“(In the name?) of St Titus.
Holy, holy, holy!
In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God!
The Lord of the World
Resists (to the best of his ability?)
All attacks(?)/setbacks(?).
The God(?) grants the well-being
Entry.
This means of salvation(?) protects
The human being who
Surrenders to the will
Of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
Since before Jesus Christ
All knees bow to Jesus Christ: the heavenly
The earthly and
The subterranean and every tongue
Confess (to Jesus Christ).”
There is no reference in the text to any other faith besides Christianity, which would also have been unusual at this time.
According to the Frankfurt Archaeology Museum, reliable evidence of Christian life in the northern Alpine regions of the Roman Empire only goes as far back as the 4th century AD.
‘Fantastic find’ made possible by modern technology
Wolfram Kinzig, a church historian and professor from the University of Bonn, helped Scholz to decipher the inscription.
“The 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 explained in an interview published on the University of Bonn’s website.
“It’s a striking example of how Biblical quotations were used in magic designed to protect the dead,” said Kinzig.
Peter Heather, a professor of medieval history at King’s College London with a specialist interest in the evolution of Christianity, described the discovery as a “fantastic find.”
Heather, who wasn’t involved in the research, told CNN:
“The capacity to be able to decipher the writing on that rolled-up piece of silver is extraordinary. This is something that’s only possible now with modern technology.
If they’d found it 100 years ago they wouldn’t have known what it was. Silver amulets are probably going to contain some kind of magical scroll but you don’t know what – it could be any religion.”
He added:
“You’ve got evidence of Christian communities in more central parts of the empire but not in a frontier town like that in Roman Germany so that is very unusual, well it’s unique. You’re pushing the history of Christianity in that region back.”
