The Jewish Anti-Demon Bowls of St. Petersburg

While the Hermitage Museum in Russia’s pre-Soviet capital is known the world over for its art collection, very little is known to non-experts about its extensive inventory of Jewish artifacts. Among these are earthenware bowls from the 5th and 6th centuries CE with intricate Aramaic inscriptions, and sometimes illustrations. These were created by Mesopotamian Jews—often for their Gentile neighbors—to ward off demons. Matti Friedman explains what is known about these strange objects, and what light they shed on the cultural milieu that produced the Babylonian Talmud. (Video, nine minutes.)