The Pentacles

Athens 115 · Seal 03

Three squared terminals give way to a triangle and a broad loop beneath the centre. [1]

Delatte 1927, printed historical edition; Athens MS 115 · Delatte I (1927), printed p. 19, row 1, column 3; 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: 3rd 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: Three squared, inward-curling terminals surround a crossed centre; a triangle and an oval loop descend below it. [1]

Three squared, inward-curling terminals surround a crossed centre; a triangle and an oval loop descend below it. — **Source reproduction** Three brackets and a descending loop. Delatte, 1927, p. 19.

Three brackets and a descending loop

Squared forms open towards the top, left and right edges of the circle. Their inner ends curl into small loops. A horizontal line joins the side forms, while a vertical stroke descends from the upper form through the middle. [1]

Below the crossing, the line enters a small downward-pointing triangular form and continues into a broad oval loop. A slanting line cuts across the upper part of the figure. The lower loop gives this design a different structure from the four similarly treated arms of seal 1. [1]

The chest-worn phylactery

The Greek passage calls the chest-worn object a phylactery and places these drawings beneath its written names. Delatte prints this figure at the right of the first row, alongside the cross of seal 1 and the eight-arm figure of seal 2. [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 3. Facsimile PDF pp. 14–15 and 31–33.
The drawing appears in Delatte’s 1927 edition of Athens MS 115.