MYSTERY:
Ancient Amulet Discovered with Curious Palindrome Inscription (Owen Jarus,
LiveScience).
An ancient, two-sided amulet uncovered in Cyprus contains a 59-letter inscription that reads the same backward as it does forward.
Archaeologists discovered the amulet, which is roughly 1,500 years old, at the ancient city of Nea Paphos in southwest Cyprus.
One side of the amulet has several images ...
On the other side of the amulet is an inscription, written in Greek, that reads the same backward as it does forward, making it a palindrome. ...
Ancients amulets are not uncommon and the reported content of the inscription, including it being a palindrome, is the sort of thing you find in the
Greek Magical Papyri. The mystery, which the media seems to have missed entirely, is that the inscription is not in the Greek language. Rather, it is in some other language but written in Greek letters. Such things are known. For example,
this post discusses an ancient amulet written in the Hebrew language, but in Greek letters. But this one isn't written in Hebrew or any other language I recognize. Can someone out there tell us what it is? Here is the Greek text:
ΙΑΕW
ΒΑΦΡΕΝΕΜ
ΟΥΝΟΘΙΛΑΡΙ
ΚΝΙΦΙΑΕΥΕ
ΑΙΦΙΝΚΙΡΑΛ
ΙΘΟΝΥΟΜΕ
ΝΕΡΦΑΒW
ΕΑΙ
The article says:
This translates to "Iahweh(a god)is the bearer of the secret name, the lion of Re secure in his shrine."
UPDATE: Thanks to Stephen Goranson, who has e-mailed to draw my attention to the following article:
MAGICAL AMULET FROM PAPHOS WITH THE ιαεω- PALINDROME.
By: Śliwa, Joachim. Studies in Ancient Art & Civilization , 2013, Vol. 17, p293-301, 9p; DOI: 10.12797/SAAC.17.2013.17.24
The author indicates that the palindrome is in Egyptian and is also found elsewhere. Because of the content, I suspected an Egyptian connection, but I couldn't get it to work as Coptic. But it seems it is some form of Egyptian.