Greek Amulets from Egypt Invoking Mary as Expressions of “Lived Religion”

Abstract

This article reviews, as expressions of “lived religion,” Greek amulets from Egypt in the period of Late Antiquity that include appeals to Mary or her intercessions. These amulets offer some of the earliest explicit evidence from Egypt of such appeals. The article discusses the chronological distribution of the amulets, the needs they address, the presence of elements typical of amulets, and various allusions to theological and liturgical traditions of the Christian church. It concludes with some observations about the absence of incantations by which Mary herself, in the first person, summons healing power from God, as in the prayer of Mary “in Bartos.”