ABSTRACT

Less than twenty years ago had I been asked, “Have the Samaritans amulets, and, if so, what are they like?” my answer would have been, “There are no Samaritan amulets, and if there are I have never seen any.” But thanks to Dr. M. Gaster, that lacuna is filled up now, and it is possible as the result of his researches to tell the reader a great deal about Samaritan amulets. This gentleman discovered that the Samaritans of Nablus possessed, among other literary treasures, a number of Samaritan amulets, or, as he calls them, “phylacteries,” and he took steps to open up intercourse with them with the object of acquiring some information about them. At first, like all other Orientals, who possess ancient manuscripts, they pretended to know nothing about such things, but after some years of friendly relations with Dr. Gaster they admitted that they had among them a number of phylacteries. After from twelve to fifteen years of constant communication and patient negotiation, he succeeded in obtaining from them all the phylacteries they had, some fourteen in number. Besides these he obtained photographs of two others, one in the British Museum (Add. 27456) and the other in the possession of Mr. D. S. Sassoon. Having worked for some years on this entirely new branch of Semitic literature, he published the results of his labours in several articles in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology (March, May and June, 1915, Feb., 1916, and Feb., 1917). These he has reprinted in his Studies and Texts, in three volumes, London, 1925–1928 (vol. i.p. 387 f). The main facts about Samaritan phylacteries which are given below I owe to his invaluable work.