Surely it happens to you too to buy a product by being guided exclusively by its appearance. Conversely, sometimes you will have put aside your infamous passion for "beauty" after being fascinated by its symbolic value, its history or perhaps its message.
Obviously there are objects that combine the aesthetic aspect with a strong symbolic value and that actually enhance it by linking it to stories and traditions.
This is the case of amulets, age-old jewels that have come back into fashion in recent years (still don't know our collection of amulets? Discover it here ). You probably wear or have worn one without knowing its meaning, well, we can assure you that the story we are about to tell you will make you see them in a different light and make you fall in love with these jewels.
It's not true...but I believe it!
When you think of an amulet, your mind probably conjures up the image of a pendant to wear around your neck, of fairly well-known shapes such as a scarab or, more simply, a horseshoe or a ladybug. You will therefore be surprised to read that not only tangible objects are considered amulets, but also gestures and words that derive from these objects or that accompany them. But it is the object that is most loaded with meaning, so much so that it is considered precious.
The etymology that revolves around amulets makes us understand that ancient peoples recognized these practices as ordinary (in short, everyone believed without scruples that carrying a certain stone in their pocket or on their person would help with something, or ward off bad luck with respect to another).
The Greek verb apotropàion generally means “to drive away,” but it was immediately used to specifically indicate the driving away of bad luck. The “apotropaic” value of an object or gesture still indicates, in current Italian, the superstitious value of chasing away bad luck.
Along the same lines, the term amulet (which on the contrary has an uncertain etymology) almost certainly derives from Latin and perhaps from the verb amuliri which also means “to push away”, “to send away”.
If this interpretation were correct, we can say that, in a very general way, these objects were used or owned to ward off bad luck, in whatever form it presented itself and in whatever context.
Superstition, that is, pagan belief often linked to magical practices, has such an archaic origin that it can be said to have been born together with man. Today it is seen as something backward, often and erroneously linked to poor education but it is not necessary to believe in the supernatural to grasp the value and importance that was attributed to these objects until a few years ago.
Lucky charms?
Generally speaking, what were once called amulets are now simply called “lucky charms” such as horns, horseshoes, and scarabs.
In reality this is just a simplification of the enormous power attributed to amulets if we think that the Romans were so afraid of the “ oculus malus” that they believed it was even the cause of death!
Amulets were not used to bring good luck in general but were used to solve specific problems, often on the edge of popular medicine and religious belief: to cure viper bites, avoid mastitis, ward off childhood illnesses or envy, even make someone fall in love.
History of the most famous amulets and the most powerful amulet in the world
Assyrians
The first testimonies that tell us about an object with the explicit purpose of a screen or aid date back to the Neo-Assyrian population, accompanied by findings of rough and carved stones in the area that corresponded to Mesopotamia.
the typology of the amulet also varied according to religion but the most common were:
- Milk stone : a milky white stone worn by women around the neck, near the breast, to aid breastfeeding and prevent mastitis
- Golden solar disks , symbol of the sun deity and which ensured the wearer the favors of the most powerful deity
- Phylacteries or small cases almost always made of silver in which prayers were inserted. These were worn by people of Jewish religion which forbade the use of pagan amulets.
- The agate or onyx stone whose shape recalls the concept of the eye.
Why we say “malocchio” to indicate bad luck and amulets against envy
Malocchio, essere cosa cosa cosa cosa ha caso, essere cosa cosa ha “attached” (bad eye), essere cosa cosa ha caso (bad eye), essere l’occhio (bad eye) are all terms that mean, in a nutshell, to have bad luck. The concept is due to the idea that bad luck is not something that happens by chance but that on the contrary is “attached”.
In fact, it was believed that through the eyes, full of envy, the jealous person brought bad luck to the envied person, causing him to lose the goods or characteristics worthy of envy.
Did you know that the gesture of making horns with your hands comes from this? In fact, the little finger and index finger are approximately the same distance as the eyes and, when raised, they would symbolize the gesture of gouging out the eyes and therefore canceling the envy of the jinx.
This gesture gave birth to the wearable amulet in the shape of a horned hand, often made of coral to intensify its apotropaic power.
Egyptians
The use of amulets in Egypt did not find a wide diffusion and variety as in the following period, despite this, this people is responsible for the diffusion of two of the most well-known archaic apotropaic symbols in the world. Both are linked to the concept of rebirth, regeneration, new life and therefore inevitably also to the concept of death with which the Egyptian civilization had a very close and positive relationship.
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The scarab was considered an animal capable of regenerating after death and for this reason it was called kheperer, from the verse kheper meaning to be reborn. Initially, small scarab-shaped amulets, called scaraboids, were placed on the chest of the deceased to wish them rebirth and therefore a new life.
For this reason they were called “heart scarabs” and began to be worn by the living as pendants to be placed near the heart.
The importance of this amulet sanctioned its diffusion in Latin and Italic culture.
- The eye of Horus or Ra connects the symbolism of the eye to that of the omnipotent divinity that sees everything and can do everything. By wearing the divine symbols, whether these or any other that indicates a divinity, one enters into direct contact with it and in this case one guarantees oneself a long life, a peaceful death and an equally peaceful rebirth.
Romans
Classical and then Roman culture reworked the concepts of amulets that had come down to their time and added many others. Among these, the Romans were the most active in the creation of amulets and magical-religious superstitions.
Although, as mentioned, the scarab was the amulet par excellence (we often find it carved in red-brown hard stone and set in gold rings, armillae or bracelets or even as a pendant) the Romans are responsible for many of the other apotropaic symbols that we still use today as simple lucky charms:
This symbolism is also found in less explicit amulets that are still used, such as the very famous horseshoe!
Traditions still in vogue and modern interpretations
Surely you will have recognized some of these symbols that we have named and as I was telling you, surely you will have worn a ladybug (mitigation of the scarab) or a horseshoe around your neck.
As mentioned, these are modern interpretations of amulets with an archaic meaning, but in some Italian regions they are still used in their traditional form. Goldsmiths and designers have managed to give them a modern form while maintaining the link with tradition.
We at Giuzi have also reinterpreted the concept of an amulet in a modern form: silver plates to be worn near the heart or wrist (these were also considered vital points by the ancient Romans) on which to engrave a name, a date, a mantra to accompany us throughout the day.