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AMULETS: ANCIENT, MEDIEVAL, ORIENTAL 317
cious
stones were endowed with certain special talismanic properties, and
these stones were combined in their necklaces in a way supposed to
afford protection from all manner of malign influences. The beads were
of various forms, sometimes round or oval, and at others, rectangular
or oblong; besides the stones in general use, such as the emerald,
carnelian, agate, lapis lazuli, amethyst, rock-crystal, beryl, jasper
and garnet, beads of gold, silver, glass, faience, and even of clay and
straw, were employed. To complete the efficacy of the necklace, small
images of the gods and of the sacred animals were added as pendants.
Even on the mummies and mummy casesi such ornaments are painted in
imitation of necklaces or collars of precious stones, with flowers,
etc., as pendants.6
One
of the most artistic and beautiful specimens of ancient Egyptian
goldsmiths' work was recently sent by Dr. Flinders Pétrie, on behalf of
the Egyptian Research Account Society, to the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts. It is adorned with amethysts set in gold, the stones with their
symbolic settings constituting a charm of powerful amulets for the
protection of the wearer, who is believed to have been the Princess
Sat-Hathor-Ant, of the Twelfth Dynasty, the wife of the heir to the
throne. Dr. Pétrie pronounces this to be one of the finest ancient
Egyptian necklaces he has ever seen.
This
splendid ornament came from tomb No. 154 at Haragh. It measures 26.3
inches in length and is composed of 88 amethyst beads varying in length
from nearly a quarter-inch to about four-tenths of an inch (0.6 cm. to
1 cm.) and in diameter from a little over a quarter-inch to over
four-tenths of an inch (0.7 cm. to 1.1 cm.). The beads are slightly
flattened and the borings were made from both ends, meeting accurately
in the centre in the majority of
• Budge, " The Mummy," Cambridge, 1894, pp. 330-331.
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