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Totenpass

A Totenpass in the form of an inscribed metal leaf was sometimes rolled up and inserted into a necklace capsule, as shown in this 2nd-century funerary portrait from Egypt.

Totenpass (plural Totenpässe) is a German term sometimes used for inscribed tablets or metal leaves found in burials primarily of those presumed to be initiates into Orphic, Dionysiac, and some ancient Egyptian and Semitic religions. The term may be understood in English as a "passport for the dead".[1] The so-called Orphic gold tablets are perhaps the best-known example.

Totenpässe are placed on or near the body as a phylactery, or rolled and inserted into a capsule often worn around the neck as an amulet. The inscription instructs the initiate on how to navigate the afterlife, including directions for avoiding hazards in the landscape of the dead and formulaic responses to the underworld judges.

4th century BC gold orphic tablet from the Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Gold lamella from Hipponion, unrolled
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kotansky1991 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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