A dictionary of Greek and Roman . e female wears a frontal of gold (xpvcreav a/nrvKa,Eurip. Hec. 464) ; and the epithet xPvcr<*ljLnVKes isapplied by Homer, Hesiod, and Pindar to theMuses, the Hours, and the Fates. From the ex-pression rau Kvavdix-KVKa ®r)6av in a fragment ofPindar, we may infer that this ornament wassometimes made of blue steel (nvavos) instead ofgold ; and the Scholiast on the above cited passageof Euripides asserts, that it was sometimes en-riched Avith precious stones. 77ie frontal of a horse was called by the samename, and was occasional
A dictionary of Greek and Roman . e female wears a frontal of gold (xpvcreav a/nrvKa,Eurip. Hec. 464) ; and the epithet xPvcr<*ljLnVKes isapplied by Homer, Hesiod, and Pindar to theMuses, the Hours, and the Fates. From the ex-pression rau Kvavdix-KVKa ®r)6av in a fragment ofPindar, we may infer that this ornament wassometimes made of blue steel (nvavos) instead ofgold ; and the Scholiast on the above cited passageof Euripides asserts, that it was sometimes en-riched Avith precious stones. 77ie frontal of a horse was called by the samename, and was occasionally made of similarrich materials. Hence, in the Iliad, the horseswhich draw the chariots of Hera and of Ares arecalled x/w< The annexed woodcut exhibits«the frontal on thebead of Pegasus, taken from one of Sir WilliamHamiltons vases, in contrast with the correspond-ing ornament as shown on the heads of two femalesin the same collection. Frontals were also worn by elephants. ( 40.) Hesychius (s. v. Avdiy No^oj) sup-. poses the men to have worn frontals in Ly-dia. They appear to have been worn by theJews and other nations of the East. (Deut. vi. 8,xi. 18.) [J. Y.] AMULETUM (TrepiairTov, Trepla/j-fxa, <pv\a-KT-fipiou), an amulet. This word in Arabic (Hama-let) means that which is suspended. It was probablybrought by Arabian merchants, together with thearticles to which it was applied, when they wereimported into Europe from the East. It first occursin the Natural History of Pliny. An amulet was any object—a stone, a plant,an artificial production, or a piece of writing —which was suspended from the neck, or tied toany part of the body, for the purpose of counteract-ing poison, curing or preventing disease, wardingoff the evil eye, aiding women in childbirth, orobviating calamities and securing advantages ofany kind. Faith in the virtues of amulets was almost uni-versal in the ancient world, so that the whole artof medicine consisted in a very co
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithwilliam18131893, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840
