AMULET, any object worn as a charm. It is often a stone or piece of metal, with an inscription or some figures engraved on it, and is generally suspended from the neck, and worn as a preservative against sickness, witchcraft, etc. Its origin, like its name, seems to be oriental. The ancient Egyptians had their amulets, sometimes forming necklaces. Among the Greeks, such a protective charm was styled phylue terion ; among the Romans, amuletum. This word is probably derived front the Arabic hamalet (" what is suspended"). The phylacteries of the Jews (see Matt. xxiii. 5), slips of parchment on which passages of the law were written, were evi dently worn as badges of piety by the Pharisees; but were also regarded as whole some preservatives from evil spirits, and from all manner of harm. Prom the heathen, the use of amulets passed into the Christian church, the inscription on them being leh thus (the Greek word for a fish), because it contained the initials of the Greek words for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. See ABBREVIATIONS. Among the Gnostic sects,
Abraxas stones (q.v.)were much used. Amulets soon became so common among Chris tians that, in the 4th c., the clergy were interdicted from making and selling them ou pain of deprivation of holy orders; and in 721 the wearing of amulets was solemnly condemned by the church. Among the Turks and many other nations of central Asia, every person considers it necessary to wear a preserVative charm. With the spread of Arabian astronomy, the astrological A. or talisman (q.v.) of the Arabs found its way to Europe. Kopp, a German author, has written a work, Palegographica Critica, on amu lets and their inscriptions. Among amulets in repute in the middle ages were the coins attributed to St. Helena, the mother of Constantine. These and other coins marked with a cross were thought specially efficacious against epilepsy, and are generally found perforated, for the purpose of being worn suspended from the neck.—The belief in the virtue of amulets is not extinct among the vulgar.