Abulla, anamulet worn like a locket, was given to malechildren inAncient Rome nine days after birth. Inside the medallion, an amulet was placed, which was usually a phallus – a symbol that brought good luck in antiquity. Rather similar objects are rare finds from Late Bronze Age Ireland.
Romanbullae were enigmatic objects consisting of a neckchain and round pouch containing protective amulets (usuallyphallic symbols) worn by Roman boys before the age of manhood.Bullae were made of different substances depending on the wealth of the family they belong to: upper-classes could affordbullae made of gold or covered in gold foil,[1] while others could only afford materials like lead, leather and cloth.
A freeborn Roman boy wore abulla until he came of age as aRoman citizen. Before he put on histoga virilis ("toga of manhood") he placed his boyhoodbulla in the care of his parental household deities (Lares).[2] Some modern sources interpretMacrobius's single reference to an amulet worn by a triumphal general during his procession as evidence that the childhoodbulla was also a standard item oftriumphal regalia.[3]
A Roman girl did not wear abulla per se,[4] but another kind of amulet called alunula, until the eve of hermarriage, when it was removed along with her childhoodtoys and other things. She would then stop wearing child's clothes and start wearing women'sRoman dress.
A small number ofbullae have been found in Ireland; they are called "bullae" based on their resemblance to the Roman form.[a] The Irish bullae so far found were made of base metal[b] – sometimes clay – covered with a folded over piece of gold foil. The Irish bullae date to the Late Bronze Age, about 1150–750 BCE.
They were presumably worn suspended round the neck with a cord running through the hole below the flat top. The body of the bulla has roughly vertical sides before making a semi-circle or inverted pointed arch at the bottom. The gold is incised with geometrical decoration.
Whether they were purely for adornment or had an amuletic or other function is unclear. Despite the small weight of gold used they would have been available only for elite groups.[5][6][7][8]