φυλακτήριον

fulakthvrion fulakthvrion,
fulakthriou,
tov (neuter of the adjective
fulakthrio",
fulakthvria,
fulakthvrion, from
fulakthvr (`poetic for
fuvlax'));1. a fortified place provided with a garrison, a station for a guard or garrison.2. a preservative or safeguard, an amulet: Demosthenes, p. 71, 24; Dioscorides (100 A. D.?) 5, 158f (159f), often in Plutarch. The Jews gave the name of
fulakthvria (in the Talm. @yLipiT], prayer-fillets, German Gebetsriemen; (cf. O. T. `frontlets')) to small strips of parchment on which were written the following passages from the law of Moses, ,; ;, and which, enclosed in little cases, they were accustomed when engaged in prayer to wear fastened by a leather strap to the forehead and to the left arm over against the heart, in order that they might thus be solemnly reminded of the duty of keeping the commands of God in the head and in the heart, according to the directions given in ; ; ; (cf. Josephus, Antiquities 4, 8, 13). These scrolls were thought to have power, like amulets, to avert various evils and to drive away demons (Targ. on ); hence, their Greek name. (But see Ginsburg in Alex.'s Kitto, see under the words, Phylacteries (under the end) and Mezuza.) The Pharisees were accustomed
tav
fulakthvria
aujtw'n
platuvnein, to widen, make broad, their phylacteries, that they might render them more conspicuous and show themselves to be more eager than the majority to be reminded of God's law: . Cf. Winer's RWB, under the word Phylakterien; Leyrer in Herzog xi., 639ff; Kneucker in Schenkel f; Delitzsch in Riehm 270f; (Edersheim, Jewish Social Life etc., p. 220ff; B. D. under the word Frontlets; especially Hamburger, Real-Encycl., under the word Tephillin, vol. ii, p. 1203f; Ginsburg in Alex.'s Kitto as above).*