Crepundia are groups of amulets, often strung onto chains in Classical antiquity.^[1][2] They are similar to charm bracelets and are archaeologically associated with children.^[3]

Etymology

The singular form of the word, crepundium, derives from the Latin word crepare "to rattle or make a noise". The word crepundia may be confused with crepitacula, which refers to a form of rattle. Ancient examples may be made from ceramic, wood, or bronze.^[4]

History and features

Similar amulet chains were used in the ancient world from at least the 4th Century BC.^[5] Crepundia are referred to in Act 4 of Rudens (dated to c.211 BC) in which the character Palaestra describes the contents of a trinket box owned since childhood: a miniature gold sword inscribed with her father's name; a miniature gold axe inscribed with her mother's name; a silver knife; a little pig; a gold bulla. Crepundia are variable objects, but Martin-Kilcher defined five main sorts of objects that feature in them: noise-producing objects; meaningful shapes; those with ‘exterior qualities’; remarkable objects and curiosities; materials valued for their special properties.^[3]

The noise-making components of crepundia may have been used to calm distressed infants or children, or used as a toy.^[2]

Examples

• Two infant burials from Aquincum (dated to the 1st-2nd centuries AD) between them contained small amber, bone, and glass pendants depicting: a money bag, a dolphin, a phallus, a comb, a cicada, an axe, and a male deity.^[6]
• A child's grave from the Ponte Galeria in Rome contained a string of amber and bone beads, a pierced tooth, a faience figure of Bes and an amber phallus.^[7]
• A child burial from Chichester included an iron bell, a red-slipped carinated bowl with a graffito of a cross on the base, and a small pebble, together described as crepundia by the excavators.^[8]

See also

• Lunula (amulet)
• Magic in the Greco-Roman world

References