gold lamella for ‘Blessed’ Abalala

This article examines a previously unpublished gold lamella of unknown provenance, datable on palaeographical grounds to the 1st century BCE, give-or-take a half century, either side. The tablet preserves three words written in Greek letters that may contain a GrecoPersian formula of protection in the afterlife for its bearer, Abalala, a name of pre-Islamic extraction. The study compares the formula with those on a number of shorter ‘Orphic’ gold lamellae to show that the tiny piece represents a ‘Totenpaß’ for the beneficent dead, rather than a protective charm (phylactery) with the usual voces magicae, although the distinction between magic words and meaningful text is not always clear in such instances.

DEMERS TEORETIC PRIVIND EPIFENOMENUL VIAȚĂ - MOARTE

This article is a tiny piece of research about what LIFE and DEATH mean, seen as customs. The last one is a epiphenomen of LIFE and it represents, for all of us, an ocassion of meditation.I have tried to present a small, but representative part of the Geto Dacian heritage of these customs, those related to LIFE and DEATH becouse in this area we can corelate the "stones speech" (the archaeological finds) with the "soul speech" (the historical testimonies, the folk treasure).