Sunday, March 16, 2008

Shema Amulet Discovered in Austria

Archaeologists from the Institute of Prehistory and Early History of the University of Vienna have found an amulet inscribed with a Jewish prayer in a Roman child’s grave dating back to the 3rd century CE at a burial ground in the Austrian town of Halbturn.

The inscription, in Greek letters, is the Shema prayer: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”

The archaeologists believe that this amulet proves that Jews inhabited today’s Austria since the time of the Roman Empire.

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