The capsule contained a rolled-up scroll about the size of two fingers. The Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) in Mainz produced tomographic images of the scroll so that it could be redrawn and digitally reconstructed. This involved putting individual pieces together one by one to make the words visible. Professor Wolfram Kinzig from the Department of Church History in the University of Bonn’s Faculty of Protestant Theology had a hand in decoding and interpreting the Latin writing, which also contains some Greek elements. The researcher is a member of the Individuals & Societies and Present Pasts Transdisciplinary Research Areas at the University.
“The Praunheim silver inscription is one of the oldest pieces of evidence we have for the spread of the New Testament in Roman Germania, because it quotes Philippians 2:10–11 in Latin translation,” Kinzig explains. “It’s a striking example of how Biblical quotations were used in magic designed to protect the dead.” He points out that the inscription also contains important indications for the early development of liturgical forms at a time from which no complete Latin liturgies have been preserved. “This means it’s of inestimable value in terms of the history of the Bible and Christian worship,” says the church historian from the University of Bonn.
The previously hidden artifact was unveiled to the general public in Frankfurt earlier today by the city’s mayor Mike Josef, who was joined by Dr. Ina Hartwig, the city councilor holding the culture and science brief, as well as by council planning officer Professor Marcus Gwechenberger and the offices, institutions and researchers that had been involved in the find and its analysis. The object itself was presented in a glass case to help conserve it.
Six questions for Professor Wolfram Kinzig:
How did you get involved in the investigations?
I received a message via a colleague asking me if I’d like to contribute my specific expertise in church history to the deciphering efforts. It wasn’t just that the writing on the amulet was very hard to read—the edge of the tablet has also broken off, meaning that letters are missing and you have to painstakingly reconstruct the text. Although I realized fairly early on that the New Testament Letter to the Philippians is quoted at the end, I still spent a long time puzzling over the text, which is written in quite a crude form of Latin. I consulted specialist literature and databases and, finally, made some suggestions for how it might be interpreted. Then Markus Scholz and I wrote to each other on numerous occasions as we explored whether my suggestions would actually be of use, which was sometimes the case. Other colleagues helped too, but we couldn’t have actually deciphered the inscription without Professor Scholz and his team, who used the latest digital technologies. It’s a fantastic achievement!
What must life have been like in the 3rd century?
In the period after AD 250, the Frankfurt region in particular was undergoing major upheaval as a result of the Völkerwanderung, or mass migrations of peoples. During this time, the Roman Empire was being assailed by a series of crises, which were exacerbated along its frontiers in Germania—known as the Limes Germanicus—by pressure from the tribes there. The Romans abandoned the Limes around 260. This probably made life very uncertain, especially in this part of the world, but we don’t know many of the details.
What role did Christianity play at the time in the area around what is now Frankfurt am Main?
That’s impossible to say, because there’s hardly any evidence of the Christian faith in this region that dates from this period—something else that makes the Praunheim find so remarkable! Drawing parallels with other parts of the empire, however, it’s likely to have been spread mainly by traders and imported slaves, perhaps also by soldiers. What is highly unusual, though, is the invocation of Titus, a disciple of Paul the Apostle. This is because, according to the tradition passed down to us, Titus is actually said to have been Bishop of Gortyna on the island of Crete—so quite a long way away!
How does the inscription help improve our understanding of Latin liturgies?
The inscription begins with the Trisagion, the threefold cry of “Holy” [based on Isaiah 6:3], which remains part of the liturgy of the Eucharist to this day. In this case, however, it’s written in Greek [“agios, agios, agios”] but in Latin script. This is one of the earliest examples we have of this phrase. What’s more, it was found in a really unusual place—on an amulet that was apparently designed to protect the person it was found with from ungodly forces in the afterlife.
Why does the Latin script also include some phrases in Greek?
That’s not surprising in itself, since Christianity was spread in the western parts of the Roman Empire by groups of migrants from its Greek-speaking east. Think of the prayer “Kyrie eleison”—”Lord, have mercy”—which you’ll still find in a modern-day church service.
So what’s next for the find and your investigations?
My colleagues in Frankfurt will continue with their scholarly study of the object, and Markus Scholz will be publishing the inscription in a journal. In cases like this, any interpretation of a highly fragmentary text will only ever be provisional. It’s then bound to spark a fierce academic debate among ancient historians, church historians and liturgiologists and may well get improved further. I’ll keep on pondering it too—who knows, maybe I’ll hit upon some corrections to make!
City of Frankfurt am Main press release: https://frankfurt.de/aktuelle-meldung/meldungen/frankfurter-silberinschrift/
