In ancient Rome, a tintinnabulum (less often tintinnum) [1] was a wind chime or assemblage of bells. A tintinnabulum often took the form of a bronze ithyphallic figure or of a fascinum , a magico-religious phallus thought to ward off the evil eye and bring good fortune and prosperity.
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A tintinnabulum acted as a door amulet. [2] [3] These were hung near thresholds [4] at a shop or house, under the peristyles (around the inner courtyard or garden) by the bedroom, or the venereum , where the wind would cause them to tinkle. [5] [2] They were also made to ring like doorbells, a series of them being tied to cord attached to a bell pull. [6]
The sounds of bells were believed to keep away evil spirits; compare the apotropaic role of the bell in the "bell, book, and candle" ritual of the earlier Catholic Church. [2] [7] It has also been surmised that oscilla hung on hooks along colonnaded porticoes may have comparable evil-warding intents. [8]
Hand-bells have been found in sanctuaries and other settings that indicate their religious usage, and were used at the Temple of Iuppiter Tonans , "Jupiter the Thunderer." [9] Elaborately decorated pendants for tintinnabula occur in Etruscan settings, depicting for example women carding wool, spinning, and weaving. [10] Bells were hung on the necks of domestic animals such as horses and sheep to keep track of the animals, but perhaps also for apotropaic purposes. [11]
A number of examples are part of the Secret Museum collection at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. [12]
