A nearly 1,800-year-old silver amulet found in a grave in Germany has been revealed to be a special and unique artifact. It has provided the oldest evidence of Christianity discovered anywhere north of the Alps, in the form of a tiny scroll found inside the amulet that sings the praises of Jesus Christ. This discovery adds new details to what is known about Christian practice in Europe during the Roman period, pushing back the known date of the religion’s penetration into northern Europe by as much as a century.
The silver amulet is small, just 1.4 inches (3.5 centimeters) long, and was found tucked under the chin of a skeleton unearthed in an ancient Roman-era cemetery near the city of Frankfurt (it likely would have been worn around the neck). The grave and its occupant have been dated to the early-to-mid third century, and until this time no one had any idea that Christianity had any presence in northern Europe that long ago.
A Tiny Scroll Reveals a Surprising Truth
Given its tiny size, the archaeologists who recovered this rare artifact didn’t expect to find anything in it. But the end of the amulet was broken off, which revealed the surprising presence of a wafer-thin rolled up sheet of silver foil carefully tucked inside.
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There was no way for its discoverers to remove the thin scroll without damaging it. However, they were still able to see what was written on it, thanks to the flexibility of CT scanning technology. With a CT scanner they were able to peek inside the amulet and “digitally unroll” the scroll, producing a 3D-image that recreated most of the message that was written on the foil.
3D copy of the CT-scanned ‘Frankfurt Silver Inscription’ found on rolled-up foil stored inside third century silver amulet found in Frankfurt, Germany. (Institute for Archaeology in Mainz (LEIZA)).
What has been referred to as the ‘Frankfurt Silver Inscription’ reads as follows (with question marks designating guesses about hard-to-read words):
“(In the name?) of Saint Titus. Holy, holy, holy! In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God! The Lord of the world resists with [strengths?] all attacks(?)/setbacks(?). The God(?) grants entry to well-being. May this means of salvation(?) protect the man who surrenders himself to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, since before Jesus Christ every knee bows: those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue confesses (Jesus Christ).”
The revelation of what was contained in this message brought a strong reaction from Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef, who was excited to learn something new about his city’s long and storied history.
"The 'Frankfurt Inscription' is a scientific sensation,” he exclaimed in a statement issued by the Frankfurt city government. “One will learn the history of the Christianity in Frankfurt and far beyond … the first Christian find north of the Alps comes from our city: We can be proud of that, especially now, so shortly before Christmas. Those involved have done a great job."
The silver amulet and its fascinating contents were unearthed during excavations at an ancient Roman cemetery in 2018. In addition to the amulet, archaeologists also found an incense bowl and a pottery jug. But it was the amulet that was clearly the most unique find.
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It took archaeologists at the Leibniz Center for Archaeology (LEIZA) in Mainz several years to complete their analysis of the amulet. The biggest breakthrough came when they decided to use the CT scanner to examine the foil sheet
"The challenge in the analysis was that the silver sheet was rolled, but after around 1800 years, it was of course also creased and pressed," said Ivan Calandra, the head of the imaging team at LEIZA. "Using CT, we were able to scan it at a very high resolution and create a 3D model."
The Frankfurt Silver Inscription was 18 lines long. It was deciphered by Markus Scholz, an archaeologist from Frankfurt’s Goethe University Institute of Archaeological Sciences in Frankfurt. Scholz expressed his surprise that the writing on the sheet was in Latin.
"Normally, such inscriptions on amulets were written in Greek or Hebrew," he noted.
At that point in time (it is estimated the man in the grave was buried between 230 and 270 AD), it was still somewhat risky to advertise a belief in Christianity. Yet this Roman individual chose to have his silver amulet with the message it contained buried with him at the end of his life, demonstrating how Christianity was finding a foothold despite the past persecution of early Christians in the Roman world.
Faith in Ancient Times: A Period of Transition
Silver amulets of this type were known as phylacteries. Their purpose was to protect those who wore them against bad health, bad luck, and supernatural forces.
"These amulets were widely used in Late Antiquity, especially in the eastern Mediterranean world," Biblical archaeologist Tine Rassalle, who was not involved in the study of the German amulet, told Live Science. " [But] they are much rarer in the western Roman world. The discovery of this amulet in Germany suggests that Christian ideas had already begun to penetrate areas far from Christianity's early centers of growth."
Inscribed sheet mentioning Christ and archangels Gabriel and Michael, found inside silver amulet unearthed in Bulgaria in 2023. (National Archaeological Reserve Deultum-Debelt).
In 2023, a similar silver amulet was recovered from an ancient grave in the ancient Roman settlement of Deultum in Bulgaria, dating to the same time period in European history. This amulet was found near the skeleton’s skull, and its inscriptions referenced the archangels Gabriel and Michael and the “guardian” Christ. Other metal amulets recovered from this time period have generally featured inscriptions that mixed religions (including Christianity, Judaism, and ancient Roman religious traditions), suggesting a transitionary environment where spiritual seekers were looking in many different directions.
"What makes this particular example remarkable is that it is written entirely in Latin and exclusively invokes Jesus Christ and the Christian god," Rassalle said, noting the difference between this personal item and those that "also appeal to angels, demons, or other supernatural entities."
One of the more fascinating phrases in the Frankfurt Silver Inscription was the Aramaic equivalent of “Holy, holy, holy!”, a passionate exclamation that wasn’t used elsewhere in the Christian world before the fourth century. Rassalle stated that a discovery like this “takes our understanding of Western Christianization and Christian monotheism to a whole new level,” highlighting how even a simple, short text can rewrite history, if its ancient message is new and unique.
Top image: Close-up photograph of rolled up silver foil scroll inside silver amulet from third century BC, found in Frankfurt, Germany.
Source: Uwe Dettmar/Archaeological Museum Frankfurt.
By Nathan Falde
