The use of magical amulets and charms was common in the Ancient Roman world, where most people didn’t think material causality determined their futures. Instead, more people considered the dangerous forces of fate, the daemonia who embodied those forces, or the Gods to be the primary agents in everyday existence. In order to gain some sense of control over their lives, most people turned to magic. Archaeologists have tracked a seemingly endless array of charms, amulets, and recorded spells that ordinary Romans employed to try to steer their fates in one way or another – to get good health, to win at the chariot races, to garner physical protection, or to sway a lover. The gold pendant shown here is called a _bulla_, a protective charm that freeborn Roman boys wore after their infant naming ceremony. The gold would have displayed the boy’s high status, and the gorgon head on it was to ward off harm. As the second image – a carving on a coffin of a young boy wearing a bulla – testifies, the protection frequently failed. The third image is a collection of magical items recently discovered from the “House of the Gardener” in Pompeii.
Source(s): See Isaac Schultz, Atlas Obscura; Ingrid de Haas, Ultimate History Project; Jessica Phippen, Johns Hopkins Archaeology Museum.
