The Pentacles

Athens 115 · Seal 07

A six-pointed star fills the centre, with curved and letter-like signs standing clear of its outline. [1]

Delatte 1927, printed historical edition; Athens MS 115 · Delatte I (1927), printed p. 19, row 3, column 1; 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: 7th 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: Two overlapping triangles form a hexagram, surrounded by curved and letter-like marks. [1]

Two overlapping triangles form a hexagram, surrounded by curved and letter-like marks. — **Source reproduction** A hexagram with surrounding marks. Delatte, 1927, p. 19.

A hexagram with surrounding marks

An upright triangle overlaps an inverted triangle to make six points around an open central hexagon. A character stands above the star, curved marks flank it, and two larger letter-like forms lie below. [1]

The surrounding marks do not form a continuous circular inscription. Their placement leaves space between the hexagram and the enclosing circle. Seal 18 also has a hexagram, but its surrounding signs and their arrangement differ. [1]

The chest-worn phylactery

The hexagram belongs to the chest-worn series. After introducing the twenty-four drawings, the Greek preparation passage separately mentions four pentalphae on thin leather hand coverings. Those hand figures are a later part of the preparations, distinct from the twenty-four seals. [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 3, column 1. Facsimile PDF pp. 14–15 and 31–33.
The drawing appears in Delatte’s 1927 edition of Athens MS 115.