Totenpass is a German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 term sometimes used for inscribed

Epigraphy

Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...

 tablets or metal leaves found in burials primarily of those presumed to be initiates into Orphic

Orphism (religion)

Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic world, as well as by the Thracians, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned...

, Dionysiac

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

, and some ancient Egyptian and Semitic religions. The term may be understood in English as a “passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

 for the dead.” The so-called Orphic gold tablets are perhaps the best-known example.

Totenpässe are placed on or near the body as a phylactery

Phylactery

Phylactery may refer to:* An amulet or charm.* English name for Tefillin, a pair of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers....

, or rolled and inserted into a capsule often worn around the neck as an amulet

Amulet

An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...

. The inscription

Epigraphy

Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...

 instructs the initiate on how to navigate the afterlife

Afterlife

The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...

, including directions for avoiding hazards in the landscape of the dead and formulaic responses to the underworld

Greek underworld

The Greek underworld was made up of various realms believed to lie beneath the earth or at its farthest reaches.This includes:* The great pit of Tartarus, originally the exclusive prison of the old Titan gods, it later came to be the dungeon home of damned souls.* The land of the dead ruled by the...

 judges.

Examples

The Getty Museum

J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, is an art museum. It has two locations, one at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, and one at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California...

 owns an outstanding example of a 4th-century B.C. Orphic prayer sheet from Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

, a gold-leaf rectangle measuring about 1 by 1½ inches (2.54 by 3.81 cm). The burial site of a woman also in Thessaly and dating to the late 4th century B.C. yielded a pair of Totenpässe in the form of lamellae (Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, “thin metal sheets,” singular lamella). Although the term “leaf

Metal leaf

Metal leaf, also called composition leaf or schlagmetal, is a thin foil used for decoration. Metal leaf can come in many different shades. Some metal leaf may look like gold leaf but not contain any real gold...

” to describe metal foil is a modern metaphorical usage, these lamellae were in this case cut in the shape of cordate leaves

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 probably meant to represent ivy

Ivy

Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...

; most Totenpässe of this type are rectangular.
The Greek lettering

Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...

 is not inscribed in regular lines as it is on the rectangular tablets, but rambles to fit the shape. The leaves are paper-thin and small, one measuring 40 by 31 mm (about 1½ by 1¼ inches) and the other 35 by 30 mm. They had been arranged symmetrically on the woman's chest, with her lips sealed by a gold danake

Danake

The danake or danace was a small silver coin of the Persian Empire , equivalent to the Greek obol and circulated among the eastern Greeks. Later it was used by the Greeks in other metals...

, or "Charon's obol

Charon's obol

Charon's obol is an allusive term for the coin placed in or on the mouth of a dead person before burial. According to Greek and Latin literary sources, the coin was a payment or bribe for the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead...

," the coin that pays the ferryman of the dead for passage; this particular coin depicted the head of a Gorgon

Gorgon

In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a terrifying female creature. The name derives from the Greek word gorgós, which means "dreadful." While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a...

. Also placed in the tomb was a terracotta figurine

Greek Terracotta Figurines

Terracotta figurines are a mode of artistic and religious expression frequently found in Ancient Greece. Cheap and easily produced, these figurines abound and provide an invaluable testimony to the everyday life and religion of the Ancient Greeks.-Modelling:...

 of a maenad

Maenad

In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus , the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones"...

, one of the ecstatic women in the retinue of Dionysus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

.

Although the meandering and fragile text poses difficulties, the inscriptions appear to speak of the unity of life and death and of rebirth

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

, possibly in divine form. The deceased is supposed to stand before Persephone

Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....

, Queen of the Dead, and assert that “I have been released by Bacchios

Cult of Dionysus

The Cult of Dionysus is strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols are the bull, the serpent, the ivy, and the wine. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus, as well as the Phallic processions...

 himself.”

Interpretation

Gonther Zuntz made the most complete survey of gold tablets discovered up to 1971 (at Thurii

Thurii

Thurii , called also by some Latin writers Thurium , for a time also Copia and Copiae, was a city of Magna Graecia, situated on the Tarentine gulf, within a short distance of the site of Sybaris, whose place it may be considered as having taken...

, Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

, and elsewhere), categorizing them into three groups that have become the typological

Typology

Typology is the study of types. More specifically, it may refer to:*Typology , division of culture by races*Typology , classification of things according to their characteristics...

 standard. Zuntz presented transcribed

Transcription (linguistics)

Transcription in the linguistic sense is the systematic representation of language in written form. The source can either be utterances or preexisting text in another writing system, although some linguists only consider the former as transcription.Transcription should not be confused with...

 text coupled with a reconstruction, and interpreted their religious foundation as Pythagorean

Pythagoreanism

Pythagoreanism was the system of esoteric and metaphysical beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans, who were considerably influenced by mathematics. Pythagoreanism originated in the 5th century BCE and greatly influenced Platonism...

 rather than Orphic

Orphism (religion)

Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic world, as well as by the Thracians, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned...

. Philologist

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 Richard Janko proposed that Group B from Zuntz's collection derived from a single archetype, for which he offered a hypothetical Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 text and the following English translation while attempting, he emphasized, not to rely on preconceptions about underlying theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

:

The most widely available source that discusses the Orphic gold tablets is the classic (if superseded in some aspects) Orpheus and Greek Religion by W.K.C. Guthrie. Since the 1990s, the usefulness of the term "Orphic" has been questioned by scholars, as has the unity of religious belief underlying the gold tablets.

Totenpässe have also been found in tombs from Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 dating from the 2nd century B.C. and later. These tiny gold sheets employ a formulaic consolation that appears regularly on funerary stele

Stele

A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...

s in the area: , (here the name of the deceased is inserted), (“Take courage, [name], no one is immortal).” In one instance, the inscribed tablet was shaped like a funerary headband, with holes to bind it around the forehead.

For further research

• Bernabé, Alberto, and Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal. Instructions for the Netherworld: The Orphic Gold Tablets. Boston: Brill, 2008.
• Bernabé, Alberto. "Some Thoughts about the 'New' Gold Tablet from Pherai." Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 166 (2008): 53-58.
• Comparetti, Domenico, and Cecil Smith. "The Petelia Gold Tablet." The Journal of Hellenic Studies 3 (1882): 111-18.
• Dickie, M.W. “The Dionysiac mysteries in Pella.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 109 (1995) 81–86.
• Edmonds, Radcliffe. Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the 'Orphic' Gold Tablets. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Ferrari, Franco, and Lucia Prauscello. "Demeter Chthonia and the Mountain Mother in a New Gold Tablet from Magoula Mati." Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 162 (2007): 193-202. Print.
• Freh, J. “Una nuova laminella “orfica.'” Eirene 30 (1994) 183-184.
• Graf, Fritz, and Sarah Iles Johnston. Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets. New York: Routledge, 2007.
• Marcovich, M. “The Gold Leaf from Hipponion.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 23 (1976) 221–224.
• Merkelbach, Reinhold. “Ein neues 'orphisches' Goldblaiittchen.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 25 (1977) 276.
• Merkelbach, Reinhold. “Zwei neue orphisch-dionysische Totenpässe.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 76 (1989) 15–16.
• Merkelbach, Reinhold. “Die goldenen Totenpässe: ägyptisch, orphisch, bakchisch.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 128 (1999) 1–13. (A collection of examples providing the Greek texts with German translation, also line drawings of Egyptian examples.)
• Zuntz, Günther. Persephone: Three Essays on Religion and Thought in Magna Graecia. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971.

External links

• Orphic Gold Tablets, 18 of the tablets in translation