Intaglio of Abraxas and Mithras

TNMM 547

An amulet of the Gnostic or syncretistic type in green jasper was one of the many objects of minor art which came to light during the excavations of the athenian Agora in 1932. Dr. T. L. Shear, who conducted the excavations, and who has kindly allowed me to publish the amulet, reports that it was found in an unstratified deposit. The common design on the obverse is a hybrid of which the head and neck are those of a cock, the trunk and arms human, while the extremities are serpentine, symmetrically arranged in side view. The human torso wears a close-fitting cuirass over a sleeved Persian (?) tunic which appears below like a kilt as on other gems. In some cases this kilt seems to be attached directly to the cuirass. It serves to mask the transition from human to serpentine form.

This hybrid or Abrasax holds in his right hand a whip with pendent lash, and on the left arm a shield, the inner side of which bears the inscription: IAW IAHI EHI ΘYW MIN. Here the names of Iao above and Min below enclose a group of vowels some of which are arranged in alphabetical order. Professor Bonner, who first recognized the name of Min, states that he knows of no other instance of its connection with the Abrasax type. In the field are five stars, corresponding in number to the five letters which are symmetrically placed below the Abrasax. This carefully cut inscription is to be read from right to left, as is shown by the letter E.

The five letters are the initials of five deities of the Mithraic pantheon: Mithras, Helios, Selene, Zeus, and Nike. The reason for such identification lies in the fact that Gnosticism and Mithraism had much in common. Cumont mentions a Gnostic sect in Gaul the members of which changed their names from Heliognosti to Deinvictiaci, i.e., worshippers of the deus invictus (Mithras). It is a curious coincidence that the name of Mithras spelt Μείθραξ not only contains the same number of letters as Abrasax but that these two names have the same numerical value, 365.