The Pentacles

Athens 115 · Seal 08

Five rings gather at the centre of a square whose corners curl into loops. [1]

Delatte 1927, printed historical edition; Athens MS 115 · Delatte I (1927), printed p. 19, row 3, 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: 8th 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: A loop-cornered square surrounds five small rings, with another ring above it. [1]

A loop-cornered square surrounds five small rings, with another ring above it. — **Source reproduction** A square with small rings. Delatte, 1927, p. 19.

A square with small rings

A roughly square outline has a small loop at each corner. At its centre, one larger ring is touched by four smaller rings above, below and to either side. A separate ring sits between the square and the upper edge of the circle. [1]

The design leaves a broad empty margin between its square and the circular boundary. Seal 22 repeats a loop-cornered square but overlays it with a turned square; here the central group of five rings occupies that space. [1]

The chest-worn phylactery

Delatte’s twenty-four drawings are printed twelve to a page, in four rows of three. This square occupies the middle place in the third row of page 19. The Greek notice introduces the whole series as writing on the parchment phylactery, below its names. [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 2. Facsimile PDF pp. 14–15 and 31–33.
The drawing appears in Delatte’s 1927 edition of Athens MS 115.