Ancient ‘Magical’ Amulet With Odd Two-Way Inscription Discovered In Cyprus 

A strange ”magical” amulet dating back about 1,500 years has archaeologists buzzing.

One side of the stone amulet, which was unearthed in 2011 in the ancient city of Nea Paphos in southwestern Cyprus, bears a 59-letter inscription that reads the same way backward and forward:

ιαεωβαφρενεμουνοθιλαρικριφιαευεαιφιρκιρα­λιθονυομενερφαβωεαι.

That’s Greek to you, of course. So here’s the palindrome’s English translation: “Yahweh is the bearer of the secret name, the lion of Re secure in his shrine.”

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Ancient Magic: The Illusions Created In Temples By Amazing Inventions 

Imagine you’re in an ancient temple, dimly lit by rays of sunlight peaking in. A worshipper lights a fire on the altar, and steps back. A statue beside the altar begins to move! It pours libations to the god for whom the temple is built. A door behind the altar opens of its own accord, and the statue of that god appears.

But behind the mystique was the ingenuity of inventors, not the miracles of the gods.

Inventor Hero of Alexandria (10–70 A.D.) described in “Pneumatics” how such devices worked. The statue stood on a pedestal connected to the altar by a tube. The tube extended from the altar, through the statue, and into a cup held by the statue. Water was poured into the pedestal through a hole that was then corked up.

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