Archeologists have uncovered a 1,500-year-old amulet in the aged city of Nea Paphos in Cyprus, which contains an inquisitive palindrome engraving – a content that interprets the same both backwards and forwards – and a few pictures thought to symbolize Egyptian god Osiris, god of silence, Harpocrates, and a canine headed legendary being. Live Science reports that the revelation was made by archeologists with the Paphos Agora Project, who have been exhuming an old agora (meeting place) at Nea Paphos, the most famed and significant spot for venerating Aphrodite in the aged world.

“Paphos, which has been populated since the Neolithic period, was a core of the sect of Aphrodite and of Pre-Hellenic fertility divinities. Aphrodite’s renowned home town was on the island of Cyprus, where her sanctuary was raised by the Myceneans in the twelfth century BC and kept on being utilized until the Roman period,” composes UNESCO. “The site is an immense archeological region, with remnants of manors, royal residences, theaters, forts and tombs. These delineate Paphos’ brilliant l architectural and notable esteem and help broadly to our understanding of early architecture, lifestyles, and philosophy.”

Palindrome Engraving

The talisman found at Nea Paphos, which measures 1.4 x 1.6 inches (3.5 x 4.1 cm), contains a 59-letter palindrome engraving on one side, and a few pictures on the other side.

The engraving, written in Greek, peruses ΙΑΕW ΒΑΦΡΕΝΕΜ ΟΥΝΟΘΙΛΑΡΙ ΚΝΙΦΙΑΕΥΕ ΑΙΦΙΝΚΙΡΑΛ ΙΘΟΝΥΟΜΕ ΝΕΡΦΑΒW ΕΑΙ (“Iahweh is the bearer of the mystery name, the lion of Re secure in his temple”).

The utilization of palindromes is thought to date back no less than 2,000 years, and got to be famous amid the Middle Ages. Byzantine Greeks frequently engraved the palindrome, “Wash [the] sins, not just [the] face” (ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ), on baptismal textual styles. This practice was sustained in several other churches all through Europe, for example, the print style at St. Mary’s Church, Nottingham, o the print in the basilica of St. Sophia, Constantinople, the print of St. Stephen d’egres, Paris.

Engravings of gods

On the opposite side of the amulet are a few pictures, including a mummy lying on a boat, which is thought to symbolize the Egyptian god Osiris. As indicated by Egyptian mythology, Osiris, god of the underworld, was slaughtered by Set, god of storms, anarchy and hostility, which push Osiris in a coffin box and tossed it in the Nile stream. After his body was recouped by Isis, Set tore his body into pieces and tossed it in the Nile River. Isis gathered all the pieces and bound the body together. This type of Osiris moved to the underworld in a boat and got to be god of the dead.

Symbology linking with this story has been seen on amulets before, including this talisman, which delineates Osiris as a mummy, standing to front in a papyrus boat.

Another picture imprinted on the backside of the amulet is of the god of silence, Harpocrates, who is indicated sitting on a stool with his right hand to his lips. Harpocrates was adapted by the Greeks from the Egyptian child god Horus. To the old Egyptians, Horus symbolized the infant Sun, rising every day at dawn.

The last picture found on the amulet was a cynocephalus, a legendary dog-headed animal, which is demonstrated holding a paw up to its lips, as though copying Harpocrates’ gesture. Cynocephaly was well known to the Ancient Greeks from representations of the Egyptian gods Hapi (the son of Horus) and Anubis (the Egyptian god of the dead).

Jagiellonian University professor Ewdoksia Papuci-Wladyka, who conducted the study, told Live Science that the features of the amulet recommend that the antiquated individuals of Cyprus were kept on practicing their customary, polytheistic convictions even after Christianity had turned into the official religion, and that such talismans were utilized for defense from damage and threat. Christianity turned into the official religion in Cyprus in the fifth century AD. “[A]s time went on, customary polytheistic (likewise called pagan) rehearses went under tighter confinements and bans,” composes Live Science. “However, some people continued to practice the old beliefs, worshipping the traditional gods.”