Magic Nails

These Gnostic amulets were held in high esteem for their supposed magical properties. They were made of bronze, sometimes gilt, and covered with insriptions and curious occult signs. The Gnostics were mystic sects which flourished in the second century A.D., in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. The nails were carried as charms for protection from all evil influences, also to guard the living from the lemures, the ghosts of the unhappy dead. Nails with inscriptions were frequently buried with the body to prevent any haunting by the spirit.