How to achieve good sleep, health, love, success of friends, failure of enemies, protect crops? The Mediterranean inhabitants knew the ‘well-tried’ ways that had matured and been modified for centuries. F. is the author of dozens of studies and articles devoted to the epigraphic and iconographic sources of ancient magic and their interpretation. He sees his latest book as a space where he has decided to combine all available resources (papyrological, epigraphic, literary, artistic and archaeological), while not avoiding even older material from other cultures in Anatolia, the Middle East and North Africa. On this basis, F. wants to introduce the presumed origin/creation and use in Ancient Greece as well as the ‘journey’ to the period of the Roman Empire. The text is divided into three main parts and supplemented by nine appendices, numerous notes and two glossaries (glossary of authors and texts, glossary of terms).

The first thematic part, ‘Archaeology’, deals with archaeological finds, their distribution and the most used shapes and materials. F. also gives space to older periods, where the interpretation of amulets is much more difficult and depends, in general, on iconographic sources and marginal references in ancient literature. He does not step back from this challenge: he has collected a significant amount of evidence and uses the character of the available material to support his ideas. Where archaeologists sometimes reach for interdisciplinary interpretation (in collaboration with sociologists, psychologists or ethnographers), F. employs exclusively the archaeological, iconographic and philological potential of the material to document the symbols and amulets of ancient Greece and the Apennine peninsula. In this section F. succeeds in gradually introducing the most important forms/shapes of the amulets used in the Greek and later in the Roman environment. In the subchapter on the material used for the production of amulets, he has expanded the argumentation thanks to information from the texts of ancient authors, also dealing with the importance of individual materials for magical purposes. He points to, for example, the direct material and symbolic connection between ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, which researchers sometimes apply in other parts of the Roman Empire without deeper consideration of the local environment in the given period. Comparison with the provinces’ environment can stand, but investigators should still be aware of possible local influences. In the Danubian provinces we know of numerous cases confirming the conclusions and considerations published by F., for example, dozens of golden pendants of Hercules’ bludgeon (tomb of a child from Vienna, where three specimens were found, cf. A. Neumann, Vindobona. Die römische Vergangenheit Wiens. Geschichte, Erforschung, Funde [1972], p. 146, fig. 16) or lunules from the Roman province of Pannonia Superior (M. Daňová, Rímsky zlatý šperk v Panónii Superior/ Roman Golden Jewellery in Pannonia Superior I–III [2012], Vol. 2, pp. 127–32). However, the popularity of some types of protective jewellery or amulets in this territory (amber beads, pp. 91–2) may not always correlate with the system established in Rome (M. Pichlerová, Gerulata – Rusovce. Rímske pohrebisko II/ Römisches Gräberfeld II [1981], pp. 235–6, 240, 261).

The second thematic part, ‘Images’, deals with representations of symbols, scenes and deities. F. again draws on his knowledge of ancient texts, and the selected symbols are complemented, for example, with descriptions of rituals that turned the objects into amulets, often mentioning the problems and ailments that these amulets have healed. F. adds information on the topics outlined in the first part – the best example is Hercules. The symbol of Hercules’ bludgeon from the first part is complemented by its figural imagery used as a protective symbol (a child fighting with snakes, fighting with a lion). Perhaps more space could have been dedicated to Hercules’ knot (p. 115), which was a separate symbol/amulet in jewellery making and had a meaning not only in healing (as F. mentions) but also in marriage ceremonies and protection of the wearer (I. Popović, ‘Roman Jewelry in the Form of Hercules’ Symbols in the Central Balkans’, Starinar XLIX/1998 [1999], 77–92). The final chapter in this part is devoted to the deities of the Egyptian environment, which F. calls ‘Pharaonic and Ptolemaic Gods’. He unravels the rather complicated context of the origins and influence of these deities and depicts the images criticised by rabbis and described as an important part of Galen's healing ritual. The reader will learn about the action of Chnoubis, Harpocrates, Sarapis, Isis, but also Afrodite Anadyomene, Nemesis of Smyrna and Artemis Ephesiana.

Part 3, ‘Texts’, is devoted to the surviving texts related to amulets and magical rituals. Based on the character of the texts, F. divides them into three main groups: ‘Prayers’, ‘Incantations’ and ‘Framing Speech Acts’. The contents are closely related to the two previous parts and often complement them. This section finalises the picture of the amulet transformation process ending in the Hellenistic period and the incoming period of Roman domination. Texts of songs, stories and poems are important evidence of the way of thinking, healing and protection in antiquity, and at the same time a rare example of the manifestations of early Christianity in the first centuries ad. It is the knowledge of texts (and mistakes in magical texts) that allows F. to supplement the information about amulet production and the distribution process.

The main text is followed by nine appendices (A–I), comprising English translations of recipes from magical, curative, amulet and protective handbooks, that have been preserved in references in ancient authors (Marcellus of Bordeaux, Alexander of Tralles, Aelius Promotus and Dioscorides).

F. has managed to link the worlds of various types of archaeological and philological material in an extremely sensitive and logical manner. Importantly, when introducing amulets and rituals, he also thinks about the presence of objects made of leather, textiles, wood, wax and fur, whose presence is hardly documented today.

The publication significantly deepens our understanding of ancient jewellery as specific symbols and refers to numerous examples in individual thematic parts. The reader can better understand the historical causes of the fundamental changes in the amulets, the path of transformation of the power images and see numerous examples of their use for the purposes of magic and healing. The book is a great guide through the world of ancient amulets and a must-have for all colleagues who work with jewellery.