The Pentacles

Athens 115 · Seal 02

Short cross-strokes mark an eight-armed wheel whose straight lines meet at one centre. [1]

Delatte 1927, printed historical edition; Athens MS 115 · Delatte I (1927), printed p. 19, row 1, column 2; phylactery passage p. 18, Athens MS 115, Book II, ff. 17–18.

Pentacle profile

Tradition and Group: Greek Solomonic tradition · Athens MS 115 [1]
Position within the Set: 2nd design in the catalogue; unnumbered in Delatte’s edition. [1]
Attributed Purpose: Part of the twenty-four-seal phylactery carried at the chest in preparation for the art of the circle. [1]
Design: Eight straight arms radiate from a common centre, each marked with short transverse strokes near the circle. [1]

Eight straight arms radiate from a common centre, each marked with short transverse strokes near the circle. — **Source reproduction** Eight arms with cross-strokes. Delatte, 1927, p. 19.

Eight arms with cross-strokes

An upright cross and two diagonals make eight evenly spaced arms. The vertical and horizontal lines reach the circumference; the diagonal arms end close to it. Short strokes cross every arm near its outer end. [1]

The small bars are the principal terminal ornament. Seal 10 has the same eight-arm framework but uses loops and branching marks, while seal 15 adds a circle around the central crossing. [1]

The chest-worn phylactery

The seals are written below names on the phylactery carried at the chest. In the same preparation passage, names are also written in the ink of the art on an unused head covering. The cloth and the parchment object occupy different places on the practitioner’s body. [1]

Sources and editions

A. Delatte, Anecdota Atheniensia I
Delatte 1927, printed historical edition; Athens MS 115. Manuscript B (Athens MS 115): introductory description, printed pp. 1–2; Book II, phylactery passage p. 18, lines 19–27 (ff. 17–18); twenty-four seals pp. 19–20; this drawing p. 19, row 1, column 2. Facsimile PDF pp. 14–15 and 31–33.
The drawing appears in Delatte’s 1927 edition of Athens MS 115.

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