Petelia Gold Tablet

Petelia Gold Tablet

The Petelia Gold Tablet (with case and chain) in the British Museum
Material	Gold
Size	4.5cm long (tablet)
Created	3rd-2nd Centuries BC (tablet)
Present location	British Museum, London
Registration	1843,0724.3

The Petelia Gold Tablet or Petelia Tablet is an orphic inscription or totenpass that was found near the ancient city of Petelia, southern Italy in the early nineteenth century. Since 1843, the original has been kept in the British Museum.^[1]

Discovery

In 1830s an inscribed gold tablet was unearthed at the ancient Greek site of Petelia near Strongoli in Calabria. Little is known of the circumstances of the find and its subsequent provenance before it was acquired by the British Museum from the archaeologist and collector James Millingen in 1843.

Description

The small gold tablet is inscribed in ancient Greek with an Orphic saying and dates from between 300-200 BC. The gold case and chain designed to hold it is much later in manufacture, having been made over 400 years later during the Roman times. The ancient Greek prophet Orpheus, who was often represented as a musician or poet, founded a cult that promised a happy afterlife to the initiated. Many of his temples or shrines were considered oracles by his devotees. The Petelia Gold Tablet probably came from one of his shrines in southern Italy and demonstrates the widespread distribution of orphism in antiquity.

Translation of the inscription

1. ΕΥΡΗΣΣΕΙΣΔΑΙΔΑΟΔΟΜΩΝΕΠΑΡΙΣΤΕΡΑΚΡΗΝ
2. ΗΝΠΑΡΔΑΥΤΗΙΛΕΥΚΗΝΕΣΤΗΚΥΙΑΝΚΥΠΑΡΙΣΣΟΝ
3. ΤΑΥΤΗΣΤΗΣΚΡΗΝΗΣΜΗΔΕΣΧΕΔΟΝΕΜΠΕΛΑΣΕΙΑΣ
4. ΕΥΡΕΗΣΕΙΣΔΕΤΕΡΑΝΤΗΣΜΝΗΜΟΣΥΝΗΣΑΠΟΛΙΜΝΗΣ
5. ΨΥΧΡΟΝΥΔΩΡΠΡΟΡΕΟΝΦΥΛΑΚΕΣΔΕΠΙΠΡΟΣΘΕΝΕΑΣΙΝ
6. ΕΙΠΕΙΝΓΗΣΠΑΙΣΕΙΜΙΚΑΙΟΥΡΑΝΟΥΑΣΤΕΡΟΕΝΤΟΣΑΥΤΑΡΕΜ
7. ΟΙΓΕΝΟΣΟΥΡΑΝΙΟΝΤΟΔΕΔΙΣΤΕΚΑΙΑΥΤΟΙΔΙΨΗΙΔΕΙΜΙΑΥ
8. ΗΚΑΙΑΠΟΛΛΥΜΑΙΑΛΛΑΔΟΤΑΙΨΑΨΥΧΡΟΝΥΔΩΡΠΡΟΡΕ
9. ΟΝΤΗΣΜΝΗΜΟΣΥΝΗΣΑΠΟΛΙΜΝΗΣΚΑΥΤ[..]Σ[.]ΙΔΩΣΟΥΣΙ
10. ΠΙΕΙΝΘΕΙΗΣΑΠ[....]ΝΗΣΚΑΙΤΟΤΕΠΕΙΤΑ[………]ΗΡΩΕ
11. ΣΣΙΝΑΝΑΞΕΙ[……. .]ΝΗΣΤΟΔΕΙ̣[
12. ΘΑΝΕΙΣΘ[…………….]ΟΔΕΓΡΑ[

• in right margin: Τ̣Ο̣Γ̣Λ̣Ω̣Σ̣Ε̣Ι̣Π̣Α̣ΣΚΟΤΟΣΑΜΦΙΚΑΛΥΨΑΣ

1. You will find in the halls of Hades a spring on the left,
2. and standing by it, a glowing white cypress tree;
3. Do not approach this spring at all.
4. You will find another, from the lake of Memory
5. refreshing water flowing forth. But guardians are nearby.
6. Say: “I am the child of Earth and starry Heaven;
7. But my race is heavenly; and this you know yourselves.
8. I am parched with thirst and I perish; but give me quickly
9. refreshing water flowing forth from the lake of Memory.”
10. And then they will give you to drink from the divine spring,
11. And then you will celebrate? [rites? with the other] heroes.
12. This [is the ? … of Memory, when you are about] to die ..

• in right margin: ……].?? shadow covering around

References

1. British Museum Collection

Bibliography

• Edmonds III, R.G. Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets. Cambridge University Press, 2004
• Edmonds III, R.G. (ed.). The ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets and Greek Religion. Cambridge University Press, 2011
• Graf, Fritz & Johnston, Sarah Iles. Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets. London & New York: Routledge, 2007
• Jenner T, Ritual Performance and the Gold Leaves in Percutio 3, 2009
• Jenner T, The Gold Leaf from Petelia, ka mate ka ora: a New Zealand journal of poetry and poetics, 2012
• Smith C, "The Petelia Gold Tablet." The Journal of Hellenic Studies 3 (1882): 111-18.