LE CHEVALIER, LA FEMME ET LE DIABLE. LES GEMMES MAGIQUES ET LE TESTAMENT DE SALOMON

• Main Author: Dr. Ştefan COLCERIU
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Editura Muzeul National al Literaturii Romane 2010-05-01
• Series: Diversitate si Identitate Culturala in Europa
• Subjects: Gemstones; Egypt; Solomon; Lilith; Testament of Solomon; horse; triumph
• Online Access: http://www.diversite.eu/pdf/07_1/DICE_07.1_Full_Text_p41-p64-Stefan-COLCERIU.pdf

Fifty six magical gemstones discovered in Egypt and dating from the 3rd century CE represent Solomon as a triumphant horse rider piercing and killing by his lance a lying female demon, probably the famous Lilith. It is now agreed that the gemstones were used for banishing the child-killing demon and worn by pregnant women. The Testament of Solomon, a biblical pseudepigraphon from the Late Antiquity also mentions an avatar of the child-killing demon, namely Obyzuth. The present paper shows that the author of the Testament was highly aware of the existence of the gemstones, but changed in a subtle way their initial message out of polemical reasons. The connection between the gemstones and the Testament is also very valuable as a means of dating the controversial pseudepigraphon in the last decades of the 4th century CE.