The Pentacles

Athens 115 · Seal 21

The descending arm bends into a wavy line, among five other arms with crossed bars, curves and forks. [1]

Delatte 1927, printed historical edition; Athens MS 115 · Delatte I (1927), printed p. 20, row 3, 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: 21st 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: Six arms meet at one centre and end in crossed bars, curls and a descending wavy line. [1]

Six arms meet at one centre and end in crossed bars, curls and a descending wavy line. — **Source reproduction** Six arms with unlike terminals. Delatte, 1927, p. 20.

Six arms with unlike terminals

A vertical line, a horizontal line and one diagonal meet at the centre. Their six ends carry unlike marks. The left arm combines a bracket and a curve, the right has an angular fork, and the upper vertical arm curls into a loop. [1]

On the descending vertical arm, a series of bends curves towards the lower-right edge. The diagonal ends carry short cross-strokes or a curved termination. Like seal 19, the figure has six arms, but this one includes a horizontal pair rather than two crossing diagonals. [1]

The chest-worn phylactery

This figure stands to the right of seal 20 on the second plate. It belongs to the twenty-four seals of the phylactery; the text describes that parchment object collectively, alongside the fresh garments and unused head covering prepared for the art of the circle. [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. 20, row 3, column 3. Facsimile PDF pp. 14–15 and 31–33.
The drawing appears in Delatte’s 1927 edition of Athens MS 115.