Today's news carried a mention of a curious find from a Danish tomb, a tiny amulet seemingly 600 years out of place- the piece details the rediscovery of a small crystal sphere carved with an (ostensibly) Christian inscription and speculates that the find could mean Christianity may have reached Denmark hundreds of years earlier than previously thought (i.e., when King Harald 'officially' converted his country in 1100).

What makes this really interesting is, it's not exactly Christian, but rather, a version of an ancient Gnostic magical amulet inscribed with the 'barbarous name' Ablanathanalba, an Aramaic-derived Greek magical palindrome. Ablanathanalba means roughly, "Thou art our Father," and is associated with the Basilidian gnostic deity Abraxas.