»Hear, O Israel« in Gold: An Ancient Amulet from Halbturn in Austria

Abstract This article presents a recently discovered gold amulet, dated to the 3rd century C. E. and inscribed with the Hebrew text of the »Shema'« (Deut 6:4) in Greek characters. The amulet was found in 2000, in excavations of a cemetery in Halbturn, Austria. This discovery sheds new light on the history of the Jews in Roman Pannonia and illuminates how the Shema' was used and understood by Jews of late antiquity. In addition to a line-by-line commentary of the amulet, we also discuss the interpretive history of Deut 6:4 and the use of mezuzot and amulets in ancient Judaism.