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Amulets and Superstitions: The Original Texts With Translations and Descriptions of a Long Series of Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Hebrew, Christian
A vulture tied to the neck of a mummy gave it the strength of the goddess Isis … Women in Central Africa ate a frog to have large families … A serpent head amulet could ward off venomous snakes … Ethiopians wore stones to keep the Evil Eye away … Abracdabra healed a man suffering from fever … Hebrew women wore stones to prevent miscarriage … Emeralds cured diseases of the eye … Garnets protected man from terrifying dreams and skin diseases … Melitites warded off infantile diseases … Moonstones protected men against epilepsy … Rubies protected men from witchcraft, plague, and famine …
By far the most thorough, most fascinating coverage of amulets and superstitions is the present book by Dr. E. Wallis Budge. In it he presents a wealth of information on the origins of amulets and talismans of many cultures and Arab, Persian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Gnostic, Hebrew, Mandaean, Phoenician, Samaritan, and Syriac. He discusses ring amulets, terra cotta devil-traps; stones and their prophylactic and therapeutic qualities; the importance of color, shape, and form in amulets; the Swastika; the cross; the crucifix; the evil eye; the Kabbalah; astrology; the seven astrological planets; theories about numbers (good and bad luck numbers, sequences, magic squares); divination by water, earth, or sand; lucky and unlucky days; the hand of Fatimah; contracts with the devil and envoûtement. The text is profusely illustrated, with many reproductions of amulets, stones, prayers, crosses, numbers, seals, gods, rings, signs of the zodiac, and much more.
Dr. Budge of the British Museum was one of the foremost Egyptologists of the twentieth century. Dover also published many of his other The Dwellers on the Nile, Egyptian Magic, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, and The Gods of the Egyptians.
By far the most thorough, most fascinating coverage of amulets and superstitions is the present book by Dr. E. Wallis Budge. In it he presents a wealth of information on the origins of amulets and talismans of many cultures and Arab, Persian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Gnostic, Hebrew, Mandaean, Phoenician, Samaritan, and Syriac. He discusses ring amulets, terra cotta devil-traps; stones and their prophylactic and therapeutic qualities; the importance of color, shape, and form in amulets; the Swastika; the cross; the crucifix; the evil eye; the Kabbalah; astrology; the seven astrological planets; theories about numbers (good and bad luck numbers, sequences, magic squares); divination by water, earth, or sand; lucky and unlucky days; the hand of Fatimah; contracts with the devil and envoûtement. The text is profusely illustrated, with many reproductions of amulets, stones, prayers, crosses, numbers, seals, gods, rings, signs of the zodiac, and much more.
Dr. Budge of the British Museum was one of the foremost Egyptologists of the twentieth century. Dover also published many of his other The Dwellers on the Nile, Egyptian Magic, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, and The Gods of the Egyptians.
543 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1930
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About the author
E.A. Wallis Budge
1,346 books158 followersSir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 28, 2020
Fascinating goodwill find of an interesting and reliable origin. This is a great addition to anyone's "book of shadows" so to speak. anyone studying esoteric mysticism should give this book a thorough exploration. It comes off as preachy at first glance but upon investigation and reading it is a catalog of the remenants of a long lost collection of artifacts once held by the British Museum. The main purpose of this exhibit was not so much cataloging history but rather informing the church. This is a significant piece of history with an interesting take on attempting a unified global understanding on the use of talismans, amulets, sigils, and writing it's self. An indispensable resource for linguists, philosophers, theologists, anthropologists, exorcists, mysticists, and the overall curious mind. however, this volume is far from infallible and is very opinionated in its commentary. It's opinionated nature and lack of proper citations is the only reason I rate this 4 stars. Whether or not I agree with any of the stipulated opinions of the book is not a professional review. However: if you want to learn some interesting facts about "Pazuzu", Eastern European mystics, superstitions of the early church, history of the early british museum, a cursed goose, and many more curios check this book out if you can find it.
January 11, 2014
Excellent, scholarly information on the use of natural and created amulets throughout the world and over centuries of time. I found quite a bit here that I had not seen elsewhere, even though I've read every book (admittedly more modern than this one) on the topic I could get my hands on. The objects are explained and photos or first-hand drawings are given for many of the elaborate talismans/amulets. Definitely a high grade book for those really serious about the study of magical objects past and present.
Though I thought it was just what *I* was looking for, a more casual reader might be disappointed by its sometimes dry, textbook feel. This is not a dabbler's manual full of pretty pictures and quick explanations. For something easier to start out, try Buckland's "Signs, Symbols, and Omens." But come back to read "Amulets and Talismans" when you're done. It's priceless!
Though I thought it was just what *I* was looking for, a more casual reader might be disappointed by its sometimes dry, textbook feel. This is not a dabbler's manual full of pretty pictures and quick explanations. For something easier to start out, try Buckland's "Signs, Symbols, and Omens." But come back to read "Amulets and Talismans" when you're done. It's priceless!
April 22, 2019
What a fascinatingly strange man, this Sir Wallis Budge, whose very name evokes murky, labyrinthine hallways of esoteric knowledge known only to the true believers of the Greater Mysteries. A wonderful reference book as well.
October 19, 2025
This is a fine exploration of a wide array of mythologies, religious practices, and folklore from around the world, marred only by the fact that it was written nearly a century ago, and its at-times overly scholarly tone.
The former criticism stems from the obvious fact that certain things presented here are obviously out of date: ambiguity over certain beliefs that I'm pretty sure have been resolved by now; accounts of astrology that don't include the outer planets; unusual or archaic spellings or turns of phrase; etc. It's that last one that's most damning, considering it makes it difficult to look up more information on something if nobody spells it that way anymore. e.g. The Egyptian "akhet" symbol of a sun on the horizon being spelled "akhu" here. Also, there's a distinct lack of focus on certain regions of the world (e.g. Japan, which hadn't really been open to the rest of the world very long at the time this was originally written).
The overly scholarly tone is a bit more of a difficult beast. Sometimes it coincides with the first issue, as when Budge constantly directs the reader to seek out Exhibit #8624 in some section of the British Museum to learn more, or that further examples of certain types of amulets are in the collection of Sir Cornelius Fiddletweed of South Ludington over Hedgewicket or whatever. The former might've been easily-accessible a hundred years ago, but today it's just as likely the exhibit has been recategorized, or is off display in storage somewhere. And regardless of whether private collectors would've been willing to show random people their collections, each and every one of them is long since dead.
On the other hand, Budge sometimes relates a string of text on, say, an Assyrian tablet followed by the assertion that the passage is "obviously" an allusion to an incomprehensible example of text he provides in untranslated Greek, or Latin, or whatever. Obviously. And that's when he's not directing the reader to learn more from (now certainly out of print) books in their original German or French titles. I understand it was more common to be multilingual back in the day (and across the pond), but just assuming fluency in up to five different languages from the average reader of this book seems a bit much.
Still, despite all this, there's one hell of a lot of material here, exploring a bit of everything from Gnosticism to astrology; Kabballah to palmistry. Much of it is illustrated, and there are a good number of actual photographs for a book of its age. Sure, it's a bit stodgy at times, but I'm happy to have it in my collection.
The former criticism stems from the obvious fact that certain things presented here are obviously out of date: ambiguity over certain beliefs that I'm pretty sure have been resolved by now; accounts of astrology that don't include the outer planets; unusual or archaic spellings or turns of phrase; etc. It's that last one that's most damning, considering it makes it difficult to look up more information on something if nobody spells it that way anymore. e.g. The Egyptian "akhet" symbol of a sun on the horizon being spelled "akhu" here. Also, there's a distinct lack of focus on certain regions of the world (e.g. Japan, which hadn't really been open to the rest of the world very long at the time this was originally written).
The overly scholarly tone is a bit more of a difficult beast. Sometimes it coincides with the first issue, as when Budge constantly directs the reader to seek out Exhibit #8624 in some section of the British Museum to learn more, or that further examples of certain types of amulets are in the collection of Sir Cornelius Fiddletweed of South Ludington over Hedgewicket or whatever. The former might've been easily-accessible a hundred years ago, but today it's just as likely the exhibit has been recategorized, or is off display in storage somewhere. And regardless of whether private collectors would've been willing to show random people their collections, each and every one of them is long since dead.
On the other hand, Budge sometimes relates a string of text on, say, an Assyrian tablet followed by the assertion that the passage is "obviously" an allusion to an incomprehensible example of text he provides in untranslated Greek, or Latin, or whatever. Obviously. And that's when he's not directing the reader to learn more from (now certainly out of print) books in their original German or French titles. I understand it was more common to be multilingual back in the day (and across the pond), but just assuming fluency in up to five different languages from the average reader of this book seems a bit much.
Still, despite all this, there's one hell of a lot of material here, exploring a bit of everything from Gnosticism to astrology; Kabballah to palmistry. Much of it is illustrated, and there are a good number of actual photographs for a book of its age. Sure, it's a bit stodgy at times, but I'm happy to have it in my collection.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews