be highlighted.
The interest of researchers in the subject of apotropaia and protective rituals in Ancient Greece is not a recent phenomenon.[1] The use of amulets for the protection of the body, especially inscribed gems, has attracted a particular interest and there is a number of relevant studies written among others by Veronique Dasen, Roy Kotansky, and of course Christopher Faraone. The most recent book that examined the subject of magical protection was published in Greek in 2010 under the title Βάσκανος Ὀφθαλμός [The Evil Eye],[2] and since then there has not been a collective publication specifically dedicated to this subject. The present volume, then, readdresses the subject with the aim to contribute in the deeper and wider understanding of the necessity for individual and collective protection against evil forces. Moreover, as the editors themselves note in the preface, the book also serves the need to present new archaeological material from recent excavations related to the subject of apotropaia and serve as an inspiration for further research. Finally, the presentation of unpublished material, as in the case of the Smyrna figurines from the Ioannis Misthos collection in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (Peppa Papaioannou), is particularly valuable.
The concept that individuals and communities could be prone to harm caused by malevolent forces or by the envy of other people is examined in this volume through different perspectives in an attempt to cross disciplinary borders and therefore approach the subject more widely. Therefore, in addition to the evidence provided by archaeological material and iconography, literary sources are also used to enrich our understanding of the subject (Kousoulini, Giannopoulou and Pilz). This aspiration to provide an interdisciplinary approach to apotropaia however, is only partly achieved, since the emphasis is clearly on the former two sources of evidence.
The themes that are touched upon concern the occasions where individual or collective protection would have been required, the identification in the archaeological record of apotropaic devices and their possible function, the role of figurines in protective rituals and the actual performance of such rituals. A couple of authors examine house entrances and city gates as places of physical transition, as spaces connecting the interior with the exterior and hence the point through which evil can enter (Faraone, Garaffa) and the ritual practices employed to protect them and to secure the safety of the house and city. A few authors present the protective or apotropaic role of clay figurines depicting goddesses, dwarves, or grotesque and ithyphallic figures (Philippa-Touchais, Chidiroglou, Peppa Papaioannou). Also addressed is the protective/apotropaic role of specific motifs, symbols, and images of deities, such as the gorgoneion, the open hand, the phallus, and the eye or the triple Hecate and Hermes (Spathi, Lambropoulou, Pavlidis and Giovannopoulou), as well as that of specific deities, such as the Parthenos, the protective goddess of ancient Neapolis, Kavala (Avramidou). The apotropaic function of sound is also examined, mostly associated with the bell and its deposition in graves (Giannopoulou, Grigoropoulos). Protective gems, jewelry, and amulets are also included (Klinger, Paleothodoros and Karagiannopoulos, Kallintzi and Kyriaki-Chatziprokopiou, Takacs, Barcat, Maravela, Tsatsou, Vitellozzi), as is pottery inscribed with graffiti, a feature possibly indicative of its use in divination practices (Koletti).
Faraone’s contribution, which also introduces the reader to the subject of apotropaic practices, examines the use of amulets, either objects, texts or images, in the protection of entrances, whether these refer to the gates of a city, the entrance of a house, or the imaginary boundaries at the edges of beds and those of the human body. Faraone examines the apotropaic devices that were employed to protect entrances and boundaries, that included statues, herms, mosaics, inscriptions and images, such as frontal faces and eyes to avert disease and harm in any form, including theft. The use of gems with similar images, like Heracles or Hecate, worn around the neck may suggest that the throat was considered the entrance to the body and therefore in need of protection from evil forces that could hurt the individual.
Of particular interest (although only tentatively provable, as the author herself admits), is the existence of ancient Greek songs with apotropaic content and intention (Kousoulini). Choral songs in ancient Greek tragedies, such as “Seven Against Thebes”, often include prayers and rituals intended to avert misfortune, either civic or domestic, that were performed by female choruses. The author’s argument is that such choral songs with apotropaic intention reflect the existence of actual apotropaic songs, even of a lyric “genre”, performed by women in occasions of everyday life. Regardless the difficulty of ascertaining the validity of this argument, the possibility that such songs existed should not be disregarded lightly, given the fact that oral traditions of songs, for example ritual lament, did exist in Ancient Greece.
The use of baskania by potters to protect their pottery production from anything that can go wrong during the firing process is a well-known practice. The author, however, associates this practice with a strong belief in the efficacy of witchcraft and the evil eye due to the character of the societies in which it is observed. Pilz argues that these communities can be understood under Douglas’s social system of the “small group”. Such closed communities tend to be characterized by rivalry and jealousy that encourage the belief in the potency of witchcraft. Consequently, the resort to devices, such as grotesque figures and γελοῖα, as well as the invocation of benevolent deities, such as Athena, and of demonic beings, such as Syntrips (Smasher) and Smaragdos (Crasher), aimed at protecting the kiln and averting destruction of the pottery from the very tangible envy of competitors.
It is also worth mentioning the discussion concerning grotesque figures and the intention behind the representation in Antiquity of dysmorphism (Chidiroglou). The author draws attention to the subjectivity of the interpretation of grotesques as apotropaic, a notion that derives from the modern perception that equates grotesque representations with “prophylaxis and apotrope”. Such figures could equally denote theatrical actors or caricatures or represent pathological conditions. In a similar vein is Peppa Papaioannou’s paper on the apotropaic role of the grotesque Hellenistic clay figurines from the Misthos collection at the National Museum of Athens.
Spathi’s paper on two clay gorgoneion-roundels from the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis at ancient Messene is interesting. In addition to the apotropaic role of these roundels given their iconography of the gorgoneion, the author highlights their use as votives offered to deities associated with the transition from childhood to adulthood. Spathi underlines another aspect of Gorgo’s symbolism in addition to apotropaic. As a figure of marginality and transition depictions of the Gorgo would have been appropriate votive offerings to deities that presided over such a transition, such as Artemis or Demeter.
Particularly interesting is the discovery of a unique bas-relief with an inscribed legged double phallus uncovered in a domus in the Roman city of Nicopolis in Epirus (Pavlidis and Giovanopoulou). The phallus is a common apotropaic symbol in the Graeco-Roman world and in this case its potency is further strengthened by its association with a representation of an eye or a scorpion, both motifs with similarly apotropaic role. The inscription addresses the god Fascinus in order to secure not only protection from the evil eye, but also fertility and prosperity. This unique find, which according to the authors was imported, throws light not only onto apotropaic practices and devices in Roman Greece, but also on the private life of the residents of this important city.
Finally, Grigoropoulos’ contribution on the apotropaic use of bells in Roman and Byzantine Greece provides a valuable study. The apotropaic and amuletic function of bells can be attested in Greece as early as the Early Iron Age, but the practice is not well researched for Roman Greece. Further, the change in the use of the bell from votive to amulet – mostly accompanying the burials of women and infants—observed between the Archaic and Hellenistic period and the Roman era, reflects a trend apparent throughout the Roman empire. The survival of this practice even after the spread of Christianity, in this case predominantly associated with living children, reveals how deeply embedded in the psyche was the fear of danger from unknown forces.
The volume is a fascinating read and an important contribution in the study of apotropaic practices in Antiquity, offering with the variety of the topics addressed, a multifaceted approach of the subject.
Authors and Titles
Confronting Evil at the boundaries of the City, the House, and the Human Body – Christopher A. Faraone
Women’s Choral Apotropaic Songs in Tragic Contexts of Domestic and Civic Disharmony – Vasiliki Kousoulini
Apotropaic and Prophylactic Practices at Troizen and Methana – Maria Giannopoulou
Some Thoughts on Apotropaic Devices in Greek Pottery Production – Oliver Pilz
Archaic Anthropomorphic Figurines from the Argolid Potentially Associated with Ritual Activity of an Apotropaic Character – Anna Philippa-Touchais
Terracotta Figurines of Apotropaic and/or Prophylactic Character in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens – Maria Chidiroglou
Clay Figurines from Smyrna in the I. Misthos Collection at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens: A Study in Deformity and Apotropaic Character – Eirini Peppa-Papaioannou
The Interpretation of Clay Gorgoneion-Roundels in Sacral Contexts: Evidence from the Sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis at Ancient Messene – Maria G. Spathi
Magic-Related (?) Graffiti on Pottery from Pireus – Daphni Koletti
Reliefs from Ancient Messene: the Motif of the Open Hand – Eugenia Lampropoulou
Fearing the Evil Eye in Graeco-Roman Religion and Magic: Remarks on an Apotropaic Bas-Relief from Actia Nicopolis (Epirus, Greece) – Evangelos Pavlidis and Anastasia Giovanopoulou
Sacred Transitions: Protecting City Gates in Sicily and Magna Graecia – Valentina Garaffa
Some Evidence for Amulets in the Demeter and Kore Greek Sanctuary at Ancient Corinth – Sonia Klinger
Tracing the Possible Prophylactic Attributes of Parthenos at Ancient Neapolis (Kavala) – Amalia Avramidou
Things Jingling from the Beyond: Tracking the Amuletic Function of Bells in Roman Greece – Dimitris Grigoropoulos
An Etruscan Silver Ring Depicting a Scorpion from a Deposit in an Archaic House in Philia (Karditsa) – Dimitris Paleothodors and Christos Karagiannopoulos
Apotropaic and Prophylactic Jewellery from Abdera – Constantina Kallintzi and Kyriaki Chatziprokopiou
Technical Phylactery in Graeco-Egyptian Ritual Practice – Barbara Takacs
Reflections on Some Cases of interpretatio aegyptiaca on Magical Gems – Dominique Barcat
A Gem to Counter the Empousa – Anastasia Maravela
Chnoubis, Glykon, Agathodaimon, and the Strange Story of the Swamps of Central Macedonia: Notes on Magical Gems Depicting Snakes – Eleni Tsatsou
‘Against a Demon and Fears’. A Phylactery in the Archaeological Museum of Perugia – Paolo Vitellozzi
Notes
[1] See indicatively: Faraone, C. and D. Obbink (eds.) 1991. Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. Oxford: University Press.
Faraone, C. 1992. Talismans and Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual. Oxford: University Press.
Petropoulos, J.C.B. 2008. Greek Magic: Ancient, Medieval and Modern. NY: Routledge.
Collins, D. Magic in the Ancient Greek World.
[2] Merkouri, Ch. (ed.) 2010. Βάσκανος Οφθαλμός: Σύμβολα Μαγείας από Ιδιωτικές Αρχαιολογικές Συλλογές [The Evil Eye: Symbols of Magic from Private Collections]. Athens.