The mysterious inscription on a medieval stamp solved thanks to Twitter

In modern times, atypical solutions. A mysterious inscription on a worn medieval stamp was solved thanks to the help of a Twitter user. The object had been found thanks to a metal detector in Gayton (Norfolk, England) in August of last year.

When the news came out in the British media, Dr. Francis Young, a specialist in History, posted it on his social networks. The text made reference to a silver seal made between the 13th and 14th centuries, which was found to be very deteriorated. The piece probably had a gem carved during Roman times, as well as a mysterious inscription.

Mineral

In the hole of the gem it is believed that there was a piece of coral, a semi-precious stone

The hole in the gem is now a dull gray color, but specialists almost certainly believe that there was carnelian, a reddish-brown semi-precious stone. Carnelian was used extensively in Roman times to make engraved gems to be used in rings to leave the imprint of a hot wax seal (which does not stick to this mineral) on correspondence or other important documents.

The drawing of the object – which would have belonged to a high-ranking aristocrat – depicted a winged figure and archaeologists believe it to be the god Mars holding a spear, with Victory to his right. With part of the edges missing, the inscription that accompanied the piece was difficult to decipher.

Here’s a similar find, with a bit of a psalm, not a name. Note the similarities including a cross at the top. https://t.co/MsyW5dNv8I

— Alex Cortez (@alexstar) May 16, 2021

Hmm, it could be Psalm 36:27, “Declina a Malo, et fac bonum”. That’s my best guess at the moment

— Alex Cortez (@alexstar) May 16, 2021

When Dr. Young posted the information on Twitter, he wondered if the medieval seal (which measures 29 by 18.5 millimeters and is the fourth found in Norfolk) included a Roman engraving with a name that looked like “Iocelin or Gocelin ”.

On the other side of the world, in the United States, someone became interested in the mystery and decided to investigate on their own to try to solve the enigma. Californian Alex Cortez found that the inscribed words could come from a biblical psalm. And he even discovered which one it would be in particular.

biblical text

On the seal reference was made to Psalm 36:27, “Decline to Malo, a fac bonum”

According to Cortez, the seal referred to Psalm 36:27, “Decline Malo, a fac bonum.” In modern Bibles, that passage is 37 and is translated as “Turn away from evil, and do good.” The American archeology buff even featured a similar find found in 2006 in Shropshire.

This silver seal, also made in the 13th century, contained an inscription that was identified as a Latin psalm. That is why Alex Cortez thought that this was a common procedure at that time. Take an ancient carved stone and restore it in silver along with a biblical phrase.

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