[1] In the 1830s, an inscribed gold tablet was unearthed at the ancient Greek site of Petelia near Strongoli in Calabria.

The small gold tablet is inscribed in ancient Greek with an Orphic saying and dates from between 300 and 200 BC.

The gold case and chain designed to hold it is much later in manufacture, having been made over 400 years later during Roman times.

The ancient Thracian prophet Orpheus, who was often represented as a musician or poet, founded a cult that promised a happy afterlife to the initiated.

The Petelia Gold Tablet probably came from one of his shrines in southern Italy and demonstrates the widespread distribution of Οrphism in antiquity.