By Mark David
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The Prognosticon
Is the name of a magical circle pendant from ancient Greece (Pergamon ca. 3rd Cent. BC) known as "the Divining Disk of Pergamon" - an ancient Greek magic circle used by the magicians of Pergamon for purposes of divination and obtaining Oracles. It was originally discovered at Pergamon in Asia Minor in 1899, and is preserved in the Museum in Berlin.
In 1899, a cache of 9 artifacts described as “Zauberapparat” by the German excavations at Pergamon, were discovered in Asia Minor at Pergamon, known sometimes as the 'Pergamon divination kit'.
The first mention of the artifacts was made by R. Wünsch in 1905, dating the artifacts to the 3rd C. A.D. The artifacts themselves, which are now in the Berlin Antikensammlung include a 4-sided bronze nail; two bronze rings with characters engraved on the bronze bevel; two rectangular bronze lamellae inscribed with characters similar to stone-masons’ monograms, three smoothed black river stones with identical inscriptions and the Prognosticon - a very unusual bronze convex disk and a bronze table, consisting of an equilateral triangular base with a post projecting from the center. Affixed to the other end of the post is a small, unadorned disk.
The surface of the Prognosticon is divided into sectors containing different characters amongst them Greek vowels. It is comprised of 16 parts - 8 on the outside and 8 inside, each rotating in opposite directions: A circle of life the 16 separate cycles. Although the radial divisions of the three outer rings are aligned, the segmentation of the central region is not aligned with the outer rings.
The inscriptions on the convex side are arranged in 4 concentric circles and contain a large number of magical hieroglyphs, but among them are several letters of the Greek alphabet, and a whole circle of Greek vowels, the Egyptian hieroglyph for B, the symbols of the sun and moon.
The 8 outside sections are divided into 24 smaller sections= 32. So it is likely that numerology plays a large part in this pendant representing the cycles and choices in life. The concentric circles of the inscribed disc are filled with magic characters, Egyptian hieroglyphs and planetary symbols.
The systems employed remain unknown. It is believed it formed a part of the apparatus which the magicians of Pergamon used for purposes of divination and for obtaining Oracles in the first half of the third century of our Era. One theory is that the disc might have been a tool used to enter an altered state of consciousness, in which the operator would gaze at the central point of the hypnotic radial design until they entered a trance. It has been carefully described Dr. R. Wünsch in the Jahrbuch of the German Archaeological Institute, Ergänzungshaft, No. 6, 1905.
From Griechisch-Ägypischer Offenbarungszauber, Leipzig, 1924, p. 146
The picture here is of an original copy made of the original bronze one found in Asia Minor in 1899, thought to be made by the museum of Berlin during WWII by direct casting.
It appears that the outside ring a calender system portraying the movement of the year around the seasons, the next ring being the movement of the stars or planets in line with the seasons. The third ring shows how they relate to man with the center representing the domain of the Gods YH*V being visible next to the symbol of a man.
The system employed by the magician is unknown: Some say as an amulet it strengthens the intuition, the subconscious and, as a result, self-knowledge, imagination and creativity. It is believed by others that these types of objects with these symbols are like combination locks that connect our spiritual energies to other energy systems.
The disc is thought to be an amalgamation of magical systems and practices from the Middle East representing a much older religious/magical system of belief, older even than most modern archaeologists suspect. Some common symbols used on the King Solomon amulets are visible.
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