RATHER than invoke the gods or other supernatural or semi-divine figures, a significant number of the inscriptions found on rings from Greek and Roman times simply bear short amatory messages such as ‘love me’. In fact this practice lives on today in what traditionally have been called ‘posy rings’ – rings inscribed with short romantic dedications like ‘forever yours’. It is clear that there often is a not entirely rational side to ‘posy’ inscriptions; in a way modern posy rings (and similarly inscribed lockets etc.) can be thought of as amulets of a sort. Yet the ancient Greeks and Romans did not share the concept of romantic love that is so much a part of life today, so such inscriptions should not be understood merely as early amorous engravings of a recognisably modern type and meaning. They can be amatory or erotic – they concern love, marriage, faithfulness, lust and sex – but they are not necessarily romantic; romantic love is usually thought to be a development of twelfth-century troubadour culture, i.e. of the old French tradition of knights and ladies and fine amour, of medieval cortesie. Love and sex were thought of in different terms in ancient and early medieval times.

Ancient examples of posy-like inscriptions are merely one expression of a whole range of magical texts imploring or demanding love, sex or fidelity from or for either the owner of the item or another person named in the inscription.