Abstract
PROF. PETRIE is certainly right in suggesting that the subject of Egyptian amulets is one that appeals to the reader of folklore as well as to the Egyptologist. In amulets we are dealing with magic in a concrete form, and it is a problem of no small fascination to recover the meaning which underlay the origin and use of each. It will be obvious that a wide knowledge of Egyptian religious belief is essential, if we are rightly to understand those amulets of peculiarly Egyptian origin. But where the texts fail us we are necessarily thrown back upon comparison with amulets of other races, particularly those of Central African tribes. It is here that folk-lore finds its opportunity, for it not infrequently supplies a clue to the meaning of an otherwise obscure or doubtful symbol.
Amulets, Illustrated by the Egyptian Collection in University College, London.
By Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie. Pp. x + 58 + plates. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 21s. net.
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K., L. Amulets, Illustrated by the Egyptian Collection in University College, London . Nature 94, 531–532 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/094531a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/094531a0
