★ Very interesting ★

Byzantine Pb Apotropaic amulet (25.75g, 44mm)
Side A: A rider in a nimbus with a cross on his head and a spear pointing at the figure lying under the horse; on the right an angel (wing not raised). the inscription around is largely illegible: ...ΟΥΡΑΝΟΥ ... .
Side B.: "Hystera", Ο ΚΑΤ.ΚΟΝ Ο ΕΝ ΒΟΗΘΗ ΤΟΥ ΥΨΙCΤΟΥ = ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν βοηθείᾳ τοῦ ὑψ ίστου →"Who dwells with the help of the Most High" (formula of the first verse of Psalm 90/91).
Analogy: Zurich market, L. Alexander Wolfe and Frank Sternberg, Auk. XXIII L. 2585.25cm.
According to Jeffrey Spier - Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition, page 5, the most important inscription appearing on medieval amulets is the formula, which in its purest form reads:
Ύστέρα μελάνη μελαομένη ώς όφις, είλύεσαι καί ώς δράκον συρίζησε καί ώς λ έων βρυχάσαι καί ώς άρνίον κοιμού.
(= Womb, black, blackening, you coil like a snake and like a snake you hiss, like a lion you roar and like a lamb you lie down. The formula is often shortened or changed