Crepundia
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Crepundia are groups of amulets, often strung onto chains in Classical antiquity.[1][2] They are similar to charm bracelets and are archaeologically associated with children.[3]
Etymology
History and features
Similar amulet chains were used in the ancient world from at least the 4th Century BC.[5] Crepundia are referred to in Act 4 of Rudens (dated to c.211 BC) in which the character Palaestra describes the contents of a trinket box owned since childhood: a miniature gold sword inscribed with her father's name; a miniature gold axe inscribed with her mother's name; a silver knife; a little pig; a gold bulla. Crepundia are variable objects, but Martin-Kilcher defined five main sorts of objects that feature in them: noise-producing objects; meaningful shapes; those with ‘exterior qualities’; remarkable objects and curiosities; materials valued for their special properties.[3]
The noise-making components of crepundia may have been used to calm distressed infants or children, or used as a toy.[2]
Examples
- Two infant burials from Aquincum (dated to the 1st-2nd centuries AD) between them contained small amber, bone, and glass pendants depicting: a money bag, a dolphin, a phallus, a comb, a cicada, an axe, and a male deity.[6]
- A child's grave from the Ponte Galeria in Rome contained a string of amber and bone beads, a pierced tooth, a faience figure of Bes and an amber phallus.[7]
- A child burial from Chichester included an iron bell, a red-slipped carinated bowl with a graffito of a cross on the base, and a small pebble, together described as crepundia by the excavators.[8]