Rare Roman Hermanubis Magic Amulet, 2nd-3rd Century AD
This is a carved hematite gemstone depicting Hermanubis in a tunic with the head of a jackal, like the Egyptian god Anubis. He holds a caduceus and wears winged shoes like the Greek god Hermes. In his other hand he holds a situla (bucket). He is surrounded by letters with a star above.
Hermanubis was a god who combined Hermes with Anubis. He is the son of Set and Nephthys. Hermes and Anubis’s similar responsibilities (they were both conductors of souls) led to the god Hermanubis. He was popular during the period of Roman domination over Egypt. Depicted as having a human body and jackal head, with the sacred caduceus that belonged to the Greek god Hermes, he represented the Egyptian priesthood, engaged in the investigation of truth.
The divine name Hermanubis is known from a handful of epigraphic and literary sources, mostly of the Roman period. Plutarch cites the name as a designation of Anubis in his underworldly aspect, while Porphyry refers to Hermanubis as “composite” and “half-Greek.”
Although it was not common in traditional Greek religion to combine the names of two gods in this manner, the double determination of Hermanubis has some formal parallels in the earlier period. The most obvious is the god Hermaphroditus, attested from the fourth century BC onwards, but his name implies the paradoxical union of two different gods (Hermes and Aphrodite) rather than an assimilation in the manner of Hermanubis.
