bSV 73b Uh I 
 
 Parsons memorial Library 
 
 The Record Below MUST NOT be Altered 
 
 THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM LIBRARY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/engravedgemssignOOosbo_O 
 

 
ENGRAVED GEMS 
 
 SIGNETS, TALISMANS AND ORNAMENTAL 
 INTAGLIOS, ANCIENT AND MODERN 
 
 BY 
 
 DUFFIELD OSBORNE 
 
 Author of The Spell of Ashtaroth, The Rohe of Nessus, The Lion’s Brood, etc. 
 Editor of Livy’s Roman History, Macaulay’s Lays of Ancient Rome 
 
 WITH THIRTY-TWO FULL-PAGE PLATES 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 1912 
 
Copyright, 1912, 
 
 BY 
 
 HENHY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 Published August, 1912 
 
TO MY FRIENDS 
 
 HARRY L. PANGBORN 
 
 AND 
 
 WILLIAM GEDNEY BEATTY 
 
 TO WHOSE AID AND ENCOURAGEMENT 
 THIS BOOK OWES MUCH 
 
PREFACE 
 
 During the Eighteenth Century, the so-called “Century of 
 the Dilettanti”, and down to the fifth decade of the nineteenth, 
 no branch of the art humanities occupied so prominent a place 
 as did the study and appreciation of the engraved gems of clas¬ 
 sic times. In their numbers, in the perfection of their preserva¬ 
 tion, and in their intimate relations to the personal lives of the 
 old Greeks and Romans, they appealed alike to the student of 
 archaeology and to the lover of antiquity for its own sake; while 
 the collector, following fast in the tracks of such leadership, 
 soon made them the most fashionable of his desiderata. Every 
 man who had any pretension to culture and taste posed as a con¬ 
 noisseur; kings and queens felt themselves lacking in their duty 
 to archaeology and art unless they formed and fostered national 
 cabinets. Even in ancient Rome there were collectors. Scaurus, 
 the stepson of Sulla, is the first of whom we find record. Later, 
 Mithridates, the great king of Pontus, had a collection which his 
 conqueror, Pompey, seized and consecrated in the Capitol. 
 Julius Caesar made no fewer than six, all of which he gave to the 
 temple of Venus Genetrix, and Marcellus, the son of Octavia, 
 presented one to the temple of the Palatine Apollo. With the 
 revival of taste and learning that followed the Middle Ages, the 
 interest in engraved gems sprang up again. It found favor with 
 the humanist popes and the princes of the house of Medici. 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent was a most discriminating collector 
 not only of the antique but also of the best work of his own time 
 for which end he sought to bring the best artists to Florence. The 
 LAVR. MED inscribed on many stones indicate that they once 
 belonged to this famous amateur. Michael Angelo went into 
 ecstasies over the Minerva head obtained by Cellini in 1524 from 
 some workmen in a vineyard. Urbane Italian despots and rude 
 Hapsburg emperors, Charles IX, Henry IV, and Louis XIV of 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 France gave their enthusiastic patronage; Catherine II founded 
 the famous Russian collection; Frederick the Great supported 
 and enriched the cabinet begun by the “Great Elector”; Joseph¬ 
 ine was an eager if not very intelligent seeker; but perhaps the 
 best evidence of the universality of the craze is that even poor, 
 bucolic George III felt called upon to join the ranks of an army 
 of whose aims he knew little, and with whose enthusiasm he 
 could have but the most perfunctory sympathy. The words of 
 Goethe when he writes of Hemsterhuis and his collection of 
 gems, owned later by the Princess Galitzin, are full of weight: 
 “With a peculiarly acute delicacy of feeling this estimable man 
 was led unweariedly to strive after the intellectual and moral as 
 well as the sensuous and sesthetical. If we are to be imbued 
 with the former we ought constantly to be surrounded by the 
 latter. To a private person, whose movements are confined 
 within a narrow sphere and who even when travelling finds it 
 difficult to dispense with an habitual enjoyment of art, a collec¬ 
 tion of engraved gems is a great boon. He is everywhere ac¬ 
 companied by what gives him the greatest enjoyment and is a 
 valuable means of instruction without being cumbersome, and 
 he can continually enjoy a very precious possession.” Speaking 
 further of the Galitzin cabinet, Goethe says: “It could not be 
 denied that imitations of larger and more valuable ancient 
 works of art which would otherwise have been lost to us forever 
 were preserved, like jewels, in this narrow compass. . . The 
 brawniest Hercules, crowned with ivy, could not deny his colos¬ 
 sal origin. . . I could not conceal the fact that I had here entered 
 quite a new field which interested me exceedingly and only re¬ 
 gretted the shortness of my sojourn which would deprive me of 
 the opportunity of examining this new class of objects more 
 closely.” 
 
 At last came the collapse. It followed the sale of the Pon- 
 iatowski collection in London, in 1839, and the resultant ex¬ 
 posure. What had happened was what always happens when a 
 sane taste has degenerated into a mere collecting mania. Eager¬ 
 ness and lack of knowledge on the part of wealthy collectors, 
 the enormous prices paid, had called into activity a horde of 
 
PKEFACE 
 
 vii 
 
 more or less competent forgers, who battened on the ignorance 
 and liberality of their dupes. Clever Italian gem-cutters began 
 as emulators—often almost worthy ones—of the ancient artists, 
 and ended as fraudulent imitators: but it needed the audacious 
 absurdities of a Prince Poniatowski to open the eyes of the 
 multitude. These had long accepted blindly any and everything 
 in reason and out, but when three thousand gems were thrown 
 suddenly on the market, all showing similar motive and 
 workmanship, all foreign in form to those used by the 
 ancients, and done in a spirit the farthest from classic art, yet 
 each bearing the signature of some supposed ancient artist, then 
 even the blindest saw. Every would-be connoisseur felt the 
 ground sinking beneath his feet; even many discriminating 
 students knew not what to believe; faith in the genuineness of 
 all gems and all collections was shattered as by a blow, and the 
 cameo or intaglio that in 1830 would have brought £1,000, in 
 1850 could hardly be given away. This is, I think, the most 
 spectacular instance of the changes of fashion in connoisseur- 
 ship, just because, having a much sounder foundation than most 
 collecting fashions, the taste for engraved gems lived longer and 
 went farther, gave freest scope for abuses, and, naturally 
 enough, provoked the most extreme of reactions. 
 
 During the years that have passed between then and now, 
 knowledge that there are such things as antique intaglios and 
 knowledge of what they are, well-nigh died in the public mind. 
 Only the student, the archaeologist, and the lover whose faith 
 nothing could shake, remained, and to these fell, and still falls, 
 the harvest to be reaped in a field where the grain is rich and 
 the reapers are few. The forgers soon dropped their now un¬ 
 profitable craft and died; no new ones took their places; the 
 very art of gem-cutting was left to a workman here and there 
 whose ability was practically limited to producing a mediocre 
 head or crude figure, a monogram or a coat of arms. Our own 
 St. Gaudens, when a very young man, engraved a few gems, but 
 it cannot be said that he ever attained any eminence in the art. 
 
 Meanwhile the ploughed ground, the excavations, and the 
 tombs continued to yield their hidden store, and the knowledge 
 
 ) 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 of the student advanced, until he could smile at the efforts that 
 had deceived men of the preceding generation. He gathered 
 and still gathers, for a mere song, objects than which none is 
 more interesting and fascinating. 
 
 In these days we seek for Chinese porcelains, for Japanese 
 prints, for Tanagra figurines, for Sheffield plate, pewter, copper, 
 textiles, sword-guards and old furniture—an endless list, and 
 the forger forges merrily on, his skill and his plenteousness 
 governed, as ever, by the number of possible dupes and the prices 
 to be had for his wares. It will be a sad day for the admirer of 
 ancient gems, when, in the rolling world of fashion, the collect¬ 
 ing tide sets again in their direction, as it inevitably will. 
 
 Time must elapse, however, before an indiscriminate de¬ 
 mand can rear a new generation of forgers clever enough to 
 meet the knowledge and experience we now have. The hare has 
 slept long and the tortoise has won a lead that his swift-footed 
 rival cannot soon overcome. Meanwhile, happy is he whose 
 interest and tastes, formed on sane lines and with a just ap¬ 
 preciation of relative values, are not subject to the mandates of 
 fashion. To him, be he rich or poor, is the possibility of the 
 most satisfactory and best attainment of his heart’s desire. 
 
 It is for such that this book is written. The works of 
 Dr. Charles W. King are out of print and rarely attainable. 
 Then, too, while there is much of value in their pages, there 
 are also many errors that the thirty years that have passed 
 since he wrote have corrected; a mass of new knowledge that 
 has been gained. The few other books in English on the 
 subject are more or less open to the same criticism, are limited 
 in scope, or are worthless; while the monumental work of Dr. 
 Adolf Furtwangler, published at two hundred and sixty 
 marks, has never been translated from the German, and, in 
 its devotion to what may be called the more “important” art 
 side of the subject, it ignores almost entirely the great mass 
 of cruder specimens among which the individual gem-lover 
 must look for most of his finds and for his illumination, and 
 which I believe to be not less interesting, from many stand¬ 
 points, than the best productions of this classic art. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 ix 
 
 In the matter of ancient proper names one is always 
 beset by the dilemma whether to follow the ancient nomen¬ 
 clature and spelling at the cost of seeming pedantic or whether 
 to adopt frankly the Latinized modern. In a work like this 
 the former seems imperative, but I have taken the liberty of 
 a measure of eclecticism in a few such cases as centaur for 
 kentauros, cyclops for kuklopes and caduceus for kerukeion. 
 I have also taken the liberty of dropping the final n in names 
 like Plouton, Apollon and Platon. The long marks over the 
 e and o denote, as usual, the Greek eta and omega. When, 
 however, I come to consider Roman gems, I have accepted the 
 Latinized Greek names. Both forms will thus generally be 
 found, each in the connection in which it may be most useful 
 to the student of inscriptions. In the cases of some of the 
 most familiar geographical names, like Bceotia, for instance, 
 where the Greek spelling would affect the pronunciation, I have 
 let the ce stand for the Greek oi—also Cyprus for Kupros etc. 
 
 In closing my preface I must acknowledge my indebted¬ 
 ness, first, to the works of Messrs. Arthur J. Evans and D. G. 
 Hogarth, whose discoveries in Crete have opened a new field 
 and carried the knowledge of European gem-engraving back 
 many centuries. Whoever would write today must rely on 
 their investigations in the province of Cretan glyptics. On 
 Dr. Furtwangler I shall draw largely in the matter of stones, 
 shapes and subjects characteristic of, more especially, the 
 earlier periods. His equipment and his opportunities for 
 examination of a great number of examples make the results 
 of his observations in these lines invaluable to one who would 
 present a full view of the subject, and the obligation cannot be 
 too frankly or too broadly admitted. When it comes to the 
 deductions and theoretical conclusions so dear to the German 
 scientist, I must take the liberty of a frequent softening of his 
 generalizations and of occasional divergence. Dr. King’s 
 Gnostics and Their Remains furnishes me with many of the 
 inscriptions on Gnostic gems which I shall find necessary to 
 quote, and his Antique Gems and Rings, Handbook of Engraved 
 Gems and Early Christian 'Numismatics, however full of 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 errors, have all been valuable sources of information. On the 
 subject of Mediaeval gems I have taken advantage of the in¬ 
 vestigations of M. Lecoy de la Marche and M. Germain Demay 
 and, to a less degree, of the work on seals of Mr. W. de G. Birch. 
 I wish further to make acknowledgment to Mr. Harry L. 
 Pangborn for many suggestions, especially in the field of 
 Mediaeval glyptics, as well as for invaluable aid in other 
 directions; also to Mr. Lacey D. Caskey of the Boston Museum 
 of Fine Arts for his painstaking courtesy in connection with 
 the gems in that institution which I have used for illustration. 
 To the Boston Museum, also, and to the Ashmolean Museum of 
 Oxford I am indebted for casts of gems in those collections 
 presented to me for photographing, and to the following private 
 collectors for the loan of gems to make casts for the same 
 purpose, viz., Mr. W. Gedney Beatty, Prof. George N. Olcott, 
 Prof. Herschel Parker, Mr. Harry L. Pangborn, Mrs. Henry 
 Draper, Mr. Thomas E. H. Curtis and Mr, Nestor Sanborn. 
 
 « 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface ..v 
 
 Introduction.1 
 
 Interest in Antiquity, 3; Forgeries, 8; Materials of Ancient Gems, 
 11; Size of Ancient Gems, 11; Shapes of Ancient Gems, 12; Surface 
 Appearance of Ancient Gems, 12; Workmanship of Ancient Gems, 
 14; Designs on Ancient Gems, 15; Signatures on Ancient Gems, 18; 
 Inscriptions on Ancient Gems, 19. 
 
 PART I 
 
 HISTORY OF GEM ENGRAVING—CHARACTERISTICS AND 
 DEVELOPMENTS OF EACH PERIOD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Early Work.—Minoan and Mycenaean Gems.—The Greek Middle Ages. 
 
 —Melian or Island Stones. — From 3000 (?) to 600 b.c. ... 23 
 
 Minoan Gems, 23; Mycenaean Gems, 29; Greek Middle Ages, 32; 
 
 Melian Stones, 34. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Archaic Greek Gems.36 
 
 Greek Scarabs for the Etruscan Market, 44; Phoenician and Cartha¬ 
 ginian Scarabs, 45. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Gems of the Best Period (480-400 b. c. ) and of the Period of the 
 
 Finished Styles (400-300 b.c.). 48 
 
 Greek-Persian Gems, 48; Greek Gems, 50. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Etruscan Scarabs.63 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Gems of the Hellenistic Period ......... 77 
 
 xi 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 xii 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Middle Italian Gems op the Roman Republic.84 
 
 Under Etruscan Influence, 85; Under Hellenistic Influence, 96; 
 
 Period of Combining Influences, 101. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Gileco-Roman Gems op the Early Empire.106 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Gems op the Later Empire.—Christian Gems.—Mithraic and Gnostic 
 
 Talismans.125 
 
 Christian Subjects, 127; Mithraic Gems, 131; Gnostic Gems, 134. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Byzantine, Sassanian and Moslem Gems.148 
 
 Byzantine Gems, 148; Sassanian Gems, 148; Later Mohammedan 
 Gems, 153; Rabbinical Gems, 154. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Gems in Mediaeval Europe.—Their Use and Manufacture . . . 155 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Gems of the Renaissance.170 
 
 Gem Engravers of the Fifteenth Century, 174 ; Gem Engravers of 
 the Sixteenth Century, 174 ; Gem Engravers of the Seventeenth Cen¬ 
 tury, 178. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Gems of Modern Times ..181 
 
 Gem Engravers of the Eighteenth Century, 183 ; Gem Engravers of 
 the Nineteenth Century, 189 ; Gem Engraving To-day, 193. 
 
 PART IT 
 
 THE DEITIES AND OTHER PERSONAGES COMMON OR 
 LIABLE TO BE FOUND ON ENGRAVED GEMS, WITH 
 THEIR APPEARANCE, ATTRIBUTES, ETC. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The Greater Gods and Their Associates ....... 199 
 
CONTENTS xiii 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lesser and Later Deities with Their Attributes.230 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Heroes and Their Attributes.253 
 
 PART III 
 
 TECHNIQUE—MATERIALS—HISTORICAL AND 
 MYTHOLOGICAL SIGNETS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Tools and Technical Methods op Gem Engraving .... 271 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Stones Used for Ancient Intaglios.277 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Historical and Mythological Signets.286 
 
 Description and Explanation of Plates.297 
 
 Alphabetical List of Attributes, Aspects, and Sacred or Sacrificial 
 Animals, Trees, and Flowers.,393 
 
 Index.399 
 
 Plates 
 
 At end of book 
 
ENGRAVED GEMS 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 From the earliest times two ideas have advanced side 
 by side in the desire of mankind for precious and semi-precious 
 stones. Most of these are beautiful in themselves. Hence 
 they have been sought as ornaments. Many of them, from their 
 rarity, their unusual colors, and their hardness, have been 
 looked upon as amulets that can avert evil or talismans that 
 can bring good fortune. Later, when advancing knowledge 
 of the arts enabled the workman to fashion the shapes and en¬ 
 grave the surface of the stones, both ideas received a new 
 impetus. It was obvious that the ornamental element could 
 be enhanced by the skill of the artist and, also, that the subject 
 engraved, were it the figure or attribute of some god, a written 
 charm or a magic symbol, might induce or enhance the luck- 
 bringing quality, above all things to be desired. Later, yet a 
 third element was added. 
 
 With the first existence of the institution of personal 
 property and the beginnings of business, social and political 
 relations, arose the need to each man of a device which, by its 
 impression on clay or some other soft and hardening substance, 
 would identify his possessions, his agreements and his com¬ 
 munications. Here again the engraved surfaces of precious 
 or semi-precious stones offered the best means to the end. 
 Their hardness made them durable and difficult to imitate, 
 their small size made them easy to carry, and the possible com¬ 
 bination of ornament, amulet and signet was, naturally, con¬ 
 venient and attractive. 
 
 Probably the earliest development of the signet idea was 
 among the Sumerians of Chaldsea or the Egyptians and is 
 dated rather speculatively about 5000 B. C. The form adopted 
 was the cylinder, first of soft and, later, of hard stone, pierced 
 
2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 through its length so that it could be suspended by a cord from 
 wrist or neck. It would seem that the shape may have had its 
 origin in an earlier use of bits of reed the peculiar lines of 
 whose surfaces could be rolled on moist clay for purposes of 
 identification and, like the serrated margins of indenture 
 deeds, would be next to impossible to counterfeit. Dr. Stewart 
 Culin first drew attention to the arrow shaft, with its owner’s 
 mark, as a most plausible source of the idea, a suggestion 
 which other writers have adopted, generally without credit 
 to its originator. 
 
 The use of the cylinder spread over western Asia and 
 Egypt, where Menes, the first king of the upper and lower 
 countries, had such a signet. At a later time the Asiatic 
 favored a conical seal, also pierced and suspended, but the 
 study of these forms, together with the mythology and writ¬ 
 ings pictured on them, is a separate branch of the subject 
 calling for the Oriental specialist, and the work of Dr. William 
 Hayes Ward fills the field most satisfactorily. 
 
 In Egypt a national form developed. The shape of the 
 Egyptian beetle or scarab began to prevail from the beginning 
 of the Twelfth Dynasty and was soon universally adopted 
 from religious motives. It was the emblem of the Sun, the 
 presiding god; it was the emblem of eternity and of strength, 
 but Egyptian work in intaglio was pretty much confined to 
 hieroglyphics, symbols and decorative designs and, hence, 
 never rose to high artistic excellence. Here again is a field 
 for the specialist in the language and archaeology, and the 
 scarab form comes into our province only in so far as its use 
 spread into the Phoenician colonies, Greece, and Etruria, 
 where the intaglio took upon itself the character and quality 
 of Hellenic art. As a rule we have to do with stones cut to 
 be set in rings of gold, silver, bronze, iron and, rarely, even lead. 
 
 A word may be added as to cameos, a later development. 
 In most works on the subject of engraved gems, these are 
 treated at considerable length; but such miniature relief 
 sculpture had no further purpose than ornamentation, except 
 so far as this included portraiture, and they lack almost entire- 
 
INTEREST IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 3 
 
 ly the peculiar interest that the intaglio presents. Incident¬ 
 ally, the number of ancient cameos is comparatively small. 
 Most of the specimens we see are Renaissance or modern, 
 since the forgers, looking for ready remuneration and to the 
 more showy manifestations of their craft, found in the 
 cameo a much more profitable field for their efforts and one 
 that required less study, knowledge and caution than did the 
 intaglio with its intimate associations with the life and 
 thought of antiquity, with the very soul of the classic world. 
 
 The limits, then, of this work, for I conceive the value of 
 such a treatise is largely a matter of limitations, should be 
 set by the phrase “Classic and Modern Intaglios.” In these 
 we shall find all the art, all the mystical elements, and all 
 the peculiar personal associations which the use of signets 
 involved. 
 
 INTEREST IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 The interest in what we call “antiquities” may be broad¬ 
 ly classified under three heads. 
 
 First, that of the student: the scientific archaeologist, who 
 looks upon such objects as a means of knowledge. To him 
 the study of Greek, Roman and Etruscan intaglios affords 
 many sources of information. In the subjects pictured, from, 
 let us say speculatively, 3000 B. C., may be traced accurately 
 the trend of thought of each period and nation. We know the 
 things that interested the Greek of the Mycenaean Age and the 
 Roman of the Lower Empire. Perhaps it was art pure and 
 simple, perhaps religion, as voiced in sacerdotal subjects and 
 the figures of gods and their attributes, grading down to the 
 grosser superstitions evidenced by many talismans and 
 amulets. Poetic taste was gratified by scenes from the 
 Homeric and other legends. The idea of personal subservience 
 and flattery shows itself in the many instances where the 
 subject wore his monarch’s portrait, the client his patron’s, 
 while simpler and more material preferences produced numer¬ 
 ous genre pictures of everyday life. The adherent of the green 
 or the blue wore his favorite horse or quadriga, the hunter 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 or the tradesman, some representation of his play or work, 
 and so through every human motive and taste that fashion or 
 personality has born and nourished. 
 
 It is in this connection that we find much of the interest 
 and value of the great mass of the poorer—even of the con¬ 
 temptible—work from an art standpoint: the gems that we 
 commonly run across and which Professor Furtwangler and 
 other writers largely ignore. 
 
 Again, in the work itself it is easy to follow the ebb and 
 flow of civilization as evidenced by the merit of the art and 
 the skill of the craftsman, and here, too, it seems to me a 
 great mistake to scorn the commonplace. Each gem has its 
 lesson to teach, whether it be from the hand of Dexamenos or 
 from that of some wretched bungler in the Diocletian Forum. 
 
 In connection with the art side of the subject there is also 
 to be considered the fact that famous statues and paintings 
 were often reproduced on these gems. The statue is mutilated 
 or destroyed, the painting has perished, but we have learned 
 and may yet learn much of the masterpieces of antiquity from 
 the sard or the plasma whose hardness and minute dimensions 
 have saved it for a later age. 
 
 In portraiture alone there is an exhaustless fund of 
 interest and of archaeological information. The faces of rulers 
 and great men look from gems only less often than from coins, 
 while the obvious advantage of bearing one’s own likeness 
 for a signet has left us a multitude of portraits of humbler 
 characters with always the hope that an identification here 
 and there may reveal the lineaments of some man in whom 
 history has created a deathless interest. 
 
 Finally the knowledge of costumes, of the forms of weap¬ 
 ons and articles for every conceivable use, is obviously advanc¬ 
 ed by this study, and in the deciphering of the inscriptions 
 borne by many gems lies an unlimited field for conjecture and 
 research. The signatures alone have revealed the names of 
 many artists that would otherwise have been lost. 
 
 Turning now from the standpoint of the student to that 
 of the collector, little needs to be said. His interest is obvious, 
 
INTEREST IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 5 
 
 and to scorn or ignore him is unfair. He has accomplished 
 his good and his evil: good in the stimulation to research 
 that, without his eagerness and his resources, might have 
 been long delayed or never attempted: evil, in that the same 
 eagerness and the limitation of his requirements have resulted 
 in much superficial and often destructive work whereby op¬ 
 portunities for illumination have been obscured or lost. The 
 Hermes of Praxiteles was identified positively only from the 
 fact of its discovery just where Pausanias wrote that it stood. 
 Had it been found by some ignorant excavator and smuggled 
 out of the country for private gain, we would have had a 
 beautiful example of ancient art, but probably the world would 
 never have known it for the very work of the great master. 
 
 But there is another reason why mere collecting, even on 
 its crudest lines, must not be unqualifiedly condemned. It is 
 the most obvious source and beginning of interest, often of 
 real knowledge. That alone marks it for a commendable taste 
 whose abuses only should be attacked and circumscribed. You 
 can hardly become the owner of a single gem without a grow¬ 
 ing desire to know something of the story it has to tell, and 
 no one is apt to become a collector in such a field without 
 having somewhere in his nature, to be revealed and cultivated, 
 a taste for the secrets of antiquity and a curiosity about its 
 message for to-day. 
 
 This brings me to a consideration of the third type of 
 antiquarian, combining in varying proportions the attributes 
 of both student and collector. For want of a better term let 
 us call him the Romantic Archaeologist. It is to such that 
 the classic intaglio appeals most strongly, if only because 
 of each gem’s close personal associations with some individual 
 who lived from, say, two to five thousand years ago: a man 
 of one of those races that have shaped our own life and 
 thought, our politics and our ethics, all that make us what 
 we are. I take it there can be little beyond a purely scientific 
 interest in what we may call the independent and dead civiliza¬ 
 tions: that of the Incas, and, in some degree, those of many 
 Oriental peoples, but Greece and Rome, of however long ago, 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 can never be disassociated from ourselves, must live always in 
 the mind of every one to whom history and biography mean 
 anything. Here it is that the spirit of romance appeals most 
 powerfully and in direct proportion to the measure in which 
 we can make it particular and real. In this connection each 
 gem, so far as it can speak and be understood, has its story 
 to tell, and the imagination of the true lover of romance thrills 
 at the touch of the bit of sard or chalcedony that has been part 
 of scenes that history has made immortal: a thing that some 
 man who lived then has had fashioned according to his indi¬ 
 vidual needs or taste or whim; and when one can come even 
 closer than this and spell out ancient truths, however trivial, 
 the thrill grades upward into a sensation akin to awe. 
 
 I wonder what a man’s feeling would be could he become 
 the owner of the signet of Julius Caesar—that famous stone 
 engraved with a Venus Victrix, his patron goddess? Very 
 probably it is still in existence somewhere, perhaps unrecog¬ 
 nized in some collection, for we know nothing of it beyond 
 the device and the certainty that it was a work of the best 
 art. Perhaps tomorrow the plough may turn it up. We have 
 the signet of the Emperor Constantius II, cut in a beautiful 
 sapphire and showing him spearing a wild boar. A recumbent 
 female figure typifies the city of Caesarea, near which the 
 exploit was accomplished, and all is made clear by the inscrip¬ 
 tion the stone bears. A small sard intaglio of a Victory, en¬ 
 graved in the style of consular art, said to have been found in 
 the sarcophagus of Lucius Scipio Barbatus, Consul 298 B. C., 
 was, if the record be straight, undoubtedly his signet; while 
 King, in pp. 146-147 of his Handbook of Engraved Gems, 
 indulges in one of those speculations always most fascinating 
 and which looks toward the identification of a sard, engraved 
 with a portrait (?) head and half the circumference of a 
 shield (PI. XVIII, 25), with the signet of the great Marcellus, 
 used after his death by Hannibal upon forged letters which 
 he sent to various towns. 
 
 In Chapter III of Part III of this work, I give a list of 
 the devices worn by those historical characters of whose signets 
 
INTEREST IN ANTIQUITY 
 
 7 
 
 we have any record, but even the far slighter and much less 
 consequential stories of two gems in my possession may be 
 of interest here, as indicating the possibilities. 
 
 The first is a mottled jasper, red and yellow, somewhat 
 chipped: a stone favored by the Greek gem-cutters of the fifth 
 century B. C. The character of the work, though rudely 
 and cheaply done, does not prohibit dating it from that period, 
 and the fact that the gem is a ring-stone, without border, 
 indicates the end of the century. It shows a male figure wear¬ 
 ing a long gown and pouring some liquid on the ground from 
 a conical vessel (PI. VIII, 8). At once our thought turns to 
 that closing ceremony of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when liba¬ 
 tions of water were poured toward the East and West from 
 top-shaped vessels. The form of the vessel, the sacerdotal 
 character of the dress, and the peculiarity of the design all 
 point to its being a representation of this act, and such a 
 device would be taken for a signet only by an initiate. Now 
 at the time when we have guessed our gem to have been cut 
 and worn none but a Greek was eligible for initiation, and, 
 doubtless, Athens furnished the great majority of neophytes. 
 Add to this that the stone was procured at Taormina, was 
 probably found in the neighborhood, and that the famous 
 Athenian expedition against Syracuse wintered, 415-416 B. C. 
 at Naxos, the site of which lies just below, and there seems 
 fair reason, at least, to fancy that this very gem was the signet 
 of a soldier of that ill-fated army; not a leader or a man of 
 wealth, but a well-to-do citizen of the greatest city the in¬ 
 tellectual world has ever known, who had come to lay down 
 his life for her empire in a field where misguided ambition led 
 her to her defeat and to the beginning of her decadence. One 
 does not often find an object with more dramatic associations 
 than this. 
 
 The second gem is a rather crude figure of a horse bearing 
 a palm branch (PI. XXVII, 13). The workmanship shows it to 
 be of the Roman period, when the interest in the games of the 
 circus had become a popular passion. Evidently the owner of 
 this signet had taken his favorite racer for a device, the palm 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 branch indicating some victory—some “big-killing”, as our 
 racing men of today might phrase it. In the field are the 
 three Greek letters, ATP, reversed so as to be read in an 
 impression. Possibly this is an abbreviation of the owner’s 
 name, but, in view of the subject and motive, it would be more 
 likely to be that of the horse, and the chance of deciphering it 
 naturally appealed to me. If I found an appropriate name, I 
 reasoned, the probability would be much strengthened. Now 
 in Greek there are not many words that begin with ATP. 
 Outside of a few proper names, none of which seemed very apt, 
 the problem resolved itself into two more striking alternatives. 
 Arpiauro?, “the Unconquered”, struck me as being one that 
 in its very ultimateness might expose an owner to the con¬ 
 stant chance of a rather ridiculous anti-climax. Ar pvroDvp, 
 “the Tireless” or “the Unwearied”, an epithet of Athena, was 
 in every way appropriate, and I believe it to be the correct 
 solution, one that seems to me to add a definite bit of romantic 
 glamor to an otherwise ordinary gem. 
 
 FORGERIES 
 
 I now approach a topic most closely interwoven with the 
 study and collecting of gems, as it is with every other branch 
 of archaeology and connoisseurship. Between the student, the 
 connoisseur, and the collector on the one hand, and their arch 
 enemy the forger on the other, the contest is bitter and, seem¬ 
 ingly, unending. 
 
 I have suggested above why the danger is less, at the 
 present time, in the case of engraved gems than in other and 
 more fashionable fields, but we cannot deny that it is a real 
 danger to most of those for whom this book is written: people 
 whose interest in the subject may be inchoate and whose 
 knowledge is, as yet, slender. These have a right to look for 
 some suggestions that may guide and fortify them, as far as 
 possible, against perils that strike at the very roots of the 
 interest we have and the pleasure we find in such pursuits. 
 
 Let me begin with the indisputable statement that it is 
 
FORGERIES 
 
 9 
 
 always possible, granting the highest measure of knowledge 
 on a subject, the greatest technical skill, and the utmost care, 
 for a forger to produce work in any line that will deceive the 
 most erudite and experienced critic. Then let me add that 
 practically he never quite succeeds in doing it. Somewhere or 
 other he slips, and, sooner or later, detection follows. 
 
 Now if you ask for a hard and fast test or rule that can 
 be applied, such as certain writers have been prompt to give, 
 I can only answer that the very existence of such a test or rule 
 would negative my statement, because the forger would need 
 only to learn it and meet its requirements. It is in study and 
 knowledge of the subject—of the many minute elements that 
 argue for genuineness—that our safety lies, and in the re¬ 
 sultant instinct—a sort of collector’s sixth sense—that is 
 finally acquired from the handling and analysis of the objects 
 themselves. 
 
 For the reason that a rational classification, however 
 arbitrary, is apt to help in the discussion of such matters, if 
 only by formulating our ideas, let me divide intaglios into five 
 classes from the standpoint of their genuineness. 
 
 First: those unquestionably ancient. 
 
 Second: those ancient in all reasonable probability. 
 
 Third: those whose antiquity is a matter of more or 
 less balancing doubts. 
 
 Fourth: those that are probably forgeries. 
 
 Fifth: those that are certainly modern work. 
 
 For the beginner all gems are in the third class, whence, 
 aided by the opinions of students and experts and by his own 
 growing knowledge, he will find them gravitating toward either 
 end of the list. It is only honest to say, however, that, even 
 for the wisest and most erudite, there remain a few that he 
 cannot honestly take from class three, and these are, naturally, 
 the least desirable of all. Classes four and five are always 
 interesting for purposes of study and comparison, but the 
 best advice is to try to confine your purchases to classes one 
 and two. You will make enough mistakes to fill classes three, 
 four and five quite satisfactorily, and the experience you pay 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 for is the best foundation for ultimate knowledge. I would 
 advise the beginner never to give much over five dollars— 
 better one or two—for a gem. Be thankful for the lack of 
 demand that enables you to get them now for such prices, and 
 consider that it is upon finer gems, those for which the forger 
 hopes to get a good price, that he can afford to expend his 
 best knowledge and his most deceptive arts. 
 
 In taking advice always bear in mind the limitations of 
 the dealer. I doubt if any trade is more demoralizing than 
 that in antiquities, and, however honest the man, there is 
 always the temptation to believe what he wants to believe— 
 what it is to his financial interest to believe—especially when 
 it is a mere matter of an opinion or a not very perilous 
 guarantee. Then, too, in view of the small number of gems 
 that come into his hands, the few sales and the trivial prices, 
 I doubt if any dealer, certainly none in America, is an expert. 
 His honest opinion is practically valueless except in the most 
 obvious cases. A point worth considering, however, is that, 
 unless he be consciously and deliberately dishonest, we can 
 often learn something from the locality from which a gem has 
 come, and the fact that the sources of supply of certain dealers 
 are largely local sometimes helps toward diagnosis. A case 
 in point is a little head of Athena, once in my possession, that, 
 at first glance, made me strongly suspicious that it was 
 eighteenth century work. The seller, a dealer, stated that he 
 had got it at Aintab, the ancient Antiochia-ad-Taurum, in 
 Asia Minor. I believed the man to be honest, but, in any 
 event, if he had been going to lie as to the place of discovery, 
 the chances are immeasurable that he would have chosen some 
 point that was more generally known: a name that would 
 have meant something to a buyer instead of one that few 
 Americans are familiar with. In fact, I had observed that 
 “Antioch” and “Tyre” were the sources of most of his gems 
 and I suspected them to be his stock provenances when he 
 didn’t know. Granting, then, the truth of his statement, as 
 I think it may be granted, the probability of a modern for¬ 
 gery ever finding its way to Aintab is so slender that it may 
 
FORGERIES 
 
 11 
 
 be practically ignored. I can add that a closer and more 
 careful study of the stone went far to negative the suspicion 
 to which the first glance gave rise. 
 
 And now let us consider a few of the general principles, 
 which have a bearing in passing on the question of the 
 antiquity of engraved gems. 
 
 Material. —In the first place, remember that the harder 
 and more precious stones were not used by ancient engravers: 
 the diamond and the ruby perhaps never; the sapphire and 
 emerald very rarely. As to the stones that were used, these 
 chapters will indicate more fully, period by period. 
 
 Size. —In the second place, size is to be taken seriously 
 into account, and here we must bear in mind that, with the 
 exception of the earlier forms, scarabs, scaraboids etc. which 
 were pierced, often for swivel rings and generally for suspen¬ 
 sion from w r rist or neck, the stones were made for ring signets 
 and could not be too large for that purpose. It should be 
 noted, too, that many of the late Gnostic talismans and amulets 
 were large and evidently not intended to be worn in rings. Very 
 few ancient intaglios were used as ornaments. The exact 
 opposite is true of the cameos, generally made for the orna¬ 
 mentation of clothes, armor or utensils; but the forgers down 
 to the time of the Poniatowski sale do not seem to have real¬ 
 ized either of these facts. To them a large surface offered 
 better opportunities for groups of figures and they saw no 
 reason against its use in the case of the intaglio. Tims most 
 of the Poniatowski gems betray their falsity by their large size 
 alone. 
 
 Conversely the ancient signet stones were apt to be rel¬ 
 atively thicker than the modern imitations. The old rings 
 were heavy and the gem-cutters, working by hand alone, had 
 no occasion to cut the stones into the very thin slices made 
 easy by our modern mechanical devices. This rule of course 
 is much less universal than the one calling for a circumference 
 not too large for a ring setting, and many thin stones, some 
 of them cut down in modern times, are undoubtedly genuine. 
 Still, the principle is worth remembering and applying. 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Shape. —The ancients may be said to have abhorred 
 angles, and most of their stones are oval or circular. Some 
 few incline toward the square but these are not common and 
 the angles are rarely, if ever, sharp. Octagonal shapes seem 
 to occur only in gems that have been re-cut in mediaeval or 
 modern times, sometimes, probably, on the theory of the 
 octagon’s mystic significance as representing the ogdoad of 
 Pythagoras, or on account of its Masonic vogue. The face of 
 the stone was very often cut convex, and, especially in the 
 cases of transparent and translucent stones, both sides, because 
 the depth thus gained helped the cutting and added to the 
 beauty of the intaglio. A few garnets with convex face and 
 concave back are probably due to desired light effects. A 
 convex back that meets a flat face is anathema among an¬ 
 cient stones. Also it must be remembered that slight ir¬ 
 regularity of outline or back is a very favorable sign. Stones 
 cut by hand often show this. Lathe-shaped stones are absolute¬ 
 ly regular, and only a painstaking forger or one working 
 on a sufficiently important piece to render it worth his while 
 to take pains, bothers to do much hand shaping. Ignorant 
 buyers and rich tourists do not demand it and why should he 
 undertake unnecessary labor? Sometimes on the back of 
 ancient gems, especially sards, are found two slight depres¬ 
 sions or some remains of them. Their purpose is doubtful: 
 perhaps to help fix the gem for engraving or in the ring. This 
 peculiarity has never, to my knowledge, been imitated. 
 
 Surface Appearance. —Naturally most ancient stones 
 show some surface indications of their antiquity, depending of 
 course on the wear and tear of use and on the exposure and 
 vicissitudes of centuries. There is a dullness, occasional 
 scratches and often a minute disintegration of the stone which 
 the glass shows—an even wear on all equally exposed surfaces, 
 which is distinctly different from the elaborate scratching of 
 the forger, the action of powerful acids or the appearance 
 presented by stones that have been crammed down a turkey’s 
 throat and subjected to the action of its gizzard—a not un¬ 
 common trick. Obviously gems found in some tomb where 
 
FORGERIES 
 
 13 
 
 they have been protected from the elements etc. may show 
 little or no signs of the action of time, but the rule generally 
 holds fairly well. 
 
 In this connection, however, must be considered the 
 frequent practice of repolishing ancient gems, if only to clear 
 from the surface the paste with which it was fastened into the 
 ring bezel or the adhering particles of disintegrating metal. 
 Naturally the backs of gems are apt to need and to show this 
 more than the faces, for unless the finder or later owner be 
 very ignorant, he will let the face alone, since a repolished 
 face is not to be desired from an archaeological standpoint. 
 Usually too, the modern repolishing, done for the most part by 
 mechanical means, is not forced deep enough to obliterate 
 entirely the parallel lines of the old hand-polish—the “hog¬ 
 back polish”, so called—which came from rubbing the stone 
 back and forth on a polishing surface. Modern repolishing is 
 sometimes indicated by slight friations at the edges of 
 scratches, a fact which shows that, in fighting the forger, we 
 must try to put ourselves in his place, just as a good general 
 often pierces an enemy’s plans by imagining himself the oppos¬ 
 ing commander and reasoning out what he will do. So the 
 forger in trying to indicate on his own fabrication the orderly 
 events in the history of the gem will first polish, as did the 
 maker, and then mar to show the wear of use and time. None 
 but an honest, if misguided, repolisher who seeks, from his 
 standpoint, to beautify his gem would try to obscure the marks 
 of antiquity. The sequence of elaborate polish after scratch¬ 
 ing is a pretty sure indication of genuineness that none but 
 a very analytical and subtle fabricator would reason out. 
 
 As to the polish of the intaglio itself, in the days when 
 gem-collecting was a fashion this was held to be the surest 
 test of the real antique, but most of the rules then in vogue 
 have been pretty well exploded in tne light of later knowledge. 
 We know now that the ideas of the classic artists as to the 
 polish to be given to the interior of the cutting were different 
 at different times and in, different places. Sometimes a high 
 polish was given, sometimes little or none and, again, the 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 cutter essayed to polish only the larger interior surfaces. This 
 much, however, may be ventured, that something must always 
 be allowed to time, and a fine gem showing brilliant polish 
 throughout the interior of the design must be always regarded 
 with much more suspicion than one that shows no sign of ever 
 having had any. However high the polish may have been at 
 first, two thousand years or thereabouts is bound to bring a 
 greater or less degree of dullness—in the words of Dr. King, 
 “Like that produced by breathing upon the originally high 
 lustre.” This appearance, he stated, it is impossible to imitate. 
 Difficult to imitate would probably be better, for I doubt if 
 any one detail cannot be imitated. At all events, the application 
 of such a rule doubtless requires much more experience than 
 most collectors gain. Dating the work after 300 B. C., lack of any 
 interior polish is not a good sign. Among the late jaspers and 
 crude Gnostic gems there is often little or none, but the 
 Grceco-Roman gem-cutter—even the poor one—seems to have 
 exceeded our forgers in diligence, since one of these latter 
 informed me regretfully that to polish the interior of an 
 intaglio meant more labor than to cut it. Naturally it did not 
 pay him to spend this labor on a cheap stone. 
 
 The probably not very frequent use of ancient stones for 
 modern work should also be mentioned in this connection, as 
 well as the occasional embellishment and re-cutting of ancient 
 designs. 
 
 Workmanship. —From this I am convinced little or 
 nothing is to be learned that will be of use to the average 
 collector in identifying really clever imitations, except where 
 the style of the work is incongruous with the material or the 
 subject. The indications to be drawn from the use of the 
 diamond point, enforced by many experts, are practically 
 valueless. Assuming that you ever learn to distinguish the 
 fine lines made by this instrument from those cut by delicate 
 wheel-work—a matter upon which Furtwangler’s speculations 
 should make us diffident—there is always the question as to 
 how generally the ancients used the “splinter of adamant” 
 (probably not at all much before Pliny’s time), and there is 
 
FORGERIES 
 
 15 
 
 the certainty that some moderns, at least, have used it. How¬ 
 ever the details of the appliances and tools used by ancients 
 and moderns may have varied, the methods and means were 
 too closely akin to show differences in the work that are con¬ 
 sistent enough to have much value. Certainly none but a 
 past expert can apply rules drawn from such differences to 
 decide between a true antique and a clever attempt to imitate 
 one. 
 
 It may be well, however, to mention King’s dictum that 
 flatness of a design, the whole of which is sunken more or less 
 into the stone, is a not uncommon feature of archaic Greek 
 gem-cutting, and an excellent criterion of antique origin. 
 
 Design. —I now come to the province in which the forger 
 is most likely to fail: the subject of the design, its method of 
 presentation, and treatment. To be sure, he may copy literally 
 an ancient gem, paste or coin and he may put it on the right 
 stone of the right shape, but conceit, ignorance and careless¬ 
 ness all combine to lead him into some error that means detec¬ 
 tion. Besides, as a Roman gem-cutter has informed me, it 
 is more difficult to copy literally than to work with a free 
 hand, and experimenting in the line of having copies made 
 has shown me not only that they charge more for such work, 
 but also their practical inability today to accomplish it in 
 the matter of detail. It is here that some knowledge of ancient 
 art in general is necessary as well as of the subjects favored 
 in each epoch and in each place, the way in which they were 
 presented and treated, and the stones used. Thus equipped— 
 and to so equip one’s self is but pleasant study in lines of 
 pretty general culture—you can go down into the market¬ 
 place and bid a modest defiance to the foe. You know beyond 
 reasonable doubt that the most perfect imitation of archaic 
 Greek work cut on a blood-stone Gr a yellow jasper is a for¬ 
 gery because you know the blood-stone and yellow jasper 
 were late materials in the glyptic art. You know, beyond 
 reasonable doubt, that a Gnostic talismanic design cut on a 
 chalcedony scaraboid or a scarab is false because you know 
 that the scarab and scaraboid forms were not used when the 
 
16 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Gnostic philosophy flourished; and you know that an Etruscan 
 inscription on a scarab carelessly cut and with an unorna¬ 
 mented base, indicates that it is neither Etruscan nor Greek 
 because the Etruscan always gave his greatest care to the 
 elaborate cutting and ornamentation of the beetle. The Greeks 
 cut their scarabs carelessly and they lack the base ornamenta¬ 
 tion. Such and many other incongruities serve but to suggest 
 the endless pitfalls that yawn for the forger: his need to 
 know enough to combine everything and combine it right, and 
 it is a knowledge on such matters to which I trust a perusal 
 of this work will help those who may feel an interest in the 
 subject. 
 
 A few general principles that govern the ancient designs 
 may, perhaps, fall naturally into this introduction, leaving the 
 more specific characteristics of periods, schools, and fashions, 
 for the following chapters. 
 
 In the first place, the subjects, while numerous, were 
 distinctly limited. These will be best treated in the chapters 
 under their epochs, while for the identification of the different 
 deities and personages, which constitute a large proportion of 
 the designs, I shall give in Part II a list of deities and heroes, 
 the aspect under which they were represented, and the at¬ 
 tributes one or more of which may accompany them. Certain 
 gods and personifications such as Jupiter, Hermes, Venus Vic- 
 trix, Victory and Fortuna are found very commonly, and many 
 types vary so slightly in pose and attributes as to suggest 
 famous statues as the basis of a conventionalized method of 
 presentation on the gems. Historical scenes, as opposed to 
 the mythological and those drawn from the epic cycles, are 
 so rare as to arouse always the strongest suspicion. 
 
 By far the greatest number of ancient signets bore but a 
 single figure; two and three appear much more rarely, and 
 where many are shown it is nearly always late Roman work 
 or, more frequently, modern. The chances of genuineness de¬ 
 crease in the ratio of the number of figures on a gem, except 
 in the cases of certain subjects which will be treated under 
 their proper epochs. 
 
FORGERIES 
 
 17 
 
 As for the composition, which down to the best Hellenic 
 period was so drawn as to fill the entire field of the stone, 
 remember, above all things, that the leading characteristics of 
 ancient art were simplicity and restraint. Except on early 
 Greek and on Etruscan gems you will find few forced attitudes 
 or violent motions. Repose, soberness, statuesque pose, and 
 lack of what may be called dramatic invention mark the best 
 Greek styles and their successor the Graeco-Roman. Whatever 
 they represented was shown literally and with simple dignity. 
 Nothing fanciful was allowed to intrude, for a large proportion 
 of the subjects embodied, whether religious or from the epic 
 cycles, were, in a sense, scriptural to both makers and wearers. 
 When we compare the classic work with the dramatic poses, the 
 pronounced action, and the figurative embellishments of the 
 Renaissance and with later attempts to imitate ancient art in 
 representations of ancient subjects, the difference is most strik¬ 
 ing; and, again, the Poniatowski gems marked its extreme (PL 
 XXXII, 20). With the fewest exceptions it has seemed almost 
 impossible for modern workmen to understand this and to re¬ 
 strain their eagerness to present what they consider a good 
 picture. Once grounded on a little comparative examination, 
 you will find your sense developing with more or less rapidity 
 until you will -feel , at first glance, the falsity of many pretended 
 antiques. 
 
 In one field, however, the would-be imitators have been 
 unable to follow out their self-convicting tendencies. To be 
 sure, they cannot very well do so in the case of attributes and 
 symbols alone, but these have never been popular with them or 
 their customers. They were common among the ancients be¬ 
 cause of their luck-bringing powers, but their attraction for 
 modern buyers, other than students, is far less than that of 
 figures and heads. Heads, then, portrait or otherwise, are the 
 subjects where the most marked difference between ancient and 
 modern work fails us as a guide, and, by a natural evolution, 
 heads have proved the most popular and the most dangerous 
 fabrications through all the age of forgery. The number of 
 portraits, for which the imperial coinage furnished the best of 
 
18 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 models,, are many and, together with those of deities and the 
 purely ideal heads, they flooded the market of the eighteenth 
 and early nineteenth centuries to such an extent that I would 
 advise him whose interest and knowledge are in the early stage 
 to buy few if any. Later he will come to know one, here and 
 there, as a true product of ancient art. Until then, if he buys 
 at all, let him frankly admit that he buys for experience. 
 
 It may also be suggested that the average forger was in¬ 
 fluenced in his choice of subjects by his conception of what 
 would be readily understood by and pleasing to his patrons. 
 Therefore, besides portraits and other heads, we find these gen¬ 
 try favoring subjects from the Erotic cycle; Cupid, under his 
 later form of a mischievous child with wings and engaged in 
 various and often fantastic occupations, Venus in her nude or 
 semi-nude aspects and many of the more grossly Erotic repre¬ 
 sentations. These examples will serve to exemplify my point. 
 On the other hand, few forgers have attempted or will attempt 
 sacerdotal subjects or anything that does not carry a clear 
 meaning to the greatest number of possible buyers. The general 
 public is and must always be their natural prey. The real 
 students are fewer, generally poorer, and more difficult to de¬ 
 ceive, and the subjects that appeal most to these are the ones 
 where the pitfalls gape everywhere for the fabricator. The more 
 clever he be the more surely will he follow the line of least re¬ 
 sistance toward the field of his richest harvest. 
 
 Signatures.— In the matter of artists’ signatures we find 
 a remarkable example of an upset in the forger’s craft. During 
 the most flourishing period of his cycle, the presence of the 
 name of some supposed artist of antiquity on a gem was sup¬ 
 posed to add both to its claim for genuineness and to its value. 
 Now we know that this is one of the best evidences of fraud. 
 There are signed gems, but they are very rare, and the artist’s 
 name is sometimes followed by the word, ejioiei, is apt to be un¬ 
 obtrusive, and is found only on the larger intaglios or on work 
 of a high class. Ordinarily inscriptions on stones, except where 
 they are mottoes or, as in the case of Etruscan scarabs, where 
 they describe the subject, indicate the owner’s name, usually 
 
FOKGERIES 
 
 19 
 
 abbreviated or often in the genitive case. It seems strange 
 that it was not realized a hundred years ago that another man’s 
 name was the last thing an owner would want on his signet. It 
 is to be accounted for in the comparatively few instances where 
 it is evidently authentic, by the desire of the owner to show a 
 signed specimen of the work of some artist of high repute, and 
 the fact is often indicated by the enoisi. The unobtrusiveness 
 of the name itself, while it may argue for a signature, is by no 
 means conclusive. 
 
 Inscriptions. —Generally speaking, the attempt to increase 
 the value of a forgery by adding an inscription of any kind is 
 very apt to lead to detection. As a rule, and especially in sig¬ 
 nets, these are reversed on the gem so as to read right in the 
 impression. Still, there are many exceptions to this, and on 
 stones intended primarily for talismans and amulets we may 
 say there is no rule. It is by some blunder in an inscription 
 that the forger often gives the clue for his own detection: a style 
 of lettering incongruous with the period of the gem as otherwise 
 indicated, improbable subject matter of the inscription, such 
 as descriptive legends on pretty much anything but Etruscan 
 scarabs and very late work, or yet some other inconsistency. 
 
 Of course considerable knowledge is necessary in order to 
 apply this test. The ancients were fond of abbreviations 
 and elisions, and they often reversed a letter, so that in some 
 cases, what the modern would call the most careful correctness 
 is, in itself, the basis of suspicion. It is surprising, however, 
 how quickly one can familiarize oneself with much that, at 
 first glance, seems well-nigh hopelessly involved. Knowledge 
 on one point flashes illumination on another, and inspires the 
 seeker with an ardor than which no pleasure is greater or more 
 profitable. 
 
PART I 
 
 HISTORY OF GEM ENGRAVING—CHARACTERISTICS 
 AND DEVELOPMENTS OF EACH PERIOD 
 

CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY WORK.—MINOAN AND MYCEN2EAN GEMS.— 
 THE GREEK MIDDLE AGES.—MELIAN OR ISLAND 
 STONES.—FROM 3000 (?) TO 600 B. C. 
 
 MINOAN GEMS 
 
 The earliest gems which, from their character and place 
 of discovery at least, may be called Greek have been found in 
 Crete. “iEgean”, “Minoan”, “Mycenaean” are words that have 
 hardly, as yet, passed beyond the stage of tentative usage, but 
 perhaps the most promising characterisations of the civiliza¬ 
 tions in these regions from, say, 3,000 to 900 B. C. (circa) is to 
 call that of Crete, Minoan, that of the mainland, Mycenaean, 
 and the whole, HSgean. 
 
 Whatever may have been the ethnic relationship of this 
 race or these kindred races with the Hellenes of history, the 
 spirit that inspired their civilization and its resultant art was 
 one and the same, and its development, despite the so-called 
 “dark ages” that fall between the periods, was, in a measure, 
 consecutive. It evidenced a motive force definitely foreign to 
 that which dominated the Orientals and the Egyptians; it was 
 an art that revolted at the very beginning from the conventional 
 and religious trammels that have always hampered that of the 
 East; it exhaled the breath of individualism and freedom — a 
 freshness, a buoyancy, the joy in life for its own sake—however 
 defective the craftsmanship that strove to express these things. 
 That there were communication and reciprocal influences be¬ 
 tween Greece and the islands on the one hand and Asia and 
 Africa on the other is undoubted, but the progressiveness of the 
 West and the conservatism of the East forbade that either 
 
 23 
 
24 
 
 MINOAN GEMS 
 
 should be copyists. All this is told on the gems with a clearness 
 and certainty that strike the keynote of the story of these far 
 distant ages. 
 
 When we come to fix a date for our earliest Cretan intaglios 
 it must be recognized as highly speculative. A few centuries 
 then mean little as yet to the wisest theorists, and they them¬ 
 selves recognize, in the light of many past overthrows, that the 
 data tomorrow discloses may negative the conclusions of today. 
 Speculatively, however, and giving due consideration to present 
 knowledge and present deductions, let us place the birth of 
 Minoan and iEgean gem-cutting at about 3000 B. C. It may 
 be earlier, but let it go at that. 
 
 Naturally the first gems were the softer and more easily 
 worked stones and it may be that the large deposits of different 
 colored steatites that have been found in Crete explain her pre¬ 
 cedence over the Greek mainland in the art. Such stones could 
 be worked by hand-drills, without the aid of the wheel and of 
 the more finished tools, and it is probable that the harder gems 
 were not cut before the end of the third millennium, perhaps later. 
 Furtwangler has maintained in his Die Antiken Gemmen that 
 the Mycenaean stones were not used for signets, but only as 
 talismans, amulets and ornaments. The recent discovery, how¬ 
 ever, made by Mr. D. G. Hogarth at Zacro, in Crete, of hundreds 
 of clay sealings (See Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. XXII) 
 shows that at least the Minoan gems of an early period were 
 signets as well. In the light of this testimony one can hardly 
 accept Furtwangler’s limitation of uses of the mainland gems 
 of a later date. 
 
 Considering now the Cretan stones, we find a variety of 
 shapes. The earliest seem to have been, in the main, rather 
 
 short triangular prisms of soft stone, 
 bearing more or less rude pictographic 
 symbols on each of the three sides (Fig. 
 1; PI. I, 7). The designs were often sur¬ 
 rounded by elliptical grooves in the form 
 of cartouches and the stones were pierced 
 lengthwise. Single human figures or, at 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
SHAPES AND SUBJECTS 
 
 25 
 
 most, groups of two or three in various attitudes and employ¬ 
 ments, birds, animals, vases and other objects are found on 
 these but no linear symbols. The subjects were treated more 
 pictorially and were less conventionalized than those of later 
 date. Often the human figure shown on one side seems to rep¬ 
 resent the owner and his employment, as that of shepherd. 
 Monsters are also found, such as a lion-headed demon which 
 perhaps represents some semi-divine protector or mythical an¬ 
 cestor of the owner. Groups of dots occur on some stones, per¬ 
 haps with the idea of filling up the field, as was often done 
 with a feather design or some other ornamental motive or, in 
 many cases, as Evans maintains, these dots may have a com¬ 
 mercial significance and be part of a numerical system. In his 
 Scripta Minoa he has established pretty clearly his claim that 
 the Cretan gems show a definite development of the symbolic 
 idea through pictographs and hieroglyphics systematized about 
 2800-2200 B. C., and gradually conventionalized toward 2000 
 B. C., into linear characters. Together with this development 
 on the one side there was naturally, on the other, the growth of 
 purely art ideals, until, finally, the two ideas were disassociated 
 and what was picture-writing became the picture or the writing, 
 as the case might be. 
 
 Later, the tendency as to shape was to elongate the trian¬ 
 gular prism form (Fig. 2). The stones were still soft ones, 
 
 steatite, serpentine, etc., either 
 with or without the cartouche 
 groove. Both hieroglyphic and 
 linear symbols were then used 
 and one or more sides of the 
 prism were often occupied by 
 purely decorative motives, some- 
 from those on the Egyptian 
 
 Fig, 
 
 times apparently derived 
 scarabs of the 12th dynasty. 
 
 Finally, and at a period co-asval with the best Mycenaean 
 gems of the mainland, we find the elongated triangular prism 
 worked in the harder stones: jasper, carnelian, chalcedony, 
 crystal, amethyst, and hematite, often with the cartouche and 
 
26 
 
 MIXOAN GEMS 
 
 the perforated ends surrounded by a triangular groove. On 
 these are hieroglyphics in their most conventionalized forms. 
 
 Quadrangular prisms now occur (PI. I, 1), sometimes with 
 the four sides equilateral, and, also, other shapes, including the 
 
 Mycenaean lenticulars (PI. I, 
 3, 5, 8, 9, 10) often with de¬ 
 signs on both sides, glandular 
 stones (PI. I, 2,11) and other 
 mainland forms, and, more 
 rarely, gems identical in 
 shape with modern watch- 
 charm seals (Fig. 3), with 
 variously fashioned tops or handles, elaborately worked and 
 with the design cut on the base. There is one, an agate, some¬ 
 what in the form of a scaraboid, the relief side of which is 
 worked with a convoluted design (Fig. 4), and a unique, heart- 
 shaped amethyst with a flying eagle and other characters, 
 figured by Evans in his first article. 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 Probably co-seval with the shorter triangular stones are, 
 also, many button-shaped seals (Fig. 5) bored through the top 
 and bearing often 12th dynasty scarab decorative motives, and, 
 much more rarely, truncated cones that may have been derived 
 at an early date from northern Syria. All are pierced for sus¬ 
 pension from the wrist or neck of the owner. 
 
 In considering the different shapes it will be well to bear 
 in mind that hard and fast rules are difficult to frame in view 
 of the present state of knowledge, if, indeed, such rules can ever 
 be justified. It is largely a matter of apparent tendencies, and 
 forms other than those yet noted probably exist. At a time 
 when cutting the stones was difficult, it is easy to imagine that 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 27 
 
 the original lines of a carnelian or chalcedony pebble may have 
 had a good deal to do with the shape of the finished gem. 
 
 As for the subjects engraved on the Cretan gems there is 
 found considerable variety and, at the same time, a constant 
 repetition of many devices developing from the pictographic to 
 the conventionalized and linear and seeming to indicate clearly 
 their significance as characters of a written language. Such 
 symbols as human eyes (PI. I, lb), a bent leg (PL I, 1c), St. 
 Andrew’s crosses with balls at the end of each arm (PI. I, la, 
 Id), broad arrows, a head pictured instead of the animal to 
 which it belongs, a spray for a plant, and indications of a 
 gesture-language, like a bent arm, the hand with open palm, and 
 crossed arms with the thumbs bent back, recur constantly. Of 
 other but perhaps somewhat cognate designs are a wolfs head 
 with protruding tongue, a dove preening its wing, a ship with 
 two crescents above (PL I, la), a pig standing before a door, 
 a fish (Pl. I, 6c), implements (Pl. I, Id) and a harp, some of 
 which, in all probability, indicate the callings of the owners. 
 
 Also there are animals (Pl. I, 2, 3, 4a, 6c, 7a, 7c, 10) ; deer, 
 wolves (or dogs), goats, lions, bulls, tortoises, four owls group¬ 
 ed around a stellar disc with twelve rays, a cow suckling calf, 
 a she-goat and kid, birds, a duck standing, a flying dove, scor¬ 
 pions, crabs, fish, shells, and the spider, common here but un¬ 
 known on Mycenaean gems. Often the animal’s head is turned 
 back (Pl. I, 3). Of these designs many are rudely cut while 
 others are naturalistic and spirited. Vegetable forms, like 
 flowers and trees, and motives drawn from them are common 
 (Pl. I, lc, 9), and an eagle with zig-zag lines in the field doubt¬ 
 less expresses the idea of the thunder-bird. The last occurs on a 
 late gem. On one are four vases; on another a solar (or stellar) 
 disk with revolving rays. The charioteer driving two horses 
 (Pl. I, 11) represents the best period of Minoan work. Many 
 show hunting scenes and animals attacking their prey or two 
 or more men in active groups (Pl. I, 8), sometimes, apparently, 
 fighting or engaged in some sport. Often the work is so rude 
 that it is not easy to specify the subject (Pl. I, 4, 7). The 
 human figures are apt to be what we would call wasp-waisted 
 
28 
 
 MINOAN GEMS 
 
 (PI. I, 2, 8, 11), and the female ones often wear bell-like skirts 
 (PI. I, 6b). Among the miscellaneous devices are shields, lotos 
 flowers, labyrinth schemes, decorative patterns, often evolved 
 from the spiral, as on Egyptian scarabs, a canopy with four 
 forked supports, and five towers standing on a hill. 
 
 Monster types (PI. I, 7b, 9) are very common and were, 
 doubtless, held to be luck-bringing. Among them are a human 
 figure with bull’s head, a man-stag, a man-boar, an eagle-woman 
 in variant forms, grading down to mere symbolic representa¬ 
 tions, a winged sphins, a Pegasos (or hippokamp), a double¬ 
 headed dog with a single wing rising between the heads, lion¬ 
 headed figures with human arms and birds’ bodies, birds’ heads 
 with lion masks, and, also, many bird masks and bull masks. 
 These mask types tend constantly to develop into mere con¬ 
 ventional representations of the idea. There is a sphinx with 
 a cap and butterfly wings, a grotesque human bust set in a 
 butterfly’s (or bat’s) wing, the rear view of a squatting griffin¬ 
 like monster with butterfly wings, a monster with human head, 
 lion’s legs and wings covering the body, winged human figures, 
 and even a pair of raised arms with an antler between for a 
 head. These examples will give a fair idea of the scope of the 
 Cretan representations. Not infrequently is shown a heraldic 
 tendency toward balanced groupings, such as a pedestal with 
 lions regardant on either side (PI. I, 3). The wings with which 
 many of the monsters are equipped are of several types. That 
 of the hawk or eagle is much the commonest and there is also 
 the butterfly (or bat) type and the purely decorative, curving 
 forward or like a spiral. Both the idea of heraldic grouping 
 and the wing tips curving forward show a distinct oriental 
 influence. 
 
 Cult or sacerdotal pictures representing worship are also 
 found. An armed goddess with a lion is probably of this 
 character, as is, also, the goddess with the bow (PI. I, 5). In 
 the field of many gems, along with the pictorial design, are what 
 seem to be purely linear symbols (PI. I, 1, 2). The swastika is 
 cut in the field of several and, more rarely, the cross. The lat¬ 
 ter, doubtless, was suggested by some Egyptian type. It is 
 
CHRONOLOGY 
 
 29 
 
 difficult to place even approximate dates of many pictures, 
 especially those of which only the impressions were found and 
 where we have not the material as a guide, while mere merit of 
 the cutting is not a safe criterion, since here, as later and every¬ 
 where at the best periods of each art development, there must 
 always have been many, poor workmen who cut cheap stones 
 cheaply for poorer patrons. When, however, the idea of the 
 composition is ambitious it is fair to assume we are not far 
 from some cultured epoch, as in the cases of a man in a boat 
 repelling a sea monster, a pugilist before a column and a scene 
 which looks as if it might have been taken from a bull ring. 
 
 It seems probable that the best period of Minoan art was 
 somewhere around 1800 to 1600 B. C. This civilization ap¬ 
 parently closes about 1200 B. C. 
 
 MYCEN./EAN GEMS 
 
 Turning now from the island thalassocracy of Crete to the 
 mainland of Greece; from Minoan civilization to Mycenaean, but 
 all of kindred type and iEgean, we find a somewhat similar 
 development and collapse: a civilization of a high order running 
 from somewhere in the early part of the third millennium to 
 1200 B. C., according to Dr. Furtwangler, and extended by 
 other investigators down to 1000 B. C. or even several centuries 
 later. One reason, perhaps, for the uncertainty of these dates 
 lies in the fact that the invasion of the Northern races, probably 
 a kindred but more barbaric stock, was rather in the nature of 
 a gradual migration, and the so-called cataclasm was really a 
 series of cataclasms resulting in a decay that reached its climax 
 in ultimate barbaric ascendency. Furtwangler puts the best 
 period of Mycenaean art at from 1600 to 1400 B. C., a date that 
 we might fairly extend somewhat earlier in view of the Cretan 
 revelations. 
 
 Considering the purely Mycenaean gems, these, like the 
 Cretan, were first soft stones, usually steatite, three-sided with 
 approximately right-angled sides, cut and bored by hand and 
 bearing rough, primitive designs of men, animals, vases, orna¬ 
 ments and characters. 
 
30 
 
 MYCENAEAN GEMS 
 
 In the best periods we find the purely art element pre¬ 
 dominating and the characters less used. Soft stones, cut by 
 hand with the drill and graving tool, were still used for 
 ordinary work, but intaglios of a high class were engraved 
 with the wheel on carnelian, chalcedony, banded agate and 
 sardonyx cut both parallel with and across the layers. 
 Amethyst and rock-crystal are not rare, and hematite, por¬ 
 phyry, serpentine and jasper are also found. Glass pastes 
 were, at least, known during the late Mycenaean Epoch. 
 
 The form of the later stones was usually that of a flat 
 disc or lens (Fig. 6) always bored through. Less common 
 
 shapes were, the so-called glandular (Fig. 7), and, rarer still, 
 
 r ’ * 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 The character of the work on the harder stones is often 
 of a high order. The makers lacked the patience to elaborate 
 details such as the Asiatic craftsmen delighted in, but they 
 were artists to a degree to which the others never attained. 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 31 
 
 Freshness, liveliness, naturalness, enthusiasm, originality and 
 imagination, often verging upon the fantastic, characterized 
 their work. They had a penchant for movement and violent 
 action, though the execution tended to stiffness and constraint 
 despite the freedom of idea. Muscles and women’s breasts and 
 hips were accentuated and the hair was freely handled. Clothes 
 gave the form of the body, but folds and the skeleton within 
 the form were beyond them as were perspective and fore¬ 
 shortening. Above all, they did not borrow or copy. Deco¬ 
 ration was worked out to some extent and a controlling motive 
 was to fill the whole picture surface of the stone, even at a 
 sacrifice of pose and grace. Through it all run the signs of a 
 powerful folk-lore. 
 
 The subjects are, in the main, similar to those on the 
 Minoan seals. Animals predominate: lions, bulls, goats, boars, 
 pigs and deer, with their heads and legs frequently much 
 distorted so as to fill the space (PI. II, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 
 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21). Sometimes these were grouped 
 heraldically (PI. II, 14), often back to back with heads re¬ 
 gardant, and a column, an altar or the sacred tree of the 
 East between. More rare is such a fantastic grouping as is 
 shown on a gem on which the bodies of three animals are 
 provided with but one head. Often one beast is attacking 
 another. Also many birds are found, fishes (PI. II, 10), es¬ 
 pecially dolphins, and trees. Much more rarely only the head 
 of an animal was pictured. Of inanimate subjects there are 
 ships, vases, buildings and geometric decorations, and one gem 
 seems to show a thicket or wood (PI. II, 6). 
 
 Turning to the human types, these are, for the most part, 
 worked into representations of combats (PI. II, 15), chariots 
 (see PI. I, 11), hunting (PI. II, 4), ceremonial dances, sacrifi¬ 
 cial scenes (PI. II, 9) and sacerdotal worship. The men are 
 apt to be slender waisted as on the Cretan gems (PI. II, 10, 
 15), and the women usually wear the same bell-like skirts 
 (PI. II, 12). There is a suggestion in the prominence often 
 given to female figures that the position of women in the 
 Mycenaean age was not low. 
 
32 
 
 GBEEK MIDDLE AGES 
 
 The cult element was in evidence in this art. Of divine 
 types we find representations of both gods and heroes (PI. II, 
 1). Ares is shown armed with a spear and, also, a goddess 
 dressed in long robes, holding, sometimes, a bow and, sometimes, 
 poppy-heads or a mirror. The reflection in the mirror may 
 carry the suggestion of the spirit idea. She is accompanied 
 by a swan or a ram, tHe figure and attributes denoting some 
 combination of the Artemis and Aphrodite cults (PI. II, 12). 
 
 Demonic monsters of mixed forms (PI. II, 1) are frequent, 
 as on the Cretan stones. These are usually human to the 
 waist and have wings and animals’ heads. The man-bull and 
 man-lion were most favored; also the sphinx and griffin types 
 are found with varied developments (PL II, 2, 11, 16). 
 
 Before closing this description of the Mycenaean gems, I 
 must quote a disquieting paragraph from a letter written to 
 me by Dr. Furtwiingler and dated April 10, 1907. He writes: 
 
 “A very dangerous kind of forgeries comes in the last 
 years from Athens, very clever imitations of Mycenaean and 
 Archaic Greek gems, sometimes, even, with inscriptions.” 
 (This probably refers to the latter class, as a Mycenaean gem 
 with an inscription other than pictographic or hieroglyphic 
 would expose itself promptly). “One must be very cautious 
 against these things. The forgeries betray themselves by 
 mistakes in the forms of the stones and by the quality of the 
 material, and, of course, in the style; but great experience is 
 needed to guard against them.” 
 
 GREEK MIDDLE AGES 
 
 With the decay of Mycenaean culture came what are 
 called the Dark Ages in Greece which extend down into the 
 seventh century B. C. The work on hard stones was no longer 
 possible. Only soft and opaque material that could be cut 
 without use of the wheel seems to have been available. 
 Probably little of this was done in Greece itself, since Oriental 
 forms, unusual or not found in the Mycenaean Epoch, now 
 appear; not, it is true, the cylinders, but flat stones with a 
 
SHAPES AND SUBJECTS 
 
 33 
 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 bored handle (Fig. 11), rough cone shapes (Fig. 12) grading 
 down to the flattened hemisphere (Fig. 13), from which it is 
 possible that the shape called the scaraboid, so important at 
 a later period, w T as developed. Some few gems that can be 
 called scaraboids (Fig. 14) are found even now. At first 
 circular forms of the engraved field prevailed and, afterward, 
 elliptical. There, too, were variant disc shapes (Figs. 15, 16, 
 
 Fig. 14. Fig. 15. Fig. 16. Fig-. 17 . 
 
 and 17) and approximately truncated cones engraved, usually, 
 on both sides, while the flattened parallelopipedon, usually 
 pierced, was borrowed from the Egyptians and engraved on 
 one, two, four or all six surfaces. More rarely the top is bev¬ 
 eled off, making a smaller picture surface above. We find, 
 also, imitations of Egyptian scarabs, both as to form and 
 technique, in blue Egyptian pottery, glass and soft stones, 
 with, occasionally, some other figure substituted for the 
 beetle relief. Scarabs, too, were imported from Egypt and 
 Phoenicia in considerable numbers. 
 
 There was a distinct limitation of subjects in this period. 
 No demonic figures appear, though PI. Ill, lb seems to 
 be an exception. Generally we find only very rudely drawn 
 men (PI. Ill, 2, 6, 8), a few European animals (PI. Ill, la, 2, 
 
 3, 5b, 6, 7) and various geometric decorative designs (PI. Ill, 
 
 4, 5a). Through it all there seems to be a rising Oriental 
 influence shown by the frequent occurrence of the tree of life 
 (PI. Ill, 7) and of wings with the tips bent forward as in the 
 Melian gems (PI. Ill, 10, 11). 
 
34 
 
 MELIAN STONES 
 
 MELIAN STONES 
 
 Toward the end of the epoch, in the seventh century B. C., 
 the Ionic Greeks began to take the lead, as indicated by the 
 triumph of the Oriental ideals, though the earlier lessons of 
 exactness still controlled and regulated a new and growing 
 Greek art, original and yet receptive of foreign ideas. 
 
 At this time there is definite evidence at Melos and, to a 
 less degree, at other points, of a recrudescence of Mycenaean 
 forms. These gems are known as “Island stones” or “Melian 
 stones” from their principal place of discovery, and seem to 
 have had only a local meaning. Perhaps they should be placed 
 in the next chapter, as being more akin to Archaic Greek art 
 than to Mycenaean, but it seems more orderly to clear away 
 here all the early and mixed developments. 
 
 Very few of these gems were engraved by the wheel or 
 on hard, translucent stones. Most of them are crudely execut¬ 
 ed hand-work on steatite and other soft materials. 
 
 The shapes are for the great part Mycenaean; lenticular 
 and glandular, beside which are found some of the Cretan 
 forms, three sided prisms, conical and hemispherical stones, 
 one of these last being engraved on the convex side. There 
 are also a few cylinders, scarabs are more common and we 
 have somewhat more frequent examples of the scaraboid. 
 
 The style of the pictures, however, is nearer to that of the 
 Archaic Greek, though the twistings and contortions of the 
 bodies, popular in the earlier epoch, were frankly, usually 
 badly, imitated (PI. Ill, 12). The work lacks the imaginative 
 freshness and the naturalism of that on the Mycenaean gems. 
 
 Among the subjects, animals were most popular; a small 
 number of conventional types being constantly repeated. The 
 front legs are generally raised, as if for jumping or galloping 
 (PI. Ill, 11, 12, 15, 16) ; the hind legs are usually together, 
 when often only the nearer one is represented (PI. Ill, 15, 16). 
 A favorite pose was the regardant (PI. Ill, 14, 15, 16), but 
 more conventional and stiff than in the Mycenaean types. 
 Sometimes they showed only the front half of the body or 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 35 
 
 two front halves symmetrically arranged (See PL III, la). Hair 
 and feathers were indicated by parallel lines and there was 
 often considerable ornamentation with little borings (PL III, 
 12, 14), arrow-feather motives (Pl. III, 11, 12) and, more 
 rarely, rosettes, lotos leaves, palms, etc. The favorite animals 
 were goats (Pl. III, 12, 15), lions, deer, oxen, boars (PL III, 
 13), water-birds, lizards and fishes, especially the cuttle-fish. 
 Sea-monsters (Pl. III, 9, 10) and winged animals were often 
 shown and the wings are usually bent forward under a deco¬ 
 rative impulse that, beginning even in Cretan art, pertained 
 through the Archaic Greek period (Pl. III, 10, 11, 16). The 
 sphinx and griffin (Pl. III, 16) were favorites and the Chimaira 
 (Pl. III, 14) appeared for the first time. Dragons also were 
 pictured and, later, winged horses (PL III, 11), goats with 
 fishes’ tails, winged man-demons, often with fish combinations, 
 snake-demons, gorgons and the centaur borrowed from the 
 East. Otherwise the Mycenaean demonic types are lacking. 
 Mythological subjects, too, were represented, such as Herakles 
 fighting with what seems to be a sea-demon, the hero being 
 shown naked and with a quiver (Pl. III, 9), and Prometheus, 
 chained to his rock, preyed on by the eagle. A prone figure 
 attacked by a large bird (Pl. III, 17a) may be either Prome¬ 
 theus or Tityos, though, if it be the latter, as Furtwangler 
 suggests, it is rather surprising that only one vulture is 
 shown. Perseus and Medousa are also found. 
 
 Naturally there were many purely human figures and 
 scenes, such as a charioteer driving four horses, and the en¬ 
 gravers even succeeded, though rather rudely, in picturing 
 emotions, such as rage or sorrow. Inanimate objects, like 
 trees, ships and vases, were rare. 
 
 With this summary we may close the story of the early 
 gems and take up the consecutive development of purely Greek 
 art. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ARCHAIC GREEK GEMS 
 
 From the seventh to the sixth century the use of the 
 seal in Greece increased, so that we find in Diogenes Laertius 
 an account of one of Solon’s laws which forbade a gem-cutter 
 to retain a copy of any seal he had made. 
 
 Under the heading of “Archaic Greek” we shall consider 
 the gems of from 600 to about 480 B. C., a period within which 
 the art of gem-cutting developed through archaism into the 
 best that the world has ever produced. It may be divided into 
 two epochs: the purely archaic from 600 to 500 B. C., and the 
 transition epoch from 500 B. C. to about 480. The so-called 
 “Best Period”, running on to the end of the century, has been 
 treated by some writers with these, but I prefer to consider it 
 in the next chapter. 
 
 During the earlier part of the transition epoch there 
 still remained some measure of archaic stiffness which 
 gradually disappeared, and we find, at last, the greatest breadth 
 of conception together with the perfect freedom of execution 
 which marks the summit of the art. 
 
 In the sixth century the prevailing form was the scarab, 
 derived from earlier Egyptian importations, but the scaraboid 
 was not uncommon, varying in shape from 
 Fig. 14 to Fig. 18. Since, for the Greeks, 
 the scarab held no religious significance 
 but represented to them merely a decorative 
 motive, as the art of the intaglio advanced, 
 the back of the gem became less important and it was found 
 much easier to round it off. The suggestion from the flattened 
 cone forms was obvious, and the scaraboid seems a perfectly 
 natural development on several lines. Incidentally the older 
 Mycenaean forms disappear. 
 
 36 
 
MATERIALS AND FORMS 
 
 37 
 
 Materials. —Now are found the beautiful hard stones cut 
 by the wheel—materials and methods little known in Egypt. 
 The soft stones engraved by hand gradually fall into disuse 
 except a clear, greenish steatite quite common among the 
 Melian gems of the seventh century and, also, though more 
 rarely, black steatite. Glass pastes, too, appear occasionally, 
 especially a dark blue glass, perhaps intended to imitate lapis 
 lazuli, also a green and, toward the end of the period, a white. 
 
 The characteristic substances, however, were the trans¬ 
 parent quartzes; carnelian, chalcedony, banded agate and 
 sardonyx cut across the layers, except where, as in the case 
 of eye-agates, the appearance of the stone suggested something 
 mystical. Less commonly are found green jasper and rock 
 crystal. Plasma and hematite are very rare and, later, drop out 
 almost entirely. Amethyst does not seem to have been used 
 at all. 
 
 The scarabs of this period are generally quite small and 
 are marked by a lively and faithful rendering of the beetle 
 relief, not however elaborately worked out in detail as were 
 the Etruscan and lacking the Etruscan ornamentation around 
 the base. Furtwangler distinguishes a certain cheap class of 
 scarabs and scaraboids as Peloponnesian. The scaraboids 
 throughout the entire period were often much larger than the 
 scarabs, and in the fifth century they become the prevailing 
 form—among the Ionic group almost the exclusive one, though 
 in Greece proper and Magna Griecia the scarab was still 
 popular. Sometimes there is substituted for the beetle an 
 animaFs head or a whole animal, a mask, a seiren or a human 
 figure in some attitude. Rarely there were hemispherical and 
 disc shaped gems, and ring-stones with the engraved surface 
 convex began to appear toward the end of the period, as we 
 shall note more particularly in the next chapter. 
 
 A characteristic of Archaic ideas was the filling of the 
 entire field of the picture surface, an end often attained by 
 sacrificing a more natural attitude to one that is stiff and 
 forced, though to no such extent as in earlier periods. The 
 design was always surrounded by a border, generally a milled 
 
38 
 
 ARCHAIC PERIOD 
 
 border of oblique strokes, sometimes one of dots and very 
 rarely a dot and line (Fig. 19; See PI. VIII, 1). Occasionally 
 Greek scarab designs are surrounded by a simple line like the 
 Phoenician, but not uncommonly we find the border worked 
 
 H33EEEZEEEE3I O®®0©OOG> 
 
 Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21. 
 
 out with more elaborate richness such as Fig. 20 (See, also, PI. 
 IV, 2) or Fig. 21. The picture, while generally adapted to the 
 border, often had a line to stand on as in the Phoenician scarabs 
 and sometimes, especially among the Eastern Greeks, the space 
 below was filled with crossed lines or, more rarely, with some 
 definite design like a lotos flower or an animal mask (PI. V, 19). 
 
 Technique.- —The interior of the engraving on the old 
 Archaic stones was generally not polished, even in the most 
 carefully worked out examples. Later we find a faint polish, 
 but only at the end of the epoch appears, occasionally, a com¬ 
 plete polish of the picture which is characteristic of the best 
 stones. Details of anatomy were avoided at first. The artists 
 were enough of artists to be cautious and confine themselves 
 within the limits of their powers. The naked figure of the 
 early Archaic style is characteristic in its tendency to rep¬ 
 resent the straight stomach muscles between breast and navel 
 by three or more rolls (PI. IV, 4; V, 1, 15, 16) while in the de¬ 
 veloped and later style there are but two as in nature. As 
 early as 500 B. C., the beginning of the transition period, the 
 artists seem to have understood the human body fully. All 
 the lines and muscles are portrayed accurately, if often rudely: 
 the linea alba running down from the navel and the muscles 
 of legs, side and back, as in the figures of the Aigina pediments. 
 The early Archaic style indicates clothing by a few rough 
 parallel lines (PI. IV, 6; V, 4), the later, by fine folds (PI. V, 
 2, 7, 17). In the old style, hair and beard are done with paral¬ 
 lel strokes (PI. IV, 1, 16, 24; V, 4, 23) and, rarely, by a series 
 of little drill holes like strings of beads (PI. IV, 12; V, 1, 15). 
 In the later Archaic work the hair and beard are shown care¬ 
 fully curled (PI. IV, 17, 21). 
 
TECHNIQUE AND SUBJECTS 
 
 39 
 
 A characteristic of the older gems is the lack of variety— 
 almost uniformity—of subject and motive. These are repeated 
 again and again with slight variations, often as if by the same 
 hand. Kneeling figures (PI. IV, 2, 12, 17, 19, 24; V, 4, 6, 8, 
 15, 20, 23), occasionally between two animals heraldically 
 arranged, and figures running with the bent knee action were 
 popular (PI. IV, 23), probably because they filled out the 
 space more easily, and the upper part of kneeling figures was 
 represented first in profile and, later, facing out. Still, there 
 was little of the frank distortion, especially of animal forms, 
 which the Mycenaean and Melian artists had relied on as 
 space-filling devices. 
 
 By 500 B. C. the subjects and representations of motion 
 show more variety, and the kneeling motive, though still used, 
 is handled with more power and spirit. Figures are some¬ 
 times drawn bearing the weight on one leg, the front of which 
 shows, with the other slightly bent and in profile. Later both 
 legs are shown facing. Many of the figures bend and turn, 
 and the artists showed a distinct preference for front or back 
 views of the body. 
 
 Subjects. —There are but few representations of the prin¬ 
 cipal deities on these gems. Apollo appears with lyre (PI. V, 
 15) or stag and the Hyacinthine Apollo holding a flower, as 
 on the coins of Tarentum (PI. IV, 24). Rarely he has his 
 earlier attributes, the sceptre and sparrow-hawk, and on one 
 gem he is mounted on a swan and holding out a branch. 
 Artemis, with or without wings, as a protectress of animals, 
 is found in the early Archaic period (PI. IV, 6). Hermes, the 
 messenger and the god of trade, was common, sometimes in a 
 long tunic (PI. V, 17) but generally naked save for his short 
 mantle (PI. IV, 17). His hat, usually the broad-brimmed 
 petasos, but in some cases a pointed Eastern cap, is sometimes 
 winged, sometimes not, as is the case with his feet. His hair 
 is long on the earlier, short on the later gems, and he is un¬ 
 bearded. Athena also appears, sometimes winged, and the 
 allied cults of Hermes and Aphrodite, from which sprang the 
 Hermaphrodite idea, may possibly be represented in a gem 
 
40 
 
 ARCHAIC PERIOD 
 
 bearing a two-faced head, male and female. A national type 
 is shown in the Athenian gem bearing the head of Athena and 
 an owl. 
 
 Of the heroes, Herakles is by far the most usual. Often 
 he is kneeling, running or holding a bow or a club. Less 
 frequently he is shown walking with bow held out and club 
 raised (PI. V, 3, 24). Of his labors appear the contest with 
 the Nemean lion (PI. V, 10, 20) or the Lernean hydra or water 
 dragon, carrying away the tripod, fighting Acheloos (PI. IV, 
 7), Kerberos (Cerberus) (PI. V, 9) or a sea-demon or leading 
 a horse, perhaps one of those of Diomedes (PI. IV, 5). At the 
 beginning of the fifth century he is sometimes pictured beside 
 a spring, binding his sandal (PI. IV, 25) or in some statuesque 
 pose. Early Ionic art preferred the beardless face, and his 
 frequent appearance unbearded shows Ionic dominance in the 
 gem-engraver’s art. Other hero sagas play a small part. Kastor 
 and Polydeukes (Pollux), Theseus, Ariadne, the Minotaur, 
 Odysseus escaping under the ram from the cave of Polyphemos, 
 Tityos pierced by the arrow (PI. IV, 2), Aias (Ajax) carrying 
 the dead Achilleus, or Menelaos, that of Patroklos (PI. V, 8), 
 and Europe and the bull (PL IV, 8?), are rare examples. 
 
 The cycle of demons and lower gods is more fully rep¬ 
 resented. There is a demon the upper part of whose body is 
 that of a lion (PI. IV, 15), apparently some destructive or 
 death-dealing power, which shows Mycenaean influence or, 
 perhaps, Eastern. Also there are bull-headed demons with or 
 without wings (PI. V, 6), a double bull-headed demon holding 
 two serpents, a demon with an ass’s head, a winged demon 
 with a rooster’s tail instead of legs, probably a spirit of lewd¬ 
 ness, and a winged demon wearing a cuirass who is running 
 and holding two snakes, doubtless a demon of fear. The 
 Gorgon is found as a controller of animals (PI. V, 10), and 
 winged horse-bodied demons with Gorgon faces (PI. V, 22) 
 may be drawn from the legend of the amours of the wind-god, 
 Zephyros, under the form of a horse, with the harpies. It does 
 not seem to me that Furtwangler’s identification of the winged 
 Seilenos demon that has a lion’s hind quarters joined to him, 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 41 
 
 centaur-like, (PI. V, 12) with the Phoenician god, Besa, is 
 well established or that the Seilenos-centaur fighting a lion has 
 a kindred meaning, though there is, doubtless, Phoenician in¬ 
 fluence shown in gems of these types. The centaur with 
 human forelegs carrying off a nymph is purely Ionic (PL V, 
 4). Medousa appears often (PI. V, 10), once as a Medousa- 
 centaur (PI. V, 22), and Seilenos was a great favorite as a 
 luck-bringing demon (PI. IV, 1; V, 1, 23). Hence the faces 
 on these monsters are often of the Seilenos type, broad, beard¬ 
 ed and with horses’ ears (PL V, 4, 12). Sometimes he has a 
 tail, sometimes hoofs, and a rooster, as an emblem of lewdness, 
 is occasionally figured along with his other attributes. Pictures 
 of him carrying off a nymph suggest the same idea. On one 
 gem he drives a chariot to which lions are yoked. Seirens 
 are shown, often with human arms in addition to their wings, 
 as in the Ionic type (Pl. V, 5). These, sometimes, hold a 
 mirror and are adorned with a necklace or a hood. The wing¬ 
 ed Nike bears a wreath, a bough or a flower (Pl. V, 7). Some¬ 
 times she has winged feet and there are pictures that seem 
 rather to suggest some sort of demonic offshoot of the Nike type. 
 The flying type of Eros was popular in the first half of the 
 fifth century and on one gem which is in the Metropolitan 
 Museum, New York, he is probably shown carrying a maiden 
 with a lyre (Pl. V, 21). It would be interesting to fancy such 
 a gem the seal of Sappho or some sister poetess. Demonic 
 animal types were also favored. The Sphinx, emblem of 
 wisdom and power, is common (PL IV, 16; V, 14) and the 
 griffin less so. Each is sometimes shown with a victim. The 
 winged lion and winged bull were taken from Persian art and 
 the winged sow is found. Besides Tritons (Pl. V, 18) and 
 hippokamps, there are also winged sea-monsters and all sorts 
 of animal forms fantastically mixed, not unlike the sympleg- 
 mata or grylli popular at a much later period in Rome. Some¬ 
 times these are posed in a sort of heraldic arrangement. 
 
 Natural animal forms were common subjects: lions (PL 
 
 IV, 3a), boars, sows, rams, bulls, bucks (Pl. V, 13), eagles (PL 
 
 V, 13?), roosters, horses, a cow with a calf (Pl. IV, 10), and a 
 
42 
 
 ARCHAIC PERIOD 
 
 lion tearing a boar, bull or deer are all found (PL IV, 13, 22; 
 V, 25). The dung-beetle is pictured and may have been sup¬ 
 posed to have some healing efficacy. 
 
 Human figures having no special significance were popular. 
 As I have said, these are often kneeling (PL IV, 12). Some¬ 
 times they carry objects: flowers, beakers, vases or animals, 
 perhaps as offerings. Sometimes they are archers (Pl. IV, 20), 
 sometimes warriors with spear and shield (PL IV, 4, 23) or in 
 chariots, shown either full front (PL IV, 3b) or in profile 
 (PL V, 11). Toward the end of the period youthful warriors 
 are very common, often bending to pick up their arms or 
 mounted (PL V, 19), dismounting or leading a horse (Pl. V, 
 11); also wounded warriors, hunters with dogs, athletes 
 (PL V, 16), squatting figures of negro slaves (Pl. IV, 14) and 
 on one gem a boy riding a dog. Human heads, usually helmet- 
 ed, occur, but have no portrait significance at this time (Pl. 
 IV, 9, 11). It is rarely that indecent motives are found. 
 
 As may be seen, the scope of Archaic subjects is, after all, 
 pretty large, when we consider how few of these gems, com¬ 
 paratively speaking, have been discovered, and the types we 
 have mentioned must be taken, not as excluding others, but 
 as indicating the trend so that a professedly Archaic gem that 
 transgressed violently the spirit of the art of the time could 
 be placed pretty positively among the forgeries to which Dr. 
 Furtwangler alludes in the letter quoted from on page 32. Pri¬ 
 marily there is a distinct joy in art shown through all this 
 work and where the subjects have to do with deities and 
 higher powers, as is inevitable when the luck-bringing element 
 is sought after, we find nothing of the sacerdotal and theo¬ 
 logical inspiration that influenced the Asiatics, and next to 
 nothing of the cult types of the Mycensean Period. The Ionic 
 race and its freedom of thought had come to the front, as the 
 earlier dark ages with their stiffness and lack of imagination 
 showed a Doric pre-eminence. This Ionic influence was the 
 keynote of the Greek revival. 
 
 Inscriptions. —Few inscriptions have been found on the 
 gems of this period. One that reads “I am the seal of Thyrsis; 
 
ARTISTS 
 
 43 
 
 open me not” is the most pretentious. This inscription occupies 
 most of the field of the gem, a dolphin being pictured at one 
 side. Others are the names of owners in the nominative case 
 or one or two initial letters of their names. A picture of 
 Kastor and Polydeukes as boys playing with knuckle-bones, in¬ 
 scribed, Aioanopoi, is a rare example of a descriptive inscrip¬ 
 tion (PI. VIII, 2), though it probably belongs after the transi¬ 
 tion period. Together with these we have several authentic 
 artists’ signatures. 
 
 Artists. —Of the artists of this period we know in litera¬ 
 ture of Mnesarchos of Samos, the father of Pythagoras, whose 
 date was early in the sixth century. In this connection it is 
 interesting to note that Diogenes Laertius tells us the Pytha¬ 
 goreans were forbidden to wear the picture of a god on their 
 rings, as being a degradation of a divine image. Also there 
 was Theodoros of Samos (560-522 B. C.) who engraved the 
 famous gem of Polykrates, tyrant of Samos, which, as the 
 story goes, he was advised by his ally, Amasis, king of Egypt, 
 to cast into the sea, as his most valued possession, lest his 
 continued good fortune should inspire the envy of the gods to 
 visit upon him some greater evil. Its recovery from the belly 
 of a fish and its owner’s final capture and execution by Oroites, 
 the Persian satrap of Lydia, make a fitting climax to the tale. 
 There are many conflicting descriptions of this stone. Hero- 
 dotos, Pausanias, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Suidas all 
 say it was an emerald (smaragdos), which Furtwangler thinks 
 probable, in view of the existence of a Phoenician engraved 
 emerald of the same period. The use of that name, however, 
 does not necessarily imply that the gem was our emerald, 
 since the ancient “smaragdos” was used in a much broader sense 
 and included many other green stones. Clemens Alexandrinus 
 goes further and says that the device was a lyre, and King tells 
 of a fine emerald beautifully engraved with a lyre above which 
 hover three bees or cicadas, which was said to have been dug 
 up at Aricia and which antiquaries at Rome hailed as the 
 legendary signet. It is safe to guess that this gem was a ring- 
 stone and Graeco-Roman, but very probably both the material 
 
44 
 
 ARCHAIC PERIOD 
 
 and the device may have been suggested to its owner by the 
 old story, and the lyre, as an attribute of Apollo, was always 
 a favored subject on gems. Pliny’s story that the stone, an 
 unengraved sardonyx, was owned by Augustus and deposited 
 by him in the temple of Concord, is, doubtless, a pure fiction 
 in which Pliny himself seems to place little belief, while Dr. 
 Benndorf’s assumption, drawn from his reading of Pliny, that 
 the device was quadriga is not very convincing. The name of 
 Syries, found with the word gjroiqoe on a clear green, half 
 translucent steatite gem of this period with a Seilenos mask 
 instead of the beetle-back (PI. V, 2), and that of Epimenes, 
 written in Ionic style: EPi/^HNE^ ErfilE (e7toiei), on a chal¬ 
 cedony scaraboid indicate that these were artists’ signatures. 
 Furtwangler also suspects several other names, such as Semon 
 on a bluish black and white spotted scarab (PI. IV, 19), to be 
 those of the gem-cutters because they are in the genitive and 
 written in small characters on well engraved gems, but I 
 cannot feel his reasoning is convincing for supplying the 
 word epyov (work) instead of op^ia (sign or signet) in the 
 inscriptions. This is a subject I will reserve for fuller discus¬ 
 sion in the next chapter. 
 
 GREEK SCARABS FOR THE ETRUSCAN MARKET 
 
 At this point it may be well to refer to a small class of 
 Greek scarabs made for the Etruscans. These are not always 
 readily distinguishable from the Etruscan product, though the 
 character of the work on the beetle and the unornamented base 
 will usually enable us to place them. All early Archaic scarabs 
 found in Etruria may be safely regarded as Greek importa¬ 
 tions. The Etruscan scarabs begin with the later Archaic 
 style, and are very close to the Greek. Generally speaking, 
 the Greeks put little or no polish in the intaglio. They work¬ 
 ed out the beetle rather carelessly and left the line around 
 the base unornamented, while the Etruscans gave their great¬ 
 est care and skill to cutting and elaborating the beetle, even 
 when the intaglio was poorly done, and decorated the base 
 
PHOENICIAN AND CARTHAGINIAN SCARABS 45 
 
 line with a border of some kind. It was not long, however, 
 before the Etruscans learned to do all their own work of this 
 kind, and the style of such Greek gem-cutters as may have 
 settled there absorbed the local characteristics and became 
 thoroughly Etruscanized. This took place in the early part 
 of the fifth century B. C. 
 
 PHOENICIAN AND CARTHAGINIAN SCARABS 
 
 Here, too, we must consider a class of Phoenician scarabs, 
 most of the examples of which were found in Cyprus and 
 Sardinia and which, as does most Phoenician art, reflects out¬ 
 side influences. The subjects show a combination of Assyrian, 
 Egyptian and Greek ideas, but the execution and style have a 
 strongly Greek character. This style, however, is easily dis¬ 
 tinguished by a certain dryness, stiffness and flatness quite 
 different from the round, fresh, plastic and free order of pure 
 Greek work. Perspective is either unattempted or feeble. 
 Many of them show considerable beauty and delicacy but even 
 the best have their foreign characteristics. Clothing, animals’ 
 skins, and hair are often indicated by parallel or crossed lines. 
 
 They begin in the sixth century and reflect the severe 
 Greek style which, with Asiatic conservativeness, held on even 
 into the fourth. Only from the middle of the fourth to the 
 middle of the third century do we find their pictures worked 
 out in the free Greek style. The artists seem to have been 
 Hellenized Carthaginians or Phcenicianized Greeks. 
 
 Nearly all these gems are scarabs and the favorite stone 
 was a green—sometimes a blackish—jasper, though the colored 
 quartzes, especially carnelian and chalcedony, also occur, and 
 these latter show, generally, a better type of workmanship. 
 There are also many in a softer greenish serpentine and a few 
 glass pastes. Most of them have a border either of a single line 
 or the cable type and the exergue beneath the picture is very 
 commonly filled in with criss-cross lines. 
 
 Subjects. —Bel, probably Bel-Khamon, with a censer or 
 a winged Sun-disc, appears constantly on them. Sometimes he 
 
46 
 
 ARCHAIC PERIOD 
 
 sits enthroned (PI. VI, 9) or is pictured conquering an evil 
 demon or a lion, though in these cases the militant figure 
 may represent some king (PL VI, 5). When attacking the 
 demon he usually swings an ax of Egypto-Syrian form, and the 
 demon is apt to have a flat nose and is sometimes covered with 
 hair like rarer representations of the Greek Seilenos. The 
 Egyptian god, Besa (PL VI, 4, 8,10,12), is also very common as 
 a powerful, magic-working demon, who drives off evil, heals 
 the sick, protects women, ministers in childbirth and guards 
 children. His power is often symbolized by his holding out 
 animals or serpents in one or both hands (Pl. VI, 8, 10), some¬ 
 times as if strangling them, sometimes by the hind legs. His 
 figure shows the Egyptian type, with crooked dwarf’s legs and 
 he is sometimes winged (PL VI, 8). A more definitely Phoeni- 
 cianized type wears a garment open in front in the Syrian 
 style and showing one well formed leg (Pl. VI, 10). Some¬ 
 times he wears an animal’s skin on his shoulders and often a 
 crown of feathers (Pl. VI, 4, 8,10). These styles of the Phoeni¬ 
 cian Besa always hold animals, generally four of them, and a 
 second set of Phoenicianized pictures show him in profile, with 
 the dwarf legs and a lion’s skin, still conquering some beast 
 or beasts (PL VI, 4, 12). The head is bald and the nose flat 
 but the face is less grotesque and brutal than in Egypt; more 
 like that of the Greek Seilenos, who also appears in Besaesque 
 type (Pl. VI, 11). Sometimes Besa is pictured running, either 
 with the bent knee action or more naturally (Pl. VI, 8). 
 
 Though Besa is earlier than Herakles, the representations 
 of the two deities seem to have had some influence on each 
 other. Where the former wears a lion skin or where, as on one 
 scarab, he is shown riding a lion full front, the idea is prob¬ 
 ably borrowed. As for Seilenos, the influence is even more 
 marked, until, at last, the Besa type yields entirely, save for 
 the slight reflex influence it exerted (Pl. VI, 11). The masks 
 of both Besa and Seilenos were considered most efficient as 
 talismans and were often worked into other subject designs 
 (Pl. VI, 7). The Besa mask is also shown combined with that 
 of the demon, Medousa, a combination whereby the owner 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 47 
 
 sought to invoke the favoring influence of both (See PI. VI, 6). 
 Occasionally only the upper half of the god’s body is pictured. 
 
 Triton-like creatures, sometimes with cup and wreath, 
 perhaps Dagons, perhaps derived from Greek conceptions, are 
 found on these scarabs, and also a sea-god not unlike Poseidon, 
 holding a trident and a fish or else seated on a fish or a sea¬ 
 horse. He is often beardless, as is Poseidon in Archaic Greek 
 art. Also there are demons (PI. VI, 3), often winged demons 
 of the flying Eros type, seirens like those the Greeks pictured, 
 and a representation of the killing of the tortoise sacred to 
 Astarte. Herakles, in whom the Carthaginians saw their 
 national divinity, Melkart, appears only in the older style. 
 
 Besides these there are many examples of warriors (PI. VI, 
 7), hunters, shepherds, kneeling men, men with ploughs, a few 
 animals (PI. VI, 13, 14), sometimes, probably, of astronomical 
 significance, heads of negroes (PI. VI, 6) or helmeted heads, 
 as in Greek art, some purely Carthaginian heads, done more 
 or less in Greek style, and combinations of several heads or 
 masks (PI. VI, 6) or forms, less tastefully conceived than the 
 later Roman symplegmata or grylli but evidently embodying 
 the same amulet or talismanic idea. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE GEMS OF THE BEST PERIOD (480—400 B. C.) AND 
 OF THE PERIOD OF THE FINISHED STYLES 
 (400—300 B. C.) 
 
 GREEK-PERSIAN GEMS 
 
 Before taking up the consideration of the pure Greek 
 work of these periods we should glance aside at a class of what 
 Dr. Furtwangler calls Greek-Persian gems: gems done by 
 Greek artists for Persians’ use. The Persians themselves could 
 not have done such work. It is quite foreign to their methods. 
 No scarabs are found among these and only a very few are 
 cylinders. Some are of hemispherical shape, occasionally cut 
 with facets like the later Babylonian signets. 
 A modified prism, of varying proportions but 
 cut, usually, as in Fig. 22, sometimes pictur- 
 Fig. 22 . ed only on the base, sometimes, also, on all 
 its five upper surfaces, was an occasional form, but the great 
 majority of the stones are scaraboids of unusual size and thick¬ 
 ness (Fig. 18). Rarely both sides of the scaraboid were en¬ 
 graved; generally only the base. All the gems were pierced 
 through the major axis for suspension from wrist or neck. 
 
 Materials. —The material is nearly always a blue chalce¬ 
 dony (sapphirine) which, judging by its prevalence, must 
 have had a magic-working repute among Orientals. Rarely 
 we find rock-crystal, red-brown jasper, brown cloudy chalce¬ 
 dony, jasper and chalcedony mixed, agate, steatite, etc., in 
 which case the gem is apt to have been made in Greece itself. 
 Glass pastes also appear, especially a dark blue, a greenish 
 white and a pure translucent white. 
 
 48 
 
TECHNIQUE AND SUBJECTS 
 
 43 
 
 Technique. —The workmanship is sometimes careless but 
 the design is, for the most part, treated in the broad, easy 
 manner characteristic of the Greek gems of the period. Only 
 among the earliest, say before 450 B. C., is the space carefully 
 filled and the treatment formal and precise. Generally they 
 show the picture with an open back-ground, since the advancing 
 Greek art sense realized it should be shown pictorially, as 
 opposed to the earlier and purely decorative idea. Naturally 
 the border is omitted. These gems may be dated, generally, 
 from 450 to 350 B. C. 
 
 Subjects. —Only Persian subjects were used, for, though 
 the intercourse between Greece and Persia was then free, the 
 Persian of the period, while recognizing Greek artistic skill, held 
 himself stiff against the Greek spirit. Naturally the best work¬ 
 men understood how to follow Persian ideas which they execut¬ 
 ed in Greek style. Later, the Persians, especially those not 
 connected with court circles, the merchant class whose dealings 
 with Greece were closer, yielded more and more to Greek 
 influence. 
 
 These subjects, then, are Oriental symbolic religious types, 
 suggest the courage and power of Persian kings or, and this 
 is much more common, show pictures from Persian life. The 
 costumes are correct and characteristic. The demonic element 
 is found only in mixed animal forms, such as the horned lion- 
 griffin with eagle’s hind legs (PI. VI, 17), bearded sphinxes, 
 occasionally with a crown or horns, seirens, and the winged 
 bull, sometimes with a man’s head. There are fights between 
 Greeks and Persians (PI. VI, 15), the latter nearly always 
 mounted, also Persians with Greek captives. Battles between 
 Persians never appear. Next to battle scenes, hunts are most 
 common (PI. VI, 18a, 21). In most of these there is apt to be 
 a good deal of action but not much beauty such as is found on 
 the best purely Greek gems. The horses, for here, too, the 
 hunter is generally mounted, always have saddles and usually 
 a knot in the tail (PI. VI, 15, 21); dogs are often included, and 
 the quarry is sometimes, though rarely, a demonic beast. 
 Single animal pictures are lively and truthful on the later 
 
50 
 
 BEST PERIOD 
 
 gems of this series and include zebras, lions, boars (PI. VI, 16), 
 mountain goats, foxes (PL VI, 18b), wolves, deer (PI. VI, 20), 
 mice, dogs (PI. VI, 18b), storks, swans, quail, hawks (PI. VI, 
 18b), grasshoppers (PLVI, 18b), and the bear (Pl.VI, 18b) and 
 hyena, the former seldom and the latter never shown in purely 
 Greek work. Groups of animals are very rare. Where female 
 figures, unknown in pure Persian art, are found, as they often 
 are, on these stones, the hair is usually in a long braid-like 
 arrangement with ornaments (PL VI, 22), and the artists 
 follow the Persian costume of this time. Beware of a gem 
 with a Persian woman wearing a cap or bracelets. The breasts 
 and hips are generally rather prominent (Pl. VI, 22), with 
 almost a suggestion of the Mycenaean female types. 
 
 GREEK GEMS 
 
 Returning, now, to the pure Greek gems of what we may 
 call the Best Period, let us say from 480 to 400 B. C., the 
 number of examples is comparatively small. They were copied 
 later but to the eye of the expert the divergence, such, for 
 instance, as a combination of drill work with sharply cut lines; 
 a thing abhorred by Dexamenos and his contemporaries, is 
 generally appreciable. That but few gems of this time have 
 been found may be in part explained by the fact that the export 
 trade had practically vanished, since, by about 500 B. C., the 
 Etruscans had begun to do their own gem-cutting, while, as 
 we have seen, the Eastern market wanted only work of its 
 own kind. 
 
 Some stones, akin to the Greek-Persian gems, mostly large, 
 thick chalcedony scaraboids with an open background, no 
 border and a picture showing Eastern influence, may be at¬ 
 tributed to the Asiatic colonies. They have a soft, broad, 
 picturesque method, give the figure as if from a distance and 
 do not indulge in much detail, but they are apt to lack care 
 and exactness. PL VIII, 20 suggests this school. 
 
 The work of the Attic school shows much higher art and 
 more subtle accuracy. The pure, quiet beauty of the Pheidian 
 
SHAPES 
 
 51 
 
 ideals appears distinctly in some; in fact many of the gems 
 of this epoch are undoubtedly copied from statues, the pedestal, 
 even, being indicated, while others seem possibly to have been 
 inspired by the great Athenian painters of the period. Also 
 we find these influences in Magna Grsecia and Sicily after the 
 middle of the fifth century B. C. Much of the Italian Greek 
 work is very fine and difficult or impossible to distinguish from 
 that of Greece proper, except where, as in the case of PL X, 3, 
 the subject suggests the provenance. 
 
 The scarab falls into the background, though in the 
 Western Grecian world it held on pretty well through the free 
 style of the fifth century. The Asiatic Greeks did not use it at 
 all. Occasionally, as before, other forms in relief, such as a 
 crouching lion, are substituted for the beetle, but the growing 
 style is the scaraboid which took shape in the East and pushed 
 gradually westward through the Greek world. The Asiatic 
 and Island Greek examples are, as I have said, like the Greek- 
 Persian scaraboids, of considerable size and thickness, and 
 the curvature of the back is apt to be pronounced. The 
 ring-stone form that was to control in the following epoch 
 and which had even begun to be foreshadowed in the Archaic 
 Period, is evidenced more and more definitely by occasional pic¬ 
 tures on both sides of the stone and finally on the convex 
 side alone. In these gems the convexity was made flatter 
 and the walls of the scaraboid were gradually lowered. Sev¬ 
 eral, dated about Alexander’s time, show the convex face and 
 the back almost joining. The advantages of the small ring- 
 stone with a fixed setting over the clumsy scaraboid that, set 
 in a swivel, dangled from neck or wrist, were obvious, and 
 the growth of the idea was steady. Stones originally pierced 
 for suspension are found set solid in rings of about 400 B. G. 
 and simple unpierced ring-stones are not rare even by the end 
 of the fifth century (PI. X, 16). It is hard, however, to distin¬ 
 guish them from those of a later date except it be by some 
 circumstance of the discovery. There are few early examples 
 of flat ring-stones and none that can be dated much before 
 400 B. C. After that date the ring-stone forms begin to out- 
 
52 
 
 BEST PERIOD 
 
 number the scaraboids. Cylinders appear occasionally in 
 somewhat modified form; that is, from 450 to 400 B. C. there 
 are some Greek cylinders with one side flattened and often 
 broader in the middle with the picture cut on the flat surface 
 (PI. VIII, 5,19); also cylindricals with four flat sides, engraved 
 on one or all of these (PI. X, 15), the square-cornered stones 
 with faceted tops and the picture on the base alone (PI. VIII, 
 4) and, rarely, among Asiatic Greeks where the Persian in¬ 
 fluence reached, the conical (PL VII, 3) and hemispherical 
 shapes. As with the Greek-Persian, there is no border 
 in the Ionic gems save in a few cases of the milled, dotted 
 or line border taken from the scarabs and found even in scara¬ 
 boids of the free style. After 400 B. C., however, it is very 
 rare. 
 
 Materials. —Among the materials used, chalcedony com¬ 
 pletely dominated, especially in Asia Minor and the islands. 
 Next common was carnelian and, next, banded agate, sardonyx 
 usually cut across the layers as in the preceding period, and 
 rock-crystal. Sard and lapis lazuli were rare but a mottled 
 jasper or variegated jasper and chalcedony was fashionable 
 among the better artists. There were also some scaraboids 
 carelessly cut in a soft black stone. Green jaspers and ame¬ 
 thysts have not been found among these gems. Glass pastes, 
 however, were abundant, usually white or greenish white, 
 translucent and nearly always in the form of the scaraboid. 
 Only one or two other colors have been found, notably a dark 
 blue, though the Parthenon treasury lists refer to glass seals 
 of two and even seven colors. 
 
 Technique. —With reference to the technique, Furtwan- 
 gler divides the time between 480 and 300 B. C. into three 
 periods: First, until 450, when the style, as a rule, still showed 
 some severe elements (PI. VII, 2, 13, 16; VIII, 5, 12, 13, 14, 
 22); second, 450 to 400, when is found that perfect freedom 
 united with breadth and largeness of conception which goes to 
 make up the ideal in engraved gems—the best the world has 
 ever seen (PI. VII, 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 15, 17; VIII, 9, 15, 16, 17, 
 19); third, from 400 to 300 B. O., when, while the technical 
 
DATINGS 
 
 53 
 
 perfection of style was still maintained, the gems were some¬ 
 what inferior in conception, breadth, and pure beauty (See 
 plates IX and X). 
 
 Broad and blunt cutting instruments were in favor 
 through all this time and the result was round, soft, plastic 
 effects. The drill was out of fashion, though used occasionally, 
 but they avoided especially the contrast between the hole and 
 the line. Long, broad strokes are characteristic, especially 
 of the Ionic work. The engraving is either unpolished or else 
 very slightly or only on the broader surfaces, save in fine gems, 
 where a high polish occurs oftener as the period advances. 
 
 Foreshortening was attempted, unsuccessfully at first, 
 but, later, very satisfactorily (PI. VII, 15), and seated figures 
 are common. Conventionalized Archaic poses are replaced by 
 natural ones. 
 
 Casual examination of and deduction from the pages of 
 writers on the subject tend to create an impression that high 
 artistic merit was a universal sign manual of this period, 
 but very little thought must lead to an assurance that this is 
 impossible. The best work of a cycle when art instincts and 
 skill are at their highest is always the most characteristic, 
 and this consideration, together with the natural appreciation 
 of connoisseurs for the best, combines to eliminate much 
 study or consideration of mediocre and bad work. That 
 inferior craftsmen working for poor patrons must have exist¬ 
 ed at all times is obvious, and the much greater difficulty of 
 dating commonplace specimens reinforces the accepted con¬ 
 clusion. I have no doubt whatever that many gems which 
 constitute the worst output of good periods stand classed with 
 the characteristic work of poor ones, and there is a chance 
 that much of it will always remain so, as being practically in¬ 
 distinguishable. This must be constantly borne in mind as 
 a basis for careful study, slowness to generalize too violently 
 and, often, ultimate doubt. The shapes of the stones are, of 
 course, the initial guide, but when able authorities date many 
 ring-stones in a period when the scaraboid was characteristic, 
 because the intaglios on these ring-stones show a kindred 
 
54 
 
 BEST PERIOD 
 
 quality and style, it is well to remember that such theorizing 
 should be indulged in with qualifications. On the one hand 
 imitations of one period are apt to persist and, on the other, 
 Furtwangler’s remark that it is hard to distinguish ring-stones 
 of this period from those of a later suggests that the ring- 
 stone may have been much more common in the scaraboid 
 epoch than is generally admitted by experts who attribute 
 to it only those whose fine workmanship seems, from their 
 standpoint, to demand such attribution. That they steadily in¬ 
 creased in numbers is made clear by the ultimate development. 
 In support of this we find several allusions in old authors, 
 notably where Aristophanes refers to musicians as “Lazy 
 long-haired fellows with fingers covered with rings down to 
 the nails.” Gold, silver, and bronze rings with the seal cut 
 in the metal were, to be sure, popular down to Alexander’s 
 time, but the passage is illuminated by Pliny’s account of the 
 rivalry of Ismenias, the flute player, and the contemporary 
 musicians, Dionysiodoros and Nikomachos, in the matter of 
 buying and displaying engraved gems, a rivalry in which the 
 cost of the articles played a much higher part than taste in 
 their selection. The date of these gentlemen seems to have 
 been about the time of the Peloponnesian War. 
 
 Of Ismenias the story is told that, hearing of a smaragdos 
 (emerald?) on which was engraved a figure of the sea-nymph, 
 Amymone, and which was for sale in the Island of Cyprus for 
 six gold denarii (about thirty dollars), he commissioned a 
 friend to buy it for him, and when the latter by bargaining 
 reduced the price to four denarii the musician exclaimed: 
 “By Herakles! he has done me a bad turn in this, for the merit 
 of the stone has been greatly impaired by this reduction in 
 price.” iElian also speaks of the gem-engravers of Kyrene, 
 at this time, as being “Wonderful”, and states that the poor¬ 
 est citizens had signet rings worth ten minse (about one 
 hundred and fifty dollars). These statements should be read 
 together. 
 
 Subjects. —In the matter of subjects, as in the matter 
 of technique, we may treat the “Best” and the “Finished” 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 55 
 
 periods as one, noting only the accentuation of the changing 
 tendencies as time advanced. It is characteristic that gods, 
 heroes and demons give way more and more to purely human 
 subjects; this, doubtless, with the growth of philosophic 
 skepticism, a lessening fear of supernatural terrors and a 
 disposition of mind less inclined to invoke or propitiate the 
 higher powers. Only those figures that lent themselves to the 
 dominant idea of beauty and poetry were favored, such as 
 Aphrodite, Eros and, we may add, Nike. The first named 
 is relatively very common, in the fifth century clothed with a 
 long tunic, a mantle and sometimes a hood (PI. VII, 11, 15). 
 In the fourth she is generally naked to the waist (PI. VIII, 20 
 and 23—forerunners; IX, 3, 15) or wholly so, and the figures 
 seem often to be copied from statues, standing, sometimes, 
 beside a supporting column (PI. VIII, 20). Many of her rep¬ 
 resentations are in pretty domestic scenes and poses (PI. VII, 
 15; IX, 3). 
 
 Eros is often shown with her (PI. VII, 11, 15; IX, 3) but 
 still more frequently pictured alone (PI. VII, 4; IX, 4). He 
 is still a beautiful youth or half grown boy, for the later Cupid 
 type, the pudgy child, had not as yet developed. The famous 
 gem by Phrygillos which shows him beside an open shell, as 
 when first born, is nearest to it (PI. VII, 4), and he is also 
 pictured flying over the sea. In the first half of the fourth 
 century B. C., he is often bending a bow or loosing the arrow 
 (PI. IX, 4). 
 
 Nike is third in frequency, often driving a four-horse 
 chariot, once sacrificing an ox (See PI. XX, 12, for the same 
 subject in Graeco-Roman times), playing at dice or kneeling 
 and presenting the palm or the wreath of victory (PL IX, 12). 
 In the earlier types she, too, is fully clothed, but in the beauti¬ 
 ful pictures of the fourth century, where she is seen crowning 
 a victor or raising a trophy (PL IX, 13), she is half draped. 
 
 Of other greater gods Apollo appears occasionally (Pl. 
 X, 15c); once with Marsyas (See PL XXIV, 13, for the same 
 subject in the Graeco-Roman period), once mounted on a horned 
 Persian lion-griffin and once as Apollo Kitharaoidos. 
 
56 
 
 BEST PERIOD 
 
 Hermes, binding his sandal or in some other trivial pose, also 
 as a Herm (PL VIII, 15), such as Alkibiades and his friends 
 were accused of mutilating, Athena, Demeter, Persephone 
 being carried off by Hades (PL VII, 16), Artemis (Pl. VII, 
 12) and Kastor and Polydeukes (Pollux) (PL VIII, 2), are 
 all rare and appear generally as single figures, often as re¬ 
 productions of famous statues though there are a few cult 
 suggestions. Bacchic motives are not very common. The taste 
 was too refined to admire the coarse Seilenos types and only a 
 few of them are pictured, such as the satyr seizing a mainad 
 (PL VIII, 22), dancing (PI. VIII, 18), or with an amphora 
 or a wine skin. The dancing or raging Bacchante is rather 
 more frequent (PL IX, 6, 8), sometimes holding the hind part 
 of a kid but always clothed. Pan is seen sitting with a bird 
 perched on his hand (PL VII, 14), also the Hermaphrodite, 
 pictured somewhat like Dionysos, and, once, a queer looking 
 winged phallic demon with a thyrsos and shepherd’s crook or 
 pedum, probably Priapos. Tritons appear (Pl. IX, 5), and 
 Nereids riding sea-animals were among the favored subjects 
 and are found first in this epoch. 
 
 Herakles continues from the Archaic Period (PL VII, 13; 
 IX, 1, 9; X, 17), but of the labors only the conquest of the 
 Nemean Lion is at all common. Theseus, Diomedes, Odysseus 
 (Pl. IX, 7), Philoktetes (Pl. IX, 1), Kadmos (PL X, 12), and 
 other heroes are found, though not very commonly, and in the 
 early part of the period Penelope was a popular subject, also 
 Danae, figured as a symbol of blessings bestowed by the gods 
 and with no sensual intent (PL VIII, 12). 
 
 That these and other female heroic types were favored 
 along with the male figures, marks the general softening tend¬ 
 ency. Many mortal women appear on the gems, clothed, half 
 clothed or occasionally nude and engaged in trivial occupations 
 (PL VIII, 5; X, 11, 19) or domestic duties, perhaps playing 
 on some musical instrument or with an animal (Pl. X, 14), 
 perhaps meditating or unrobing for the bath like the Aphrodite 
 pictures of a later time (PL VII, 17; VIII, 16). As Furt- 
 wiingler well puts it, “We breathe the air surrounding Aspasia.” 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 57 
 
 Also there are pictures of children at play. Ideal female heads 
 are not uncommon (PI. VIII, 13), and there is one, even, of a 
 negress. Squatting negro slaves are still found (PI. VIII, 11). 
 
 Among the representations of men the sandal-binding 
 motive was most favored (PI. VII, 8), then horsemen (PL X, 2, 
 13), charioteers, victors, athletes and warriors (PI. X, 9). 
 A youth playing a lyre is shown (PI. VIII, 17). Portraits on 
 gems first appeared in the fifth century, but we have only two or 
 three authentic instances. In the fourth there were more, 
 though they were not at all common (PI. IX, 2). We know 
 that Alexander the Great commanded that only Pyrgoteles 
 should be allowed to cut his likeness. This idea of the sub¬ 
 stitution of his own picture for that of some patron deity was 
 probably justified by the young conqueror on the ground of 
 his assumption of divinity. Portraits of him were held, at later 
 periods, to possess a talismanic power; all of which suggests 
 a motive for the restrictive edict, more powerful, perhaps, than 
 mere vanity. Appuleius alleges as much when he speaks of it 
 as “Threatening that if any other artist should be discovered 
 to have put his hand to the most sacred image of the sovereign, 
 the same punishment should be inflicted upon him as was ap¬ 
 pointed for sacrilege.” From the many portraits of Alexander 
 and the ordinary quality of most, it is easy to see that his face 
 was a popular subject for centuries after he and Pyrgoteles 
 and the edict were dust. Heads of deities naturally occur (PI. 
 VIII, 9). 
 
 Of demonic animals the griffin is most common (PI. VII, 
 6; X, 8), then the Sphinx (PI. X, 18), reversing the relations 
 of earlier times. The Chimaira, centaurs (PI. VII, 5) and 
 seirens also appear, as well as a few fantastic combinations 
 such as a sphinx-seiren, a cicada-seiren with griffin’s head at 
 the end of the tail, and a serpent shooting a bow. The figures 
 PI. VII, 7 and VIII, 6 belong to this class. Acheloos, the man¬ 
 headed bull, is found as a south Italian subject (PI. X, 3). 
 
 Natural animals were favorite subjects, the lion (PI. VII, 
 2, 9), perhaps, most so, and beautifully done though not so 
 strongly as in the Archaic Period and less truthful and vivid 
 
58 
 
 BEST PERIOD 
 
 than in the Mycenaean. There are also the panther, fox, lynx, 
 wolf, and bear. Deer (PI. VII, 6; X, 2, 8, 16) and does are 
 common. Hunting scenes occur (PL X, 2, 16), the wild boar 
 is found attacked by dogs, and the sow with her litter, while 
 the lion or griffin are often attacking other beasts (PI. VII, 
 2, 6; X, 8). The horse has never been better represented than 
 at this time or in more positions (PI. VII, 10; VIII, 14; X, 2, 
 13), and there are bulls (PI. VIII, 1, 3), often butting, as on the 
 coins of Thourioi (PI. IX, 11), cows (PI. X, 7), dogs (PI. X, 14, 
 16), and, on one stone, probably Asiatic Greek, a camel. Of 
 birds the heron and crane are commonest (PI. VII, 1; VIII, 
 19; X, 5) ; then the eagle (with Ganymedes, PI. X, 6), goose 
 (PI. X, 16), swan, duck, rooster, hen (on one gem the last 
 two are shown in flagrante delictu) and dove (PI. VIII, 20). 
 The insect types are generally flies or grasshoppers (PI. 
 VIII, 4). 
 
 Symbolic designs are rare, though there is one of two 
 clasped hands (PI. X, 4) with the motto, xal <tu (Be thou 
 happy). Of still life there are also few examples, such as a 
 krater between two dolphins, a tripod (PI. X, 15a, 15b) or an 
 amphora (PI. IX, 14). Neither were obscene representations 
 at all popular:—in fact, contrary to the notions of many 
 modern moralists, these are rare throughout all antiquity and 
 most of the pretended examples are modern forgeries. 
 
 Furtwiingler also calls attention to an evidently astro¬ 
 logical picture of zodiacal signs which he dates fifth to fourth 
 century and cites as the earliest gem-picture showing a 
 knowledge of the celestial globe (PI. IX, 10). 
 
 Inscriptions. —During this period there is an increase 
 in the number of gems bearing inscriptions. Nearly all of 
 these evidently have to do with the owner of the signet, being, 
 as before, either his full name or one or more of its first letters. 
 One fifth century scaraboid has no picture but only an ab¬ 
 breviated name, I^ATOP, perhaps for Isagoras. Some few de¬ 
 scribe the subject as did the Etruscans on their scarabs (PI. 
 VIII, 2, 9), a few bear such words as %alQS (Be happy) (See 
 
ARTISTS 
 
 59 
 
 PI. X, 4) or Swqov, indicating that the gem was a gift, and 
 a few are artists’ signatures. These, naturally, are not likely 
 to be found on any save very good works and then, according 
 to Furtwangler, they were tucked away so as not to be con¬ 
 spicuous and interfere with either the general design or with 
 the purpose of the signet. This is certainly plausible enough 
 as a theory. We shall refer to it later in connection with the 
 facts. 
 
 Artists. —Of the artists of this period we find several 
 certain and probable names, but the one pre-eminent, both in 
 merit and in the number of authentic signed works extant, is 
 that of Dexamenos, the Chian, who probably worked at Athens 
 between 450 and 400 B. C. We have four gems that can be 
 attributed to him. The first of these, a chalcedony scaraboid 
 of light brownish tone with a milled border which bears the 
 signature, AEEAMEFO^, in the lower left hand corner, repre¬ 
 sents a lady at her toilet with a slave before her holding up 
 a mirror and with a garland in her hand. Owing to the form 
 of the letters, and the broad breast, narrow hips and treatment 
 of the hair, all showing connection with the severe style, Furt¬ 
 wangler dates it about 450 to 440 B. C. Above is the name 
 MllcH5, the genitive of Mika, a woman, who was doubtless the 
 owner, and who evidently chose for her signet device this pic¬ 
 ture of herself in a familiar pose, though it is not probable that 
 any accurate portraiture was attempted. The gem is interest¬ 
 ing as showing the need and use of signets by women, perhaps 
 as a careful housewife to guard her goods against pilfering 
 slaves, perhaps as a wealthy hetaira who indulged in business 
 ventures. 
 
 The second, a scaraboid of yellow jasper sprinkled with 
 red, has a similar signature in the upper left hand corner. It 
 also has a milled border and is a picture of a crane standing 
 on one foot and preening its wing. Under the raised foot is a 
 grasshopper, and the design and workmanship are very beauti¬ 
 ful. The third, the famous flying crane (PI. VII, 1), is a 
 bluish, somewhat clouded chalcedony scaraboid. The border 
 
60 
 
 BEST PERIOD 
 
 is a single line, and the gem, which was found at Kertch in 
 the Crimea, and is now one of the chief treasures of the Rus¬ 
 sian Imperial Cabinet, bears the full legend, AEEAMEFO^ 
 EPOIE XIO^ (Dexamenos the Chian made), in two horizontal 
 lines at the bottom of the stone. In the fourth gem, a yellow 
 and red chalcedony scaraboid, also with the simple line border, 
 and AEEAMEFO^ EPOIE in two lines at the top, Furtwangler 
 thinks the artist reached the summit of his excellence, an 
 opinion that is by no means unanimous among critics. It is 
 said to have been found in a grave at Athens and is evidently 
 the portrait of some eminent Athenian. Evans dates it about 
 450 B. C. and hazards the chance that it may be Kimon, but 
 Furtwangler disputes this on the score of its not agreeing with 
 Plutarch’s description of him and also because he places the 
 date later, between 4B0 and 420 B. C. King calls it the artist’s 
 own portrait which is, of course, pure guess-work. Incidentally 
 I may add that the signature has been doubted, though I think 
 unjustifiably. 
 
 That Phrygillos, who resided at Syracuse in the second 
 half of the fifth century and designed coins there, but who 
 probably learned his craft at Athens, may also have been a gem- 
 cutter is more than suggested by a carnelian, probably cut 
 down from a scaraboid, which bears the name, ^PYriAAO^. The 
 design is Eros, resting on one knee and one hand, and, behind 
 him, the open shell from which he was born (PI. VII, 4). 
 
 In the first half of the fourth century, when Attic art had 
 found place among the Arcadians, we find the name of the 
 Athenian, Olympios, who designed coins for them, on a car¬ 
 nelian ring-stone engraved with an Er5s drawing his bow (PI. 
 IX, 4). The name is in the nominative but the minute size 
 of the letters together with the knowledge of Olympios’ ability 
 in kindred work leads Furtwangler to consider it an artist’s 
 signature. With much less reason, I think, he maintains that 
 the letters, ONATA, adapted on a fillet attached to the spear 
 leaning against a trophy which a half-draped Nike is erecting 
 (PI. IX, 13), is the signature of Onatas, whom he regards as a 
 
ARTISTS 
 
 61 
 
 contemporary of Olympics. The stone is a chalcedony scar- 
 aboid and the work is certainly beautiful enough to inspire its 
 author with a desire to sign it, but my personal feeling in the 
 matter is one of grave doubt as to the antiquity of the gem it¬ 
 self. The style is too pretty, and either an artist’s signature 
 or an owner’s name on a part of the design itself is, to say 
 the least, unusual. 
 
 Besides these, there was undoubtedly Nausias, an Athe¬ 
 nian, as we learn from an abusive passage preserved from an 
 oration delivered by Lysias. No signed work of his has been 
 discovered, but some people may accept his description as a 
 debauchee as being presumptive evidence of his possession of 
 an artistic temperament. 
 
 In this part of the subject it is always easy to speculate, 
 but quite evident that we are on highly speculative ground. 
 There is no definite evidence save in the direct statement of 
 the eJtoiet; and, when we find, as we do, the name of the same 
 artist, in the nominative, on a gem of similar character, there 
 is a pretty good presumption that it indicates the engraver, is 
 a signature, and that the eJtoiet is to be supplied. Why, then, 
 should we attach any weight to names in the genitive with 
 which it is quite as reasonable to supply arjp,a (signet) as 
 £QY 0V (work)? Again, when we find on gems the names of 
 coin designers, like Phrvgillos and Olympios, there is also a 
 fair presumption of identity, and these, too, are in the nomina¬ 
 tive, while a direct precedent for the use of the genitive in 
 owners’ names is found in the “Mikas” on the undoubted work 
 of Dexamenos, mentioned above. Quite apart from gems, the 
 fact that the names of the designers on coins occur inscribed 
 in either case shows that no definite inference can be drawn 
 from this source alone, and, generally speaking, I believe that 
 with a name in the nominative we have as much right to supply 
 CJioiei as to put eQyov with one in the genitive. As for the 
 arguments drawn from the fineness of the art and the small 
 size or unobtrusive place of the letters, these seem to me no 
 more than plausible grounds for clever guess-work and not 
 
62 
 
 BEST PERIOD 
 
 generally sustained by precedents. The last two considera¬ 
 tions, at least, have evidently not been uniformly regarded in 
 cases of known signatures and, for the first, while it supplies 
 a motive, we can only suggest that it is a motive which has 
 proved ineffective in the instances of quite a number of master¬ 
 pieces. The reverse of it, however, I think may be counted on: 
 that a name on a cheap gem is not the maker’s but the owner’s. 
 
 Pyrgoteles, who alone was commissioned to cut the por¬ 
 trait of Alexander, may be classed at the end of this epoch but, 
 unfortunately, we know him only historically. No gem that 
 can be attributed to his hand has yet been found, but such a 
 splendid discovery is always among the possibilities. The 
 probabilities are that no artist’s signature would appear on 
 any portrait of the divine king but that it would not be omitted 
 on other work of the “Gem-engraver to His Majesty ”. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 The art which we see exemplified in the wide field of 
 Etruscan scarabs was entirely a borrowed development. The 
 form of the scarab came to them from their intercourse with 
 Egypt, Phoenicia and Carthage, and from the early importation 
 of Greek work and Greek artists, doubtless with a full sugges¬ 
 tion of its efficiency as an amulet, but, unlike the Greeks, they 
 clung to it through all the periods of their output with a con¬ 
 servatism that goes far, in my mind, to support the theory of 
 their Oriental origin. In the matter of subjects they drew, at 
 first, altogether from the Greeks and, even when they diverged 
 upon lines of their own mythology and ideas, the initial in¬ 
 fluence is always apparent. 
 
 During the sixth century we find in Etruscan graves, as 
 I have said, imported Greek scarabs and, also, Egyptian and 
 Phoenician, but not after the early years of the fifth century. 
 By then their own manufacture had so increased as fully to 
 supply the demand. 
 
 The form of the Etruscan gem was, as the chapter heading 
 indicates, always the scarab, except in very rare examples of 
 the substitution of some other relief back. Generally, even 
 when the intaglio is poor, the beetle is worked out carefully 
 and well and the rim around the base is usually decorated ex¬ 
 cept in many early scarabs of the first period: a peculiarity 
 which gives an easy method of distinguishing the native Etrus¬ 
 can from the Greek work. Sometimes the ornamentation was 
 by a leaf pattern, sometimes by fine crossed lines, sometimes 
 by parallel strokes. Only in the case of small, careless ex¬ 
 amples does this distinguishing peculiarity fail. In late Etrus- 
 
 63 
 
64 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 can work we are apt to find the form of the beetle drawn out 
 into a long oval. The best scarabs are often relatively small 
 and the work on them almost microscopic. 
 
 Materials. —By far the commonest stone, used from the 
 first to the last, was the carnelian, often of the dull, opaque 
 variety found in Italy. In the drill-work scarabs, of which I 
 shall speak later, it was practically universal. The sardonyx 
 and banded agate were not uncommon and seem to have grown 
 in favor, being often found in the later elongated beetles. 
 Chalcedony was rare, always of the gray variety, and there is 
 a single example of the plasma. Green jasper, so much favored 
 in the Phoenician gems, was not used, and of the pastes, there 
 are a dark blue, a brown, a green and white, and an imitation 
 of sardonyx upon which the work seems to be invariably cheap 
 and poor. Amethyst was never used. 
 
 Treatment. —The picture, as in the old Greek gems, is 
 made to fill the entire space, and all manner of twistings and 
 bendings are resorted to in order to effect this end. It was 
 always, save in some of the cruder specimens of the drill-work 
 class, surrounded by a border, generally of straight or oblique 
 milling between two lines, known as the cable border, or by 
 one of dots; rarely by variants of Figure 20, above, and, in a 
 single example, by a sort of leaf pattern (Fig. 23). Here again 
 a craftsman trait is found in the fact that the border is often 
 
 nofloonooo 
 
 Fig. 23. Fig. 24. 
 
 more carefully done than the picture. In very late examples 
 we find criss-cross lines with dots (Fig. 24), and in rude drill- 
 work scarabs, often a single line. Occasionally the figures 
 
 Fig. 25. Fig. 26. 
 
 stand on one or more lines which are sometimes ornamented, 
 and the exergue is frequently filled up, not with crossed lines 
 
INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 65 
 
 in the Phoenician fashion but with the design shown in Fig. 25 
 (See PI. XI, 1, 6, 8, 15; XII, 5) or, in one example, as in Fig. 
 26 (See PI. XI, 7). 
 
 Technique. —The Etruscan, being primarily an imitator, 
 may be said to have shown the qualities of the craftsman rather 
 than of the artist. In technical treatment and minuteness of 
 detail the best scarabs reached a high degree of excellence, but 
 even these seem often to suggest the workman, proud of what 
 he can do, rather than the artist who subjects himself to his art. 
 From the best they grade down to the rudest combinations of 
 mere drill-borings: large scooped out depressions peculiarly 
 susceptible of a high polish. In older specimens the polish of 
 the interior of the design was slight, as in the Greek work of 
 the period. Soon, however, striving artisan-like for mere deco¬ 
 rative effects, they elaborated it more and more, until a high 
 interior polish became characteristic of Etruscan work. It is 
 evident that many of these gems, especially of the drill-work 
 class, were made as ornaments pure and simple, since we find 
 them in their original settings as necklaces, earrings, etc. 
 Varying peculiarities of technique can be best considered in 
 their connection with the various stylistic developments of the 
 art. 
 
 Inscriptions. —Inscriptions are common on Etruscan 
 scarabs except on those of the drill-work class, where we do not 
 find them. There are no names of owners or artists. The in¬ 
 scription seems always to be descriptive of the picture—often 
 misdescriptive: names of Greek heroes given not only to char¬ 
 acteristic representations of them, but often to entirely im¬ 
 personal figures or even incorrectly as on a gem where Kastor 
 is shown burying Polydeukes. These inscriptions are, generally 
 speaking, on the best gems of the earlier styles and are done 
 in Etruscan letters and spelling. The majority of the in¬ 
 scriptions read from right to left in the impression, but many 
 run from left to right. 
 
 The alphabet, as given by Dennis, together with several 
 forms I have added, is: 
 
66 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 A 
 
 PiA f\ 
 
 p 
 
 <101 
 
 E 
 
 ^aa 
 
 2 
 
 /aiw i 
 
 Z 
 
 tI 1 > rar ely ^ 3 
 
 T 
 
 n. m-t 
 
 © 
 
 OOO0O® 
 
 T 
 
 Y y, rarely 
 
 I 
 
 v 1 
 
 
 ©08 
 
 K 
 
 / rarely )j)j 
 
 X 
 
 'J' J,, rarely X 
 
 A 
 
 vN 
 
 Aspirate H Q 
 
 M 
 
 ft! M 
 
 Digamma 
 
 N 
 
 wnin 
 
 (equivalent to the Latin v and 
 
 n 
 
 11 n 
 
 pronounced, probably, like w) 
 
 Naturally, in the minute lettering 
 
 on gems, minor variants 
 
 from the above are often found. 
 
 The E, 
 
 for instance, frequently 
 
 seems quite regular. In older examples the letters, as in the 
 old Greek style, end in approximate points. Later they appear 
 often rounded off with little dots. Many false inscriptions 
 were added in the eighteenth century on genuine scarabs and 
 often require some knowledge of the antique in order to dis¬ 
 tinguish them (PI. XIII, 23, 24). 
 
 Subjects. —These varied considerably with the stylistic 
 developments under which heads I shall, also, refer to them. 
 Generally speaking, we may say that sacerdotal and cult 
 scenes play a small part, and luck-bringing ideas are rare. 
 The “picture” was the thing, and art for art’s sake, as many 
 of our own artistic artisans phrase it, seems to have supplied 
 the controlling motive. Even when gods are represented they 
 are apt to have their purely Greek attributes which shows a 
 pictorial rather than a devotional purpose. The Athena with 
 wings is Archaic Greek as well as Etruscan, though the 
 Etruscan deities had a weakness for wings; so, too, her at¬ 
 tribute of the serpent (PI. XI, 1). The bearded Dionysos is 
 essentially Greek, but the added attributes of Zeus and 
 Poseidon—thunderbolt and trident, as found on one gem—is 
 an Italian idea and indicates the breadth and scope of the 
 Dionysiac cult. Poseidon appears, too, with his own symbols, 
 and Apollo slaying a polypus, symbolic either of his sea power, 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 67 
 
 of the Sun-god dispelling the winter or of the healing divinity 
 combating the demon of pestilence. The monster here shown 
 is also pictured on very early Greek gems and is perhaps the 
 prototype of the Python of sophisticated legend. Hephaistos 
 is much more the Greek god than he is the Etruscan. Hermes 
 appears as the conductor of souls, which latter, besides being 
 figured in human form, either as small eidolon figures (PI. XI, 
 24; XII, 1, 2) or coming up from the ground or out of a jar 
 symbolizing the Under-world (PI. XII, 19), are also shown 
 as birds, more especially the swan with a human head (PI. 
 XIII, 19) or even as butterflies, or are indicated by the butter¬ 
 fly wings on a female form,—these as early as the fifth cent¬ 
 ury B. C. Frequently winged figures are not easy to name 
 (PI. XI, 24; XII, 6; XIII, 11, 14, 15). A bearded, winged 
 man with a sleeping hero is, doubtless, Hypnos. Thanatos, 
 also, may be represented (PI. XIII, 15), but many of the 
 winged deities, male and female, baffle identification. Eros 
 is found, both in the severe and in the free style of Greek art 
 (PI. XII, 25) and always as a boy budding into youth. The 
 Earth-giants are pictured, either as wild looking men hurling 
 rocks (PI. XII, 21) or often, with wings and serpent legs, 
 fighting against gods, especially Zeus and Athena; a favorite 
 Etruscan subject. In the matter of nomenclature, the Etruscan 
 deities as identified with the Greek were Tinia for Zeus, 
 Nethuns or Nethunus for Poseidon, Charun for Hades, Seth- 
 lans for Hephaistos, Turms or Mercur for Hermes, Pupluns or 
 Phuphluns for Dionysos, Usil or Aplu for Apollo, who, however, 
 often bore his Greek name unchanged, Lala, Losna or Thana for 
 Artemis, Turan for Aphrodite, Cupra or Thalna for Hera and 
 Minerfe, Menfre or Menrva for Athena. In some of these it 
 is easy to see the Roman derivatives. 
 
 On all the earlier scarabs, Greek hero types from the 
 poetic cycles are very common. The Prometheus myth is 
 pictured on one gem, Laokoon on another (See PI. XVII, 6). 
 Kapaneus is a favorite, either being struck by lightning (PL 
 XI, 9, 20), falling from a ladder (See PI. XVII, 4) or bear¬ 
 ing half a gate. Tydeus appears, wounded and falling (PI. 
 
68 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 XII, 3), also Peleus, Atalante bathing or anointing herself, 
 Achilleus with the arrow in his heel (PI. XIII, 20), picking 
 up his arms (PI. XIII, 24), nursing his grievance (PI. XI, 4) 
 or with Penthesileia (PI. XI, 15), Paris bending his bow or 
 drawing an arrow from his quiver (PI. XII, 14), Aias (Ajax) 
 killing himself (PL XII, 15) or bearing the slain Achilleus 
 (PL XI, 7), Odysseus carrying the sack of Aiolos containing 
 the captive winds or sacrificing a ram preparatory to his 
 descent into the lower world, Kastor fatally wounded (Pl. 
 XII, 11), Perseus, with or without the winged shoes of Hermes, 
 either cutting off or carrying away the head of Medousa (Pl. 
 XI, 14; XII, 9), Jason with his ship, the Argo, Ixion bound 
 to Ms wheel (PL XII, 16), Tantalos trying in vain to drink 
 (PL XII, 17), Hyakinthos (Hyacinthus) wounded by the 
 discus of Apollo (PL XII, 18), Aktaion with his dog (Pl. XII, 
 20), Philoktetes bitten by the serpent (PL XIII, 21), Theseus 
 lifting the rock, an unidentified hero striking a serpent and 
 another riding on a tortoise which he is feeding, Triptolemos 
 in the winged chariot. Kadmos at the spring seems to be 
 found only in gems of the later style (PL XII, 22) and Her- 
 akles, very common on the later gems, was rather rare on the 
 earlier ones. On these latter he is leading away a woman as 
 a bride, fighting some adversary (PL XI, 6), carrying off 
 Turan, the Etruscan Yenus, contending with the river-god, 
 Strymon, by filling his stream with rocks, seated on his own 
 funeral pyre (PL XI, 21) or seizing Earth-giants. Also the 
 Italian saga of his being lifted up to Heaven to become a god 
 is pictured (PL XIII, 13). See also, PL XII, 4, 5, 12. Other 
 heroes may be shown occasionally, and there are many pictures 
 which we cannot identify but which present a fruitful field 
 for speculation. There are heroes departing, consulting, arm¬ 
 ing, disarming, mending armor, fighting, being borne away 
 wounded, cutting off an enemy’s head, inspecting it, resting, 
 a kneeling archer, a young warrior kneeling or bending over, 
 a youth with a dog or holding an amphora, a lyre, a staff or 
 a shepherd’s crook, etc., etc. (PL XI, 5, 8, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18, 
 19, 22; XII, 24; XIII, 24). Also there are a few young heroes 
 
STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 69 
 
 sacrificing, a soothsayer (PL XIII, 10) and a youth with a 
 priestly mask such as was used in Etruscan cults. 
 
 Of course some of these may be scenes from everyday life 
 (PI. XI, 17,18,19; XII, 24), but we suspect the heroic element 
 in all, not only because of the hero names that are arbitrarily 
 added to them in so many instances (PI. XI, 4, 6, 7, 
 11, 12, 13; XII, 3, 9, 11, 14, 16, 20) but because there does 
 not seem to be much of the human life element otherwise 
 pictured or that appealed to Etruscan taste. Female figures 
 are shown carrying, filling or emptying urns, bearing heroes 
 away or supporting them when wounded. 
 
 A representation of a human head (PI. XII, 7) is found 
 on a few gems, mostly later ones, and there is one that shows 
 a bust that looks as if it were impaled, one, a head combined 
 with a rooster, and one, a face combined with a lion’s head and 
 a satyr mask. Such conceits suggest the otherwise rare magic- 
 working idea. 
 
 Animal figures are very infrequent at first, though there 
 are examples of the lion (PI. XI, 10), lioness, a horse lying 
 down and rolling and goats fighting in heraldic attitudes. 
 Later they become more common, especially in the drill-work 
 gems. There are but few demonic beasts. 
 
 The Etruscans seem to have had a special taste for scenes 
 of fighting, bloodshed and death and this taste is well in 
 evidence in their scarab pictures. 
 
 Stylistic Developments. —Considering stylistic develop¬ 
 ments, we find first, toward the end of the sixth century, the 
 distinct Archaic treatment of, for the most part, stiff single 
 figures standing or walking, and rarely bent or twisted as in 
 later work (PI. XI, 1—3). They are clothed and the tunic 
 is often trussed up, falling to the middle of the leg or showing 
 the contour of the legs and hanging between them in parallel 
 lines. Occasionally there are groups. There are no inscrip¬ 
 tions on these gems and the types are generally of gods rather 
 than heroes. The winged Athena, sometimes with a snake or 
 snakes as attributes (PI. XI, 1), is a favorite; also other 
 winged goddesses, the bearded Dionysos, and Hermes, Zeus 
 
70 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 and Athena contending with Earth-giants. Some seem to be 
 direct copies from Greek work. 
 
 In the second group, which may be roughly dated from 
 500 to 450 B. C., we find the Greek transition style of the be¬ 
 ginning of the fifth century become the classic Etruscan (PI. 
 XI, 4—21). They are very similar to the sculptures of the 
 Aigina pediments and the vases of Euphronios, and the pictures 
 can only be distinguished from first-class Greek work by a 
 certain dryness, stiffness and lack of that freedom which the 
 most perfect craftsmanship and the most painstaking care 
 cannot attain. Explanatory inscriptions are characteristic 
 (PL XI, 4, 6, 7, 11—13, 17) and heroes are shown instead of 
 gods, single or in groups of two or, rarely, more figures, gen¬ 
 erally unbearded, naked or partly so, with Greek helmet and 
 even the Ionic corselet when a corselet is worn. The figures 
 are seldom upright but bending and twisting in all manner 
 of contorted attitudes. Females hardly appear, except Ata- 
 lante, who is shown naked. They seem to have especially fa¬ 
 vored the heroes of the Theban War, often adding their names 
 to impersonal pictures. Warriors kneeling, often wounded, 
 (PI. XI, 5, 7, 9, 15, 16, 20) and the athlete with a strigil (PI. 
 
 XI, 12) were popular. The figure, the bodies of which are 
 usually in full front, begins now to be shown with one leg in 
 profile, the other with the foot foreshortened (PI. XI, 12, 14); 
 some have the weight resting on one leg, some on both. The 
 muscles are all carefully worked out, including the linea alba, 
 and the hair is represented with fine locks curling at the end 
 (PI. XI, 6, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19), though occasionally it is done 
 only by parallel strokes. The knot or bag arrangement at the 
 back of the head is also in evidence (PI. XI, 4, 5, 8). In some 
 there is found a tendency toward fuller, softer, rounder and 
 more fleshy bodies, yet with the linea alba running down from 
 the navel, as in the severe Greek style. 
 
 Still dating roughly from 480 to 450 B. C., we find scarabs 
 which show the free Greek style breaking through (PI. XI, 23; 
 
 XII, 1—10), though the legs, very frequently one full front, 
 the other in profile, and the shoulders, overbroad and square, 
 
STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 71 
 
 still bear traces of the severe. The figures, let us say of Class 
 Three, are now often upright and the head, sometimes shown 
 in full face (PI. XI, 23), begins to look rather square, with the 
 hair lying flat. Clothing, when represented, is treated more 
 naturally. An unbearded Hermes is here found along with 
 the hero types (PI. XII, 1, 2, 5—10). 
 
 From 450 to 400 B. C. (Class Four) the influence of the 
 free Greek style is apparent in forms without the hard treat¬ 
 ment of muscles and that leave little to be wished for in beauty 
 and accuracy (PI. XII, 11—21). Some groups seem to be 
 suggested by Greek paintings. The bodies are large and fleshy, 
 rounded but nevertheless powerful. They are rather too 
 heavy and lacking in light elegance, and the heads, inclined 
 to be square as in the work of Polycleitos, are pictured in all 
 views. The hair generally lies flat, though sometimes a head 
 showing Archaic survival has the hair with little twists at 
 the end of each stroke: a sort of craftsman’s essay at the older 
 curled up treatment. A departure from former styles is found 
 in the usual profile presentation of the upper half of the body. 
 Contortions, which are still resorted to for the purpose of fill¬ 
 ing the field, are handled much better as is the foreshortening. 
 Often the figures wear a short mantle which is apt to follow 
 the curves of the back and serve more as a background than 
 a covering (PI. XII, 14, 17, 19). The severe style of showing 
 one leg in profile and one in full front is now generally given 
 up. Inscriptions are still found, but more rarely (PI. XII, 
 11, 14, 16, 18, 20) and, while the youthful hero types are still 
 the favored subjects, there are also Apollo, Poseidon, 
 Hephaistos and other gods. 
 
 Of course, with these, there are many gems that it is im¬ 
 possible to place with any degree of accuracy. They may be 
 poorer examples of former periods or late affectations of 
 earlier styles. It is in cases of this character that Dr. Furt- 
 wangler often attributes with a definiteness which I cannot 
 feel is justified. 
 
 Finally, in the fourth century, the style loses all traces 
 of severity (PI. XII, 22—25). The space is no longer filled 
 
72 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 on principle, though the tendency is still very apparent, and 
 inscriptions are generally lacking. The body is apt to be 
 plump and soft but the workmanship shows a distinct falling 
 off in finish and accuracy. We now find a departure in the 
 occurrence of female figures from the cycle of Aphrodite, but 
 the number of gems of this class is much fewer. The in¬ 
 spiration of Greek methods fails before the growing popularity 
 of a native stylistic movement to be now considered. 
 
 A distinct and typically Etruscan development of what 
 we may not unfairly call the scarab industry is found—say 
 from 425 to 275 B. C.—in what I have referred to several 
 times as the drill-work class of scarabs (PI. XIII, 1—19, 22, 
 23). The great majority of the scarabs found and to be seen 
 in collections are of this type and they occur not only in 
 Etruria but all over Italy, in Sardinia, and at many points 
 in the East, indicating a heavy exportation. Also they show 
 many grades of excellence but are for the most part rude, 
 sketchy, unattractive and lacking in artistic or even technical 
 merit. Features and hair are often not even indicated. Of 
 course the blunt drill was occasionally used on scarabs of 
 other classes, but in these the entire design is made up of a 
 number of saucer-like depressions of varying dimensions. All 
 these gems are highly polished in the intaglio and seem gen¬ 
 erally intended for ornaments rather than signets. In some 
 of them there is found an attempt to imitate the more antique 
 work, the figures being finished, especially their clothes, wings, 
 heads and hair, with a sharp instrument (PI. XIII, 10—19). 
 The last is then represented by parallel straight lines, end¬ 
 ing, sometimes, with turned up strokes. Furtwangler hes¬ 
 itates whether to place these gems as of exclusively Etruscan 
 or of broader central Italian origin. 
 
 Generally speaking, the entire class stands distinct and by 
 itself and, though some bear copies of the older scarab motives, 
 such as kneeling and running men, warriors, etc., they have, 
 in the main, their own subjects as well as their own style. 
 Furtwangler speaks of only two bearing inscriptions, one in 
 Etruscan and one in Latin, and suggests that many of them, 
 
DRILL-WORK SCARABS 
 
 73 
 
 along with the fourth century gems last noted, may have been 
 made in other parts of Italy, perhaps by the Samnites. The 
 almost total absence of inscriptions deprives us of any direct 
 evidence on the subject and it is easy to argue both ways from 
 the pictures. Though Etruscan in character they seem less ex¬ 
 clusively so than do those on the other classes of scarabs, and 
 many Italian ideas appear, especially in such cult figures as 
 the Campanian river-god, the man-headed bull, Acheloos (PI. 
 XIII, 23). We may hold that the Etruscans made the gems 
 and, naturally, modified the subjects when they sought to 
 please foreign customers, or that the Italians had learned 
 from the Etruscans and absorbed Etruscan notions, as the 
 Etruscans had absorbed the Greek. In the light of present 
 knowledge, only the German savants will settle such questions 
 for you positively—an aid which is somewhat marred by their 
 settling them in so many different ways. 
 
 As a suggestion, it seems, at first glance, rather surpris¬ 
 ing that, with the long lines of finished gem-engraving among 
 the Greeks of the South and the Etruscans of the North, the 
 middle districts should have remained in a state of barbaric 
 unproductiveness, but, on the other hand, we know that these 
 latter races w r ere, for the most part, rural folk, and they may 
 have found it more convenient to buy the few gems they needed. 
 It is, generally speaking, rather later that we find distinctively 
 Roman work. 
 
 Among the subject motives, which also distinguish the 
 drill-work scarabs from the others, are, first and foremost, 
 many Herakles (PI. XIII, 2, 5, 9, 12, 13) and Seilenos (PI. 
 XIII, 8) types which have here a tendency to grade into each 
 other. Both appear carrying large amphoras (PI. XIII, 2, 8), 
 kneeling upon a deer, or floating on a board laid over am¬ 
 phoras (PI. XIII, 12. Compare PI. XII, 13), sometimes with 
 a sail added and even with sun, moon and stars in the field. 
 Herakles is by far the more common of the two. Sometimes 
 Seilenos is figured with him and occasionally he has some 
 other companion. Also he appears seated, deep in thought 
 (Compare PI. XII, 12), wearied, bathing, bringing water from 
 
74 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 a spring and, on some gems, catching it in his lion skin, but 
 the amphora attribute is the most persistent. Evidently there 
 was a cult connection in early Italian legend between Her- 
 akles and Seilenos or between local deities with whom they 
 were identified, and there is evidence that it had to do with 
 nature, water, and the protection of springs, especially warm 
 springs. The Latin and Roman rustic god, Sylvanus, shows 
 a possible Herakles relationship in the fact that both presided 
 over hot springs, and their Chthonian power was recognized 
 in the sacrifice of swine. On the other hand, the amphora 
 motive often seems to suggest something quite different from 
 the water idea, and the attitudes of the figures indicate the 
 love of a stronger beverage: Bacchanalian tendencies which, 
 in the case of Seilenos, are, of course, quite in character. 
 
 Of the greater gods, there is Apollo, whose worship spread 
 early through Italy. Sometimes he is borne upon a swan, as 
 at Chalkedon, or in a wagon drawn by deer; also Artemis 
 appears with her attendant deer and Leto fleeing with her two 
 children. 
 
 Of demonic figures we find centaurs, Pegasos, the 
 Chimaira, seirens (PI. XIII, 16, 17), Medousa, Tritons (PI. 
 XIII, 6), fantastic combinations of demonic forms (PI. XIII, 
 22, 23), and many unidentified winged personages (PI. XIII, 
 11, 14, 15). 
 
 What cult figures there are seem to be broadly Italian 
 rather than restricted to Etruscan ideas. The man-headed 
 bull, for instance (PI. XIII, 23), is especially Campanian. 
 Hero types are almost entirely lacking, but animals, sometimes 
 arranged with one head for two bodies or the reverse (PI. XIII, 
 1, 7), are more common than on other classes of Etruscan 
 scarabs. When ordinary human figures are 
 found they are often mounted and fighting 
 (PI. XIII, 3), or in chariots (PI. XIII, 4). 
 The Gallic shield (Fig. 27) is characteristic 
 and tells of the wars between Etruria and 
 her northern neighbors. 
 
 In the third century- B. C., with the 
 
FORGERIES 
 
 75 
 
 growing Roman supremacy, the national types of Etruscan 
 scarabs gradually die out. Their influence on Roman develop¬ 
 ments was marked and will be shown later. Also it is pos¬ 
 sible that work on more or less Etruscan lines continued for 
 some time in other parts of Italy but, as a purely national art, 
 it disappeared. 
 
 Forgeries. —During the early half of the nineteenth century, 
 the enthusiasm of collectors was especially directed toward 
 Etruscan scarabs, following the new discoveries in Etruria, 
 and, consequently, in that golden age of forgery, these gems 
 received a large share of attention from the makers of such 
 frauds. The drill-work scarabs were especially easy to imitate, 
 and much confusion was introduced into the fields of study 
 and connoisseurship. Still, the highest order of the forger’s 
 skill does not seem to have been applied to them, still less the 
 highest order of forger’s knowledge. They turned out machine 
 made beetles in large numbers and quite failed to consider the 
 extreme care with which, as I have said, the Etruscan artist 
 treated the back-relief, even when his intaglio was rude and 
 barbarous. This part of the work, though still mechanical, is 
 done much better today, but, on the other hand, there seems 
 to be little attention given to making the forgery plausible as 
 a whole; so little, that, in examining the up-to-date scarabs in 
 Italian shops, one even hesitates as to whether they have been 
 done with intent to deceive. If they have, it can only be for 
 the tourist market. I have never seen one of the forgeries 
 Dr. King speaks of as the work of skilful hands of the end of 
 the eighteenth century, when, he says, they took genuine 
 scarabs with poor designs, ground them down and cut a good 
 picture on the base. He holds that they exposed themselves 
 by the Roman rather than Etruscan character of their intaglio 
 work but a much easier test would be based on the impos¬ 
 sibility of cutting down a scarab far enough to obliterate the 
 original design without leaving indications of such work on 
 the base or the base ornamentation. 
 
 Of course the best safeguard is found in demanding the 
 unanimous verdict of material, character of subject, archaBolog- 
 
76 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 ical accuracy, treatment, style, etc., as conforming to the period 
 and class of which the gem purports to be. For instance, among 
 the imitations of one kind or another there are many amethyst 
 scarabs which can be dismissed with the brief comment that 
 the Etruscans did not use that stone. Altogether, it is usually 
 better to reject every gem of which you feel in the least sus¬ 
 picious, for a suspected antique is a much less satisfactory 
 possession than a piece of known modern work. With advanc¬ 
 ing knowledge you may occasionally come to suspect scarabs 
 once bought with all confidence. That is a part of the price 
 you pay for experience and information which can hardly be 
 gained on other terms. It should be philosophically entered 
 in the profit and loss column. 
 
 A word may be added, in closing this chapter, about the 
 not very rare practice of cutting down scarabs so as to make 
 them fit in rings. As a piece of barbarism it is fairly diagnostic, 
 but I would be inclined to regard the fact of a gem having been 
 thus treated as pretty fair presumptive evidence of its genuine¬ 
 ness. I doubt if the forger ever lived who was quite fool enough 
 or clever enough, if you please, deliberately to depreciate the 
 value of his goods to that extent, while to build a forgery on 
 such lines ab initio, so that it would not disclose its secret, 
 would require an order of genius which I like to believe is not 
 to be found among these gentry. It certainly is not among the 
 commercially inclined, though it cannot be denied that there 
 have been very rare instances of forgery for forgery’s sake, 
 where mere love of deceiving the cognoscenti and pride in the 
 exploit seem to have been the motive. The danger of coming 
 upon such a work is rather infinitesimal and, even so, our artist 
 is not apt to be infallible. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 GEMS OF THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD 
 
 This period may be said to extend from about 300 to 100 
 B. C. and, in Greece proper and the East, to nearly the Chris¬ 
 tian era. In Italy and the West the Roman-Italian style, of 
 which the next chapter treats, began to affect it after 100 B. C., 
 having first been affected by it, until, during the principiate 
 of Augustus, the whole blended into a world-wide Grseco- 
 Roman uniformity. 
 
 During the preceding epochs it has been possible, generally 
 speaking, for experts to date particular gems with some accu¬ 
 racy, though I doubt if the claim to being able to place within 
 a decade can often be made good. Now, even the most “German” 
 theorists admit that, barring a few definite phenomena and 
 the inferences to be drawn from them, anywhere in two hundred 
 years is the best they can pretend to do. Doubtless many 
 Grseco-Roman stones of a later period are also indistinguish¬ 
 able from true Hellenistic gems. The shape of the stone is no 
 longer a guide, for scarab and scaraboid have practically disap¬ 
 peared with the exception of a few poorly done scarabs bearing 
 Egyptian symbols like the cross, systrum and wingless sphinx 
 and which are probably Alexandrian work. There are a very 
 few pierced, rather longish four-cornered stones and conical 
 seals of various forms, but the ring-stone now was practically 
 universal. 
 
 These had begun to develop, as we have seen, as a matter 
 of convenience, from the scaraboid, the rim of which gradually 
 disappeared until the convex and flat surfaces met and the 
 picture was usually cut in the former. Naturally there was 
 then no place or need for piercing, and thus the ring-stone 
 
 77 
 
78 
 
 HELLENISTIC PERIOD 
 
 with a strong convexity on the picture side became the charac¬ 
 teristic form of the Hellenistic gem. A unique example is pict¬ 
 ured on both sides as is the case with some Graeco-Persian 
 scaraboids. Along with these there are also a great many flat 
 ring-stones. A few large gems were set in gilded or even in 
 hollow rings. 
 
 Materials. —Chalcedony is still very common but ceases 
 to dominate, and the mottled chalcedony and jasper which 
 Dexamenos loved appears occasionally. The fashionable stones 
 were those introduced from the East by Alexander and his 
 successors: the hyacinthine and Syrian garnets, generally cut 
 with a strong convexity to allow for the best play of light and 
 occasionally concave on the under side. Small garnets with 
 careless cuttings are common, especially in the East, down to 
 the time of the Empire. The beryl now appears for the first 
 time and, naturally, only in the best work. The same is true 
 of the topaz. Amethysts, also cut convex, as were most of the 
 transparent stones, come again into favor, and rock-crystal 
 is still used. Carnelian, agate and sardonyx remain common, 
 and in Italy and the West, dark, translucent sards, cut convex, 
 rival the garnets. Peridot and aquamarine occur rarely. 
 
 Pastes were considerably used, sometimes moulded, some¬ 
 times engraved. The white is no longer found. They seem 
 to have preferred green, yellow, brownish and, more rarely, 
 violet. Some were quite large and convex. 
 
 Technique. —The style now was pretty much the same all 
 over. It was simply a natural development in the line of the 
 tendencies we have already indicated, often an over-develop¬ 
 ment. “Greatness” had generally disappeared. Softness, a 
 minute detail effected by fine sharp lines which take from the 
 breadth of the work, and a desire for showy contrasts were 
 popular. Anger and joy were depicted. Soft, fleshy forms in 
 reposeful attitudes were favored. While they strove for plastic 
 beauty, they spoiled it by the sharp lines, used especially in 
 depicting the hair, occasionally, even, of the eyebrows. The 
 eye is generally large and well open, sometimes with a pupil 
 (PI. XIV, 3; XV, 11; XVI, 1, 2, 4, 7—14), and the elongation 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 79 
 
 of the figure was often carried to excess (PL XIV, 2). Still 
 there is great charm in much of this work. Often there is a 
 characteristic lightness and sketchiness which is not the result 
 of carelessness but is born of the artistic tendency to slur over 
 details and emphasize only essentials (PI. XIV, 2,4; XV, 1,4—8, 
 15). It might almost be called an impressionistic movement. 
 Many gems reproduce the easy attitudes, sensuous conceptions 
 and emotional tendencies found in the sculpture of Praxiteles 
 and Skopas (PI. XIV, 3, 5—8, 11, 13) and, of course, there is 
 much work that indicates classicism (PI. XIV, 2, 14; XV, 21) 
 —an archaic tendency to reproduce earlier ideas and ideals 
 even to the milled border which, as I have suggested, may 
 result in the misdating of the stones on which it is found. This 
 is especially the case with representations of gods, where con¬ 
 servatism would be most natural. 
 
 Good engravings were highly polished; poor, and even 
 the clever, sketchy ones were generally left more or less dull. 
 
 Subjects. —The convex, oval stones usually carry but one 
 figure treated in a statuesque manner, often leaning against a 
 column or in some similar pose (See Plate XIV). Groups, how¬ 
 ever, treated somewhat pictorially, are found occasionally (PI. 
 XV, 1, 4,16). The bust instead of simply the head is character¬ 
 istic of much of the portraiture of this period (PI. XVI, 1—3, 
 5, 8, 12—14), and full-face representations of men and gods are 
 not rare (PI. XVI, 7, 12, 13). Faces are generally beardless. 
 Subjects and poses were repeated, which suggests their deriva¬ 
 tion from favorite statue or painting types, a practice much 
 in favor during later Augustan times. 
 
 Portraits which now appear in large numbers on deeply 
 cut stones are the most significant development of this period. 
 The political prominence of many individuals throughout wide 
 regions and the consequent desire to compliment them fostered 
 this tendency. We have many of Alexander, perhaps considered 
 luck-bringing on the basis of his own good fortune and, later, 
 of Mithridates (PI. XVI, 2) ; probably, also, Demetrios Polior- 
 ketes, Demetrios Philhetairos, Ptolemaios Soter, Eumenes I, 
 and many others (PI. XVI, 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 14). Those of rulers 
 
80 
 
 HELLENISTIC PERIOD 
 
 doubtless tended, with time, toward idealization. Those of 
 private persons who followed the princely custom of using their 
 own likenesses for signets are probably much truer to life (PI. 
 XVI, 9). Also seemingly ideal heads are not infrequent (PI. 
 XV, 19; XVI, 11). 
 
 Among the representations of deities, Aphrodite (PI. XIV, 
 11; XV, 4, 8, 12?) and Dionysos (PI. XIV, 6, 13) are by 
 far the commonest, generally as single figures and in reposeful 
 attitudes. Usually the former is half draped, with the upper 
 part of the body nude. Eros, in many attitudes and, now, for 
 the first time, often pictured as a chubby child, is represented 
 with her (PI. XIV, 11; XV, 4, 8), and a practically new develop¬ 
 ment is found in pictures of the Psyche myth from the dialogue 
 of Plato. She is generally shown as a maiden without wings 
 but often, also, symbolically, as a butterfly captured or even 
 ridden by Eros. Occasionally he is singeing her with his torch. 
 A few pictures suggest cult scenes (PI. XV, 5, 13). Hermaph¬ 
 rodites are common, as are the mainad (PI. XIV, 9) and the 
 youthful satyr (PI. XVI, 13), the last, also, a new conception of 
 this epoch. 
 
 Many deities were now beginning to be world-wide, and 
 foreign cults were more affected. Serapis (PI. XV, 15; XVI, 
 12) and Isis (PI. XV, 11) are common, more or less Hellenized. 
 Harpokrates is found (PI. XV, 17); Apollo appears of course 
 (PI. XIV, 5, 8); Artemis, with tunic to her feet (PI. XIV, 4), 
 sometimes with the attribute of Tyche, a horn of plenty, and 
 Agathe-Tyche, half nude, with the cornucopia (PI. XIV, 12), 
 Hermes binding on his sandal, Athena (PI. XIV, 2, 14) 
 and Kore. A river-god, swimming, is commonest among the 
 lesser divinities, and also the nymph, Galene (PI. XV, 10), 
 Okeanos (Oceanus), and other allegorical conceptions of the 
 nature myths, as which the cultured mind of the period had 
 now begun to regard much of its theology, Pegasos is purely 
 decorative and the few demons found are apt to represent 
 nature elements. 
 
 The heroes are now rare. Even of Herakles only the head 
 is apt to be represented and that as of a young man or even 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 81 
 
 a child (PI. XV, 18). The reverence for purely heroic deeds 
 had vanished and the comparative popularity of Odysseus (PI: 
 XIV, 10) seems to indicate the growth of statecraft and trick¬ 
 ery as the more acceptable ideals. 
 
 Pictures from everyday life are not as common as might be 
 expected. Nude or half nude female figures in Aphroditesque 
 poses occur (PI. XIV, 7; XV, 12), the lion-hunt is not unusual, 
 and we find chariots, several processions of horsemen, a return 
 from the hunt (PI. XV, 16) and a banquet scene (PI. XV, 1). 
 Neither are idyllic pictures especially in evidence. There are a 
 few that represent rural scenes: ploughing, animals, etc. Sug¬ 
 gestions of the world of philosophy appear, such as the picture 
 of the seven wise men inspecting the terrestrial globe, and of 
 literature, in the combat between a crane and a pigmy. Kelts 
 are sometimes portrayed, and, of course, female figures, sitting, 
 walking, playing on instruments, dancing, etc. As in the best 
 epoch there are few obscene motives. One picture of a serpent 
 may suggest the phallic idea. 
 
 Along with these subjects there were, doubtless, also, a 
 great number of cheaper seals for poorer wearers on which 
 were represented a head, an animal (PI. XV, 20), a mask, a 
 helmet (PI. XV, 9), or some one of the many attributes or 
 symbols even more popular in later times. There were thunder¬ 
 bolts, caducei, sometimes winged, horns of plenty, flowers, wheat- 
 ears, vases, utensils of all kinds and other devices of similar 
 character or significance. Many of these unquestionably were 
 adopted as luck-bringing, others seem purely decorative, but 
 Dr. Furtwangler admits his utter inability to place their dates 
 even as closely as those of the more characteristic designs, or, 
 for that matter, to distinguish them with any degree of 
 certainty from the great mass of similar representations which 
 belong to the Graeco-Roman period of the early Empire. 
 
 Inscriptions and Artists. —The names of owners are, 
 naturally, by far the commonest inscriptions on these gems, 
 often abbreviated, but we have also the names of several artists, 
 foremost of whom is Lykomedes (AYKOMHAH^) on a beauti¬ 
 ful portrait of an Egyptian princess, probably Berenike I, 
 
82 
 
 HELLENISTIC PERIOD 
 
 with the attributes of Isis. Nikandros signs a female portrait 
 bust, probably of Berenike I or Arsinoe II, with NIKANAPOC 
 CrOCI, Pheidias, a picture of a youth with one leg raised 
 (ICIAIA2 CPOCI) (PI. XV, 14), and Gelon, an Aphrodite with 
 FCA-N CPoCI in two lines. Sosis is credited by Dr. Furt- 
 wiingler with a large and very fine gem picture of Herakles 
 killing a centaur, signed EI10IEI, but I confess myself 
 
 unable to feel quite satisfied as to its genuineness. The name of 
 Philon is only known from a portrait head engraved in the 
 metal of a silver finger-ring. That he also cut in stone can be 
 only inferred. The signature reads IIAQN ET10EI. 
 
 In the second century B. C. we have Agathopous, with a 
 portrait head signed APAOOnOYC £F"10€ I? and another name, 
 known only from a signature in metal: Herakleidas, whose 
 ...AKAEIAACCPOCI appears with a portrait head engraved on a 
 gold ring. Furtwangler places him as a Dorian of Sicily or 
 southern Italy. At the end of the period we find Onesas 
 thoroughly authenticated according to the same authority by 
 the ONECAC €110, inscribed in two lines on an Athena (PI. 
 XIV, 14), the ONHCAC EP10IEI, also in two lines, on the glass 
 paste showing a muse with a lyre and the ONHCAC with the 
 head of a youthful Herakles. There is no doubt as to the 
 genuineness of all three gems, and the signatures, also, are 
 probably authentic. 
 
 Of others, the portrait gem signed, AAIAAA05, now at 
 Paris, seems to be generally accepted as bearing an artist’s 
 signature. I have not seen it and, therefore, have no right to 
 an adverse opinion, but theories are queer things, and the gem 
 is a portrait, the signature in the nominative, and without the 
 8 JT 0 L 81 . Furtwangler places Daidalos definitely in the third 
 century. The two gems which he attributes to Skopas, perhaps 
 influenced somewhat by there being two with the same name, 
 are the portrait head signed, EKOflAS,? and the nude female 
 figure signed, SKDTTA (PI. XIV, 7). Still, neither the name- 
 forms nor the letterings correspond, there is no ejroiei in 
 either and Skopas was not so rare a name as to make unlikely 
 its belonging to two owners of signets or, if you please, to an 
 
INSCRIPTIONS AND ARTISTS 
 
 83 
 
 owner and to an artist. Of Apollonios, as given on the strength 
 of the portrait head with the name, AP 0A AQ N 1 • 1 , in the genitive, 
 I cannot feel that his identity as an artist is absolutely estab¬ 
 lished as against the owner hypothesis, though it seems 
 probable. 
 
 Furtwangler places Boethos in the Hellenistic Age, on the 
 strength of the cameo showing Philoktetes fanning his wounded 
 leg and signed, BOHOOY. Gem and signature are unquestion¬ 
 ably genuine. Pausanias, Cicero and Pliny all tell of a Boethos 
 who seems to have been a native of Chalkedon and was a fa¬ 
 mous silver-chaser early in the third century B. C. They do 
 not speak of him as engraving gems, but that he did such work, 
 too, is a reasonable supposition, especially if the report be 
 accurate of the bronze Herm of Dionysos, signed by him, re¬ 
 cently found in the sunken galley which the French have dis¬ 
 covered off the coast of Tunis. 
 
 Athenion and Protarchos are also dated in this epoch; 
 the former on the strength of one cameo, the latter of two. 
 They seem to be late Hellenistic, though Athenion has also been 
 placed as Augustan. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MIDDLE ITALIAN GEMS OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 
 
 Just when the Romans began to use gems for their signets 
 cannot be exactly placed. While the early citizen was influenced 
 by and the later affected a republican simplicity, yet they never 
 scorned to copy good things from their neighbors, and they 
 had neighbors on both sides with whom the custom had been 
 long standing. Therefore it was that some of them who had had 
 the advantages of foreign intercourse and absorbed a measure 
 of foreign culture and taste took up this form of art, at least 
 as early as the middle of the third century B. C. It is true 
 they had rather looked down upon the conquered Etruscans as 
 luxury loving and dissolute, but they could not fail to recognize 
 the art superiority of the Greeks of the South, and they had 
 good reason to know that there was nothing contemptible 
 about the prowess of gem-wearing Carthage. We know that 
 the earliest Roman signets were cut in the metal of their rings, 
 but it would have been interesting had Livy or Florus told us 
 more about the vast number of gold rings, one to three measures 
 of doubtful dimensions, taken from the Roman dead at Cannae 
 and sent by Hannibal to Carthage as an evidence of the great¬ 
 ness of the slaughter, since gold could only be worn by men 
 of a certain rank. The women seem to have been allowed 
 greater liberty in this respect. Florus says “rings,” Livy, “rings 
 of gold,” but neither speaks of the gems with which at that 
 time it is certain that many of these must have been set. The 
 story of Marcellus’ ring, told by Livy, shows that Roman 
 consuls had such signets and that the devices on them were 
 well known. Even at an early time it is hard to imagine that 
 the Etruscan export trade circled all around the growing Re¬ 
 public and did not cross its borders. 
 
 84 
 
EARLY ROMAN GEMS—ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE 85 
 
 Presumptively, however, it is in the third century B. C. 
 that we begin to find work that indicates a national demand 
 and manufacture along the lines of a national taste. This was, 
 doubtless, initially supplied by artists from the North and 
 South. A few of the earlier stones are scarabs (the scaraboid 
 was never very common in the western Greek world), but 
 nearly all are ring-stones, and, for that reason, it is only com¬ 
 paratively recently that they have been distinguished from the 
 gems of a later period. Furtwangler speaks of them as “drier, 
 more labored, and poorer” than Hellenistic work of the same 
 time, but most students may find it difficult to apply such 
 criteria with any satisfactory certainty, especially as, doubtless, 
 the majority of true Hellenistic intaglios w r ere “dry,” “labored” 
 or “poor.” It is the subjects and also the inscriptions on many 
 of those that bear them, upon which the less technically trained 
 connoisseur must rely for identification and, in connection with 
 such features, workmanship, material, shape, details, and pro¬ 
 venance, where it is known, may be corroborative elements in 
 deciding. 
 
 These gems were the signets of the Romans and of the 
 Romanized Italians of the period from, say, the third century 
 to the beginning of the principiate of Augustus, 31 B. C. With 
 the death of Etruscan gem-engraving as an independent 
 industry and a revival of the art under the less cultured 
 auspices of the new masters of Etruria, there must of necessity 
 be found an initial retrogression, a comparative lack of fine 
 work and artistic appreciation. The Italian cared nothing 
 for the scarab. He wanted simply a signet, and the Etruscan 
 engraver and his pupils turned their attention to supplying the 
 first demand, until the Greek and the Hellenized Roman elbowed 
 them out. 
 
 As might be expected, we find two distinct influences gov¬ 
 erning early Roman glyptic art: that of the Etruscans of the 
 North and that of the Greeks from the South, and, since the 
 w r ork fell under these influences, these gems have been divided 
 accordingly into two classes. 
 
 First, then, the Etruscan influence went, at the beginning, 
 
86 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE 
 
 to produce, as I have said, a few scarabs, mostly of the long 
 drawn out shape characteristic of many late Etruscan gems. 
 Even the ring-stones are apt to show scarab characteristics, 
 being flat, often lengthened, ovals, entirely filled by the picture 
 which is usually surrounded by the cable, sometimes by the 
 dotted border. A few are squarish with rounded corners and 
 nearly always with a border. The figures often stand on a base 
 line with the exergue occasionally filled with lines or points. 
 Convex picture surfaces are rare in this group. These are, 
 of course, borderless. 
 
 Materials. —The popular materials in this group were, 
 first, the agate or sardonyx cut across the layers, next the 
 carnelian, chalcedony and a few dark sards. There is a single 
 example of the aquamarine and a very few of the nicolo so 
 popular in Roman imperial times. The early Roman scarabs 
 are all of banded sardonyx or agate, with a few carnelians and 
 a single example of the plasma, unique, also, in having a convex 
 picture surface, but which may be of a later date. 
 
 Among the pastes which were very common and go to show 
 a wide taste for gem seals among poorer people who, doubtless, 
 wore them set in iron rings, we find imitations of the fashionable 
 stones, the sardonyx and agate with a band of white across the 
 red, brown or black, also the nicolo. The violet with a white 
 stripe was a purely original idea, made in imitation of no stone, 
 and, like it, is a light green paste with a dark blue band 
 bordered by two white stripes which seems to have been popular 
 in the first century B. C. Carnelian was poorly and only rarely 
 imitated, but the dark sard, often verging into brown, was 
 easily made and by far the commonest of all. Violet paste 
 also was easy to make and common, although the amethyst was 
 not a stone engraved in Italy at this time. Blue paste, too, 
 was much used, but the white and green, so popular in Greece, 
 was rare. Naturally the pastes we find are, as a rule, much 
 worn and corroded. 
 
 The pictures on these artificial gems were, as might be 
 expected, copies of the best of those on the real stones, got by 
 taking impressions which were afterward carefully worked out 
 
TECHNIQUE 
 
 87 
 
 as to details, often with the wheel, and, finally, well polished. 
 In the cheapest examples, little if any finishing was done, and 
 in some the rim and back are rough as if they had not left the 
 maker who had waited in vain for a purchaser before finishing 
 his product and adding such inscription as might be desired. 
 Through the first century B. C. the numbers of pastes reached 
 their highest point. 
 
 Technique.— The engraving may be said to be characterized 
 by a certain superficial cleverness and lacks development. They 
 wavered somewhat between styles but their most persistent 
 trait is a preference for the severe characteristics of the best 
 Etruscan work, sometimes leading to archaic imitations, some¬ 
 times shown only by a certain stiffness. Of course they fell 
 behind their models. The relation is also evident in the bending 
 of the bodies and in the cloak following the back in a curve 
 (PI. XVII, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18). There is little appreciation of 
 flesh or of accuracy in handling muscles. The archaic treat¬ 
 ment of stomach muscles in three folds is often affected, but 
 roughly and unintelligently. Also there is the preference for 
 beardless faces, but the heads lack character and definiteness. 
 Though there seems to be little artistic feeling but rather 
 dependent imitativeness, there are not lacking examples of good 
 workmanship where all the details are well treated (PI. XVII, 
 8 , 23). Probably early in the period is a small group dis¬ 
 tinguished by soft plumpness and thick heads, shown, often, 
 in full face (PI. XVII, 7, 25) and, at the end, ai group, almost 
 always on banded sardonyx or agate, which show only a single 
 figure with considerable unoccupied background (PI. XVII, 
 20 ), dry and uninspired, with stiff, coarse treatment of garments 
 and the hair done archaically in a roll. Their subjects are 
 taken from the late Hellenistic cycle and, of course, there is 
 a growing tendency to approach the second group of Italian 
 gems which we will consider later. 
 
 Drill holes and sharp lines were combined on the same 
 stone, and hair and beards were very commonly represented 
 by cut lines with little drill holes at the ends. Often a staff 
 or some similar line is made up entirely of drill holes (See PI. 
 
88 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE 
 
 XVIII, 8). We also find on these gems a certain treatment 
 of the hair at the back of the neck found on no other class of 
 stones save a few scarabs; a bound together mass of long, 
 parallel strokes (Pi. XVII, 7). Sometimes it is shorter, round¬ 
 er and more natural (PI. XVII, 9, 20). The hair in front is, 
 also, often done with parallel lines, while the hair band is a 
 line of little drill holes (PI. XVII, 18). Also there is the rolled 
 hair treatment, especially on the later stones spoken of above 
 '(PI. XVII, 20, 23). The severe treatment of the legs, one facing 
 and one in profile, is not rare (PI. XVII, 2, 3, 6, 10, 25), and, 
 sometimes, even, a foot in full front is attached stupidly to 
 a leg in profile. 
 
 The work on these gems can in no way be connected with 
 that on the coinage of the period which shows a free style 
 without severe characteristics. Only the hair on the Janus 
 head on the ses of 268 B. C. suggests them. All in all, they 
 seem to represent a distinct development of Roman ideals, 
 adopting, on the one hand, the severity of old Etruscan art 
 and, on the other, expressing seriously in it the warlike national 
 thought and ancient religious beliefs. Furtwangler regards 
 them as the seals of the old Roman party that frowned upon 
 Greek innovations and the lure of Greek art. 
 
 Subjects. —The greater gods are rare, an omission 
 upon which some light may be thrown by the opinion of the 
 famous jurist, Ateius Capito, as given by Macrobius, which 
 censures wearing a god’s figure on a ring on the score of the 
 profanation to which the sacred forms were thereby exposed. 
 This seems to parallel the injunction of Pythagoras cited in 
 an earlier chapter. 
 
 The subjects that do appear on these gems may be divided 
 generally into two classes: first, pictures from the hero-sagas 
 which, while they show an increasing knowledge of Greek 
 poetry, are yet taken primarily from the Etruscan adaptation 
 of the ideas. As representing the warlike deeds of semi¬ 
 divine warriors, they were calculated to appeal to the Roman 
 of the period. The facts that the Romans believed themselves 
 to be descended from the Trojan stock and that many of the 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 89 
 
 Greek heroes of the siege of Troy were fabled to have founded 
 Italian cities explain why the heroes of the Trojan cycle were 
 by far the most popular. 
 
 Of the Theban legends we find Kadmos or one of his com¬ 
 panions represented as a youth going with a pitcher to the well 
 and, again, attacked by the serpent that guarded it; also 
 Kapaneus falling (PL XVII, 4), and Oidipous (CEdipus) 
 before the Sphinx (PL XVII, 17), sometimes killing it as a 
 sacrifice or, again, the Sphinx is pictured alone or seizing a 
 youth. Other heroes are Perseus with Medousa’s head, rarely 
 Theseus, still more rarely Herakles, and there are also Orestes 
 and Elektra at the tomb of Agamemnon or Orestes being led 
 up for sacrifice to the Tauric Artemis. Orestes, too, is probably 
 pictured killing Klytaimnestra, while a Fury rising from the 
 ground attests the horror of the matricide. Bellerophon is 
 shown with the winged horse Pegasos. 
 
 Of the favored Trojan war legends there is Diomedes, 
 alone or with Odysseus, stealing the Trojan Palladium and 
 Diomedes killing Dolon; Odysseus fighting beside Aias (Ajax) 
 or aiding him to protect a fallen hero, probably Achilleus, 
 inspecting Achilleus’ arms, being recognized by his dog, Argos, 
 or ploughing while Palamedes lays his child before him in the 
 furrow. That Telegonos, son of Odysseus, was fabled to have 
 founded Tusculum, and that the Roman family of the Mamilii 
 traced their descent from him go to explain this popularity. 
 Ajax also is found on many gems, especially, as in the old 
 Greek group, bearing the body of Achilleus on his back (PL 
 XVII, 13), also, on a ship’s prow, fighting beside his archer 
 brother, Teukros, or holding in his hand the arrow that has 
 slain Achilleus. Achilleus appears playing the lyre, sometimes 
 under the teaching of Cheiron (Pl. XVII, 3), killing captives 
 at the tomb of Patroklos, fighting Penthesileia or other 
 Amazons or with the arrow in his heel. The fight over the body 
 of Patroklos is also pictured, the parting of Hektor and Andro¬ 
 mache, Hector’s body trailed behind Achilleus’ chariot, 
 Priamos before Achilleus recovering Hector’s body, or, together 
 with Hermes, bringing it home, Machaon dressing a wound, 
 
90 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE 
 
 perhaps of Philoktetes (See PI. XXV, 17), and many wounded 
 heroes, heroes in camp, arming, and, occasionally, fighting, who 
 cannot be satisfactorily identified. When a woman is helping 
 arm a hero it may be Thetis and Achilleus or Hector and 
 Andromache. Philoktetes, who was fabled to have founded 
 Petelia, a city always faithful to the Roman alliance, appears 
 in many attitudes such as bending the bow of Herakles, bitten 
 by the serpent or trying to escape from it, but most commonly, 
 abandoned on the island, either seated and fanning the flies 
 from his wounded leg with a bird’s wing, supporting himself 
 with a staff or dragging himself along. Laokoon and his sons 
 attacked by the serpents (PI. XVII, 6) is one of the most 
 interesting types of this series. In fact, what has been said 
 about the Etruscan hero pictures applies pretty generally as 
 to the scope of these gems. 
 
 Of course a good many of the unidentified pictures may 
 be merely warrior figures with no heroic or personal attribu¬ 
 tion. The numerous examples of a mounted warrior or a 
 warrior leading a horse, for instance (PI. XVII, 2), can hardly 
 be taken from the Greek sagas. Many of the types are repre¬ 
 sented as armed only with shield, helmet and, perhaps, greaves, 
 as the Greeks showed them (PI. XVII, 4, 5, 12, 24). Others 
 wear a full panoply (PI. XVII, 2, 13) or the adorned armor 
 and the peculiar corselet with the skirt cut out in scallops 
 that denote the Italian method of representation (PI. XVII, 8). 
 
 A warrior seated or standing with a head or helmet of 
 an enemy in his hand is a favorite picture (PI. XVII, 20) and, 
 sometimes, the headless body is shown or the warrior stands 
 on his dead foe. Occasionally the conqueror is stepping on 
 the prow of a ship, and there are groups of two men, one hold¬ 
 ing the head, or, perhaps, one or two men cutting a body in 
 pieces. The prevalence of this motive would seem to argue 
 some special heroic representation but there is a suggestive¬ 
 ness in the frequent absence of helmet or shield and in the 
 way they grade off into pictures that are evidently of religious 
 ceremonies involving sacrifice, a meaning which is especially 
 apparent where an altar, the sacrificial knife or the double- 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 91 
 
 headed ax is present. The idea of human sacrifice was not 
 foreign to most of the old Italian cults, and the upper body 
 of a youth rising from an altar (PI. XVII, 18) or two youths 
 kneeling before one, both found on these gems, may relate to 
 such ceremonies. Altogether the meaning of the hero and head 
 pictures has never been satisfactorily explained. 
 
 Returning for a moment to less usual hero types, there is a 
 not infrequent representation of a dying hero writing on a shield 
 (PI. XVII, 5). Sometimes dead enemies are shown beside him, 
 sometimes only their arms. The picture probably refers to some 
 poem which tells of the exploit of the Spartan Orthryades who, 
 alone surviving in the battle with the Argives at Thyrea of 
 which Herodotos tells, used his expiring strength thus to record 
 his victory. Of Roman heroes we have a gem with probably 
 a representation of the three Horatii, in Italian armor, from 
 the epic of Ennius, and frequent pictures of some Italian hero 
 kneeling with a drawn sword (PI. XVII, 8), which Furtwiing- 
 ler tries to explain but most unsatisfactorily. Were it meant 
 for Decius Mus, as he suggests, we should probably find some 
 indication of the cincture Gabinus, as being vital to the story. 
 The not uncommon pictures of Mucius Scsevola are generally 
 modern but I have seen one, possibly of later date than these 
 early Roman gems, which seems to be genuine. 
 
 There are also many pictures of heroes or minor deities 
 engaged in magic work of some kind. Daidalos, who was closely 
 connected with the Apollo cult of Kume, where he built a 
 temple to Apollo and consecrated his wings, is shown with 
 Ikaros. Prometheus is a favorite gem figure and is shown with 
 sceptre, knife or measuring rod working at the figure of a man 
 (PI. XVII, 14). Sometimes a horse or ram is standing near, 
 watching the miracle that is to conquer them. The Prometheus 
 creator legend was current in the Orphic and Pythagorean 
 cults, once very strong in Italy. Also there are other figures 
 of artificers, perhaps of magic-working smiths, perhaps 
 Cyclopes or Kabeiroi but more probably Daktyloi, working 
 over arms or metal urns of some kind. The fact that Orpheus 
 was a pupil of the Idaian Daktyloi is suggestive in this con- 
 
92 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE 
 
 nection. Shipbuilder types, sitting or standing, are also common 
 (PL XVII, 16), and suggest Argos working on the Argo. 
 
 Of hero-sacerdotal types we find the frequent picture of 
 a hero consulting an oracle where a woodpecker, sacred to 
 Mars, perches on a column and answers him. Snakes twining 
 around the column indicate the power of divination, and a 
 ram, also sacred to Mars, is often shown as the sacrificial 
 animal (PI. XVII, 12). In another type there is no column 
 or woodpecker; the ram’s head lies on the altar and the hide 
 hangs on a tree around which the serpent twines. Many pic¬ 
 tures represent oracular divinations, especially those which 
 show several heroes drawing lots from an urn or, perhaps, 
 where an ox is being offered for sacrifice by warriors or a priest 
 (Pl. XVII, 25). 
 
 Sacerdotal and purification scenes are also common, such 
 as one where a bald priest, perhaps the Rex Nemorensis, holds a 
 branch over an altar while two men approach, one where a 
 man holds a sacrificial bowl or a censer before an altar (Pl. 
 XVII, 21), is leading up a goat, killing a dove, holding a sacri¬ 
 ficial knife and a goat’s head (PL XVII, 10), or laying a bough 
 on the altar. Perhaps a picture of a mourning youth, with a 
 vase, standing near a column may be classed with these, and 
 interesting guesses may often be hazarded as to the scene or 
 cult intended to be represented. 
 
 Also among the sacerdotal pictures of worship are the 
 many showing single figures standing before an altar, adoring 
 an idol, a Herm or the genius of some place represented as a 
 serpent, and of Roman cult characters, the augur with his 
 lituus (Pl. XVII, 19), a pullarius with a sacred fowl, busts 
 of priests with pointed caps (PL XVII, 19), such as the pon¬ 
 tiffs wore and, most interesting of all, the Salii carrying the 
 sacred shields (Pl. XVII, 1) or dancing. 
 
 The cult of Diana Nemorensis is undoubtedly evidenced 
 in a clothed female figure, with a stag, standing by an altar 
 and holding, generally, a bough in one hand and a dish of fruit 
 in the other. A later picture of the same character equips the 
 goddess with the bow according to the Greek idea (Pl. XIX, 2), 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 93 
 
 and the youth about to sacrifice a stag on an altar (PL XVII, 
 9) may be Virbius, her first priest, in whom the Italians saw 
 Hyppolitos. Probably this personage was a development of 
 an original Dianus, the male counterpart of the local deity 
 whom time had relegated to an inferior position. 
 
 An interesting group of these cult pictures represent a 
 head rising from the ground, apparently in response to some 
 magical invocation made in order to obtain oracular advice 
 or information (PL XVII, 22). Sometimes they do not preclude 
 the idea of a body below the ground, still attached, but often 
 the head is evidently severed. Generally it is unbearded. 
 Usually the listener is writing down the response and, occasion¬ 
 ally, there are two or even three of these. Neither Tages, the 
 mysterious dwarf of the old Etruscan myth whose body would, 
 be shown at least in part, and who could, therefore, be the 
 subject in only a few of the pictures, nor the head ploughed up 
 on the site of the Capitol, which did not speak, can be intended, 
 since it is quite evident that one purpose inspires the entire 
 series. Furtwiingler seems to have solved the problem. He 
 holds that it is the head of Orpheus fabled to be kept near 
 Antissa in Lesbos, where it uttered the oracles of Apollo. These 
 gems would thus be signets of members of the Orphic cult. 
 Akin, perhaps, are the pictures that show a peasant or several 
 peasants finding a skull (Pl. XVII, 15), often with a butterfly 
 floating over it. 
 
 Many gems have reference to the raising of the dead, the 
 crowning magic of all times. Some have to do with the harvest 
 mysteries which underlie the old grain-god myth, such as those 
 that show a man sowing while Proserpina rises from the ground 
 with an ear of corn. Others picture, probably, some form of 
 the story of Polyeidos drawing Glaukos, son of Minos, from 
 the honey jar in which he was smothered. Hermes Psycho- 
 pompos is the recognized prototype of the belief in resurrection 
 from the Orphic and Pythagorean standpoints, cults that 
 appealed powerfully to the typical Romans of the third and 
 second centuries, as that of Bacchus repelled them. Thus 
 Hermes is often shown, either bearded or unbearded, raising 
 
94 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE 
 
 a body or calling it up through the ground from the Under¬ 
 world (PL XVII, 11). Orphic influence is also evident in the 
 frequency of the peacock, pictured now, as later, in various 
 combinations (See PL XVIII, 13). It was a symbol, in that 
 cult, of immortal bliss, and was, as such, taken over into 
 Christian mediaeval art. 
 
 A purely national signet is found in the pictures of the 
 wolf or of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. This, natur¬ 
 ally, has been an attractive subject to forgers. Where the 
 twins are included and the wolf’s head is not turned toward 
 them, there is ground for definite suspicion, as the type is 
 contrary to the statue forms and these were likely to be fol¬ 
 lowed. In the group now at Rome, where the wolf is gazing 
 fiercely, as if at some foe, the figures of the twins were added 
 later, and ignorant forgers have often taken it as their model. 
 With the wolf and twins are frequently found the shepherd, 
 Faustulus, and a figure or bust of Mars or Roma is occasionally 
 introduced (See Pl. XXV, 3). 
 
 It may be gathered, as has been suggested, that the class 
 of signets we are now considering were, for the most part, 
 those worn by adherents of the conservative school of Roman 
 thought—those who, despising or affecting to despise the frivoli¬ 
 ties and even the culture of Greece, clung strongly to the more 
 serious side of life in all its phases—ancient tradition, heroism, 
 deep religious feeling, and all that went to make up the early 
 ideals of the Republic. Throughout the second century B. C. 
 the conflict was on between these and the adherents of Hellen¬ 
 ism. A departure from the Greek and Etruscan gems which 
 showed no historical pictures is found in the occasional adop¬ 
 tion by Romans of scenes from or devices commemorative of 
 their personal or family histories. Sulla’s signet representing 
 the surrender of Jugurtha is an evidence of this as is also the 
 signet of Q. Cornelius Lupus: a horse’s head and two Gallic 
 shields, which probably commemorated the victory of one of 
 his kinsmen over the Gauls, either C. Cornelius Cethegus who 
 defeated the Insubres in 197 B. C., or P. Cornelius Scipio 
 Nasica who beat the Boii in 191. Nevertheless, most historical 
 
INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 95 
 
 scenes must be regarded as forgeries. They certainly were 
 highly exceptional, one of the many points of which the fabri¬ 
 cators were ignorant. 
 
 Also, at this time we find, perhaps, the first example of 
 a signet showing the taste, later so marked at Rome, for the 
 luck-bringing symbols of the eastern religions: a man riding 
 a Capricornus (Compare PI. XXVI, 29). The goat-fish com¬ 
 bination was originally a Babylonian god-symbol and its 
 appearance here w T as probably due to the Chaldsean astrologers 
 who must have done a thriving business in Italy, since they 
 became of sufficient consequence to be expelled from the city 
 by a special law in 138 B. C. The great popularity of Capri¬ 
 cornus at a later period is explained by its being the birth sign 
 of Augustus. 
 
 Rural life is occasionally exemplified in pictures of a 
 shepherd or shepherds, and there are a few animals, mainly 
 horses and bulls. Nearly all the gems of this class, however, 
 show human figures. 
 
 Inscriptions. —With the exception of a few descriptive 
 inscriptions on the fourth century scarabs which may be of 
 Etruscan workmanship and the legend the dying hero spoken 
 of above is writing on the shield (PI. XVII, 5), all the inscrip¬ 
 tions on these stones refer to the owners’ names. Rarely they 
 are engraved in Greek letters and, sometimes, even, the names 
 are translated into Greek equivalents (PI. XVII, 21). A 
 unique example bears an Etruscan inscription, and another, 
 what seems to be a Roman name in Etruscan letters, but the 
 great majority of the names, sometimes even those of 
 resident Greeks, are in coarse, sprawling Roman letters, like 
 those on the coinage of the period (PI. XVII, 2, 10, 12), gener¬ 
 ally much abbreviated and abounding in the ligatured mono¬ 
 grams so common on the consular denarii (PI. XVIII, 18). The 
 early 0 and , open at the bottom, and the A are not found or 
 the b which w r ent out about 200 B. C., and the forms of the 
 0, A and L go to prove that these name inscriptions did not 
 begin before the second century. P, however, is P or (>, which 
 
©0 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE 
 
 continues through the Republican period. As for artists, there 
 were evidently none of sufficient note for the owners to wish 
 their names on these signets. 
 
 The second class of early Roman gems are those which 
 show they were made under the Hellenic influence of the artists 
 of Magna Grmcia, many of whom doubtless gravitated to Rome 
 with the demand for their work. While it is altogether impos¬ 
 sible to distinguish some of these stones from purely Hellenistic 
 work of the time, inscriptions and general characteristics 
 help to place many as Roman. No Etruscan influence shows 
 in them. By far the greatest number are strongly convex in 
 shape, usually broad ovals approaching the circular, and they 
 lack the border. Generally speaking they do not seem 
 to date back as far as the earliest of the other group and prob¬ 
 ably the first of them should not be placed before the middle 
 of the third century B. C. They continued steadily to increase 
 in popularity as the others decreased, in the growth of Greek 
 influence and Epicurean philosophy as opposed to the stoicism 
 of early Roman ideals. 
 
 Materials. —Dark sards, more easily attainable than the 
 finer gems then popular in the East, were the favorite stones 
 and some of these run almost into black. Gray chalcedonies 
 and carnelian were not rare and occasional amethysts are 
 found. Glass pastes were as common as in the other group, 
 naturally imitating, as a rule, the dark sards, though violet, 
 white, and other colors also occur. 
 
 Technique. —Plastic effects, aided by the convexity which 
 permitted deeper cutting, are in evidence in rounded forms 
 standing out from the background. Figures and busts appear 
 in full front (PI. XVIII, 10,15, 22, 24) with clever foreshorten¬ 
 ing, in the style of the best Hellenistic art. The technical 
 work was generally much better than in the other class, 
 though there were, of course, many poor specimens with coarse 
 strokes and drill points standing together roughly and 
 unjoined. Some even approach the drill-work Etruscan 
 scarabs: largely animal pictures, with feet, joints, noses, etc. 
 indicated by round borings, but they lack their dry severity. 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 97 
 
 The taste was for full, heavy forms, and the heads which are 
 especially characteristic are generally unbearded and youth¬ 
 ful, even when they represent older types. As a rule, they are 
 neither fine nor beautiful, though, later, we find some that, 
 while coarse in a way, are serious and thoughtfully conceived. 
 
 Subjects. —As would be expected, there is a sharp line 
 between the subjects affected by these Hellenizing Romans and 
 by the adherents of the more sternly national party. Heroes and 
 the epic cycles have little place here and the old cult pictures 
 are lacking. Herakles is the commonest, but he is shown as 
 a type of triumphant might rather than as a serious creative 
 hero. He is found strangling serpents, conquering giants or 
 centaurs, wrestling with Antaios (See PI. XXV, 19), capturing 
 Cerberus, and attacking the river-god, Acheloos, while, in more 
 frivolous vein he appears playing a lyre, drunken and even 
 micturating (PI. XVIII, 1). His head alone and that of 
 Omphale, who appears for the first time in this period, are also 
 pictured. 
 
 Diomedes and Odysseus (PI. XVIII, 2) are commonest 
 of the Trojan War cycle and there is Kassandra with the Pal¬ 
 ladium (PI. XVIII, 4) and Aineias (iEneas) carrying 
 Anchises. Perseus, who was fabled in the Latin legend to have 
 come ashore with Danae in the chest, at Ardea in Latium, is 
 shown with the head of Medousa and also as a bust wearing 
 the dragon helmet of Hades which made its wearer invisible. 
 Iphigeneia, Orestes, and Marsyas also appear. Of Roman 
 heroes we have Marcus Curtius (PI. XVIII, 3), mounted and 
 plunging into the chasm in the Forum. 
 
 Genre warrior types are not unusual: knights on horse¬ 
 back, sometimes contending with Gauls (PI. XVIII, 6), one 
 carrying away a maiden, perhaps a Sabine, and a Roman 
 imperator with his legates. Hunters on foot or mounted are 
 also pretty common and, of everyday people, shepherds (PI. 
 XVIII, 11), peasants, and fishermen, orators, bankers, ath¬ 
 letes, charioteers, a lady with her slaves, a man who seems to 
 be freezing, and philosophers reading, writing or teaching, a 
 natural embodiment of Greek tastes becoming popular in Rome. 
 
98 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE 
 
 Of deities the tendency was all toward the cheerfulness of 
 the cycles of Eros and Bacchus (PI. XVIII, 8). The former 
 is now definitely the chubby Cupid of Hellenistic art, and his 
 power is indicated by numerous pictures of him disarming, 
 binding and even riding Herakles, seated on the terrestrial 
 globe, playing with the thunderbolt of Jupiter or with the 
 rudder of Fortuna or holding a figure of Victory in his hand. 
 He carries, also, bowls of fruit, bunches of grapes, wine jars 
 and drinking cups, and is shown dancing, playing the lyre, 
 hunting his way with a lantern, fishing or playing with ani¬ 
 mals, comic masks or even a hoop (PI. XVIII, 9, 10). Busts 
 with distended cheeks, a beaker and a wreath are characteristic. 
 In a more serious way he is represented as reading a book, arm¬ 
 ing for battle, building a trophy or leaning, wearied, on his torch 
 like the later figures of Thanatos (Compare PI. XXIV, 6 and 
 9). The duel between Eros and Anteros is pictured, and the 
 former is shown catching a butterfly or singeing it with his 
 torch (Compare PI. XXIX, 9), or bound and watched by a 
 butterfly, perhaps Psyche. Often Aphrodite appears with him 
 bending over, at her toilet, or naked; also Psyche. In 
 short it would be impossible to say that any form of representa¬ 
 tion on the above lines was inconsistent with the spirit of this 
 group of gems. 
 
 Bacchus is generally beardless and shown standing, sitting, 
 or as a head or a Herm. Satyrs, often with the little horns 
 given them by Hellenistic art, are very numerous. Some are 
 dancing (PI. XVIII, 7), and there are also mainads and a 
 Seilenos micturating. Not uncommonly there is found an 
 obscene picture in these gems, a thing quite foreign to native 
 Roman or the best Greek taste. 
 
 Of other gods, Athena, is shown with many attributes as 
 in Hellenistic art or seated on a bench with lion’s feet as on 
 the coins of Pergamos; Kubele (Cybele) is seated on her lion, 
 Artemis occurs and Juno with her peacock or sometimes a 
 peacock head-dress. Here the bird is introduced merely as an 
 attribute of the goddess and has no relation to its place in the 
 Orphic cults. Isis appears in her Alexandrian types, marking 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 99 
 
 the growth of eastern religions ideas in Rome. These are the 
 most usual. Eros and the young Hermes are sometimes shown 
 as Herms. 
 
 Of minor deities the commonest are Victory, nude to the 
 waist and writing on a shield or reading, Fortuna seated on 
 a wheel, a rudder or a Capricornus, and the head of a horned 
 river-god (PI. XVIII, 24). Libya is found with an elephant’s 
 hide (PI. XVIII, 23). Muses are rather common figures and 
 the heavenly sphere is shown with them for the first time (PI. 
 XVIII, 5). Especially interesting is the combination of types 
 and attributes, such as Fortuna with Artemis or with Nemesis, 
 going back to early Greek ideas, and Victory with Isis (PI. 
 XVIII, 22), a later invention. Greater and lesser deities are 
 also often represented by heads and busts alone (PI. XVIII, 
 22—24). 
 
 There is a class of pictures that show a dwarf or gnome 
 engaged in all sorts of employments, such as fishing, ploughing, 
 playing the flute (PI. XVIII, 19), carrying an amphora or sit¬ 
 ting on one or on a bird. Probably these figures are not meant 
 to be merely comic but represent some local demon, perhaps 
 Campanian, a region of which several of the types seem charac¬ 
 teristic (Compare PI. XXVI, 29, which may be earlier than it 
 is placed, and fall in this class). More definitely luck-bringing 
 seals, akin to devices on many Carthaginian scarabs from 
 Sardinia and to the later Roman grylli, are such mixed figures 
 as a man’s head and an eagle (PI. XVIII, 17), an eagle with a 
 man’s body and legs, a man with wings and a goat’s head, 
 queer combinations of birds, which seem to begin along the 
 second and first centuries, and of a man and an insect, an ass’s 
 head rising from a flower, a head with three legs (PI. XVIII,18), 
 combined man and animal masks, and others of a more or less 
 kindred character (Compare PI. XIX, 17). An ant attacking 
 a lion (PI. XVIII, 14) may be purely humorous. On many 
 of these certain symbols are added, such as caducii, cornu¬ 
 copias, etc. and it is very evident that they were believed to 
 exert power as amulets. Altogether the spirit of grotesqueness 
 is represented very fully and in many different forms. 
 
100 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE 
 
 Stones engraved only with symbols are also common. 
 Some, such as the rudder of Fortuna, the club of Herakles (PI. 
 XVIII, 12), the ear of wheat, and the caduceus were probably 
 thought to be luck-bringing (See PI. XIX, 7); others, like the 
 drinking cup and the staff, the shoe (PL XVIII, 16), the helmet 
 or weapons, may express the amusements or occupations of the 
 wearers, while others may be purely ornamental like the sun¬ 
 dial (PI. XVIII, 20) and a fountain or birds in a garden. It 
 is not a far cry, however, to put the sun-dial pictures in the 
 symbolic class. Even street scenes, such as a man with a danc¬ 
 ing donkey, are found. 
 
 Normal animal forms are common and are often very well 
 done; running bulls, butting bulls, as on the coins of Thourioi, 
 horses, dogs, goats, swine, roosters, lions, birds, insects, etc. 
 (PL XVIII, 12, 13, 14). 
 
 A peculiarly characteristic line of gems of this class are 
 drawn from the theatre. Furtwangler thinks some may show 
 figures from the old Oscan buffooneries or Atellan farces, but 
 it was from Greece that the legitimate stage finally established 
 itself among the Romans, and these gems are, as a rule, dis¬ 
 tinctively Greek in their representations. Masks, both male 
 and female (PL XVIII, 21), are much in evidence, and comedy 
 seems to be favored rather than tragedy, both in the masks and 
 in the figures. Especially there is the omnipresent slave of 
 Plautus, with a fat belly and a short coat (Pl. XVIII, 15), 
 either meditating some rascality, chained for his misdeeds, 
 looking at a broken pitcher, running, taking refuge at an altar, 
 quarreling, dancing or with an amphora or a lantern. Like¬ 
 wise we find the quarrelsome old man of the comedies. Some¬ 
 times the players appear with the masks pushed back or in 
 their hands, and a mask that seems meant to have certain 
 characteristics of a rooster probably indicated some lecherous 
 character. It would be interesting to know whether M. Rostand 
 was aware of this suggestion of his Chanticler idea in early 
 drama. 
 
 Last, among the great variety of subjects pictured on 
 this class of gems we may first suspect the presence of lifelike 
 
INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 101 
 
 portrait heads, in part rough and coarse, in part excellent 
 though never so fine as are the Hellenistic or later Roman por¬ 
 traits (See PI. XVIII, 25 and description). 
 
 Inscriptions. —Here, no more than on the gems of the 
 Etruscan school, do we find any artists’ names. Most of the 
 inscriptions indicate the names of the owners (PI. XVIII, 2, 7, 
 11, 12, 15, 18, 20), commonly much abbreviated or ligatured 
 (PI. XVIII, 18), usually in Latin but occasionally in Greek 
 letters. Both run to coarse forms, unlike the dainty lettering 
 on pure Greek stones. The Greek letters when used are apt 
 to be the rounded types of the Hellenistic period such as C 
 and 6; the Latin P is usually open, and the L, with but one 
 known exception, right-angled. Usually there is a dot at the 
 end of each stroke and everything is paralleled in the Roman 
 coinage of from 250 to 100 B. C. Unique examples show 
 Etruscan or Oscan letters. 
 
 Returning to the general trend of early Roman gem¬ 
 engraving, we find, in the last century before the Christian era 
 the two above described classes blending into each other or, 
 rather, the Greek influence prevailing. The severity of the old 
 scarab style disappears, leaving only a stiffness which is now, 
 probably, more the result of bad workmanship than of primi¬ 
 tive taste. The figures are in a free background though the 
 scarab border remains on some. Dionysos and Eros finally 
 drive out most of the hero sagas and the cult scenes. Never¬ 
 theless the materials used in the Etruscan group, the banded 
 agate and sardonyx and other flat ring-stones, remained popular 
 and their influence even prevailed over the convexity of the 
 Hellenizing group, so that the dark sards, which were still very 
 much in evidence, were often cut flat. The red jasper came into 
 fashion at the end of the period, along with the nicolo, a 
 novelty somewhat earlier. Stylistic and subjective kinship with 
 the Roman coinage of the time helps to place many of these 
 gems, such as Victory in a chariot, heads of Victory and of 
 Diana, the winged Nemesis, as on the coins of Vibius Varro, the 
 calmly classic Apollo type on those of Pomponius Musa, and 
 the Neptune with Capricornus in his hand indicating the 
 
102 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—COMBINATION PERIOD 
 
 turning point of the year. Especially favored was the hair 
 treatment rolled up at the back and side in rough imitation of 
 the Greek fifth century style (PI. XIX, 1, 5, 8, 14). 
 
 Inscriptions also followed the coinage letterings, ligatures 
 are common (PI. XIX, 7, 11), the finishing dots begin to run 
 out into little strokes (PI. XIX, 21), and there are more Latin 
 names done into Greek, though the Greek in Latin letters occur 
 not uncommonly. All still refer to the owners, save an occa¬ 
 sional sentiment (PI. XIX, 7). No artists appear. 
 
 Subjects. —In subjects there was an occasional tendency 
 to revert to earlier Greek types such as the youthful Eros (PI. 
 XIX, 5), and a goddess, probably Aphrodite, is shown rising 
 out of a flower (PI. XIX, 8). Psyche became much more popular 
 and was pictured as a maiden with a bird’s or a butterfly’s 
 wings (PL XIX, 3, 10); more rarely (PI. XIX, 7) as a butterfly. 
 She is shown being bound by or binding Eros, pierced by his 
 arrow or before an altar with torch and patera. Sometimes 
 she is combined with Nemesis, as expressed by the character¬ 
 istic bent arm gesture (PL XIX, 3), and, again, with Victory 
 or with Peace. Herm busts of Psyche are also in evidence (Pl. 
 XIX, 14). A characteristic attitude of both Victory and 
 Nemesis is that of rising on the toes, as shown in the Eros figure 
 (PL XIX, 5), sometimes with a bough held out in one hand. 
 Dionysos, nymphs, Bacchantes, satyrs and Seileni appear in 
 a great variety of poses (PL XIX, 1), the first usually as a 
 sturdy, bearded figure (See PL XVIII, 8; XXII, 2). Priapos 
 is a favorite, though evidently not often chosen in a spirit of 
 obscenity but, rather, as a conception of creative power. One 
 gem shows him as a Herm with a peacock and a butterfly, 
 another, rising out of a flower, and Eros is pictured making 
 offering to him. The half-naked Aphrodite, often the back view 
 of her, is also found. The pictures of a woman with a swan 
 may be either Aphrodite or Leda (Pl. XIX, 13). The figure 
 of Methe was worn as a guard against drunkenness. 
 
 A bearded Herm with butterfly’s wings, probably Hypnos 
 (Pl. XIX, 19), is a typical subject of this epoch. Eros (Pl. 
 XIX, 5), of course, continues first of all in popularity. Mars, 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 103 
 
 Neptune (PI. XIX, 16) and other single figures of gods in 
 many characteristic attitudes are common as they are even 
 more so later. Many attributes are usually added to make 
 clear their identity, though these are sometimes combined in 
 a way that is rather confusing. A figure of what may be a 
 genius with a caduceus, cornucopia, sword, globe, etc., is an 
 example of this tendency (PI. XIX, 4). Really good concep¬ 
 tion, taken together with stiff, angular treatment, is often the 
 only way of distinguishing these from the later productions, 
 for stiff, angular treatment on poor work is always in evidence. 
 Many types now got the permanent form they continued to 
 appear in. Pantheistic figures emblematic of Rome’s increas¬ 
 ing power and growing World-government, such, perhaps, as 
 that of the “genius” just referred to, naturally became favorites. 
 
 Paintings were doubtless more common now and some gems 
 show evidence of being taken from figures in them (PI. XIX, 
 Fig. 1). 
 
 Representations of philosophers, students and the like 
 increase greatly in number. They are found meditating, read¬ 
 ing, writing, sometimes with a Herm (PI. XIX, 20) or a sun¬ 
 dial. A death’s-head pictured with a philosopher shows him 
 thinking about death, a butterfly, about immortality, and so 
 on. Many death’s-heads and skeletons (PI. XIX, 9; See XXVI, 
 9) indicate the extremes of a tendency to gloomy reflections 
 which is not altogether incongruous with that same Epicure¬ 
 anism that gave birth to the many Erotic and Bacchic pictures. 
 Wheels and pendulums were only less gruesome symbols of the 
 transitoriness of life. Where in the earlier gems under Etrus¬ 
 can influence there is evidenced deep religious feeling and a 
 belief in immortality, now we find few cult manifestations but 
 only the desire for pleasure alternating with depression, and 
 the trivial hope to gain good luck in life by the aid of the 
 symbols supposed to invoke it. Horns of plenty, rudders, 
 caducii, thyrsi, ears of wheat, palm branches and clubs (PI. 
 XIX, 7, 11, 12) are the commonest of these: also there are 
 more animal pictures, especially of the animals favored by 
 special gods (PI. XIX, 2, 12, 19), and an increasing number 
 
104 EARLY ROMAN GEMS—COMBINATION PERIOD 
 
 of grotesques among which a cicada or cricket engaged in 
 various human employments is especially characteristic (PI. 
 XIX, 15). Possibly its resemblance to a skeleton may have 
 suggested this caprice as humorous, but the symbols it some¬ 
 times carries, its frequency, and the spirit of the age make us 
 suspect rather some especial significance in the direction of 
 fortune-bringing. Finally there are all sorts of utensils, vases, 
 fountains, ships and armor, especially helmets (PI. XIX, 18), 
 often fantastically contrived with animal forms. Bust pictures 
 of war-horses’ heads in magic-working combinations are also 
 found (PL XIX, 17). 
 
 There is practically but one of the serious cult scenes that 
 Furtwangler places especially in this epoch. It is frequently 
 repeated on the gems and represents a maiden sleeping, just 
 waking or peacefully waiting. She is either sitting bent for¬ 
 ward or half reclining and sometimes her mantle is drawn 
 over the back of her head. In some cases she is alone, in others 
 one or two men approach, and a serpent is showm twisting 
 around a tree. Beside her is a round object like a basket in 
 which are small things that may be intended for loaves of 
 bread and over which her left arm is sometimes stretched, or 
 she may be shown seated on it. Often there is added a pitcher 
 or vase. A tree, like a laurel, grows near and, also, ears of 
 wheat. Ants seem to be approaching her and above hovers 
 a bird which sometimes bears a staff, a thyrsus or a wreath. 
 Dr. Furtwangler makes a very interesting identification of the 
 subject of these gems with the incident of the revival of the cult 
 of Juno Sospita at Lanuvium, which had fallen into decay 
 about 90 B. C. This revival was the result of a warning that 
 came to Rome in the dream of a woman, a Csecilia of the family 
 of the Metelli, surely akin to her whose tomb now stands on 
 the Appian Way, if it be not indeed the same. The temple was 
 near a grove where had been found the lair of a serpent sacred 
 to the goddess. Crows were her sacred birds. The cult cere¬ 
 mony consisted in leading into the grove a young woman con¬ 
 secrated to Juno, her eyes bound and a cake in her hand. If 
 she was pure the serpent would eat the cake. If she was 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 105 
 
 impure, ants came and broke and carried it away. In the 
 former event the people believed that the year would be fertile 
 (PI. XIX, 6). 
 
 In closing this epoch it is to be noted in connection with 
 the numerous heads of deities pictured, that toward its end 
 the portraiture on gems made tremendous strides toward per¬ 
 fection (PL XIX, 21, 22). We have excellent likenesses of 
 Pompeius Magnus (PI. XIX, 21), Caesar and Marcus Antonius 
 that show the ultimate triumph of Hellenistic art. Early 
 Eoman roughness disappears, and there comes to be a distinct 
 Italian style which, from its combination of Greek workman¬ 
 ship with Roman developments and Roman or World-wide 
 subjects, may be called Graeco-Roman. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 GR2EC0-R0MAFI GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 From this time on must be dated the great majority of 
 stones that come into our hands today, and, also, it becomes 
 extremely difficult, in some cases impossible, to distinguish 
 many of them from earlier Hellenistic work. All sorts of 
 archaizing tendencies prevailed and the taste of the individual, 
 the skill of the artists and the perfection of their tools made 
 everything possible. From the days of Pompey and Caesar and 
 the final conquest of the East, fuller knowledge of the beauty 
 of Greek gems, the growing craze for Greek art and the appre¬ 
 ciation of Greek learning, led, not only to a wellnigh universal 
 use of gem signets, good, bad and indifferent, but also to a 
 collecting mania that may well have resulted in ancient for¬ 
 geries of still earlier work which might be extremely interesting 
 were we able now to identify them with any certainty. Pom- 
 pey’s dedication of Mithridates’ collection in the Capitol, and 
 the six collections dedicated by Julius Caesar in the temple of 
 Venus Victrix voice the taste. It has been too much the 
 fashion to assume, in view of the better taste of earlier times, 
 that the finest gems are all Hellenistic and the mass of poorer 
 cuttings all Imperial. The dictum is doubtless true as to most 
 of the latter, but, as I have said before, there must always have 
 been more bad workmen than artists, and poorer people who 
 aspired or had need to follow the fashions of the rich. There¬ 
 fore, badly cut stones, where the material and subject comply 
 with the taste and fashion of an earlier date, must not be hailed 
 too positively as Imperial. On the other hand the really good 
 engraving of the numerous Greek artists whom the wealth of 
 Rome and the demand for their work there attracted to the 
 106 
 
GREATER NUMBER OF GEMS 
 
 107 
 
 Capital of the World was, generally speaking, quite equal to 
 the products of the best Hellenistic art, while its quantity 
 was much greater. The reproduction of earlier subjects and 
 the affectation of earlier styles go to make the matter still 
 more complex. To sum it all up, the moral is that, while com¬ 
 binations of material, subject and method lead us to satisfac¬ 
 tory attributions in the majority of instances, the student and 
 connoisseur must not generalize too liberally and must guard 
 against hard and fast theories that would apply the dogmatic 
 yard-stick as the final measure of all things. 
 
 One reason why our supply of ancient gems of later epochs 
 is in greater proportion than the relative product of the earlier 
 periods is found in the enormous increase of ring wearing 
 among the Romans. In Republican times it was considered 
 effeminate to wear more than the needful signet. In Horace’s 
 day to sport three rings on the left hand marked the finished 
 exquisite, but in Martial’s his fop wears half a dozen on each 
 finger, and Quintilian cautions orators against overloading the 
 hand with rings. On the practical side too, Pliny (Bk. 
 XXXIII, 6) dilates on the increased necessity of sealing up 
 everything from the horde of thievish slaves and he comments 
 on the ring worn to seal up the cabinet which held the signet 
 ring proper, the latter being too valuable a thing to be worn 
 abroad with the attendant risk of loss. Still further he speaks 
 of the lower orders of citizens “slipping off the ring the moment 
 a simple contract is made,” a suggestive sentence as to the 
 widespread practice of signet wearing and the constant use of 
 the signet even by persons of little consequence. A point, too, 
 to be considered from the standpoint of probability of discovery 
 is that most of the art of earlier ages lies deeper in the debris 
 of antiquity—further underground—than does that of the 
 later, and the surface scratchings of peasants, workmen, and 
 even archaeologists which have produced many of our present 
 possessions have left the gems of older days undisturbed, let us 
 hope, for future chances and more systematic excavation. With 
 these qualifications and warnings in mind we may take up the 
 considerations that must govern us in accomplishing the much 
 
108 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 that can be accomplished in the lines of study and illumination. 
 
 Materials. —We now find, practically, every known stone 
 obtainable and in use. The best work is apt to appear on 
 garnet, aquamarine, beryl, topaz, peridot and, very rarely, 
 emerald and sapphire. The commonest material was a trans¬ 
 lucent carnelian from the East. Darker sard and chalcedony 
 were still in vogue, also amethyst. Rock-crystal was rare. 
 Agate had largely gone out of fashion but the sardonyx was still 
 popular cut in a new way, not across the layers but parallel 
 with them, and the gem was fashioned in the shape of a trun¬ 
 cated cone in order best to display the different colors on the 
 sides of the stone rising from the bezel of the ring. The picture 
 was, of course, cut in the smaller layer at the top. 
 
 Another specific development of the period, though not an 
 absolute novelty, was the green plasma, always more or less 
 convex in form and bearing, for the most part, a single figure 
 of some deity or a copy of a statue. It became a definite gem 
 class in the first century B. C., about the time of Julius Caesar. 
 A third fashionable stone, whose evolution has been noted some¬ 
 what earlier and which had increased so rapidly in popularity 
 as to augur some supposed magical influence in it, was the 
 iEgyptilla, an agate of two layers, generally a black or dark 
 brown and a grayish blue, the intaglio being cut through the 
 light layer into the dark, the former also being usually cut away 
 around the edges so as to leave a darker border. This gem thus 
 engraved is known as the nicolo. On it, too, single figures and 
 famous statue types were the popular subjects. Red jasper, 
 also, unused except occasionally in the older Greek period, had 
 begun again in the combination epoch and now became charac¬ 
 teristic, remaining so through the Empire. Aspasios, one of 
 the best artists, used a peculiar bright red variety, and won¬ 
 derful work is found on it. Green jasper also reappeared, and, 
 as the period advanced, two new materials came into use, yel¬ 
 low jasper and heliotrope or bloodstone. 
 
 Book XXXVII of the Natural History of Pliny the Elder, 
 written in the early part of the first century A. D., on the 
 precious stones of the period together with their medical and 
 
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUE 
 
 109 
 
 magical properties, furnishes most interesting reading for the 
 student of the subject. Color was pretty much the only test 
 of kind, and, in many instances, it is extremely difficult to 
 identify his names and descriptions with stones as we know 
 them to-day. 
 
 Glass pastes, though beginning to fall off in numbers, were 
 still common throughout this epoch, especially in Italy during 
 Augustan times, and some are so large that they could not 
 have been meant for signets. Usually they are transparent 
 white, light blue, yellow, brown, green and violet, and bear 
 nearly always copies of the best gem pictures, especially those 
 from the Erotic and Bacchic cycles. Later, poorer purchasers 
 seemed rather to prefer a stone, however cheaply cut, to a fine 
 paste, a sure sign of the coming decay of art interest. Seals 
 cut in metal practically went out of use. 
 
 Technique. —In the matter of technique the good gem 
 engraving of the early Empire was practically as Greek as 
 was the Hellenistic. The bad might well be anything and the 
 tendencies were alike over all the Roman World, better, of 
 course, in the great centers of culture like Rome, Athens, 
 Alexandria, etc., poorer in more backward or decadent districts. 
 The lords of the World began by having their portraits cut 
 by Greek artists, and the other signet subjects of the wealthy 
 followed naturally. Generally speaking, convex garnets with 
 single figures cut sketchily with long lines seem to have been 
 especially popular in the East, and glass pastes were much 
 less common there than in Italy before, say 50 A. D., when the 
 manufacture at Rome began to flag. The favorite figures on 
 these garnets were, first Tyche, then Demeter with her torches, 
 Nemesis, Athena, Apollo, and an unknown goddess with sceptre 
 and bowl; also animals, masks and symbols. The Nemesis 
 (PI. XXV, 4), though done on a sardonyx, is a good example 
 of this style. 
 
 As at an earlier time, the more translucent stones were 
 apt to be more or less convex, either on both sides or, at least, 
 on the picture one; the opaque stones were flat or nearly so. 
 Practically all are ring-stones with the exception of rare pierced 
 
110 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 four-sided pendants engraved on all four sides, a single example 
 of a five-sided pendant, a probably unique cylinder, and a few 
 large intaglios that must have been made for ornaments rather 
 than signets. The oval, as the tendency in the Hellenizing 
 Roman group foreshadows, inclines more to broadness than 
 does the Hellenistic and occasionally there is an approach to 
 the four-cornered shape noted in the Roman gems under Etrus¬ 
 can influence. In these, as before, the milled border was usually 
 preserved. Otherwise it is very rare. 
 
 Tools and technical skill were, as I have said, at their 
 best, and the only noticeable falling away of the best Augustan 
 from even the best Greek examples was in inspiration, softness, 
 tenderness and bold freshness. Here everything was neat, 
 sharp, definite and inclined to be dry. Delicacy was carried 
 to a higher point than at any other time. There was the Hellen¬ 
 istic fondness for very fine parallel lines, especially in delineat¬ 
 ing hair, and a preference for foreshortened oblique views of 
 animals (PI. XXVI, 19, 21), also Hellenistic, and which served 
 to display the artists’ skill. It is something very like this that 
 we find in the latter part of the Italian Renaissance, beginning 
 even with Michael Angelo and running riot in Bernini: a 
 consciousness on the part of the craftsman of his ability to 
 do difficult things and a desire to show off, than which there 
 is no surer sign of the decay of true taste. Floating drapery 
 was charmingly rendered as was also the transparent. The 
 poorer work generally tried to copy the best and, in so doing, 
 graded down from what may be called sketchy to frankly crude. 
 Even when the great artists of the period copied famous old 
 gems they, doubtless, substituted their own precision for the 
 ancient breadth of handling, artistlike considering their art the 
 greater. After the fall of the Claudian princes we find a 
 decadence setting in, which had its climax in the Flavian 
 principiates. Internal disturbances, civil wars, and the acces¬ 
 sion of a family who were primarily rough soldiers, all had 
 their influence. Under Hadrian there was a distinct revival of 
 Greek taste and artistic luxury but it was the last real flash 
 of the flame, and by 150 A. D. had begun the final decay that 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 111 
 
 progressed from then on with practically no interruption. The 
 sale of Hadrian’s cabinet of gems by the philosopher, Marcus 
 Aurelius, in order to replenish his military chest for the war 
 against the Marcomanni, which Capitolinus tells of, is a sug¬ 
 gestive incident. 
 
 Subjects. —It is now that we find nearly every gem subject 
 in evidence. There were preferences, of course, but nothing 
 was neglected, and comparatively few specimens can be denied 
 to this epoch on the score of their motives. Primarily the 
 controlling ideas were art pure and simple, flattery of the 
 great, and superstition as opposed to the higher religious 
 thought, as is evidenced in the great number of magic-working 
 and luck-bringing symbols and the craze for the mystic eastern 
 cults. 
 
 Of the older gods the child Eros prevailed in endlessly 
 varied pictures, for the most part sportive and frivolous (PI. 
 XXI, 3; XXIII, 8; XXIV, 1—3, 6—8). Often he is shown to¬ 
 gether with Psyche. The reclining Hermaphrodite was a favorite, 
 and there were many charming female figures of the type of 
 the Aphrodite Kallipyge, the bathing Artemis (PI. XXIV, 18), 
 Nereids (PI. XXII, 5, 10), Muses (PI. XXVII, 16), mainads 
 (PI. XXI, 20), Horai, etc. Victory (PI. XXIV, 14, 15) and 
 Fortuna (PI. XXV, 9) were, of course, very common. Hypnos 
 is not rare (PI. XXIV, 17). Dionysos (PI. XXII, 2; XXIII, 
 5), satyrs and Tritons (PI. XXII, 10; XXVI, 3), Herakles— 
 or, as we should, perhaps, write it now, Hercules—(PI. XX, 
 7; XXV, 7, 19; XXVII, 11, 17), often according to the youth¬ 
 ful type shown by Praxiteles, and many classical subjects, in¬ 
 cluding the Seilenos type of the fifth century B. C., all abound. 
 None of the gods is lacking. The Venus Victrix (PI. XXIII, 21; 
 XXIV, 12) was an especially favored subject in compliment 
 to Caesar whose patroness she was and who wore her on his 
 signet. Mars Ultor (PI. XXIII, 23) and Mars Gradivus (PL 
 XXIII, 22) were common, Mars Navalis with a Victory in his 
 hand and his foot on a ship (PI. XXIII, 24) suggests Augustus’ 
 triumph at Actium, while many more or less crude Minervas 
 may be referred to Flavian times as being representations of 
 
112 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 the favored and favoring deity of that house. The good fortune 
 of the emperor as well as his more tangible favor invoked by 
 the flattery was thus sought for. 
 
 At this time, too, we find in the Fortuna Pantheia, or For- 
 tuna invested with the attributes of other divinities, a Roman 
 manifestation of pantheistic tendencies (See Furtwangler, PI. 
 XLIV, 68). Lucian has left us an account of a similar but, 
 doubtless, earlier development in the East: the “Syrian god¬ 
 dess” of Emesa who, whether Juno, Isis or Nature as variously 
 named, united the attributes of Pallas, Venus Urania, Arte¬ 
 mis, Rhea, Nemesis and the Fates (With the lotus flower of 
 Isis, PI. XXIII, 17). She was enthroned with or upon lions, 
 wore a radiated or turreted crown and the cestus and bore the 
 distaff and sceptre. Jupiter Belus, her male type, was throned 
 on bulls. 
 
 Sculpture and painting furnished the models for numerous 
 engravings on the gems. Most of the pictures of gods seem to 
 be copied from specific statues, occasionally with a pedestal 
 included, and an endless repetition of types and poses, ranging 
 all the way from the best work to the worst, was the result. 
 To name a few of the famous sculpture types, there is the 
 Hercules of the severe school (Shown by Furtwangler, PL 
 XLIII, 85, 37) as well as both the Pheidian (Furtwangler, 
 PI. XXXIX, 20) and the Praxitelian (PI. XXV, 7), the Apollo 
 of Kanachos, with a deer (PI. XXIII, 4), the Sauroktonos of 
 Praxiteles (PI. XXIII, 3), and, also, standing beside a column 
 (PI. XXII, 4), Zeus (PI. XXIII, 11, 12, 19), Hermes (PI. XX, 
 2; XXIII, 14—16), Neptune (PI. XXIII, 20), Athena (PI. 
 XXIII, 25), and the Athena Parthenos of Pheidias (Bust, PI. 
 XX, 9). Also the Athena Promachos and the Athena of Lemnos 
 are shown in busts. The Ephesian Artemis is common (PI. 
 XXIII, 26). The Amazon of Kresilas is copied both in full 
 figure and in bust (PI. XXI, 18), but especially in favor were 
 the works of Polykleitos, notably the Doryphoros (PI. XXV, 
 12) and the Diadoumenos. The Theseus (PI. XX, 14) is 
 thoroughly Polykleitan, as is the Pan (?) (PI. XXI, 21). The 
 Triptolemos type, which goes back to Euphranor and was 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 113 
 
 regarded by the Romans as a Bonus Eventus and, hence, 
 especially propitious, was a great favorite and continued so 
 far down in glyptic art (PI. XXIV, 20, 21). The Discobolus 
 of Myron was copied (PI. XXV, 11 is a variant of the theme 
 quite in the style of that sculptor) and, perhaps, his Perseus; 
 also the archer Cupid of Lysippos (See PI. XXIII, 8). The 
 athlete (PI. XX, 4), the Hypnos (PI. XXV, 5), and the winged 
 figure (PI. XXV, 6) are also probably copies of statues. A 
 certain line of archaic work delicately overdone seems to follow 
 Kallimachos (PI. XXIV, 16). Greek statues were naturally 
 the most popular but there are a few Roman ones such as the 
 Augustan Mars Ultor (PI. XXIII, 23) and the Spes (PI. 
 XXV, 10). Busts and heads of divinities were, of course, com¬ 
 mon (PL XX, 1, 3, 8, 9, 13; XXI, 1, 4, 14, 16, 17, 19; XXII, 
 1, 9, 13; XXIV, 5). 
 
 For the general rendering of subjects from all sources they 
 even went back to the wounded hero groups in the Etruscaniz- 
 ing Roman gems (PI. XXV, 17), and the hero cycles were 
 popular sources of inspiration (PI. XX, 5, 7, 14, 15; XXV, 
 1, 7, 8,14,19, 20; XXVII, 11, 15). From paintings, also, many 
 ideas seem to be taken, though here our attributions are neces¬ 
 sarily more speculative and but one or two figures could usually 
 be shown on a gem. Still, judging from the ancient writers, 
 there is every probability that we have many famous paintings 
 or parts of them preserved to us glyptically. The Victory 
 driving a four-horse chariot of Nichomachos may be one of 
 these and the Medeia and the Ajax of Timomachos (PL XXV, 
 1), others. Both the last named paintings treated the motive 
 of brooding madness. Ajax was a well known figure in Etrus¬ 
 can and Roman art, but the Medeia first appeared after Caesar 
 purchased Timomachos’ two works and hung them in the temple 
 of Venus Genetrix. Many pictures of the lamenting Kassandra 
 and of Achilleus sulking in his tent (PL XXV, 14) or playing 
 the lyre (PL XX, 15) may be from paintings, and engravings 
 of Prometheus, an athlete (Pl. XXV, 13), of Orestes killing 
 Klytaimnestra, and of the theft of the Palladium (PL XX, 5) 
 may be copied respectively from the World-famous works of 
 
114 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 Parrhasios, Eupompos, Theon and Polygnotos. The Hercules 
 carrying a bull (PI. XX, 7), the Nike sacrificing a bull (Pl. 
 XX, 12), and many of the Cupid conceits seem inspired from 
 such a source, and certain pictures of the gods, especially 
 Athena, Zeus and Ares, contending with snake-legged giants 
 (Pl. XXIII, 13), the Trojan horse scene on a glass paste, and 
 a Plouto or Serapis enthroned between the Dioskoroi. To later 
 Alexandrian paintings may probably be referred certain type 
 pictures of Aphrodite playing with Eros (Pl. XX, 10), Artemis 
 and Actaion (Pl. XXIV, 18), Narkissos, Ganymedes, Hermes 
 (PL XXII, 12), Marsyas (PL XXIV, 13), Helios, Aphrodite 
 riding a sea-monster (Pl. XXII, 5), and the Triton and Nereid 
 (PL XXII, 10). The vase painters, too, supplied many motives. 
 
 As showing the art feeling of the period, the favorite motive 
 of the Medousa head was seldom engraved as the hideous awe¬ 
 inspiring type of earlier times but as that of a beautiful maiden, 
 stern, often with wings on her head, and evidencing her identity 
 only by the serpents in her hair (Pl. XX, 8; XXI, 4; XXII, 1). 
 
 All sorts of representations of everyday life and occupa¬ 
 tions, and, especially, rural scenes, seem to be inspired by 
 purely artistic feeling, though many of the occupation motives 
 doubtless suggested the calling of the wearer, and the numerous 
 pictures of almost every known animal or of their heads, as well 
 as the sphinxes and griffins, may be assigned either to the art 
 or to the protecting deity motive (Pl. XXVI, 4, 7, 14, 19, 21, 
 23—25, 27). 
 
 A large class of gems show an eagle, often on an altar 
 between two standards or some variant of the idea, and were, 
 doubtless, the signets of soldiers who sought thus to signalize 
 their calling which, under the Empire, became a distinct pro¬ 
 fession. I have even found scratched on one—evidently not 
 by the gem-engraver—what appears to be the number of a legion 
 (Pl. XXVII, 6) and, bearing in mind the fact that each legion 
 bore, as it were, some heraldic device, where such occurs with 
 a standard or any symbol denoting the soldier we may often 
 assume to what command the owner belonged. Known legion¬ 
 ary cognizances are the following: I (Adjutrix), Capricorn, 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 115 
 
 Pegasos; I (Italica), Boar, Bull; I (Minerva), Bam; II (Ad- 
 jutrix), Boar, Pegasos; II (Augusta), Capricorn,Pegasos (?) ; 
 II (Italica), Slie-wolf and twins, Capricorn; II (Parthica), 
 Centaur; II (Trajana), Hercules; III (Gallica), Bull; III 
 (Italica), Stork; IV (Flavia), Lion; IV (Macedonica), Bull, 
 Capricorn; V (Alaudae), perhaps originally a lark but, by 
 special authorization of Caesar, on account of their success 
 against the elephants of Juba, they bore an elephant on their 
 standards; V (Macedonica), Bull; VI (Victrix), Bull; VII 
 (Claudia), Bull; VIII (Augusta), Bull; X (Fretensis), Bull, 
 Boar, Galley; X (Gemina), Bull; XI (Claudia), Neptune; 
 XIII (Gemina), Lion; XIV (Gemina, Martia, Victrix), Capri¬ 
 corn; XX (Valeria Victrix), Boar; XXI (Rapax), Capricorn; 
 XXII (Primigenia), Capricorn; XXX (Ulpia), Neptune, 
 Capricorn. (See the gem figured PI. XXVI, 12.) 
 
 From the frequency of zodiacal signs among these insignia 
 and the repetition of the same sign, it has been inferred that 
 the device referred to the month when and, hence, the heavenly 
 auspices under which the legion was organized. It is also 
 claimed that the bull cognizance means that the legion was 
 formed by Julius Csesar, because Venus, the protectress of the 
 Julian house, usually presides over the sign, Taurus. Capri¬ 
 corn may thus indicate a legion organized by Augustus, and 
 Minerva or the ram, one formed by Domitian. Possible 
 reorganizations or special permissions to place themselves under 
 imperial auspices may also be evidenced. Students may be 
 referred to the Notitia Imperii for other (fifth century) infor¬ 
 mation on this subject, especially as to the special insignia of 
 the cohorts under the Late Empire. 
 
 Pictures of animals in incongruous occupations may be 
 either charms or merely humorous conceptions. There are dogs, 
 mice and other creatures driving chariots to which roosters 
 are yoked (PI. XXVII, 9), cranes playing musical instruments 
 (PI. XXVI, 27) and other kindred grotesque conceptions. 
 
 The portrait heads (PI. XX, 6, 11; XXI, 2, 5—8), of which 
 there are very many, were either personal or complimentary 
 in their significance. The Greek philosophers, poets and orators 
 
116 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 were much favored in this line and we have at least what passed 
 for the lineaments of Sokrates (PI. XXI, 7), Epikouros, Dio¬ 
 genes, Antisthenes, Aristoteles, Homer and Demosthenes. 
 Among portraits of famous Romans are the Sextus Pompeius of 
 Agathangelos (PI. XX, 6), Junius Brutus, doubtless carried as 
 the signet of some mourner for the old Republican days, several 
 possible Ciceros, the Julia, daughter of Titus, by Evodos (PL 
 XX, 11), and, of course, endless portraits of the emperors, 
 easily identified and, unfortunately, as easily copied, from the 
 fine likenesses on the bronze coins of the early Empire. A 
 deeper reason than mere compliment existed, as I have sug¬ 
 gested, for wearing the emperor’s portrait, since, by so doing, 
 the wearer sought to invoke to his aid the “Fortune” of the 
 prince, just as the Japanese have attributed victories to the 
 “Virtues of the Mikado” and, in this connection, also, may be 
 noted the spirit of vanity or adulation involved in the frequent 
 representation of rulers in the guise of some deity. Alexander’s 
 pose as Zeus (PL XIV, 1) is, probably, the earliest but through¬ 
 out Roman times we find the constantly increasing tendency. 
 Empresses were pictured as Isis, Ceres, Cybele, Diana, etc., 
 and the emperors figured mostly as Ammon or Serapis. 
 
 That there lurked danger, however, in this custom of 
 wearing likenesses of the great, is evidenced by the fact that, 
 under Tiberius, certain persons were executed for sacrilege for 
 visiting brothels while wearing rings set with the portrait of 
 the deified Augustus. The quality of the portrait work begins 
 to fall off after Augustus’ time. 
 
 The theatre, too, is much in evidence in the figures and 
 masks (Pl. XXI, 9, 10; XXII, 6, 7) drawn generally from the 
 later Attic comedy, and the sports of the circus, which grew 
 constantly in favor and, later, became a craze that overturned 
 emperors, were signalized by pictures of favorite chariot teams 
 and famous horses (Pl. XXVI, 22; XXVII, 13), often with the 
 name added. The circus scene (PL XXII, 3) is especially 
 interesting in this connection. The ingenious combinations of 
 several masks in one head (Pl. XXI, 13) are connected rather 
 with the amulets and talismans which we shall consider later. 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 117 
 
 Especially numerous now on gems are weapons, armor, ships 
 (PI. XXVI, 1, 2), vases (PI. XXV, 22, 23), and, above all, 
 luck-bringing symbols, heads, and animals (PL XXVI, 4, 14, 
 16, 20, 28, 30), often astronomical (PL XXVI, 15; XXVII, 7, 
 8; XXIX, 1, 4, 10). Capricornus is most often found (PL 
 XXVI, 15; XXIX, 4, 10). Leo is common and may be dis¬ 
 tinguished from purely animal pictures of lions by the star 
 or stars in the field (Pl. XXI, 11). It is not always easy, 
 however, to tell it from the later Mithraic lions pictured as 
 typifying the Sun (See Pl. XXIX, 14, 23). Cancer (PL 
 XXVII, 7), also, is not uncommon, sometimes with a face 
 pictured on the shell. Pisces occurs, as does Gemini (Pl. XXIX, 
 1), Virgo, to be distinguished from Victory by her wheat sheaf 
 and helmet, and most if not all of the rest. I have one gem on 
 which are found both Libra and Scorpio (Pl. XXVII, 8), prob¬ 
 ably the signet of one whose birth fell at the juncture of the 
 signs and who sought the influence of both. Three signs 
 together seem to indicate some sort of recognition of the doc¬ 
 trine of trines. According to Manilius there was a tutelary 
 relation between certain deities and the Zodiac, as Minerva 
 with Aries, Venus with Taurus, Apollo with Gemini, Hermes 
 with Cancer, Jove and Cybele with Leo, Ares with Virgo, 
 Vulcan with Libra, Mars with Scorpio, Diana with Sagittarius, 
 Vesta with Capricorn, Neptune with Pisces and Juno with 
 Aquarius. The reason for the connection is obvious in several 
 of these. Firmicus also lays down the varying powers of 
 certain astral deities in connection with certain signs; all of 
 which will explain the occurrence of gods together with zodiacal 
 symbols sometimes other than of their own houses. Day and 
 night, too, seem to have varied the influences; in short it may 
 be possible to illumine and illustrate by gems much of the 
 abstruse and involved astrological superstition of early times. 
 As illustrative of the supposed power of astronomical gems, it 
 was told that when Apollonius of Tyana visited the Brahman, 
 Iarchus, his host presented him with seven rings, each named 
 for a planet and to be worn on its proper day, with the result 
 that the philosopher preserved his vigor and good looks beyond 
 
118 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 his hundredth year. In the matter of close dating we may safely 
 place many of the Capricornus gems in the principiate of 
 Augustus whose birth sign it was, and, likewise, those of Scorpio 
 in the reign of Tiberius—these for the joint reasons that 
 prompted the wide adoption of the Venus Victrix and the 
 Flavian Minerva as gem devices. Early in the Empire good 
 fortune seems to have been most easily invoked by ears of wheat, 
 horns of plenty, rudders, palm branches and the attributes and 
 sacred animals of the different gods. Often the symbol was 
 pictured held in a hand (PL XXIX, 5) and clasped hands hold¬ 
 ing a wheat ear was an emblem of marriage by the ceremony 
 of the confarreatio (PI. XXVII, 10; XXVIII, 16). Later, these 
 signs were displaced to a large extent by the fantastic sympleg- 
 mata or grylli combinations of which I have spoken above and 
 which seem to have had an eastern origin. I would prefer the 
 name symplegmata to that of grylli (crickets) by which they 
 are commonly known and which was probably derived from 
 the man-cricket pictures referred to above and which still 
 remained popular, because, while the insect is sometimes a 
 feature in these figures, I think there is good reason to believe 
 that the bases of the two ideas are quite distinct. Still, “grylli” 
 is the more generally accepted name and I shall use it for that 
 reason. It is probable that the zodiacal element may have been 
 at the bottom of these symplegmata or, perhaps, some of the 
 mystic cosmogonies. For instance, the Orphic cult held that 
 water and earth were the first principles of creation and that 
 from their union sprang a being having the body of a serpent 
 with the heads of a man, a bull and a lion. This being, named 
 Herakles or Chronos, laid an egg out of which came the first¬ 
 born god, Phanes, and from the halves of the shell were 
 formed Heaven and Earth. 
 
 Whatever their origin, however, there is little doubt that 
 it was unknown or lost sight of by the numerous wearers whose 
 thought is probably best voiced by Plutarch where he says: 
 “The objects that are fastened up as a means to keep off witch¬ 
 craft derive their efficacy from the fact that they act through 
 the strangeness and ridiculousness of their forms which fix the 
 
SUBJECTS 
 
 119 
 
 mischief-making evil eye upon themselves,” a fancy of the 
 vitality of which we find abundant evidence in the amulets 
 worn by the lower class of modern Italians. The lack of 
 imagination in the designing of these latter is typical of the 
 artistic fall of the race. 
 
 Coming to their composition, the Seilenos (Besa?) mask, 
 itself a powerful amulet, seems to be the central idea of many; 
 this for the breast, with head, tail and legs of peacocks, roosters, 
 cranes, horses, rams or elephants grouped around it in all 
 manner of weird combinations. Palm branches, ears of wheat, 
 horns of plenty, dolphins and sea-horses—all luck-bringing in 
 themselves and, doubtless, considered much more so in com¬ 
 bination—were added and worked into the designs, often with 
 considerable ingenuity. The Greek Hippolectryon or horse- 
 rooster, probably derived from Carthage, was another popular 
 central motive; also the foreparts of lions or elephants coming 
 out of snail shells, and every manner of absurdity in the way 
 of mask, animal and symbol combination (PI. XXI, 12, 15; 
 XXVI, 6—8, 13; XXVII, 2—5). 
 
 With the Hadrianic revival we find, in view of that 
 emperor’s interest in astrology and the cults of Egypt, an 
 increase in the number of gems that owe their origin to such 
 sources. Also Egyptian deities often appear on Roman signets, 
 frequently with attributes of Greek or Roman gods, such as the 
 jackal-headed Anubis with the palm branch of Victory and the 
 caduceus of Hermes, his psychopompic office leading naturally 
 to his identification with the latter god (See also the figure, 
 PI. XXVI, 5). Princesses had their portraits cut with attri¬ 
 butes of Isis, such as the lotos flower; and the child, Horus, 
 the Harpokrates of the Greeks, appears very commonly as a 
 god of silence with his finger at his lips and a cornucopia, 
 especially throughout the eastern provinces of the Empire (PI. 
 XXI, 11). Most common of all, especially in bust representa¬ 
 tions, is Jupiter Serapis, indicated by the modius or corn 
 measure on his head, as the lord of the subterranean world and 
 its treasures, his influence as a corn-god and over the fortunes 
 of the future life or death being recognized, as was that of 
 
120 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 Hermes, down to the end of paganism, as the dispenser of 
 riches to be won by commerce and trade (Pl. XXI, 17; XXII, 9). 
 
 The Gnostic superstitions and the talismans and amulets 
 born of them had their origin during this epoch but it seems 
 to me better to treat them under the next when the number 
 of such gems increased so enormously as practically to drive 
 out most of the earlier superstitions. 
 
 Inscriptions. —The majority of these still refer to owners’ 
 names (PI. XXV, 9, 17, 18; XXVI, 4, 20; XXVII, 1). Furt- 
 wangler’s apparent statement to the contrary probably refers 
 rather to gems of the better class upon which we find a much 
 larger number of artists’ signatures than at any other time. 
 Where the owner’s name appears with a fine intaglio it is apt 
 to be in Greek lettering or indicated by an initial rather than 
 a coarse Latin ligature. Occasionally, too, a motto or senti¬ 
 ment of some kind may be dated here and, very rarely, a de¬ 
 scriptive legend. The letters, ANTI, on a large broken portrait 
 head of Antinous do not fall under ring-stone strictures, while 
 the MARS VLTOR beside an evident copy of the statue of 
 the god in the Augustan temple may, perhaps, be explained by 
 the eagerness of the owner to identify his representation. Also 
 we find a M A R VI C (to Mars Victor) with a picture of a youth, 
 perhaps a genius, offering a figure of Victory to a statue of 
 Mars, and a Venus Victrix with her name in both Greek and 
 Latin. Gift and votive inscriptions, various good wishes to 
 beloved persons and amorous legends also occur both now and 
 later. It is, however, the artists’ signatures which, from the 
 standpoint of interest, are by far the most important inscrip¬ 
 tions on these gems. 
 
 Artists. —Among them w r e may provisionally place Soso- 
 kles as the earliest, from a beautiful Medousa head with wings, 
 signed, CUICOCA6, in flowing Hellenistic script (PI. XXI, 4); 
 then Solon, who seems, however, to have worked rather longer 
 and to have been a contemporary of Dioskourides, with his Dio- 
 medes stealing the Palladium, signed, COAUJN €00161, his Me¬ 
 dousa head, signed, 30AQN0C, (PI. XX, 8), which, by the by, has 
 been pretty strongly doubted, and a violet paste copy of one 
 
ARTISTS 
 
 121 
 
 of his works: a nymph’s head and breast with panther skin 
 thrown around her. She carries a rod or thyrsus and the 
 lettering reads, COAQN. Also there is a Hercules signed, 
 COAQNOC. Apollonios, whose Artemis is signed, AnOAAQNlOY, 
 seems also to be one of the earlier artists. Foremost among 
 the gem-cutters of the Augustan Age stands Dioskourides, who 
 cut the portrait of Augustus himself. This gem has remained 
 undiscovered though Reinach claims that a head of the Emperor 
 on a carnelian is the work of this master as, also, an amethyst 
 portrait of Maecenas. We have certainly, however, several 
 others: a Diomedes, signed, AIOCKOYPIAOY (PI. XX, 5), two 
 Hermes (PI. XX, 2), a beautiful female head and a portrait 
 bust of Demosthenes. On all of these the signature is the same 
 with the exception of variations in the style of lettering, par¬ 
 ticularly on one of the Hermes (AIOCI : OYI IAOY). Dioskourides 
 cannot be said to have been an originator of ideas as, in fact, 
 were few if any of his contemporaries. He was a tasteful 
 classicist, borrowing his subjects from the best examples of 
 an older art but treating them in his own way. He seems to 
 have come to Rome from Aigeai in Kilikia with his three sons, 
 Eutyches, Hyllos, and Herophilos, all of whom followed his 
 craft and have left us examples of their work. Of the first we 
 have the head and upper part of the body of an Athena which 
 bears, in four lines, the unusually detailed signatory inscrip¬ 
 tion, 6'YTYXHC AIOCKOYPIAOY AITCAIOC €nOI€l. Of Hyllos, 
 the second son, we have a Theseus (or Hercules) (PI. 
 XX, 14) and a bust of Apollo (PI. XX, 3), each signed, 
 YAAOY; also a cameo signed, YAAOC AIOCKOYPIAOY CnOIEI. 
 The third, Herophilos, is known only by a cameo head 
 of Tiberius, the signature on which also tells that the 
 artist was a son of Dioskourides. Aspasios was apparently 
 a contemporary of Dioskourides. His bust of the Athena 
 Parthenos of Pheidias (PI. XX, 9) and his Herm of the 
 bearded Dionysos (PI. XX, 13) show great delicacy if no 
 originality and bear the signature, ACnAClOY. Agathangelos, 
 too, lived early in the period. His portrait head of Sextus 
 Pompey (PI. XX, 6) bears the signature, ATAOANTCAOY. Gaius 
 
122 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 seems, also, rather early. His head of the dog, Sirius, reads, 
 TAIOC enoiei, and Polykleitos evidently comes after Dioskou- 
 rides with a Diomedes with the Palladium. d>HAIE €noi€l, in 
 two lines on a picture of Odysseus and Diomedes with the Pal¬ 
 ladium, tells the name of Felix, an artist whose close dating is 
 more uncertain, as is also that of the following names: Gnseus, 
 with a youthful Hercules head (PI. XX, 1) inscribed, TNAIOC, 
 and equal to the best of Dioskourides, a Diomedes (TNAIOY), a 
 Melpomene (-NAIOY) (PI. XXI, 1), and an athlete anointing 
 himself with oil (rNAlOY) (PI. XX, 4) ; Dalion, with a youth¬ 
 ful head inscribed, AAAION, and a Nereid riding a sea-horse, 
 inscribed, AAAIQN; Kleon? with an Amazon’s head broken in 
 two and inscribed, KA€ f, the rest of the name being lost with 
 the missing half of the stone; Aulus, with a nymph’s head 
 and bust (AYAOV), an Aphrodite and Eros (AYAOC) (PI. XX, 
 10), a bust of a young satyr (AYAOY), a Cupid bound before 
 a trophy (AYAOY) (PL XXI, 3), an athlete (AYAOC), and 
 others. The style and merit of these cuttings are very uneven, 
 and Furtwangler considers that this weakness of the artist 
 has led to the frequent forging of his signature. I have fol¬ 
 lowed Furtwangler’s attributions in the above gems in the 
 absence of an opportunity to examine the stones themselves, 
 but it is proper to say that the existence of Aulus has been 
 disputed altogether by several of the earlier authorities. 
 
 Then there are Quintus, signed in Greek, as Koivxo?, on 
 a fragment of a cameo which shows the legs of an armed man 
 walking; Lucius, also in Greek, as Aenxios, on a two-horse 
 chariot; Anteros, signed, ANT6PUJTOC, on a Hercules carrying 
 a bull (PI. XX, 7); Teukros (TCYN-OY), on a Hercules with 
 a nymph; Philemon (<1>IAHM0N0C), on a Theseus with the slain 
 Minotaur, a cameo; Pamphilos (flAMMAOY), on a seated 
 Aehilleus playing the lyre (PI. XX, 15); Agathemeros, with a 
 head of a philosopher, perhaps Sokrates (ATAGHMG behind 
 the head and POC under it) ; Skylax (CKYAAZ and CKYAAKOC) 
 on a dancing satyr and on a cameo with a youthful Hercules 
 
ARTISTS 
 
 123 
 
 playing the lyre, and Sostratos (CQCTPATOY), on two cameos 
 and on a Nike sacrificing a bull (PL XX, 12). 
 
 The latest of this group of artists, in fact the latest known 
 signature, for the custom seems to have died out under the 
 Flavian emperors, is Evodos whose bust portrait of Julia, 
 daughter of Titus, is signed, GYOAOC 6TTOI6I, (PL XX, 11). 
 
 Tryphon, whose art Addaios, the poet, has commemorated 
 in an epigram, appears to have been the court gem-engraver of 
 Polemon, king of Pontos, himself evidently a connoisseur. Of 
 his presumptive w r ork we have the famous Marlborough cameo 
 picturing the marriage procession of Cupid and Psyche and 
 bearing the inscription, TPY4>QN €110161. In spite of Furt- 
 wangler’s endorsement I feel an instinctive suspicion of this 
 signature. It is engraved in intaglio on a cameo, an easy and 
 common method of modern interpolation, and the epigram 
 might readily have suggested the name. 
 
 Other artists, known to us only from cameos but who may 
 well have cut intaglios also, are Rufus, Diodotos, Saturninus, 
 and Epitynchanos, and to the entire list may perhaps be added 
 the names of Mykon and Pliarnakes, on the authority of Rei- 
 nach, and Koinos on that of Brunn and King. 
 
 It should, however, be said that many of the names given 
 above have been disputed and more or less seriously questioned 
 by earlier authorities, either as being names of owners or 
 recently interpolated signatures, and, in some cases, the sus¬ 
 picion has extended to the genuineness of the gem itself. 
 Briefly I may say that the existence of the artists Agathangelos, 
 Anteros, Aulus, Gaius, Gnseus, Lucius, Philemon, Polycleitos, 
 Scylax, Sosokles, and Sostratos has been disputed and these 
 are placed by Dr. Brunn’s catalogue, as edited by King, in the 
 doubtful list. Their list of names, certainly not artist signa¬ 
 tures, includes Agathemeros and Quintus. 
 
 In commenting on this it must be remembered that Brunn’s 
 catalogue was published in 1859, in the full heat of the reaction 
 against the Poniatowski forgeries. Kohler, too, upon whose 
 authority much of the catalogue depends, while rather a pro¬ 
 phet than a disciple of the reaction, was certainly an extremist 
 
124 
 
 GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
 in his theories. He denied all artists’ signatures except those 
 of Athenian, Apolldnios, Evodos, Protarchos and Epitynchanos, 
 and allowed these on but one gem each. Much has been 
 learned since his day and much since Brunn’s. I cannot say 
 that I am free from a feeling that Furtwangler is himself 
 inclined, sometimes, to be just a trifle too certain of his ground 
 in what is, at the best, the most theoretical and uncertain side 
 of the whole subject. Still, his equipment and opportunities 
 for exhaustive study of the matter in the light of the latest 
 knowledge were unequalled, and his conclusions in so many 
 cases seem to me well founded that I consider his list of artists 
 the only one at present worthy to be described as tentatively 
 authoritative. I may add that, as a matter of personal opinion, 
 I attach no weight whatever to the earlier criticisms of the 
 identity of, at least, Skylax, Sosokles and Agathemeros. 
 
 Let me refer, in closing the matter, to the comments I 
 have already made on artists’ signatures of the Hellenistic 
 Period with reference to the possibility or probability of the 
 name of a supposed gem-engraver being really that of an 
 owner. The presence of the ejtoiei of course means the 
 artist or a fraud, the genitive may as w T ell indicate owner as 
 artist; so, also, the nominative. As a corroborating circum¬ 
 stance, the occurrence of the same name on two gems that, 
 judged by their character, may be from the same hand is, when 
 this evidence be not weakened by the commonness of the name 
 itself, a strong argument. Furtwangler does or does not attach 
 much importance to differences in the lettering, as he tries to 
 make his point. Sometimes he seems very free and, again, 
 most rigid. Personally I think that unless some special reason 
 for a difference appears—such, for instance, as space considera¬ 
 tions,—serious variations in signatures should count against 
 their being those of the same artist. For the rest, what I have 
 said before applies equally here. Each case must be passed 
 upon on its merits, bearing well in mind the enormous number 
 of forged signatures, both of the apparently authentic names 
 given above and of a host of others culled by diligent seekers 
 from Pliny and other sources. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE—CHRISTIAN GEMS.- 
 MITHRAIC AND GNOSTIC TALISMANS 
 
 With the accession of Commodus the decline of the glyptic 
 art had definitely set in and, save for a very limited and flicker¬ 
 ing revival under Constantine, progressed to the end. The 
 second century A. D. strove feebly to preserve good traditions, 
 and there were still a few pretty good portraits, but the numer¬ 
 ous pictures of protecting deities and their symbols, still used 
 for signets and talismans, or of animals and genre subjects show 
 a dull uniformity and an utter lack of originality or merit,, 
 together with feeble and sketchy workmanship which grades 
 down to the representation of a figure by a few strokes of the 
 wheel ploughed roughly into the stone (PI. XXVII, 1, 13, 14; 
 XXVIII, 13,15,18—21; XXIX, 1—3,7—9). The drill was little 
 used. If a talisman or amulet was wanted, it was the subject 
 rather than the execution of it that counted, while, as for the 
 signets, there seems to have been no art public that recognized 
 or cared for the best work. As in all decaying civilizations, 
 ostentation and the desire for ornaments that were at once 
 showy and expensive led to the profuse wearing of pearls and 
 jewels, and the delicate art of the gem-cutter found no patrons. 
 With the exception of the Gnostic amulets, many of which were 
 quite large, and a very few large stones intended for ornaments, 
 all were ring-stones, usually with a flat picture surface but 
 sometimes slightly convex. 
 
 Materials. —These remained very much as in the preceding 
 epoch. Carnelian was commonest and, next, chalcedony. Nic- 
 olo and plasma held, and all the jaspers, red, yellow, green, 
 mottled, and red-spotted (heliotrope), enjoyed an increasing 
 
 125 
 
126 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 vogue, doubtless because magical qualities were attributed to 
 the stones themselves. Amethyst, agate, garnet, sard, sardonyx, 
 usually cut horizontally, and rock-crystal were rarer. Hematite, 
 a powerful amulet stone among the Gnostics, became popular for 
 their crude representations and lapis lazuli was quite common. 
 This stone was also used freely by certain gem-cutters of the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who engraved on it antique 
 subjects and whose rough work resembles so closely that of the 
 decaying Empire that gems of this material must be regarded 
 with the most cautious suspicion. Pastes were practically 
 things of the past. 
 
 Subjects. —Crude figures of deities were much in evidence 
 (PI. XXVIII, 17—19; XXIX, 7—9), constant repetitions of the 
 same conventional poses, many of them taken originally from the 
 statue types. Fortuna and Victory are by far the commonest 
 (PI. XXIX, 7, 17); then Nemesis, Mercury (See PL XXIII, 
 
 16) , Jupiter enthroned or standing (See PI. XXIII, 11, 19), 
 Serapis, usually as a bust (See PI. XXI, 17; XXII, 9), Minerva 
 (PL XXVIII, 18), Ceres (See Pl. XXIII, 2), Venus, generally 
 the Victrix type (See PL XXIII, 21), Mars (See Pl. XXIII, 
 22, 23), Bacchus (Pl. XXVIII, 17), Diana (Pl. XXVIII, 19), 
 Neptune (See Pl. XXIII, 20) and all the rest. Sometimes 
 several are represented together (Pl. XXVIII, 21; XXIX, 7, 
 
 17) , and some of the types with combined attributes are not 
 easy to identify, especially when they are so badly done that 
 it is hard to say just what the artist tried to cut. 
 
 Besides these, were representations of callings and occupa¬ 
 tions (Pl. XXIX, 2), the games of the circus (Pl. XXVII, 13), 
 masks, combined masks (PL XXVIII, 13), symbols (Pl. 
 XXVII, 1; XXVIII, 16; XXIX, 4, 5), grylli (Pl. XXVII, 2- 
 5), astronomical figures (PL XXIX, 1, 4, 10, 11), and animals 
 (Pl. XXVIII, 14; XXIX, 3). Subjects from the epics were 
 rarely chosen, another evidence of the decline of artistic feeling 
 (Pl. XXVII, 11, 15). One of the few literary gems of the 
 period shows the combat between the pigmies and the cranes 
 (Pl. XXVII, 12). Generally speaking, either luck had to be 
 
PORTRAITS—CHRISTIAN GEMS 
 
 127 
 
 invoked by some fantastic design or they fell back on the com¬ 
 monplace. 
 
 Portraits of the wearer or of some one he desired to com¬ 
 pliment were, however, still favorites as signets (PI. XXVIII, 
 1—12) and, as I have said above, the work on these was better 
 than on the subject pieces. Whether a man wanted a portrait 
 of himself or of another, he wanted one that could be recognized 
 or its value would be lessened or lost, and, doubtless, this need 
 brought it about that portraiture retained much of its merit 
 when other forms of art were practically dead. The coinage 
 of the period bears out this contention. They put their best 
 efforts on these gems and they, at least, tried to get a likeness, 
 even when their limitations left the workmanship crude. This 
 was the case even in a gem in which the portraiture idea was 
 subsidiary: the Commodus hunting, which is not at all bad 
 (PI. XXVII, 19). The famous sapphire seal of Constantius II, 
 referred to in the Introduction, dates from the first half of the 
 fourth century and is, as might be expected, the finest example 
 we have of the engraving of its time. Also it is characteristic 
 in its elaborate picture idea, and the K6CAPIA KATUTAAOKIA 
 under the figure of the genius representing that city, is another 
 of the rare cases of descriptive inscriptions. At last, however, 
 even portraiture failed and barbarism reigned supreme. 
 
 CHRISTIAN SUBJECTS 
 
 With the rapid advance of Christianity we may now expect 
 to find Christian gems, though these are not very numerous 
 (PI. XXVIII, 10; XXIX, 6, 12). There were a few in the 
 preceding epoch: such symbols as the anchor, taken from the 
 coinage of Asmonsean kings of Judea and, perhaps, adopted 
 on account of its resemblance to the cross. The direct repre¬ 
 sentation of the latter was not in accord with the taste for 
 more recondite symbolism. Besides, in the earlier times, its use 
 as a signet may have been looked upon as irreverent. Certainly 
 it would have been dangerous in periods of persecution, and 
 most Christians did not invite martyrdom. The lyre was 
 
128 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 favored, as symbolizing harmony and concord, the ship, gen¬ 
 erally with the Chrisma for a mast, symbolized the voyage 
 through life to a better land. Sometimes, oddly enough, a cock 
 appears as a passenger. He carries a palm branch and is sup¬ 
 posed to represent the soul of man triumphant. The dove had 
 its obvious connection with the Saviour’s life in the manifesta¬ 
 tion of his divinity, and, also, the Kabbalistic sum of the num¬ 
 eral letters in the Greek word, TcegiaTepd (dove), was 801, 
 identical with that of Alpha and Omega, which the Lord had 
 called himself. Lastly, the fisherman was pictured, because 
 his occupation suggested to the believer “ Little children drawn 
 up out of the water.” 
 
 To these five symbolic signets Clemens Alexandrinus (III, 
 11), writing in the latter half of the second century, limited his 
 followers, also enjoining: “For we are not to delineate the faces 
 of idols . . . nor a sword nor a bow . . . nor drinking cups. 
 . . Many of the licentious have their lovers engraved or their 
 mistresses, as if they wished to make it impossible ever to 
 forget their amatory indulgences, by being perpetually put in 
 mind of their licentiousness.” He does not mention, in his 
 list of permitted emblems, possibly for some reasons of his 
 own, the wreath, the palm-branch or the fish, the last one of 
 the commonest of Christian symbols. The Kabbalists gave the 
 name, dag (fish), to their expected Messiah and taught that the 
 sign of his coming would be the conjunction of Jupiter and 
 Saturn in the sign, Pisces, but to the Christians the Greek word, 
 IX0Y^, gave the initials of the words, "Iriooug Xpiaxo? 0eou 
 Yiog ScotrjQ (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour). Also they 
 used the Chrisma, the X and P joined as a monogram, $, 
 sometimes varied more or less and sometimes worked into 
 other designs. More rare and of later origin are simple repre¬ 
 sentations of the cross, though it, too, is worked into many com¬ 
 binations, such as where it rests on a fish, with doves perched 
 on the arms or where two fishes hang from them. The frog 
 was a rather unusual device on these gems and typified, by its 
 seeming change from a fish to a quadruped, the resurrection 
 of the soul. 
 
CHRISTIAN GEMS 
 
 129 
 
 All of these continued in use, two or more often appearing 
 on the same gem, but certainly as early as the end of the second 
 century one of the most favored of all was especially allowed 
 by Tertullian: a picture of the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb 
 and often with one or two sheep beside him (PI. XXIX, 6). 
 In earlier times this would have been regarded as idolatrous, 
 as was always, before the latter part of the fourth century, any 
 attempt at a direct likeness of Christ. Epiphanius, in his at¬ 
 tack on the heresies of the Carpocratian Gnostics, makes this 
 clear, and the earliest essays at divine portraiture on gems 
 seem to be due to the Nestorian heretics who took refuge in 
 Persia under the Sassanian dynasty. 
 
 Possibly of about 300 A. D. is a curious carnelian with a 
 very crude picture of Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, with 
 the angel interfering (PI. XXIX, 12). On the upper part of 
 the stone are two men and a horse upside down, perhaps the 
 servants and traveling beast of Abraham. In the fourth century 
 and throughout Byzantine times there are large stones showing 
 such pictures as Christ enthroned, sometimes with the twelve 
 apostles around him and done in the style characteristic of 
 Byzantine art. 
 
 Of more doubtful origin are the figures of Victory that 
 appear not very rarely on Christian gems, sometimes together 
 with Christian symbols and once, to my knowledge, on one 
 side of a stone that has the Good Shepherd on the other. Ob¬ 
 viously the Victory was the most adaptable of the Pagan per¬ 
 sonifications, whether on the score of its symbolic inference 
 or of the resemblance which, later, led the Mediaeval interpreters 
 to regard it as the figure of an angel. On the other hand, it is 
 not impossible that certain Paganizing Gnostics may have, for 
 the same reasons, welcomed it as an especially subtle wedge 
 wherewith to corrupt the imagery of the orthodox. Altogether, 
 the gems bearing it cannot but cast a shadow of suspicion on 
 their wearers as having been either secret enemies, heretics or, 
 at the best, Christians of a distinctly liberal turn of mind. 
 
 Undoubtedly Pagan in its origin, if not in its motive, is 
 the confusion of Jupiter Serapis with Christ, often ignorantly 
 
130 
 
 GEMS OF, THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 done by the old religionists and deliberately by the Gnostics. 
 A colorable relation existed in Serapis’ rule over the Under¬ 
 world and the future life, while, whether as a result of the 
 confusion or arising from independent causes, there is no doubt 
 that many of the later representations of the Jesus took form 
 and feature from the calm, benignant face of the Alexandrian 
 Jove. A mottled brown jasper engraved with an anchor and, 
 on the reverse, the legend, M ET All CAP An 1C (Great Serapis), 
 is an example of this mingling. 
 
 Inscriptions. —The inscriptions on stones of this period 
 have no especial characteristics except that none of them is the 
 artist’s name, that the lettering is almost always crude and 
 barbaric, and that they are often of considerable length. They 
 may be owners’ names, in full or abbreviated (PI. XXVIII, 17), 
 sentiments of some kind, either independent of or suggested by 
 the design, descriptive legends, such as the name on PI. XXVIII. 
 14, the HPA OYPANIA (the Celestial Juno) on a large stone 
 showing the goddess riding a lion between the Dioskoroi and, 
 beneath, AMMUJNIOC AN60HK€N6n ArAGUJ (Ammonios dedi¬ 
 cated (this) or placed (this) on for good (fortune)), or the 
 APHTUi PUJPOMANAAPH (I protect Roromandares) with a 
 Gorgon’s head (PI. XXIX, 21); but commonest of all were 
 words or combinations of letters in the nature of charms, 
 calculated to invoke or compel some supernatural influence in 
 favor of the wearer. These I will discuss under the Mithraic 
 and Gnostic Gems which, by their distinct character and great 
 number, merit separate treatment. 
 
 Another of the more elaborate inscriptions may be referred 
 to as an example of the kind of thing that was sometimes at¬ 
 tempted. It occurs on a rather large stone bearing the por¬ 
 traits of a man, woman, and child, evidently some Christian 
 family of the third century (PI. XXVIII, 10), and is apparent¬ 
 ly a gift to the master of the house from some friend. Around 
 the top of the stone we read, in fair lettering save that no 
 curves are attempted, Enruxt IldvxaQi petcc xf\ g Kupiag Baai- 
 Xioarjg xal PauMvag ,(Good luck (to you), Pancharius, with 
 the lady Basilissa and Paulina). Below the father is IQ 0E and 
 
MITHKAIC GEMS 
 
 131 
 
 below the mother, C II (els 080 ?— one god), while above the 
 child's head and between those of its parents, also in barbaric 
 lettering, is the word, zor\ (life). Here, then, are names, an 
 invocation of good fortune, and a suggestion of the faith of the 
 wearer, all on a single stone. Generally an inscription con¬ 
 fines itself to one of these provinces. 
 
 The Christian inscriptions occur on gems with and with¬ 
 out the pictures and cover a pretty wide field. IX0YC is, of 
 course, common and some, such as XPICTC CUJZ 6 KAPfllANON 
 A€nOT€ (O Christ, save Carpianus forever) and IHCOYC ©£0Y 
 Y I OCT H PC (Jesus, Son of God, keep me), are obviously the 
 Christian variants of the Pagan wish-mottoes which had but 
 to do with the temporal life. IHCOYC alone is found on some, 
 XP on others (PI. XXIX, 6), ic XC (It|(Jovs Xgiatog) on a 
 large picture of Christ and his apostles, while many, nat¬ 
 urally, bear the names of the owners. 
 
 Christian gems must be noted as being one of the classes 
 that were much imitated in the days of forgery. The simplicity 
 of the symbols, crudeness of the execution, and the natural 
 interest attached to them made them a fruitful field, so that 
 both knowledge and caution are necessary in passing upon 
 their genuineness. 
 
 MITHRAIC GEMS 
 
 Before taking up the consideration of Gnostic glypto- 
 graphs it is first in order to examine the stones that evidence 
 the popularity of the cult of the Persian Mithras, first intro¬ 
 duced in Rome after the conquest of Pontus by Pompey, and 
 which, under the Empire, attained a high degree of popular¬ 
 ity (PI. XXIX, 13, 14, 17—19, 23?). 
 
 Properly speaking, it was the modified Zoroasterism of 
 later Persian times. In the Zendavesta, Ormuzd had been the 
 principal of the good powers, the first of the seven Amshas- 
 pands, and Mithra or Mithras was the head of the twenty-seven 
 Izeds or emanations therefrom, who governed the heavenly 
 bodies and the elements in the interest of man and contended 
 in his behalf with the twenty-seven Devs, the corresponding 
 
132 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 powers of evil. Mithras’ rule was over the Sun, and his tran¬ 
 sition westward and identification with other deities was 
 therefore easy—Phanakes in Asia Minor and Apollo and 
 Helios in Greece and Rome, while he usurped, in a measure, 
 the place of Dionysos in the long established Dionysiac mys¬ 
 teries. 
 
 In Rome, as time advanced, there were many modifications 
 and adaptations of his esoteric cult ideas. The tendency was 
 in the direction of a brotherhood with initiations and lodges, 
 one of which is preserved today, almost intact, at Ostia, and 
 there seems to be a close connection between many Mithraic 
 ceremonies, running down through the secret societies of the 
 Middle Ages, and those of their professed successors, the Free 
 Masons. There were preliminary trials consisting of twelve, 
 or, it has been said, eighty tortures, including fire, water, 
 hunger, thirst, scourging, and solitude, and the initiation is 
 believed to have comprised seven degrees called respectively 
 the ravens, the secret, the fighters, the lions, the Persians, the 
 Sun-runners, and the fathers. On the other hand, there was 
 much that was akin to the ideas and ceremonies of Christianity. 
 Mithras, as the first and greatest emanation of the supreme 
 Ormuzd, furnished a close parallel to Christ, and the ritual 
 included both baptism and a eucharistic feast, all of which goes 
 far to explain the prominent place taken by Mithrasism in the 
 evolution of the somewhat later development of the different 
 Gnostic sects. In the times of Hadrian and several of the 
 princes that followed him the Mithraic brotherhood became 
 both fashionable and powerful. 
 
 Under such conditions we would naturally expect to find 
 many gems reflecting the cult and, at the same time, throwing 
 light upon its ideas and superstitions. These are, indeed, fairly 
 numerous and some of them, in contradistinction to the Gnostic 
 works, show a very fair degree of technical skill. Art, of 
 course, is a thing neither to be looked for nor found. 
 
 The substances used are almost invariably the different 
 jaspers, green, yellow, and mottled, or the heliotrope or blood¬ 
 stone. The subjects include, first of all, the lion, as typifying 
 
MITHRAIC GEMS 
 
 133 
 
 the Sun (PL XXIX, 23), either pulling down a bull (Pl. 
 XXIX, 13) or carrying its head in his jaws (PI. XXIX, 14) 
 to indicate supremacy over the Earth which, in Mithraic sym¬ 
 bolism, is represented by a bull. The serpent, in the East the 
 personification of the powers of evil, is sometimes shown tram¬ 
 pled under the feet of the lion or of a youth in a Persian cap, 
 a representation of Mithras himself who, again, is often pic¬ 
 tured plunging a sword into a bull to symbolize the rays that 
 pierce into the bosom of the Earth and slay that they may 
 fructify. The dog that is sometimes introduced licking up the 
 blood is rather more difficult to interpret but may have refer¬ 
 ence to the doctrine of fructification, the dog being the most 
 venerated of animals among the modern Parsees, descendants 
 of the Persians. The star with eight points was also a solar 
 emblem of the cult, and all these are often worked into rather 
 elaborate designs involving zodiacal and astrological ideas, 
 often difficult to co-ordinate and interpret. Other symbols are, 
 also, sometimes introduced, as, on one gem, three ears of wheat 
 at the end of the bull’s tail, perhaps in allusion to the life-giv¬ 
 ing plants that, according to Zend tradition, sprang from the 
 tail of the Primeval Bull slain by Ahriman, the principle of 
 evil. Altogether it is easy to imagine the study that can be 
 devoted to and the information to be gained from these gems. 
 
 The rising and setting of the divine orb is symbolized some¬ 
 times by two torches, one raised and one lowered in the hands 
 of Mithras, or, again, by ascending and descending chariots. 
 A naked female figure bearing the raised and lowered torches, 
 rudely cut on a curiously speckled agate in my possession (PI. 
 XXIX, 19), may, I have thought, have reference to worship of 
 Venus Mylitta, under the name of Mitra, the morning star, 
 and which Herodotos tells was introduced into Persia through 
 Assyria. She was a genius presiding over love and directing 
 the harmonious movements of the other planets. 
 
 Another class of gems appear to refer to the ceremonies 
 of initiation, such as a lion standing over a prostrate man and 
 a not uncommon representation of a man bound to a column 
 upon which is a griffin, sacred to Apollo (later identified with 
 
134 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 Mithras), with its paw on a wheel. In the field is sometimes 
 the word, AIKAIQI (justly). On a gem in my possession (PL 
 XXIX, 18) a Cupid is substituted for the initiate and may be 
 a conception of some irreverent victim of love who thus makes 
 jest, at once of his own or his neighbor’s creed and of his amor¬ 
 ous sorrows. As a suggestion of what the twelve degrees of 
 Mithraic initiation were like we read that the trials extended 
 over forty days, in curious analogy with the Christian Lenten 
 season of self-denial. The candidate lay naked on the snow, 
 he was scourged, and tests with the four elements were part 
 of his ordeal. It is probable that much which seems abstruse 
 on the gems may be susceptible of explanation in this connec¬ 
 tion. 
 
 However, as I have said above, Mithrasism at Rome, doubt¬ 
 less corrupt from the first, tended to slip farther and farther 
 afield, and we find so many of its ideas adopted by the Gnostics 
 that the combinations are often very confusing. 
 
 The purpose of these gems was primarily to invoke magic¬ 
 working influences and to serve as credentials for members of 
 the brotherhood. The signet idea also remained but it is rather 
 doubtful if the wearers could have regarded many of them as 
 ornaments. 
 
 GNOSTIC GEMS 
 
 Coming now to a consideration of Gnosticism and the vast 
 number of gems that bear witness to its many sects, their 
 numerous adherents and wide influence on the thought and 
 superstitions of the times, we find, at the outset, many theories 
 to explain their origin and development. 
 
 Considering the great number of these sects that made 
 head, at one time or another, and their varying tenets, it is 
 not difficult to conceive that all the given explanations are 
 well founded. It has been the fashion to regard them as mere 
 Christian heresies, inspired either by honest divergence or by 
 a deliberate scheme on the part of expiring Paganism to con¬ 
 quer its otherwise invincible rival by subtly corrupting it. Both 
 assertions are, I think, true as to certain of the Gnostics, but 
 
GNOSTIC GEMS 
 
 135 
 
 I believe them to be later phases of a movement the origin and 
 motives of which had their roots in older creeds and newer 
 World tendencies. 
 
 Generally speaking, we find in Gnosticism a mingling of 
 the religion of ancient Egypt, Mithrasism, Neo-Platonic phil¬ 
 osophy, the Kabbala, and Christianity, with probably a less 
 direct influence from Buddhism. These elements varied widely 
 in their control in the different schools or sects of the Gnosis. 
 The result was a sort of aristocratic pantheism that arrogated 
 to its adepts all good here and hereafter, as the result of 
 knowledge of the truth and of the proper means of employing 
 it and which, by its arrogated authority and power, found 
 ready and wide popularity at a period when credulity, supersti¬ 
 tion, and reliance on magic-working substances and formulae 
 were at their highest flood. 
 
 Of course, amid such a farrago, there is always the element 
 of conscious or unconscious charlatanry as a militant motive, 
 and this we seem to find in the Samaritan, Simon Magus, per¬ 
 haps the earliest proponent of what could be called Gnostic 
 ideas, who dates from early in the first century A. D. Others 
 followed him, some, doubtless, sincere fanatics, others sincere 
 philosophers, and others, again, inspired by more doubtful 
 motives. In the systems of Basileides, who flourished in Alex¬ 
 andria in the second century, and of his successor Valentinus 
 we find the most complete development of Gnostic philosophy, 
 and in Manes or Manichseus, the founder of the Manichaean 
 sect, who lived and died in the third century, the most danger¬ 
 ous and influential of the Christian heresiarchs: one whose in¬ 
 fluence reached to the Emperor Constantine and who numbered 
 among his followers St. Augustine himself, before that father 
 of the Church turned to orthodoxy. 
 
 Little is left to us in complete form of the many early 
 works on this subject. The orthodox, when their control be¬ 
 came absolute, searched far too diligently and destroyed too 
 thoroughly for that; but in the Pistis Sophia (Faith Wisdom), 
 attributed to Valentinus, we have one example of the gospels 
 of Gnosticism which may inspire at once regret and thanks- 
 
136 
 
 GEMS OF THE EATER EMPIRE 
 
 giving: regret for the loss of the means to study exhaustively 
 one of the most curious of the mental emanations of humanity, 
 and thanksgiving that the mind is spared a perusal of theories 
 and doctrines a few pages of which are quite sufficient to make 
 us wonder whether the World has been mad or we are becom¬ 
 ing so. To those who desire a more detailed history of the 
 subject I would suggest Dr. Charles W. King’s book on The 
 Gnostics and Their Remains, a work which, while not especial¬ 
 ly satisfactory in its arrangement and, naturally, far from ex¬ 
 haustive, will yet give a good enough impression for the pur¬ 
 poses of most readers. Our own province is the consideration 
 of the gem-talismans and amulets, the manufacturing and 
 wearing of which was a highly characteristic manifestation of 
 these remarkable superstitions. 
 
 As the Gnostic idea involved primarily a conquest and 
 control of invisible agencies by means of knowledge of the 
 mystic influence of substances, forms, and words of power, it 
 is natural that we should look to find these embodied in the 
 shape of charms convenient for being carried on the person. 
 Many of the talismans are too large for ring-stones, and we 
 may easily imagine that concealment was sometimes held to 
 aid attainment of the desired end. Most of them, however, are 
 of a suitable size to set in rings, and it is evident from the re¬ 
 versed lettering on many that they were used as signets and 
 meant to read correctly in the impressions. Even in such cases 
 it is usual to find both sides of the gem engraved with either 
 figure or writing, so that a part, at least, of the talismanic 
 subject or words should be concealed and in close contact with 
 the body of the owner. 
 
 Materials. —The stones used were those popular at the 
 times when these gems were in vogue, but w r e find so marked 
 a preference for hematite, green and yellow jaspers, and helio¬ 
 trope that we may fancy that some especial virtue was sup¬ 
 posed to dwell in these substances. Plasma or greenish chal¬ 
 cedony was also sometimes used and it is quite possible that 
 that color alone may have been regarded as efficacious in some 
 way. Of the finer stones very few are engraved with Gnostic 
 
GNOSTIC GEMS 
 
 137 
 
 subjects. Even the carnelian, common enough among the other 
 gems of the period, was seldom employed. Now, more than 
 ever, was the material held potent: witness Pliny’s 'Natural 
 Histo?'y, much of which might better be called “Supernatural” 
 and dates from the much earlier time of the Peri-Lithon, one 
 of the Orphic books, which treated of the magical virtues of 
 different stones and their power as preservatives against 
 poisons and in gaining the favor of the gods. Naturally, un¬ 
 der such conditions, the beauty of the stone was of no more 
 consequence than the beauty of subject or the art in the en¬ 
 graving; an unimportant lack, perhaps, when the subjects were 
 necessarily ungainly and the art of the engravers nil. Good 
 work on fine stones may pretty safely be placed as fifteenth 
 century or later products, when the attitude toward magic¬ 
 working devices was very hospitable, and the so-called pierres 
 d’Israel, a term applied indiscriminately to ancient gems, were 
 held to be talismans of power. Especially may this criticism 
 be made of the terminal figure of Osiris and other Egyptian 
 gods with Greek or modern Hebrew letters and astrological 
 cyphers in the field. 
 
 Glass pastes, too, would not be considered available for 
 talismans the substance of which was held to be material to 
 their influence. Besides, the stones that were favored were 
 cheap enough to obviate any such tendency. 
 
 Subjects. —First and foremost among the subjects is the 
 figure of Abraxas (PI. XXIX, 20a), sometimes spelled Abrasax, 
 the Pantheios of Gnosticism, evolved by Basileides. The name 
 is probably the Greek form of the Hebrew Ha-Brachah (The 
 Blessing) and is reflected in “abracadabra,” Ha-Brachah-dab- 
 arah (pronounce the blessing), that most potent of mediaeval 
 spells. Both Jerome and Augustine also state that Basileides 
 argued that the Greek numerical value of the letters of the 
 name equalled 365, the days of the year. This god is repre¬ 
 sented as having the body and arms of a man, the head of a 
 cock, and serpents for legs. On one arm he carries a shield 
 and in the other hand, generally, a whip but, sometimes, a 
 sword or dart and, rarely, a mace. Occasionally the head is 
 
138 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 that of a hawk or a lion, but the significance is the same. Many: 
 very wise and recondite theories have been evolved and argued 
 to explain the monstrous combination, but none of them can be 
 called quite convincing. To venture one, which has, at least, 
 the merit of being simpler and more obvious than the others 
 and for those reasons, judging from Gnostic analogies, is least 
 likely to be correct, I would suggest that such a figure is a very 
 reasonable expression of the Pantheistic idea. The head of a 
 bird denotes dominion of the sky, the serpents, that of the Under¬ 
 world (or, according to some authorities, water), and the body 
 and arms of a man between them, are those of the Lord of the 
 Earth’s surface whereon men dwell. In the one hand he bears 
 the shield to defend himself and his followers, and, in the other, 
 some weapon to punish his enemies. It is all of the Universe 
 symbolized in one figure for offense and defense. Sabaoth 
 (From sabi, glory, in Hebrew, and compare Sabazios, a name of 
 Dionysos) and Adonai (Lord) are also Gnostic titles of this 
 deity and appear occasionally on the gems (PI. XXIX, 16); 
 but quite as frequent as Abraxas, often with it and evidently 
 used either as a name or as descriptive of the same being, is 
 Iao, the ineffable name of the Jews (PI. XXIX, 16, 20a, 26, 
 28b). To draw the line in such appellatives between names 
 and titles hardly belongs here, but I am inclined, in the light 
 of the inscriptions, to consider the last a broad denomination 
 of the supreme God, proclaimed under the name of Abraxas 
 by Basileides and identified with the sun-gods of all times and 
 nations. The others, as I have said, seem to me in the nature 
 of titles taken from gods of earlier theologies and go to express 
 the absorption of their attributes by the all-powerful one of 
 the Gnosis. Rarely the figure has an ass’ head, the significance 
 of which is doubtful, unless it be in honor of Tvphon. 
 
 Second in frequency on Gnostic gems is the Agathodaimon 
 (Good Spirit) of the later Egyptians who also knew it under 
 the name, Cneph. This is represented as a serpent having the 
 head of a lion with a crown of rays, generally either seven or 
 twelve, to emphasize the idea of a Sun divinity (PI. XXIX, 22, 
 27). It was known variously as XNOYMIX (Chnumis), XNOYBIX. 
 
GNOSTIC GEMS 
 
 139 
 
 (Chnubis) or XNOY4>II (Chnuphis), which also suggests Cneph. 
 Jablonsky derives Chnumis literally from the Coptic XNOYM 
 (good) and |Z (spirit). This symbolization may be placed as of 
 earlier origin than the Abraxas figures. The canopic vase, which 
 appears sometimes with the serpent on earlier gems but probably 
 not on later ones, is explained by “Cnepli” being rendered “Ka- 
 nopos” in classical Greek. It is reasonable to suppose that the 
 adoption of the serpent as a device may have sprung from the 
 creed of the Ophites or Naaseni (Serpent-worshippers), one of 
 the earliest Gnostic sects, whose doctrines are set forth with con¬ 
 siderable not unnatural confusion by the early fathers. Possibly 
 they were based on a distorted notion of the first Temptation, 
 which held the serpent to be the dutiful servant of God appoint¬ 
 ed to work out the prescribed destiny of the human race. 
 More probably, however, the idea had an earlier origin than 
 any of the developed schools of the Gnosis and found its 
 roots in the earlier superstitions that vested the serpent with 
 all knowledge. The Brazen serpent raised by Moses in the 
 Wilderness gives one analogy, its connection with iEsculapius 
 and the healing art throughout Pagan times voices the same 
 idea, and Galen writes in the second century A. D.: “Some in¬ 
 deed assert that a virtue of this kind” (as an amulet) “is in¬ 
 herent in certain stones, such as it is certain is possessed by 
 the green jasper, which benefits the chest and mouth of the 
 stomach when tied on them. Some indeed set the stone in a 
 ring and engrave upon it a serpent with head crowned with 
 rays, according to King Nechepsos in his thirteenth book.” It 
 is interesting to note in this connection that green jaspers and 
 green chalcedonies are the most favored substances among our 
 gems for this device and that it is almost always accom¬ 
 panied by the triple S transversed by a bar (PI. XXIX, 22), 
 also frequently found alone, and which, again, is apparently a 
 mere conventionalized and perhaps purposely obscured repre¬ 
 sentation of the staff of Aesculapius with the serpent coiled 
 about it. 
 
 In addition to these two, the commonest among Gnostic 
 subjects, there are also many figures of different planetary 
 
140 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 genii, sometimes with two, sometimes with four wings, beings 
 which were supposed to preside over the different Heavens. 
 Scaliger believed them to be representations of the Decani, the 
 three chief stars in each sign of the Zodiac. Close identifica¬ 
 tion is often more than difficult, even when the names are added 
 in their barbarous forms and letterings, though it is probable 
 that Ildabaoth, the good genius who, according to Valentinus, 
 reigned in Saturn, is most often intended. Sometimes the 
 genius has upon its head something which seems to represent 
 the sacramental table, and they bear sceptres of different kinds 
 to symbolize their power and dominion (PI. XXIX, 24). 
 
 Strongly in evidence, also, on Gnostic gems are types de¬ 
 rived from Egyptian theology: the jackal-headed Anubis (PI. 
 XXIX, 28a), in the place of Hermes whose caduceus he often 
 carries, whose office here is to conduct the accredited souls 
 along the planetary path through the regions of the many 
 Heavens, up to their final rest in the Pleroma, the One embrac¬ 
 ing All within itself. Gems bearing this figure may also be of 
 earlier date and non-Gnostic origin and, if done in the time 
 of the Hadrianic revival, may be very well engraved. So, too, 
 we find other animal-headed types, sprung from the same 
 Egyptian sources, but a most interesting expression of this idea 
 is on a gem formerly belonging to Dr. King where Anubis is 
 represented carrying a lamb and playing the part of the Good 
 Shepherd on the orthodox Christian gems (See, also, PI. XXVI, 
 5). 
 
 To the subjects of Egyptian origin, also, belongs the rep¬ 
 resentation of the child, Horus, finger at lips and scourge in 
 hand, himself a Sun-god, seated upon a lotos flower (PI. XXIX, 
 20b, 26) or in a boat, symbol of the Moon, and, occasionally, 
 with the phallic emblem. Pictures of the cynocephalus baboon 
 of Thoth, generally with exaggerated phallic attribute, fall in 
 the same class as does the ibis, often bearing attributes; also 
 the beetle. Sometimes the cynocephalus is adoring Horus, 
 sometimes, a pillar which may be surmounted by a triangle, a 
 symbol of the Moon to which the baboon was consecrated. Pos¬ 
 sibly the pillar has reference to the ‘‘Pillars of Hermes,” by 
 
GNOSTIC GEMS 
 
 141 
 
 means of which the Gnostic sage, Iamblichus, solved the ques¬ 
 tions propounded to him by Porphyrius. Belus mounted on 
 a lion was developed from Mithrasism, as were, according to 
 some, the winged genii above referred to. The serpent with its 
 tail in its mouth, which often forms a border on Gnostic stones 
 (PI. XXIX, 25, 26), may be, in some cases, of Ophite signifi¬ 
 cance or may have reference to earlier phases of serpent wor¬ 
 ship, but a passage in the Pistis Sophia seems to place it among 
 solar devices. It reads: “And the disk of the Sun was a great 
 dragon whose tail was in his mouth, who went up into the 
 Seven Powers on the left hand, being drawn by four Powers 
 having the similitude of white horses. But the going of the 
 Moon w T as in the shape of a boat,” etc., etc. The mummy en¬ 
 coded by the serpent probably has reference to the protecting 
 power of the Agathodaimon over the dead. 
 
 Of female figures, often winged, there are representations 
 of Athor and Sate, for the Roman Venus and Juno. The naked 
 woman of the Aphrodite Anadyomene type that is found on 
 Gnostic monuments can be explained as the Truth shown to 
 Marcus, a disciple of Valentinus, and described by him in his 
 Revelation. 
 
 With the above summary of basic ideas as a foundation, the 
 student may expect to find many variants and combinations 
 with Egyptian and Mithraic ideas and Roman deities, more 
 especially Hermes and the Jupiter Serapis, imported and 
 adapted from Egypt, also the Egyptian asp (PI. XXIX, 15). A 
 yellow jasper in my possession, showing on the one side a 
 Hekate (PI. XXIX, 16) and on the other a man worshipping 
 a serpent rising above an altar, is an example of the mixed 
 notions of the times. Curiously enough, however, there is a 
 queer trend of consistency in the representation of even these 
 wildly inconsistent ideas, and, in studying the gems, we absorb 
 a sense of the unfitness of certain types that serves to relegate 
 them to later periods, like the Osiris stones I have already re¬ 
 ferred to and which cannot be called forgeries in the present 
 acceptance of the term. They are rather attempts of a later 
 superstitious age to imitate and reproduce talismans and am- 
 
142 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 ulets which, to its thought, embodied power and protective in¬ 
 fluence. Such gems are foreign in spirit to those of the early 
 Gnostics in a way that no reasonably clever forgery would be. 
 
 Had more of the once numerous works of the teachers of 
 the Gnosis escaped the all too thorough search of intolerant or¬ 
 thodoxy, light might be thrown on much that is now obscure, 
 and the words “probably” and “possibly” might have occurred 
 less often in this chapter. Still, paradoxically enough, the gen¬ 
 eral veil of obscurity itself w r oiild doubtless grow more dense 
 with each added elucidation. It must always be remembered 
 that the philosophic Gnostics of Alexandria had, least of all, 
 the desire to make their knowledge clear to the unlearned and 
 that its merit consisted, to a large degree, in its exclusive pos¬ 
 session by the elect. 
 
 Inscriptions. —Nearly all Gnostic gems are inscribed, and 
 many bear only inscriptions. Let not, however, the student 
 imagine that he will find in these an aid to the puzzles that be¬ 
 set him. The names and titles of the Abraxas god that occur, 
 together with his figure or alone, we know; so those of the 
 Chnumis-Agathodaimon. Then, too, the legends, C£M6C 6IAAM 
 (The eternal Sun) and ABA AN A0 AN AA BA (Thou art our father), 
 are frequent inscriptions, the latter referring to Abraxas. Also 
 the seven vowels are often found, symbolizing the seven Heavens 
 whose mystic harmony kept the Universe together and which, 
 according to the Pistis Sophia, if rightly uttered together with 
 their forty-nine powers, were of force to compel the great First 
 Father himself to tremble and to deliver souls out of the deep¬ 
 est dungeons of the Dragon of Outer Darkness. The Delphic 
 £ ( which stood for five, was another holy numeral, upon the 
 mysteries of which Plutarch has left us a curious dissertation. 
 
 In addition to these, there are found on the Gnostic gems 
 a great number of names of Jewish angels taken from the Kab- 
 bala and of divinities drawn from the Magian theology, each 
 of whom was supposed to hold sway over some particular planet 
 or constellation or Heaven. According to the Schema of the 
 Ophites, Adonai was the genius presiding over the Sun, Iao 
 over the Moon, Eloi, Jupiter; Sabao, Mars; Orai, Venus; 
 
GNOSTIC INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 143 
 
 Astaphai, Mercury, and Ildabaoth, Saturn. These were for 
 the most part mischievous and, therefore, especially to be con¬ 
 trolled. For the genii of constellations they took the names 
 of Jewish angels, viz., Michael presided in the Lion, Gabriel 
 in the Eagle, Suriel in the Bull, Raphael in the Serpent, Than- 
 tabaoth or Sabaoth in the Bear, and Erataoth in the Dog. 
 Many other names of presiding genii also occur, varying in the 
 different sects, and the object of this may be understood when 
 we appreciate the importance attached by the Gnostics to pro¬ 
 nouncing them. To call a power properly by its proper name 
 was a means of compelling it to the service of the learned, and 
 therein did the Gnosis seek to invest its followers with author¬ 
 ity over the world of spirits. The Ophites also taught, accord¬ 
 ing to Hippolytus, that the Universe could not hold together 
 unless the names of the great ones were uttered. Such were 
 KAYAKAY (Kauakau) or KAYAAKAY (Kaulakau), the name of 
 “Adamas who is above,” IAYAAIAY (Saulasau), that of “Him 
 who is below,” and ZEHIAP (Zeesar), “The third of the Jordan 
 that floweth upward.” “Above,” he goes on to say, “are Mar- 
 iamne, the sought-after, and Jothor, the great and wise, and 
 Sephora, she that seeth, and Moses.” 
 
 Another sect, the Peratai or Fatalists, held that XQZZAP 
 (Chozzar) was the name of Neptune, KAP<t>AKOZHMOXEP 
 (Karphakosemocher), of the Steward of the East; EKKABAKAPA 
 (Ekkabakara), of the West; API BA (Ariba), of ruler of the 
 winds; IQKAAM (Soklam), of Osiris, the ruler of the twelve 
 hours of the night; ENYQ (Enuo), of Isis, ruler of those of 
 the day; BHNA (Bena), of Ceres, the Left-hand power of God, 
 and MHN (Men), of the Right-hand power that presides over 
 the fruits of the Earth. According to the same doctrine, 
 Chozzar “Who converts into a sphere the dodecagonal pyramid, 
 etc.” had five ministers, the, four whose names we know being 
 called AOY, AOAI, OYQ and OYQAB —mere strings of vowels 
 which, however, serve to suggest possible interpretations of 
 many kindred inscriptions on the gems. 
 
 Again, according to the Pistis Sophia, the three all-power¬ 
 ful ones were 14’ANTAXAINXEOYX (I decline giving the English 
 
144 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 letters), from whom emanated the Power which dwelt in Mars, 
 B AIN XUIUJX, from whom came that of Mercury, and n I IT 111 04 1 A 
 (Pistis Sophia), that of Venus; while above this triad was 
 one still higher, the unseen Gods: ATPAMMAXAMAPEr (Agram- 
 maxamareg), BAPBHAUJ (Barbelo), the Heavenly Mother of 
 Jesus, and BAEAAH (Bdelle). Also it taught that the incor¬ 
 ruptible names of the planets were QPIMOYO (Orimouth), Sa¬ 
 turn; M0YNIX0YPA4UIP (Mounichouraphor), Mars; TAPI1ETA- 
 N0Y4 (Tarpetanouph), Mercury; XUJII (Chosi), Venus; and 
 XUJNBAA (Chonbal), Jupiter. 
 
 I forbear going further into the “Names,” lest I drive my 
 readers altogether mad, but a few of the formulae seem neces¬ 
 sary, if only to show their general character. Greek, Hebrew, 
 Chaldee, Coptic, and Syriac words, often much corrupted, are 
 involved in these, in what Jerome describes as “tormenta ver- 
 borum,” turned backward and formed, with letters repeated or 
 out of place, word mixed with word and the whole still further 
 complicated by scattering the seven vowels here and there, for 
 it must always be remembered that much of the value of these 
 charms depended upon their being undecipherable by other 
 than the wearer. Undisguised examples are AN OX XOA XNOY- 
 BIC (I am all the Good Spirit), AIN OAPPAI (The eye shall be¬ 
 hold), AAONAI AANTAAA (Lord, Thou art the Lamb), XU1CA 
 MIAAUJ0 (He hath seen the Pleroma), and AMAAXO AMA3AZ 
 LZAI (rendered by Stiechel, Salama zebaam jatzael—Peace unto 
 the army of these). 
 
 A curious specimen of writing parts of the same word in 
 different lines is found on the for the most part Hebrew legend 
 
 IABATA0P 
 ©ON ATHCAAI 
 APBA0I 
 AAM 
 AUJ 
 
 which must be transposed and doctored to read IABATA0P 0ON- 
 ATHC AAIAAM APBA0 I AUJ (Jehovah, the Pure ZEther, the Fire 
 forever, the Four, Iao), “the four” signifying the Tetrad 
 of the Theogony of Marcus. ANAKAA AKAAA0UJIUJI (Pur- 
 
GNOSTIC INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 145 
 
 sue them unto destruction, O Lord) is found on the reverse of 
 a gem engraved with the figure of a sphinx, emblem of power 
 and destruction. BAPIAZAZTA IAUJ (Jehovah, the Creator, the 
 Destroyer) is an example of the Chaldee, and the Coptic words, 
 IA0AI (Providence of God), MA0AHE (Honor of God), 
 PEOYHAE (Will of God), XUJMI (Power of God) and ZBUJ 
 (Wisdom), designate Phronesis, Logos, Nous, Dynamis, and 
 Sophia, the five emanations from the Godhead. KAYAAKAY is 
 the Basileidan name for the Saviour, MOY0 (The Mother), a 
 title given to Isis, and NOOT, the corrupted Coptic NOYT, for 
 God. OPUUPIOY0 (Light of Light) is found on gems, together 
 with the udder-shaped vase of the Isiac ceremonial. A few of 
 the many other legends are MEI XANAAUJ (The Messiah be pro¬ 
 pitious unto me), MAPUJHNI (Enlighten mine eyes), MAI MYM 
 YXAYM UJI (Being, Fount, Salvation, Food, Iao), TAAA APAIUJ 
 UJAPAOPO NTOKO NBAI (Protector, Creator, rule, speak, O 
 Lord), XAIA (Life), and AEIOZ (Reverence). 
 
 Three characters are frequently found together: +, uj , 
 and Z. They stand for the lucky and sacred numerals, viz: 
 3, 5, and 7; Triad, Pentad, and Heptad; and, for the same 
 reasons, inscriptions in three, five or seven lines are especially 
 favored on gems. Naturally a considerable number of inscrip¬ 
 tions are in the old Jewish characters, not the modern Jewish, 
 the resource and the pitfall of the forgers; but the great major¬ 
 ity, whatever the language, are in Greek letters, usually cut 
 square and without curves, another evidence of the growing 
 barbarism and incapacity of the times. 
 
 As if the above described entanglements were not enough, 
 the holy names were held to be doubly efficacious if writ in 
 cyphers, a point on which the Pistis Sophia gives much doubt¬ 
 lessly very valuable information. “This,” it reads, “is the Name 
 of the Immortal One: A A A UJUU UJ, and this is the Name of the 
 Voice through whose means the perfect man is moved: 111, 
 These, likewise, are the interpretations of the names of the 
 Mysteries. The first is AAA, the interpretation thereof, <t> 4> <t>. 
 The second which is M M M , or which is UJ U) UJ, the interpretation 
 whereof is A A A The third is ^ 'k , the interpretation where- 
 
146 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 of is 0 0 0. The fourth is 4> <i> <t», the interpretation whereof is 
 N N N. The fifth is AAA, the interpretation whereof is AAA, 
 the which is over the throne AAA. This is the interpretation 
 of the second A A A A, which is AAAAAAAA, and the same is 
 the interpretation of the whole Name.” 
 
 With this singularly lucid explanation of the matter, I 
 leave reluctantly the subject of Gnostic inscriptions. It is quite 
 easy to understand that no demon could long beset the soul of 
 the adept whose body was protected by such a talisman and 
 who possessed the knowledge to use it properly and address 
 the proper prayers to the right Powers by their secret names. 
 For much more of the same kind there is always Dr. King’s 
 work. 
 
 Geometrical figures, the triangle, square and rhombus, also 
 occur and have been interpreted variously but never quite con¬ 
 clusively, save that the last named is supposed to stand for the 
 Egg of the World, brought down from the Orphic theogony. 
 For notation the Phoenician numerals were sometimes used; 1 
 to 9 being shown by vertical strokes, 10 by a horizontal one 
 and 20 by two parallel horizontal strokes, sometimes curving 
 together a trifle. Sometimes, again, certain angular forms in¬ 
 dicate the use of the Egyptian system which represented 10 by 
 F and 100 by the same four times repeated in the form of a 
 square, £], but it is probable that in most of the cases where 
 any enumeration was desirable it was effected by the use of the 
 numerical values of letters. 
 
 An interesting application of Gnostic ideas was the not 
 uncommon addition of an inscription to an ancient gem with 
 the intention of creating or increasing its talismanic power. 
 As an example of this practice I have a burnt sardonyx with 
 a rather well done figure of Victory dating from early Imperial 
 times, on the back of which has been cut the great name, Ab- 
 rasax. 
 
 I am conscious that I have cast a very flickering illumi¬ 
 nation on this subject, supposing any illumination could be cast, 
 but the enormous mass of material and its heterogeneous char¬ 
 acter make it impossible in a work like this more than to fa- 
 
THE STORY OF MACARIUS 
 
 147 
 
 miliarize readers with the general nature and character of the 
 engraving on these stones. Should he feel sufficient interest to 
 delve deeper, and possess a mind sturdy enough to stand the 
 strain, he will, at least, knbw that he is studying the strangest, 
 weirdest system of religion and philosophy which the human 
 intellect has ever evolved, and, conversely, he will be able to 
 realize what that much vaunted intellect is capable of when 
 once it cuts loose from the moorings of sanity. 
 
 I will close this chapter with the only allusion to an “art¬ 
 ist” which I have been able to find later than the times of 
 Evodos. In the Paradise of the Holy Fathers : stories of holy 
 men, by Palladius, there is an amusing anecdote told of Abba 
 Macarius (or Isidore), that might give points to some of our 
 clerical exhorters of the faithful to give bountifully. There 
 was a certain rich woman of Alexandria who appears to have 
 been rather lax in the matter of contributions, and Macarius 
 undertook to loosen her purse-strings. The narrative reads: 
 “From his youth up he had been a skillful workman in the cut¬ 
 ting of gems, and he went to her and said: ‘Certain very pre¬ 
 cious smaragdi and gems have fallen into my hands, and 
 whether they have been stolen or not I do not know’” (a del¬ 
 icate touch), “ ‘but the man who hath them will sell them for 
 five hundred dinars.’ ” Attracted by the opportunity, the lady 
 pays him the money, whereupon the reverend gentleman ful¬ 
 fills his part of the bargain by exhibiting to her a company of 
 beggars and the like, as his “emeralds” and “gems,” upon whom 
 he has expended the five hundred dinars in alms. It is not 
 probable that Macarius ranked any higher as an artist than he 
 did as an abstract moralist, but the incident shows that “skill¬ 
 ful workmen,” according to the estimate of the times, were 
 known as late as the end of the fourth century, the date of this 
 brilliant coup. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 BYZANTINE, SASSANIAN AND MOSLEM GEMS 
 BYZANTINE GEMS 
 
 For the purposes of this book we may consider the Byzan¬ 
 tine branch of the glyptic art as ranging from the division of 
 the Empire, roughly speaking 400 A. D., down to the fall of 
 Constantinople, in the middle of the fifteenth century. There 
 is very little to be said for its merit. Though ancient gems were 
 preserved, collected, and sold in Constantinople, their presence 
 and inspiration had no influence whatever on the work of the 
 time. This was, for the most part, religious or in the line 
 of portraiture, and shows the stiff, soulless formality of which 
 the term, Byzantine Art, has come to be a synonym. Far better 
 than most of it is a picture of the Virgin and Child with the in¬ 
 scription, H 6IKUJN THC ATIAC MAPIAC (The likeness of the 
 holy Mary). It is much too large for a seal and was evidently 
 intended as an ornament, perhaps of some church vessel. In 
 fact the greater frequency of cameos shows that the signet idea 
 was no longer the ruling motive in gem-engraving (See PI. 
 XXX, 8, 10, 11). 
 
 The inscriptions, like the one just quoted, are usually de¬ 
 scriptive, and the spelling and lettering are decadent. 
 
 SASSANIAN GEMS 
 
 It is when we go a step farther toward the East that we 
 find some attempt to preserve and even to revive the traditions 
 of gem-engraving. Under the native Persian Sassanian dynasty 
 which overthrew the more barbaric Parthian supremacy in 
 Central Asia, the art flourished from the third to the seventh 
 148 
 
MATERIALS, TECHNIQUE AND SUBJECTS 149 
 
 century A. D., when the kingdom was conquered by the Mos¬ 
 lems. It did not attain a high degree of merit but it was often 
 respectable in a decadent way, and its popularity shows that 
 in that part of the World the use of the gem for a signet still 
 obtained. 
 
 Materials. —The stones favored under the Lower Empire 
 were popular here: green jasper, heliotrope, lapis lazuli, and 
 hematite, also carnelian, sardonyx, and chalcedony, often of 
 the bluish tint known as sapphirine, and, along with these, a 
 considerable number of fine garnets, hyacinthine and almand- 
 ine, usually cut convex, as throughout all the good periods of 
 the art in Europe. The amethyst is very rare, but perhaps the 
 finest example of Sassanian work is on that stone: the famous 
 Devonshire portrait, which has been identified as several Sas¬ 
 sanian kings. 
 
 Technique. —The character of the work on these stones 
 may be described, primarily, as sketchy, done, as a rule, with 
 broad, hastily cut wheel-strokes and occasional drill borings. 
 It is lacking in strength, exactness or distinction, but it has a 
 certain decorative quality, especially in its expression of the 
 floating effect in the delineation of garments. Little interior 
 polish is usually found. The shape of many of the stones was 
 a modification of the older conical form into the segment of a 
 circle, usually more than half, with the picture on the flat sur¬ 
 face. Often this was compressed into a sort of thick ring shape 
 with one side flattened and a much larger boring. Equally 
 numerous were ring-stones, flat or convex. 
 
 Subjects. —The subjects chosen for the pictures on these 
 gems are, for the most part, local in their character and types, 
 although there are evidently occasional inspirations from late 
 Roman art, such as rare figures of Victory. Generally speak¬ 
 ing, the culture of the kingdom strove to reach back to the old 
 Persian traditions. Deities are never figured, for the Zoro- 
 astran had an antipathy to anything resembling an idol, but 
 there are sacerdotal types, such as fire altars or priests sacrific¬ 
 ing at or praying before them. The monster types of early 
 Oriental art occur repeatedly; human-headed bulls and horses 
 
150 
 
 SASSANIAN GEMS 
 
 with wings, winged lions, a lion with scorpion’s claws and a 
 serpent tail, pegasi, griffins—all the fabulous creatures of the 
 archaic times. The frequent introduction of the tree of life 
 is, also, an evidence of the tendencies, and flowers are occasion¬ 
 ally shown. With these are found the numerous astrological 
 symbols to be expected under Magian supremacy, signs of the 
 Zodiac, stars, suns, and crescents. What King describes as the 
 national standard, a crescent, set above a bar or ball, between 
 two horns and supported on a tripod (?), but which seems, 
 often, more like some conventional fire altar motive, is so com¬ 
 mon that he supposes it to have been the usual seal of certain 
 military officers (PL XXX, 5). Paul Horn and George Stein- 
 dorff, in their work on Sassanian Gem Signets, call it a mono¬ 
 gram, but its frequency in approximately the same form and 
 often with an inscription, seems to me to argue against this 
 interpretation. 
 
 Representations of animals are perhaps the most abundant 
 of all (PI. XXX, 1), but they are seldom drawn naturally or 
 executed with any spirit: bulls, always of the Hindoo hump¬ 
 backed type, horses, wild sheep and goats, boars, lions, tigers, 
 wolves, foxes, bears, antelopes, stags, often couchant or lying 
 down with the head turned around, eagles and other creatures. 
 The heads or busts of beasts also occur (PL XXX, 4) and a few 
 royal hunting scenes (PL XXX, 2). Women are often pic¬ 
 tured, sometimes with children (Pl. XXX, 3), but, most inter¬ 
 esting of all the subjects and more frequent than all, save the 
 animal types, are the portraits (PL XXX, 6, 7), so many of 
 them evidently of kings and satraps that the complimentary 
 motive in the matter of signet devices is strongly in evidence. 
 These portrait busts rarely suggest a very close likeness but 
 there is generally an attempt to portray the elaborate dressing 
 of the hair, the fillet and, often, some sort of tiara, though 
 seldom the characteristic royal cidaris found on coins and 
 somewhat varied by each monarch so that the shortcomings in 
 portraiture might be compensated for. Still, much may be 
 learned from the hair arrangement, and the inscription of the 
 name and titles of the prince often gives a needed clue. Pecu- 
 
INSCRIPTIONS 
 
 151 
 
 liar is the care with which the large pearl pendant from the 
 ear is usually rendered. 
 
 Inscriptions. —Fortunately these are very common on Sas- 
 sanian gems. Rarely the Greek letters are used, on a few 
 Sassanian Christian stones to be referred to later. Almost 
 universally the writing is in some form of the more or less 
 flowing Pehlevi characters that, with the regaining of Persian 
 freedom, succeeded the Greek alphabet affected by the Parthian 
 conquerors. The scarcity of the proven glyptic remains of 
 the latter can probably be accounted for on the presumption 
 that their gems cannot be distinguished from poor examples of 
 late Greek work. As on their coinage, they, doubtless, used 
 the conventional Greek types. 
 
 To return to the Pehlevi inscriptions, the language w T as 
 first deciphered by De Sacy, but many of the readings are un¬ 
 certain and few if any of our readers will probably have either 
 the knowledge or the patience to work it out, even sufficiently 
 to understand the rather limited scope of the gem legends: the 
 names of the owners or of the princes whose likenesses are 
 found, together with such titles as “The Just,” “The Merciful,” 
 “The most humble servant of the gods,” “King of kings,” 
 “Savior of Mortals,” etc. They sometimes begin with four 
 letters variously read “apad” or “afzud” (“The Most High” or 
 “Long live.”) One reads, “Artashetran Rami Minocheter” 
 (“Rami, son of Artaxerxes of the Divine Race.”). 
 
 The most usual form of the alphabet found in Pehlevi 
 inscriptions contains three long vowels, A, I and U, and eleven 
 consonants, B, D, H, K, L (or R), M, N, P (or PH), S (or SH), 
 T and Z. The short vowels, as is usual in Oriental writings, 
 are to be supplied by the readers. Letters are generally united, 
 two, three or even more, in a sort of script which becomes more 
 definitely script-like and more difficult to read as the period 
 advances. Those who desire to understand the inscriptions on 
 their gems should take them to the best orientalist within 
 reach and curb their very probable disappointment if he fails 
 them. 
 
 Sassanian Christian Gems.—W hen the orthodox party 
 
152 
 
 SASSANIAN GEMS 
 
 gained control in the Eastern Empire they promptly put in 
 practice the lessons in persecution taught them by a few of 
 the earlier Pagan rulers. The heretical sects were numerous 
 and among them were the Nestorians, many of whom sought 
 and received asylum in Persia. 
 
 Thus the cross is found engraved on Sassanian stones, 
 sometimes rebus-wise and with other symbols, and Chabouillet 
 notes a number of religious picture subjects, such as the sacrifice 
 of Abraham, the Virgin seated with the infant Jesus in her lap, 
 the meeting of the Virgin and St. Elisabeth—a somewhat 
 doubtful interpretation, I think, of a well known gem, and, also, 
 most notable of all, a beardless bust-portrait of Christ in 
 profile with a fish beneath it and bearing the Greek inscription, 
 XPICTOY. The stone is a truncated cone of white chalcedony. 
 Inscriptions are sometimes in Greek, sometimes in Pehlevi. 
 
 Forgeries. —Before leaving the subject of Sassanian gems, 
 I quote from an article on Forgeries of Assyrian and Baby¬ 
 lonian Antiquities in Vol. Ill (1887) of The American Journal 
 of Archaeology, by M. Joachim Menant. He writes, “At Teheran 
 the Sassanian engraved stones have long been systematically 
 imitated. The types of the Sapors and Ardeshirs have been 
 exploited with a skill so remarkable as to deceive the most 
 practiced eye. These works would not come within the limits 
 of this inquiry were it not that it has often been attempted to 
 pass them off for portraits of Achsemenid princes, and they 
 are provided with cuneiform inscriptions.” Of two schematic 
 wood-cuts of examples, he says: “The work, quite modern in 
 appearance, seems to have been executed hastily, though the 
 engraver was fond of details . . . Although certain technical 
 details show the hand of the modern workman, the intaglios 
 might have circulated as portraits of Ardeshirs and Sapors 
 had it not been that the forger engraved around each figure an 
 inscription in cuneiform characters in which he stands con¬ 
 victed.” 
 
 On its face this seems rather disturbing, though if the gems 
 looked anything like the drawings M. Menant gives I cannot 
 imagine their deceiving anyone but an ignoramus. Also I can- 
 
FORGERIES 
 
 153 
 
 not but feel that M. Menant might have been misled as to the 
 prevalence of the practice. The demand for gems of the Sassa- 
 nian type could not have been very active among the rich collect¬ 
 ors who made forging worth while, save, perhaps, in the cases of 
 a few specialists. The dilettante wanted, primarily, art and 
 beauty in the objects of his desire, and few would be apt to 
 venture deeply into the Sassanian field for other than purposes 
 of study and research. To deceive such specialists is, of course, 
 the most difficult of the forger’s tasks. We must admit that the 
 cutters of Moslem signets have always had enough skill to copy 
 such Sassanian work as might come into their- hands and that 
 the imitative trait of the Oriental makes him an accurate and 
 painstaking copyist, free, theoretically at least, from the spirit 
 of independence that usually tempts the European forger to 
 some trifling touch of damning originality; yet, if this were 
 the practice why should not the inscriptions be reproduced 
 as faithfully and as irrefutably? I hold there is no safety 
 in fraud save in an absolute copy properly cut on a properly 
 chosen and properly treated stone and, aside from the inherent 
 improbability of M. Menant’s peril being as great as he pictures 
 it, he seems to me to be on the horns of a dilemma. His forgers 
 did show all the stupidity of their kind, and were not content 
 to copy. That there may be some clever forgeries in this line 
 I would not deny and, in view of the less knowledge we possess 
 of both the authentic types and the ways and work of their 
 imitators, these forgeries may be more dangerous than equally 
 clever efforts at imitating Occidental gems. This, however, 
 spells ignorance on the part of would-be experts, and what is 
 our own fault can usually be remedied. 
 
 LATER MOHAMMEDAN GEMS 
 
 Perhaps here, too, is the best place to refer to the large 
 class of inscription signets which have been made and used in 
 Western Asia since the Moslem supremacy. Very rarely are 
 figures found on these, since such portrayals were contrary 
 to the spirit of Islam which has carried its morbid dread of 
 
154 
 
 MOSLEM GEMS 
 
 idolatry into the field of its art. Ancient gems were, doubtless, 
 kept as talismans by the less strict religionists who sometimes 
 even sought to increase their beneficial or nullify their malign 
 power by adding a Koran text on the back. 
 
 Inscriptions, then, are, with the exception of occasional 
 embellishment with flower and star designs, the whole of 
 Moslem glyptic art, and the name of the owner with his titles, 
 texts from the Koran, prayers, and pious axioms or ejaculations 
 form the subject matter (PI. XXXII, 1). The earliest are in 
 the square, vertical Cufic letters, descendants, through Syria, 
 of the early Pehlevi, but, after the thirteenth century, this gave 
 place to the flowing Persian text, often complicated and 
 obscured by elaborate flourishes. It is with this latter that 
 we find, also, the star and flower ornamentation. 
 
 In the matter of mechanical execution these gems are 
 admirably engraved. No elegance of the curves seems to trouble 
 the craftsmen, and the effect, from a decorative standpoint, is 
 often very pleasing. Save for a few hemispherical shapes that 
 continued for a short time after the Sassanian collapse, the 
 Moslem gems are ring-stones, for the most part coarse load¬ 
 stone, more or less fine carnelians, jaspers and sards, together 
 with a few rubies. These are cut flat and are round, square, 
 usually with somewhat rounded corners, or octagonal. At 
 the present day most Turks have their signets cut in metal, 
 but some who can afford it still wear the carnelian ring-stone, 
 and the art of engraving it has never died out. 
 
 RABBINICAL GEMS 
 
 From the same regions, also, comes a small class of gems 
 bearing inscriptions, mostly names, in Rabbinical lettering and, 
 generally, without other engraving. They were undoubtedly 
 the seals of Hebrews, and some of them seem to be of very 
 considerable though rather indefinite antiquity. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL EUROPE. THEIR USE AND 
 MANUFACTURE 
 
 Having concluded our summary of the trend of glyptic 
 art in the East, we may now turn to Mediaeval Europe. 
 
 It has been loosely stated that, when the repeated waves 
 of Northern invasion swept over and, at last, submerged the 
 Western Empire, it was the practice of the barbarians, “who 
 valued only the precious metals,” to break engraved gems from 
 their settings and throw them away, so as to consign the latter 
 to the melting pot. This idea is inaccurate and has probably 
 had its birth in a desire to explain the fact that few gems 
 are found in the original rings. Most of the barbarians were 
 not quite barbarous enough for that. Service in the legions 
 and contact with the borders and outskirts of Roman culture 
 had taught them Roman valuations, and they were not likely 
 to regard as worthless what their rich and envied, if despised, 
 neighbors held precious. Probably they found little practical 
 use, at first, for gems as signets, but even in such races as the 
 Huns there must have existed that belief in talismans and 
 amulets common to all rude peoples, and beautiful stones bear¬ 
 ing strange figures and signs were sure to be looked upon as 
 possessing this character. The knowledge that must have dwelt 
 in even the densest ignorance that the cultured owners had held 
 them things of price would be construed by the looting bar¬ 
 barian in the light of his own predilections. Moreover it is easy 
 to explain in a much more plausible way the great proportion of 
 unset gems that are found. The settings, at the best, were 
 much more perishable than the gems, and numberless vicis- 
 
 155 
 
156 
 
 GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 
 
 situdes combined to destroy them. As anyone can realize who 
 wears a signet and uses it constantly, merely drawing the gold 
 ring on and off will necessitate its renewal several times in 
 a life, especially when the metal is of a high purity, while 
 many of the substances, such as iron, of which many rings were 
 made, often with but a thin plating of gold, disintegrated from 
 mere time or contact with the earth salts. This for the vast 
 number that were lost or buried. Again, many were taken from 
 the settings to be reset more in accordance with the taste of 
 their new owners, and, above all, it is certain that in ancient 
 times the stone was much less firmly fixed in the bezel than 
 to-day, usually with the aid of some sort of cement which 
 would lose its hold with time. Traces of this and sometimes 
 of the corroded metal itself are found on the backs of gems and 
 the desire to remove these explains the fact that the backs of 
 stones are often found repolished, even when the modern finder 
 or owner has had sense enough to leave the face intact. 
 
 This view of the matter, however, is not based on theory 
 alone. From the earliest Mediseval times positive evidence is 
 at hand. Among the articles found in the Longobardic necro¬ 
 polis of the seventh century A. D., at Castel Trosino, and pre¬ 
 served in the Museo delle Terme at Rome, I found three ancient 
 intaglios set in rings and four in brooches, all of Longobard 
 workmanship. 
 
 At a later Mediaeval period, one of the commonest uses for 
 ancient gems was for the ornamentation of church plate. That 
 of the Troyes Cathedral was adorned with nearly three hundred, 
 most of which, small carnelian intaglios, were taken by the 
 Crusaders at their capture of Constantinople and were used 
 to decorate a small shrine which contained a tooth of St. Peter. 
 The shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne, twelfth century 
 work, was adorned with two hundred and twenty-six ancient 
 gems. The shrine of Elizabeth of Thuringen and Hesse at 
 Marburg, made about 1250, contained eight hundred and 
 twenty-four precious stones, many of which we know to have 
 been intaglios. Evodos’ portrait of Julia, daughter of Titus, was 
 preserved in the Tresor de S. Denys, and there are many other 
 
USE OP ANCIENT GEMS 
 
 157 
 
 records of such an application at times when all sorts of 
 precious things were lavished upon the Church. 
 
 Even more general, however, was the use of the ancient 
 gems as signets by whoever might need them, from the king 
 down to the smallest land-owning nobles and ecclesiastics. 
 
 Before the tenth century, when the use of seals cut in metal 
 became popular, the ancient stones must have been even more 
 in demand. Charlemagne used an ancient head of Marcus 
 Aurelius and, later, one of Jupiter Serapis; Pepin le Bref, a 
 figure of the bearded Dionysos; Pepin due d’Aquitaine, a 
 portrait of Caligula; Carloman (764 A. D.), a female bust 
 with hair in knot, probably a Diana; Louis I (816 A. D.), a 
 portrait of Antoninus Pius (or Commodus) ; Lothaire (840 
 A. D.), a portrait of Caracalla, and Eadgar, king of the Angles 
 (860 A. D.), an ancient portrait head, diademed, probably of 
 some post-Alexandrian Greek prince. There are many other ex¬ 
 amples and, in some cases, it is probable the seal was selected 
 because of a fancied resemblance to the person who chose it. 
 In others, such as both the Jupiter Serapis and Marcus Aure¬ 
 lius heads worn by Charlemagne, it is pretty certain that they 
 were regarded as heads of Christ, in accordance with a theory 
 of Mediaeval interpretation to which I will refer later. 
 
 Among ecclesiastical signets a curious example is the 
 choice by Seffrid, bishop of Chichester (1159 A. D.), of a fig¬ 
 ure of the Abraxas god, for his episcopal ring. Probably its 
 supposed efficiency as an amulet was too much for the worthy 
 churchman, but the Venus bust, seal of the Archbishop of Sens 
 (twelfth century), seems even more inappropriate. 
 
 The commandery of the Hospitallers at Venice had for a 
 counterseal the goddess Ceres, enthroned, holding wheat ears 
 and a cornucopia, and there is the case of the monks of Durham 
 who placed the head of Jupiter Fulgurator on their common 
 seal, as being the portrait of their patron, St. Oswald. 
 
 Even together with the large metal official seals, gems were 
 still eagerly sought as counterseals and personal signets. W. 
 de G. Birch, in his work on seals, gives a large number of 
 instances of bishops and high church dignitaries of the twelfth 
 
158 
 
 GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 
 
 and thirteenth centuries whose counterseals were ancient gems. 
 Among these were Theobald of Canterbury, who sealed with 
 the bearded head of a god or emperor, and Stephen Langton 
 of Canterbury, with two Cupids, one of whom is climbing a 
 tree with the aid of a ladder. It would be interesting to know 
 just how he interpreted the subject. Mr. Birch mentions in 
 all something less than one hundred of these stones, thirteen of 
 which he describes as Gnostic or grylli, eight as early Christian, 
 and, among the rest, four Fortunas, three Athenas, two Vic¬ 
 tories, single examples of Ceres, Hermes, Cupid, Hercules 
 and the Lion, Omphale, a hippocamp, a biga, and numerous 
 portrait heads and pictures of animals. To some he does not 
 undertake to give attributions, and it is, of course, possible 
 that, the subject of ancient glyptics not being especially his 
 own, he may not always attribute correctly. G. Demay, in his 
 introduction to Inventaire des Sceaux de VArtois et de la 
 Picardie and his Les Pierres Gravees dans les Sceaux du 
 
 A 
 
 Moyen Age, mentions more than three hundred ancient gems, 
 including figures of Jupiter, Isis, Mars, Apollo, iEsculapius, 
 Minerva, Venus, Mercury, Bacchus, Hercules, Diana, Victory, 
 Fortuna, Medousa, Pegasus, Omphale, Abraxas, fauns, cen¬ 
 taurs, genii, animals, grylli, and portrait heads. In the 
 chronicle of Jocelyn of Brakelonde it is told how Abbot Samson 
 of St. Edmundsbury found his monks pledging with their seals 
 the credit of the monastery for their private debts. Deciding 
 to stop the practice, he ordered all seals surrendered and 
 gathered in thirty-three. These certainly were not the big 
 metal seals of the time (1180-1200 A. D.). Nothing save 
 ancient gems could have been within the reach of these good 
 "brothers to serve for such pious ends, and the instance goes to 
 show the number and obtainability of such stones. Again, in 
 the Beroult fragment of Tristan, Isolde says: “Friend Tristan, 
 I have a ring: a green jasper with a seal.” 
 
 To the Mediaeval mind the ancient gems were “Pierres 
 d’Israel,” works executed by the Jews when wandering in the 
 wilderness, and its interpretation of the subjects according 
 to the prevalent ideas of the times makes one of the most 
 
MEDIAEVAL GEM-CUTTING 
 
 159 
 
 curious chapters in the history of these stones. Most winged 
 figures, Victory, Cupid, etc., were held to be angels, Jupiter 
 with his eagle was readily susceptible of interpretation as 
 St. John the Evangelist, Jupiter Serapis was Christ and is 
 probably the origin of the conventional likeness adopted by 
 Byzantine art, while Caracalla, with his curly locks and 
 surly expression, was generally considered a likeness of St. 
 Peter. Veiled female heads were Madonnas and Magdalenes; 
 Isis and Horus, the Virgin and Child; Thalia with her attribute 
 mask was Herodias with the head of John the Baptist. Figures 
 with the shepherd’s pedum were abbots bearing their crooks, 
 combinations of three masks suggested the Trinity, and, most 
 humorous of all, Leda and the Swan was held to be a represen¬ 
 tation of the Holy Ghost descending upon Mary, in the form of a 
 dove:—all were translated along kindred lines by the eager 
 and ignorant religionists of the times. 
 
 Passing from the use of ancient gems to the work of the 
 Mediaeval gem-cutters themselves, it has been the fashion to 
 maintain that the art died out completely in barbarianized 
 Europe, save for a few rather large rock-crystals engraved 
 with crucifixions and other religious subjects, such as a Susan¬ 
 na and the Elders, shown in different scenes. This is of ninth 
 century workmanship. It is now in the British Museum and 
 was anciently used as a brooch to fasten the pontifical robes of 
 the Abbot of Vezor on the Meuse. Even the few that are 
 known show that the art was not dead, and the general use of 
 ancient gems, together with the virtues attributed to them, 
 indicates that there must have been a demand for such work. 
 Also there is presumptive evidence in the works of Mediaeval 
 writers, as when Alexander of Tralles in the sixth century 
 and Marbodus in the eleventh give directions as to the engrav¬ 
 ing of certain subjects on the appropriate stones. The last 
 named directs that a vine entwined with ivy should be cut on 
 the sard, a lobster and raven on the beryl, Mars and Virgo 
 holding a branch on the chalcedony, etc. 
 
 Circumstantial evidence contra is that the character of 
 the work of the times is unmistakable and the gems themselves 
 
160 
 
 GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL EUEOPE 
 
 are not in evidence, against which may be argned their probable 
 comparative rarity, owing to the cost, and the few individuals 
 who had a preference for contemporaneous work and the money 
 to pay for it. 
 
 There is, however, direct evidence that the position taken 
 by King and many writers and not refuted by Furtwangler is, 
 at least, much too broadly stated. Lecoy de la Marche, in his 
 work on Seals, cites a signet used at one time by Lothaire, 
 bearing a bust in full face with long hair hanging on each side, 
 the whole being of the exact type found on the metal seals of 
 the Merovingian kings, from whose period it may date. An¬ 
 other, also used by the same prince, was evidently of contem¬ 
 poraneous make: a portrait of himself done in rock-crystal. 
 
 Beyond this we have seal impressions from Carlovingian 
 times, many of which show by their sharpness and clearness 
 as well as by the indications of the setting that they were 
 made from gems rather than from designs cut in metal, and 
 when we examine the subjects chosen and the characteristics 
 of the art it becomes clear that the engraving on not a few 
 of these was of the period of the sealings themselves. 
 
 From the tenth century on we find many examples of this. 
 Conrad, King of Arles (940), seals with a portrait bust, evident¬ 
 ly of contemporary cutting; Raoul and Jean de Nesle, Counts 
 of Soissons (1115, 1262), Pierre de Longueville and Henri 
 d’Apremont (1331), all seal with gems bearing the engraving 
 of a horseman with a gonfalon; King John of France (1362), 
 with the letters I R F (Johannes Rex Francie) surmounted 
 by a crown; Marguerite de France, widow of Louis I, Count of 
 Flanders (1367), with an heraldic lion; Amedee VI, Count 
 of Savoy (1369),with an heraldic field of crosslets; Jean, Count 
 of Vendome, with two winged and nimbus-crowned angels; 
 Gilles de Hallu, with a cavalier holding a lance, and Guillaume 
 de Montclar, with a cavalier armed with a sword, the horse 
 being covered with housing. These are given by Demay, in 
 his work on engraved gems used as seals in the Middle Ages. 
 He describes, in all, 367 impressions from gem seals, of which 
 341 are from antique gems and 26 attributed to gem work of 
 
MEDIAEVAL GEM-CUTTING 
 
 161 
 
 the period. Of these latter, 15 are bust portraits, some of 
 which are, perhaps, less convincing than the examples cited 
 above, which could not possibly date from earlier times. 
 
 Gori says that, before 1300 A. D., the Florentines used 
 two gem seals: one, cut in a large plasma, for public documents, 
 a Hercules, who figured as one of the supporters of the city 
 arms; the other, small, for letters, bore the Florentine lily. 
 The former was probably and the latter certainly of Mediaeval 
 workmanship. 
 
 Many of the gems mentioned in ancient texts and quoted 
 by de la Marche, while convincing as quoted, must always 
 be open to the suspicion of Mediaeval interpretations, though 
 the sapphires of Charles V (1368) bearing, one a K surrounded 
 by fleur de lys, and the other, a picture of the king mounted 
 and the arms of France are, of course, beyond doubt. The 
 same is true of such later examples of Gothic art as the sapphire 
 engraved with a Madonna head, claimed on superficial reason¬ 
 ing to have been the signet of Matthew Paris (PI. XXX, 9); 
 another Madonna in full face, on a European carnelian, found 
 in Suffolk; the signet of Jean sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy— 
 his arms engraved on a pale sapphire; a rectangular spinel, 
 bearing a youthful head in full face with a crown of three 
 fleur de lys, among the Marlborough Gems, and many others 
 the dates of which may be set around the fifteenth century, 
 on the verge of the revival of the ancient arts which was to 
 produce the splendid work of the Renaissance. Also, from 
 the beginning of the fourteenth century we have the signet 
 found in the tomb of Bitton, Bishop of Exeter: a sapphire 
 engraved with a hand with the thumb and two fore-fingers 
 extended, as if in episcopal benediction. 
 
 There is, as I have said, no claim that hard stones were 
 engraved in any considerable number during these periods. 
 The supply of ancient gems and the vogue of large metal seals 
 bearing figures and legends checked this and left the demand 
 for contemporary subjects to be inspired only by luxury or 
 whim. What is established is that the art itself never died out 
 in the West, and that, when the spirit of the Renaissance called 
 
162 
 
 GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 
 
 for its revival, the forerunners of the accomplished artists to 
 which that influence gave birth were not all Byzantines as has 
 been supposed. (See PI. XXX, 10, 11.) 
 
 I have already referred to the term, “Pierres d’Israel”, 
 which voiced the Mediaeval belief in the origin and the magical 
 powers of ancient engraved gems, but we should not leave this 
 period without a fuller notion of the place they held as medical 
 amulets and as talismans. Though this element was always 
 pretty generally recognized, there is no other period of which we 
 have much knowledge when the most intelligent thought of the 
 World received the idea so unreservedly. In classical times 
 there were always a few clear-minded thinkers who doubted, 
 as does Pliny while he records the belief of his age, or laughed 
 in his metaphorical sleeve, as we feel Hippokrates must have 
 done when he stated that he found the efficacy of amulets in 
 the cure of disease much increased when they were used together 
 with the regular remedies. 
 
 With the rising flood of barbarism and the drowning out 
 of an already decaying classical culture, all vestiges of sanity 
 seem to have vanished. Gnosticism had helped pave the way, 
 and we find the learned of all professions formulating beliefs 
 with a minute accuracy that does credit at least to their 
 imagination and to their diligence in research. 
 
 In the sixth century, the physician, Alexander of Tralles, 
 recommends, in his work on therapeutics, a ring engraved with 
 a picture of Hercules conquering the Nemean Lion, as a pro¬ 
 tection against stomach-ache (PI. XXX, 12). Certain of the 
 so-called lapidaria were ascribed to Solomon, Chael, Ragael and 
 other wise Hebrews, historical and apocryphal, and a collection 
 was published in 1502 by Camillo di Leonardo. The work of 
 Thetel or Cethel, an imaginary Jewish philosopher, included 
 in J. B. Pitra’s Spicilegium Solesmense, gives a good idea of 
 the nature and scope of the superstition and is well worth 
 quoting from. 
 
 “Of the greatest potency,” says the learned Thetel, “are 
 the following figures on their appropriate stones: 
 
 1. When is found a jasper and on it a man who has a 
 
TALISMANS AND AMULETS 
 
 163 
 
 shield on his neck or in his hand and in the other hand a spear 
 and under his feet serpents” (The Abraxas god, of course) “it 
 gives power over all enemies. 
 
 2. When is found on a stone a man flying, that is to say, 
 with wings, that stone has power in business dealings. 
 
 3. When is found on chrysolite a woman having in the 
 one hand a bird and in the other a fish it has power in business 
 dealings. 
 
 4. When is found on a stone a turtur” (either a kind of 
 bird or a sting-ray) “with an olive branch, this has power that 
 you will be well regarded by all. 
 
 5. When you shall find on a stone a serpent and an 
 archer fighting, this has power to bring about peace. 
 
 6. When is found on a white stone the one half the figure 
 of a woman and the half part the figure of a fish which holds 
 in the hand a looking glass and an olive branch, set in gold and 
 held in the hand, it has power that one carrying anything shall 
 not be deprived of it. 
 
 7. When you shall find a green jasper and on it a cross, 
 it has power that one carrying anything shall not be drowned. 
 
 8. When is found on a stone a basilisk and a siren, that 
 is to say, half woman, half fish, it has power that you shall be 
 able safely to walk among serpents,”—and so on through some 
 thirty odd receipts. 
 
 Dr. King quotes from a work attributed by Camillo to 
 Solomon but undoubtedly also a product of Mediaeval erudition. 
 It is thus introduced: 
 
 “In the name of the Lord. This is the precious book which 
 the children of Israel made in the Wilderness according to thy 
 name, O Lord, and according to the course of the stars.” 
 
 Such a preface is quite sufficient to locate the authorship. 
 Here is the list of magic-working devices: 
 
 “1. Old man seated on a plough is thus proved. Take 
 clean black wool undyed and wrap up the stone therein; place 
 it among wheat straw and lie with thy hand upon it: thou 
 shalt see in thy sleep all the treasures of the kingdom in which 
 
164 
 
 GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 
 
 thou art and how to obtain them. Water in which it has been 
 steeped cures all diseases of cattle. 
 
 2. Man with helmet on his head, shield hung round his 
 neck and sword raised on high and trampling on a serpent” 
 (Perhaps also suggested by Abraxas gems) “engraved on 
 jasper; hang round thy neck and thou shalt not fear any foe, 
 yet be not thou slothful. In all things shalt thou be victorious, 
 especially in war. It ought to be set in brass. 
 
 3. Horse, with a cockatrice or crocodile on his back, on a 
 jacinth is of power in all conferences and debates; and wearing 
 it thou shalt be loved by all, both man and beasts. It must 
 be set in gold.” (See PI. XXIX, 28.) 
 
 “4. Man seated and a woman standing before him with her 
 hair hanging down to the thighs and casting her eyes upwards: 
 this engraved on carnelian hath the virtue that every man 
 and woman touched therewith will immediately become obedient 
 to thy will in all things. It must be set in gold weighing as 
 much as the stone itself and, under it, the herb betony and 
 ambergris. 
 
 5. Horse, with rider bearing a sceptre, on amethyst, ren¬ 
 ders all princes and nobles obedient to the owner. It ought to 
 be set in twice its weight of gold or silver. 
 
 6. Horned animal having under him a horse which drags 
 behind him half a goat gives the power of taming all beasts and 
 must be set in lead.” (A gryllus.) 
 
 “7. Bird with olive leaf in its bill, cut on pyrites and set 
 in a silver ring. Having this on thy right hand thou shalt be 
 invited to every feast and those present shall not eat but shall 
 gaze upon thee.” (Early Christian subject.) 
 
 “8. Scorpion and Sagittarius fighting together on any 
 stone. Set this in an iron ring and if thou wishest to prove 
 its efficacy impress it on wax and whomsoever thou shalt touch 
 therewith they shall immediately quarrel. 
 
 9. Ram with the half figure of an ox on any stone. Set 
 in a silver ring and whomsoever thou shalt touch therewith 
 they shall immediately be reconciled to one another. 
 
 10. Woman, one half fish, holding a mirror and a branch. 
 
TALISMANS AND AMULETS 
 
 165 
 
 Cut on a marine hyacinth, set in a gold ring and cover the 
 signet with wax and wear on thy finger; and when thou wish- 
 est to go anywhere and not be seen, hold the gem tight within 
 thy palm and thou shalt have thy desire. 
 
 11. Man ploughing and over him the hand of the Lord 
 making a sign, and a star. If cut on any stone and worn in 
 all purity, thou shalt never perish by tempest nor shall thy 
 crops receive damage from storms. 
 
 12. Head with neck, cut on green jasper, set in brass or 
 iron ring engraved with the letters B B P P N E. Wear this 
 and thou shalt in no wise perish, but be preserved from many 
 diseases, especially fever and dropsy. It likewise gives good 
 luck in fowling. Thou shalt also be reasonable and amiable 
 in all things: in battle and in law-suits thou shalt be victor. 
 It aids women in conceiving and in child-birth, it gives peace 
 and concord, and many good things to the wearer; but he must 
 do so in all justice and honesty. 
 
 13. Basilisk or Siren, half woman, half serpent. With 
 this on any gem thou shalt be able to touch any venomous 
 creature without hurt. 
 
 14. Basilisk and dragon entwined together on carnelian, 
 and also a bull’s head. Put it around thy neck when thou 
 wishest to fight with any beast of the wood or of the sea and 
 they shall quickly be conquered. 
 
 15. Man naked and bloated, crowned and holding a cup 
 and a branch; if cut on jet, set in any metal, and anyone hav¬ 
 ing a fever and wearing this shall forthwith be cured. 
 
 16. Man with bull’s head and eagle’s feet, on any stone; 
 make an impression thereof in wax and so long as it is upon 
 thee no man shall speak evil of thee. 
 
 17. Man standing and tall, holding an obolus’’ (patera) 
 “in one hand and a serpent in the other, with the sun over his 
 head and a lion under his feet. If engraved on a diadochus, 
 set in a leaden ring and put underneath wormwood and fenu¬ 
 greek. Carry it to the bank of a river and call up whatsoever 
 evil spirit thou pleasest, and thou shalt have from them an¬ 
 swers to all thy questions. 
 
166 
 
 GEMS IN MEDIAEVAL EUROPE 
 
 18. Aquarius, on a green turquoise: the wearer shall have 
 good luck in all his buying and selling so that buyers shall 
 seek after him.” (This may be enthusiastically recommended 
 as a signet for a traveling salesman). 
 
 “19. Youth having a crown on his head and seated on a 
 throne with four legs and under each leg a man standing and 
 supporting the throne on his neck, round the neck of the seated 
 figure a circle, and his hands raised up to Heaven. If cut on 
 a white hyacinth, it ought to be set in a silver ring of the 
 same weight as the stone, and under it put mastic and tur¬ 
 pentine. Make the seal in wax and give it to anyone and let 
 him carry it about on his neck or person, either the wax or 
 the ring, and go with pure mind and chastely before king, noble 
 or wise man, and he shall obtain from them whatsoever he may 
 desire. 
 
 20. Man seated on a fish” (Note the Taras riding a dolphin 
 on the Tarentine coins) “cut on red jasper, being put upon the 
 dress of anyone at a feast when eating with his right hand, he 
 shall never be satisfied,”—(Surely a joyous prospect for the 
 guest!). 
 
 “21. Bearded man holding a flower in his hand, cut on a 
 carnelian and set in a tin ring, the ring being made at the 
 change of the moon on a Friday, the 1st or 8th of the month, 
 whomsoever thou shalt touch therewith he shall come to do 
 thy will. 
 
 22. Serpent with a man on his back and a raven over his 
 tail, engraved on any stone, makes the wearer rich and crafty. 
 
 23. Man standing on a dragon, holding a sword, must be 
 set in a leaden or iron ring; then all the spirits that dwell in 
 darkness shall obey the wearer and shall reveal unto him in 
 a low-toned song the place of hidden treasure and the mode of 
 winning the same. 
 
 24. Man riding and holding in one hand the bridle, in the 
 other a bow, and girt with a sword, engraved on pyrites. Set 
 in a gold ring it will render thee invincible in all battles. And 
 whoever shall steep this ring in oil of musk and anoint his 
 
TALISMANS AND AMULETS 
 
 167 
 
 face with the said oil, all that shall see him shall fear him and 
 none shall resist. 
 
 25. Man erect, in armor, holding a drawn sword and wear¬ 
 ing a helmet, if set in an iron ring of the same weight renders 
 the wearer invincible in battle.” (Regular hero type). 
 
 “26. Man bearing in his hand a mutatio, cut on euchilus, 
 makes the wearer to be feared and respected by all people. 
 
 27. Winged horse, on any stone, is the best for soldiers 
 and gives speed and courage in battle. It also preserves horses 
 from all diseases as long as they have it upon them.” (Pegasus.) 
 
 “28. Serpent twined around a bear, on any stone, makes 
 the wearer cunning and steady of purpose. 
 
 29. Hercules holding a club and slaying a lion or other 
 monster, engraved on any stone gives victory in battle.” (A 
 quite different influence from that claimed by Alexander of 
 Tralles). 
 
 “30. Tree, vine or wheat-ear, on any stone, makes one 
 abound in food and clothing and to have the favor of the 
 great.” (Typical symbols). 
 
 “31. Mars in armor or a virgin in a long robe, with a vest¬ 
 ment wrapped about her and holding a laurel branch, cut on 
 jasper, makes the wearer successful in all undertakings, defends 
 him from violent death and drowning and all accidents. 
 
 32. Mars, that is a figure holding a lance, on any stone, 
 makes the bearer bold, warlike and invincible. 
 
 33. Jupiter, the figure of a man with a ram’s head, on 
 any stone, makes the wearer beloved by all creatures and to 
 obtain whatever he may demand.” (Possibly the figure of 
 Jupiter Ammon). 
 
 “34. Capricorn, on a carnelian. Set in a silver ring and 
 carry about with thee, thou shalt never be harmed in purse 
 or person by thy enemies, neither shall a judge pass an unjust 
 sentence against thee: thou shalt abound in business and in 
 honor and gain the friendship of many, and all enchantments 
 made against thee shall be of none effect and no foe, however 
 powerful, shall be able to resist thee in battle.” 
 
 An interesting thing to note in these lapidaria is that, 
 
168 
 
 GEMS IN ME I) LEV AL EUROPE 
 
 while there is Off ten a suggestion in the subjects of the special 
 benefit to be gained from the gem, there is also very frequently 
 a curious mixture of the main purpose with some incongruous 
 triviality. Another point is that, of the last list, 1—10, 12, 
 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, and 29—34 may be subjects found 
 on classical signets. Of the rest, while we often find what may 
 be a partially antique picture, some discordant feature is in¬ 
 troduced which means either that the stones must have been 
 engraved in the Middle Ages or else that the exponent of the 
 idea tried to prescribe something that would be difficult or im¬ 
 possible for his disciples to obtain. The latter seems improb¬ 
 able in view of his acceptance of such common devices as the 
 Pegasus, wheat-ear, Mars, and Hercules. The preference for 
 the jasper shown in the lapidaria shows that special magical 
 properties were believed to reside in that stone, a superstition 
 that ran back, doubtless, to late Roman times and is in line 
 with the vogue of the green and bloodstone varieties for 
 Gnostic and other talismanic engravings. 
 
 Typical of later Medievalism and coming down through 
 the Renaissance, there is a natural recrudescence of the astro¬ 
 logical talismans of the Empire. These are generally not dif¬ 
 ficult to distinguish from the earlier work, since they took their 
 ideas directly from the Arabian astrologers and from their 
 evidently hazy notions of Egyptian beliefs, instead of accept¬ 
 ing the Roman siftings. It is probable that the Mohammedan 
 sages, influenced by their religious rule against human and 
 animal pictures, invented our present day almanac signs of 
 planets and constellations. Where these are found on gems the 
 inference of Mediaeval or Renaissance origin is definite. Of 
 other substitutions, they indicated Gemini by two peacocks, 
 Virgo by a wheatsheaf, Aquarius by a mule carrying buckets, 
 Ophiuchus by a stork, Andromeda, a sea-calf and Engonasin, 
 a saddled camel. Where modern Hebrew letterings are found 
 on a gem, the proof, too, is, of course, obvious. 
 
 Camillo di Leonardo, writing about 1500 but evidently 
 compiling his data from much earlier beliefs, propounds at 
 some length, the doctrine of trines and their influence, as, for 
 
ASTROLOGICAL GEMS 
 
 169 
 
 instance, of the first trine: that of fire and made up of Aries, 
 Leo and Sagittarius, he teaches that its lords are Sol by day, 
 Jupiter by night, and Saturn at dawn, and that, hence, a gem 
 engraved with any one of the above signs is good against all 
 cold diseases, such as lethargy, palsy and dropsy, makes the 
 wearer eloquent, ingenious and cheerful and exalts him to 
 honor and dignity. The figure of the lion, as symbolizing the 
 house of the Sun, is the most potent. 
 
 Scaliger, writing in the second half of the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury, gives, as borrowed by the Arabians from the ancient 
 Egyptians, a catalogue of strange figures and groups as express¬ 
 ing pictorially the influence of each of the thirty degrees in 
 every sign upon the horoscope of one born under it. Although, 
 occasionally, these groups suggest designs on the talismans of 
 the Lower Empire, most of them have an unmistakable Med¬ 
 iaeval aspect, such, for instance, as a man holding a cross-bow 
 in his right hand. 
 
 Altogether, since there was no attempt to forge or even 
 to imitate directly in these stones, the atmosphere which sur¬ 
 rounded their origin is pretty evident. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 GEMS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 With the opening of the fifteenth century, the Quattro- 
 Cento of the Italians, a new spirit conies to influence and, at 
 last, control the intellectual development of Europe. Among the 
 learned there had always been more or less study of such of 
 the classics as were attainable, though, for the most part, the 
 study was tinged with so strong a religious selection and inter¬ 
 pretation that it had availed but little in lines of general in¬ 
 formation or culture. 
 
 Now, with the growth of intellectual curiosity and in¬ 
 dependence, the loosening of the bonds of church discipline 
 and, above all, with the influx of scholars from the East and 
 the manuscripts they brought, there arose what might almost 
 be called a craze for the study of Greek and Latin and for the 
 collection of everything that might throw light on the earlier 
 civilizations of Greece and Rome. The fall of Constantinople 
 let loose a veritable flood of ancient learning upon the receptive 
 mind of Italy, the Pagan spirit with its love for beauty and 
 art revived, and even the Papacy was carried along upon the 
 stream. As for the laity, no petty despot in his hill fastness 
 but came to consider his taste and culture an even stronger 
 claim to his pre-eminence than the fraud or force that had won 
 it. Of course much that was Mediaeval survived during the 
 first century of this development, but the trend was set, and 
 both the evil and the good of barbarism were at last swept 
 aside by the new-old thought and philosophy and tastes. 
 
 In such a movement it is natural to look for a revival of 
 the art of gem-engraving among the earliest manifestations. 
 The gems were already known and used, and learning shed a 
 new light of understanding and appreciation. Each little stone 
 170 
 
TASTES AND TENDENCIES 
 
 171 
 
 carried its complete story of beauty or thought, where the 
 statue fragment and the ruin were less attainable or available 
 and held their legacies in trust for a later and more erudite 
 archaeology. Besides, the statue still had its value for the lime 
 kiln, the ruin for the builder, and the love for art had to be¬ 
 come both the saner and more definite before it could control 
 the desire for material profit. The ancient bronzes, it may be 
 said, were either buried deep in soil or debris or had gone long 
 since to the melting furnace. 
 
 So it was that the collecting of ancient gems began almost 
 as soon as did the collecting and reading of the manuscripts 
 that reawoke the interest in them, and the impulse to rival 
 their art gathered rapid headway. 
 
 During the earlier part of the Renaissance there is, as 
 might be expected, a strong tincture of Gothic taste and Gothic 
 stiffness, and it is difficult to distinguish some of the work from 
 the output of an earlier age. With the revelations of the man¬ 
 uscripts, however, and the growing knowledge of the charm of 
 classic fable and history, the artists turned to the reproduction 
 of the subjects that had all the fascination of a new world for 
 these precocious children. They copied much directly but they 
 were too proud of their own achievements to copy with the 
 aim of forgery (PI. XXX, 13, 15, 17, 20; XXXI, 6, 8, 13), and 
 the collectors of the time valued the work of their contempo¬ 
 raries too highly as such to tempt them very seriously in this 
 direction. Thus it is that even their direct copies of gems and 
 coins have in them so much of the spirit of the period that it is 
 not difficult to place them, especially in the better class of work. 
 Naturally the cameos attracted their emulation much more 
 seriously than did the intaglios, and the demand for the former 
 as ornaments was very great. We find a distinct reversal of the 
 proportionate product, a proportion which has continued ever 
 since. Genuine ancient cameos are very rare, but the output of 
 Renaissance and modern times can be realized from the Somer¬ 
 ville Collection at the University of Pennsylvania, largely 
 modern examples, where they outnumber the intaglios at least 
 three to one. Of course, intaglios were cut in considerable 
 
172 
 
 GEMS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 numbers, both large and small, but the latter were usually for 
 signets and often expressed contemporary ideas. When the 
 artists worked for the art alone larger stones seemed to offer 
 better opportunities, and, since there was no intent to deceive, 
 there was no reason to bar such a selection, even had they 
 realized its implication. When they did copy from the antique, 
 on small stones, the subjects are apt to be either portraits or 
 distinctly “pretty,” such, for instance, as wrestling Cupids in 
 active rather than conventional poses. When, as in the great 
 majority of instances, they merely took ancient subjects and 
 represented them in their own way, we find the unmistakable 
 treatment which, beginning at this time, extended down to the 
 decay of the art. Often their ambition impelled them to com¬ 
 positions of many figures (PI. XXX, 16; XXXI, 1, 10—12), as 
 in the Bacchic procession on the so-called signet of Michael 
 Angelo (PI. XXXI, 2), and always to dramatic poses or to pro¬ 
 nounced action, often violent and very foreign to the repose and 
 restraint we find in the bad as well as the good work of the 
 Classic artists. This tendency finds its extreme development in 
 the Poniatowski Gems to be considered on a later page. That 
 the best Renaissance work is inferior to the best antique, does 
 not reach its delicacy, lightness, certainty, and technical com¬ 
 pleteness, is somewhat a matter of taste and apt to involve 
 observation of which only the practised eye is capable. That the 
 artists lacked personality and originality is more obvious. 
 Altogether, the danger of confusing it with good original en¬ 
 gravings of still later times is much more serious than the risk 
 of mistaking any of it, save the direct copies, for examples of the 
 art from which it drew its inspiration. To summarize, the 
 tendency was from a Gothic stiffness to the extreme of modern 
 looseness, skipping over entirely the restraint in conception 
 united with the freedom in execution which characterizes the 
 ideal of Classic art and craftsmanship. A very high polish is 
 also characteristic, and they repolished the surfaces of many 
 ancient gems, much to their damage, though the claim that they 
 retouched them does not seem to be authenticated to any wide 
 extent. 
 
EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE ART 
 
 173 
 
 To take up the history of the development which involves 
 the names and work of individual artists, perhaps the earliest 
 allusion is found in Scipio Ammirato’s History of Florence, 
 where he speaks of a unique engraver of intaglios in stone, 
 named Peruzzi, as having forged, in 1379, the signet of Carlo 
 di Durazzo. Nothing is known of the subject or of the other 
 works of Peruzzi, though Dr. King assumes, without much 
 reason, that Carlo’s signet was not an antique. Doubtless the 
 forgery was for other purposes than to deceive collectors. 
 
 Vasari writes of the fifteenth century: “The art of engrav¬ 
 ing on hard stones and precious stones was lost, together with 
 the other arts of design, after the fall of Greece and Rome. For 
 many and many a year it continued lost, so that nobody was 
 found to attend to it, and, although something was still done, 
 yet it was not of the kind that one should take account there¬ 
 of” (Doubtless referring to the Mediaeval Gothic or Byzantine 
 art as opposed to the Classic ideas that were the rage in 
 Vasari’s day) ; “And, so far as there is any record, there is no 
 one to be found who began to work well and to get into the 
 good way, except in the times of Martin V” (1417) “and of 
 Paul II” (1464). “Thenceforward it went on improving until 
 Lorenzo the Magnificent” (1448—1492). Of Paul II, we know 
 that he was a lover of gems and that he left a fine collection 
 to his heirs, while Lorenzo, having inherited many valuable an¬ 
 tiques from his father, Piero dei Medici, added to it the collec¬ 
 tion of Paul II and numerous other works, both of the ancients 
 and of artists of his own time who flourished under his patron¬ 
 age. The inscription, LAVR.MED, was cut on many of these 
 and serves to identify specimens owned by this connoisseur 
 but now scattered through the World’s great cabinets. The 
 Accademia di S. Marco was founded by Lorenzo in 1488 to en¬ 
 courage the cultivation of all the fine arts. 
 
 Camillo di Leonardo, in his Speculum Lapidum published 
 in 1502 and writing necessarily of the artists of the fifteenth 
 century,the Quattro-Cento, speaks of their works as being “Dif¬ 
 fused all over Italy and not to be distinguished from the an¬ 
 tique.” The latter judgment, of course, does not apply to the 
 
174 
 
 GEMS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 knowledge of today. He mentions four cutters of intaglios as 
 being pre-eminent: Giovanni Maria da Mantova at Rome, Fran¬ 
 cesco Nichini da Ferrara at Venice, Jacopo Tagliacarne at 
 Genoa, and Leonardo da Milano at Milan. Mariette hazards 
 a most interesting surmise that the last named was no other 
 than Leonardo da Vinci, and many things seem to make the 
 identification plausible. His wonderful versatility is known to 
 have included work in gold and enamel, Milan had been his 
 home after 1483, and Leonardo and Camillo were at one time 
 respectively architect and physician to Caesar Borgia. The 
 strong argument contra is that there is no record in his works 
 or in those of others of his proficiency in this art. 
 
 Also in the fifteenth century was the first gem-cutter re¬ 
 corded by name in Vasari: Giovanni delle Carniole who worked, 
 as his sobriquet indicates, on carnelian and was under the 
 patronage of Lorenzo dei Medici. “An infinite number” of his 
 gems “both large and small” were extant in Vasari’s time, the 
 most famous of which, still in the Uffizi cabinet at Florence, is 
 the deeply cut portrait of Savonarola on a carnelian two inches 
 in diameter. Prospero delle Carniole, of whom little is known, 
 seems to have been his contemporary. Of the same period was 
 Domenico Campagni dei Camei who lived at Milan and whose 
 name indicates, also, the nature of his work, but Vasari speaks 
 of a wonderful intaglio portrait of Ludovico il Moro, on a large 
 balas ruby, as being from his hand. 
 
 In the sixteenth century were Piero Maria da Pescia, the 
 probable engraver of the gem of Michael Angelo referred to 
 above (PI. XXXI, 2), and Michelino, a worker in intaglio on 
 carnelians, both employed by Leo X. Also Nicolo Avanzi of 
 Verona followed his profession at Rome and did intaglios and 
 cameos, his best recorded gem being a birth of Christ, with 
 many other figures, on a two inch lapis lazuli. Mondella, an¬ 
 other Veronese, found employment at the capital of Christen¬ 
 dom. 
 
 That Benvenuto Cellini may have tried his hand at this 
 art is based on his account of his engraving the Zodiac and 
 heavenly bodies on a ball of crystal, and on a Bacchanalian 
 
ARTISTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 175 
 
 scene, signed Cellini, engraved on the lid of a lapis lazuli box 
 once belonging to Cardinal Gonsalvi but now in England. Of 
 course the latter may well bear a forged signature, but the 
 contrary supposition is altogether credible. 
 
 At Bologna were Matteo dei Benedetti who died in 1532, 
 Marco Attio Moretti, who was famous there as early as 1493, 
 and Furnius di Bologna. Skill in the art is also attributed to 
 the painter, Francia. Pomponius Gauricus ranks Furnius as 
 equal to Pyrgoteles and Dioskourides as he also does Foppa 
 Caradosso of Milan. Severo da Ravenna he places highest of 
 all. 
 
 In Germany there was Heinrich Engelhart of Nuremburg, 
 a friend of Albrecht Diirer, who engraved coats of arms on 
 gems. 
 
 Giovanni del Castel Bolognese was the earliest Renais¬ 
 sance gem-cutter whom we know of as signing his work: either 
 IOANNE B—10, CASTEL BON—10 or C. B. He was 
 first under the patronage of Alfonso of Ferrara, then of Car¬ 
 dinal Ippolito dei Medici, and then of Cardinal Alessandro 
 Farnese. His most accounted works were intaglios on large 
 rock-crystals of such subjects as an assault on a castle, done 
 for Alfonso of Ferrara, the four evangelists for Pope Clement 
 VII, the wife of Darius before Alexander, the Rape of the 
 Sabines for Cardinal Ippolito, Crucifixion and Passion pictures, 
 scenes of contemporary battles and sieges, and many classical 
 subjects, two of which, Tityos and the Fall of Phaethon, were 
 executed for Cardinal Ippolito from designs by Michael An¬ 
 gelo : also he engraved portraits, especially one of Margaret of 
 Parma. The characteristics of his intaglios are shallowness of 
 the cutting, rather stiff drawing, elaborate finish, and high 
 polish of the interiors, though the Tityos lacks this entirely. 
 
 Valerio dei Belli (II Vicentino) was perhaps the most 
 prolific gem-engraver of the period and ranked very high until 
 his death in 1546. He was employed by Clement VII and Paul 
 III. His drawing is rather more free than that of Giovanni 
 del Castel Bolognese and his technical skill at least as high, 
 but he had little originality and copied largely from the an- 
 
176 
 
 GEMS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 tique. Portrait cameos and rock-crystal intaglios of sacred 
 and classical subjects, together with numberless gems both 
 large and small, heads, figures and historical scenes, bore wit¬ 
 ness to his industry and vogue. His signature, YALE or 
 YA. VI. F, was always cut on his works (See PI. XXXI, 
 12). His daughter, taught by him, also attained some distinc¬ 
 tion in the art. 
 
 Matteo del Nassaro of Verona learned gem-cutting at Rome 
 from his fellow Veronese, Avanzi and Mondella. He, too, ex¬ 
 ecuted many of the fashionable intaglios on large rock-crystals, 
 including a Venus and Cupid and a piece showing figures of 
 all the planets. Of cameos, of which he did a great number, 
 the most famous was a Deposition from the Cross on blood¬ 
 stone, so managed that the red spots on the jasper represented 
 the drops of blood. Later he went to Paris and enjoyed the 
 patronage of Francis I for whom and his courtiers he worked 
 unceasingly on ornamental cameos, notably a head of Dejanira 
 in chalcedony. Other fine gems are attributed to him, especial¬ 
 ly a large cameo portrait of Diane de Poitiers. There seems 
 to be no positive evidence that he signed, though Mariette reads 
 the letters, O. P. N. S., found on certain gems in the French col¬ 
 lection, “Opus Nassari sculptoris.” 
 
 Marmita, the elder, of Parma, engraved many gems after 
 the antique but Luigi Marmita, his son, in the service of Car¬ 
 dinal Salviati, at Rome, reached a much higher degree of ex¬ 
 cellence. His most famous work was a cameo head of Sokrates. 
 
 Domenico di Polo flourished at Florence along 1536 and 
 worked at intaglios for Alessandro and Cosimo dei Medici. 
 
 Luigi Anichini of Ferrara located at Venice and was noted 
 for the precision of his small intaglios. King attributes to him 
 certain microscopic battle-pieces and many figures done in 
 cameo. 
 
 Leone Leoni of Arezzo worked for Charles V, notably in 
 cameo. 
 
 Alessandro Cesati (II Greco) is said by Vasari to have 
 surpassed all the rest and engraved innumerable gems. He 
 did, for Cardinal Farnese, an intaglio portrait of Henry II in 
 
ARTISTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 177 
 
 carnelian, an inch in diameter, which was especially praised by 
 Vasari, a lion looking out of his den in intaglio on a burnt 
 onyx, and many fine cameos, foremost among which is a head 
 of Phokion in the Florence Collection, signed, nYPrOTEAHZ 
 EnOIEI; the earliest example, I think, of the forgeries of 
 ancient signatures, though the idea here was probably mere vain¬ 
 gloriousness. His regular signature was AAEEANAPOZ EnOIE!, 
 either in full or abbreviated, and King suspects that many 
 gems signed “EAAHN,” a translation of his sobriquet, are by 
 him (PI. XXX, 13). 
 
 Giovanni Antonio dei Rossi, a Milanese, worked at Flor¬ 
 ence under Cosimo dei Medici, for whom he did a cameo in 
 onyx, seven inches in diameter, with portraits of the duke, 
 his wife, and his seven children. By him, also, is an intaglio 
 on carnelian of a throned Saturn with a scythe. He signed, 
 G. ROSSI. Agostino del Riccio mentions Georgio, Ambrogio, 
 and Stefano as Milanese engravers of the time, as were Gasparo 
 and Girolamo Misuroni and Jacopo da Trezzo. The last named 
 was especially famous for his portraits, generally done in re¬ 
 lief, among which w T as a head of Philip II, who had summoned 
 him to Madrid. He is said to have discovered a mode of en¬ 
 graving on the diamond and to have executed a coat of arms of 
 Philip in that stone. The testimony of several witnesses, how¬ 
 ever, awards the credit of the discovery to Clement Birago, 
 another Milanese in the service of Philip, and the works cited 
 are a portrait of Don Carlos and a seal bearing the Spanish 
 arms. Jacobus Thronius, too, is said to have cut a coat of arms 
 of Queen Mary of England on a diamond. 
 
 Tortorino Taverna of Milan was a good engraver of cameos 
 and Giuliano Taverna, in rock-crystal (See PI. XXX, 14). 
 
 Giovanni Giacomo Caraglio of Verona went to Poland, 
 at the invitation of Sigismund I, where he is known to have 
 lived as late as 1569, working in cameo and on rock-crystals. 
 
 Annibale Fontana, who died at Milan in 1587, was famed 
 for both cameos and intaglios. 
 
 Philippo (Pippo Santo Croce) worked at Genoa and left 
 descendants who followed his art. 
 
178 
 
 GEMS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 Antonio Dordoni of Bussetto, in Parma, died at Rome in 
 1584 and is said to have done, among many other works, sev¬ 
 eral intaglio temple fagades in the Stosch Collection. 
 
 Flaminius Natalis, noted as an engraver of coats of arms, 
 died at Rome in 1596. 
 
 Christopher Schwargen of Augsburg (?) died in 1600. 
 
 One of the latest known engravers of the sixteenth century 
 was Alessandro Masagno, who went from Milan to the court 
 of the Emperor Rudolph II, but the last of the Cinque-Cento 
 school is Olivier Coldore, who cut, in 1590, on a ruby, a remark¬ 
 able and often copied head of Henry IV and worked at Paris, 
 under the patronage of that king and of his son Louis XIII, 
 well into the seventeenth century. No figures have been at¬ 
 tributed to him but only heads, generally in intaglio. He seems 
 to have signed at least some of his work with the letters C. D. F., 
 which appear on several cameos and on an octagonal sapphire 
 bearing an intaglio bust of Henry IV. It has been read “Col¬ 
 dore fecit.” His identity with one Julian de Fontenay, men¬ 
 tioned in letters patent of 1608 as the king’s valet and engraver 
 of precious stones, has been asserted. 
 
 With the opening of the seventeenth century, the Sei-Cento 
 of the Italians, the impulse of the Renaissance toward gem¬ 
 engraving seems to have exhausted itself and the work falls 
 off in excellence, especially in Italy, where the Catholic revival 
 substituted a line of severe ascetics for the half Pagan humanist 
 popes who had gone before, and in France, then devastated by 
 religious feuds. 
 
 In Austria and Bavaria, however, where the Renaissance 
 started somewhat later, it maintained a pretty high standard 
 until 1650. The tendency toward overdone action increased, 
 and the classic repose fled still farther from their attainment. 
 Many new stones were used, especially those offering new color 
 combinations for cameos, and difficulty for difficulty’s sake at¬ 
 tracted them more and more. It seems that the desire for an¬ 
 cient gems was growing, and contemporary art began to find 
 less encouragement, a development which continued and paved 
 the way for the many forgeries which finally killed the vogue. 
 
ARTISTS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 179 
 
 Sold for £700 with the Demidoff Collection in the nine¬ 
 teenth century is a curiously complicated cameo showing Mars 
 and Venus caught in the snare of Vulcan and exhibited by him 
 to all the shocked deities of Olympus, who are indicated by 
 a circle of busts. The anvil and tongs of Vulcan, the dove of 
 Venus, and the helmet and shield of Mars occupy corners of the 
 stone, while the cock, who should have warned the lovers but 
 failed in his duty, stands at Vulcan’s feet. The inscription reads, 
 D.CALABRESI.FECE.IN.ROMA. The artist has not been 
 identified but the story is that, imprisoned for five years, he 
 worked steadily on the gem and procured his release from Pope 
 Gregory XIII by its presentation. 
 
 Among the artists maintained by Rudolph II, at Vienna, 
 were Lehmann, who is better known for his discovery of the 
 art of engraving on glass, and Miseron, who was rewarded by 
 being made noble. His son, Deries, was in the service of the 
 Emperor Matthias. 
 
 Raspe thinks that “ANNIBAL” is the signature of a gem- 
 engraver who lived at Clausthal about 1650 and did medals 
 for the princes of the houses of Brandenburgh and Hanover. 
 
 Giulianelli writes that Ferdinand II, at Florence (1627), 
 employed even more artists than did his father Cosimo II, and 
 gives the names of Castrucci, Carrioni of Milan, Giaffiere, 
 Monicca and Gasparini. He also speaks of Perriciuole at Sienna, 
 Chiavenni and Vaghi at Modena, and a family named Siletti 
 who lived at Ferrara, but no works of these men seem to be 
 known. 
 
 Adoni, at Rome, did mostly cameos of clasped hands, 
 known as “fedi” and used for betrothal rings. 
 
 Borgognone flourished at Florence about 1670 and cut 
 many intaglios: death’s-heads in ruby, a sun in rock-crystal for 
 a watchcase, a true-lover’s-knot, also in rock-crystal, a tiger 
 recumbent with a thyrsos and broken dart, and, of course, heads. 
 Stefano Mochi was his contemporary. 
 
 Under Louis XIII worked the Maurices, father and son. 
 
 Suzon Rey, a Frenchman, lived at Rome and did all sorts 
 of subjects, noted among which were a head of Carlo Albani, 
 
180 
 
 GEMS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
 
 brother of Pope Clement XI, and a seal for the Marchese 
 Castel San Vito. 
 
 Thomas Simon, who designed the coinage of Oliver Crom¬ 
 well, is also believed to have engraved gems, on the strength 
 of certain cameo portraits of Clarendon and the Protector. 
 
 Portraiture was the most successful work done all through 
 this epoch. The later engravers also produced many heads of 
 deities and philosophers, coarsely cut in stones of considerable 
 size, together with unskilful copies of works of better periods. 
 
 In leaving the gems of the late Renaissance attention must 
 be called to the great number of intaglios engraved in the 
 roughest manner on lapis lazuli, many of the pictures being im¬ 
 itations of the antique. Often it is extremely difficult to dis¬ 
 tinguish these from bad work of the Lower Empire, since the 
 roughness is of a similar character. Very careful examination 
 is necessary to remove many gems of this type from the doubt¬ 
 ful class. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 With the eighteenth century came a new revival of gem¬ 
 engraving, excellent in its technique but ever to be regretted 
 in its tendencies. Whereas the artists of the Renaissance had, 
 for the most part, striven in honest emulation of the ancients, 
 yet naively following their own ideas and methods, the clever 
 craftsmen of the eighteenth, the Century of the Dilettanti, were 
 nothing more than conscious imitators, at the best, and rank 
 forgers at the worst. For every ancient gem of note, many 
 copies, more or less exact, were turned loose on the market. 
 Beautiful antique pastes were eagerly sought, copied and then 
 destroyed to guard against possible identifications, doublets of 
 glass, moulds of gems pasted on stone, were fabricated and are 
 difficult of detection when set in rings, old gems were retouched 
 and even recut, and the names of real and imaginary artists of 
 antiquity were interpolated on many stones to meet the cur¬ 
 rent belief of the amateurs that the ancient artists habitually 
 signed their work. 
 
 Gem-collecting now reached the stage of mania. Baron 
 Stosch, a Hanoverian spy on the movements of the Pretender 
 at Rome, formed a large cabinet of gems, genuine and forged, 
 many, presumably, at his own instigation, the whole of which 
 was bought by Frederick of Prussia for 30,000 ducats and now 
 forms part of the Berlin collection. The Due d’Orleans and the 
 Dukes of Devonshire and Marlborough paid incredible sums for 
 fine examples of the art. Lippert is authority for the statement 
 that the latter paid Stosch £1000 for the cow of “Apollonides,” 
 a gem which has been seriously questioned and its signature 
 utterly disproved. He also bought, from Sevin of Paris, for 
 
 181 
 
182 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 the same price, the Diomedes with the Palladium of Felix. La 
 Chaux tells that the Duke of Devonshire paid Zanetti of Venice 
 £1200 for four gems, and Raspe, that he paid 300 guineas for a 
 cameo portrait of Vespasian. So the figures run and it is easy 
 to see how they must have inspired the forgers. 
 
 Catherine II of Russia plunged enthusiastically into the 
 game and, as I have already said, even George III was inspired 
 to establish a reputation for artistic taste by purchasing the 
 collection of Consul Smith. 
 
 With the affected classicism of the Republic and First Em¬ 
 pire, Heliogabalus himself was outdone, and alleged ancient 
 gems decorated the persons of the exquisites, male and female, 
 literally from head to foot. Josephine was among the foremost 
 in the field and it cannot be denied her opportunities for plun¬ 
 der were excellent. 
 
 Still, the danger today is less than might be imagined from 
 such wholesale and high priced fabrication. With all their 
 skill and cleverness the forgers did not know the game. They 
 cut intaglios in large numbers as well as cameos, but they lost 
 sight of the fact that the ancient intaglios were almost inva¬ 
 riably made for signet rings and they saw no reason against 
 copying their subjects on stones much too large for that pur¬ 
 pose. Knowledge and common sense with a careful application 
 of the principles I have laid down in the Introduction should 
 leave few of these efforts that will give very serious trouble now 
 or, perhaps, to put it more conservatively, should leave a large 
 proportion of them that will fall easily in my classes 4 and 5. 
 Furtwiingler writes of the signature forgeries, that those done 
 down to 1750 were inadequate but that in the second half of 
 the eighteenth century the antique method of writing was so 
 well reproduced that it is often difficult and sometimes impos¬ 
 sible to judge from the signature alone. Of the pictures he 
 says, it is instructive to compare admitted copies by the best 
 artists with the original stones and that you always find a 
 marked difference. In poor work this difference would, natur¬ 
 ally, be less clearly defined but fortunately the poor work was 
 not the kind that tempted really clever fabricators. 
 
ARTISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 183 
 
 Of the artists of this time Flavio Sirletti, who died at 
 Rome in 1737, was, perhaps, the most famous. He used the 
 diamond point in finishing his work, Gori states, at the sug¬ 
 gestion of Baron Stosch. Especially prized were his portrait 
 heads, whether of contemporaries, like that of the painter, Carlo 
 Maratta, or of the ancients, like his copy of the bust of Cara- 
 calla. Also highly valued were his admirable intaglio copies 
 of such ancient statues as the Farnese Hercules, the Giustin- 
 iani Mercury riding a ram, the Apollo, and the Laocoon. The 
 last named, an amethyst, was bought by the Duke of Beaufort. 
 The signature on his acknowledged works is either 4>£ or 
 4>AABI0Y, but he also inserted many spurious ancient signa¬ 
 tures on old gems and it is alleged that the collections of 
 Andreini, Stosch and the Jew, Medina, at Livorno, afterward 
 bought by Lord Bessborough, “profitted” largely from his 
 practices. His two sons, Francesco, who signed, 4>P (or 4>PATK) 
 ZIPAHTOZ (PL XXXII, 13), and Raimondo, followed his pro¬ 
 fession at Rome. 
 
 Domenico Landi, at Rome, was accounted an artist of high 
 merit. His best works were a bust portrait of Augustus in 
 chalcedony and a portrait in emerald of N. Daodo, the Venetian 
 envoy to Rome; also two large gems with four heads on each, 
 on one, those of Trajan, Plotina, Marcianus and Matidia and 
 on the other those of Severus, Julia, Caracalla and Geta. 
 
 Christian Reisen, a Dane by descent, lived in England and 
 died in 1725, leaving many intaglios. A portrait of Charles 
 XII of Sweden is his best known work. 
 
 Claus, his pupil, excelled him and died in 1739, and Smart, 
 another pupil, was working in Paris in 1722 and was famous 
 for his ability, according to Mariette, to do several fair por¬ 
 traits in a day. Seaton, a third, was at the head of the pro¬ 
 fession in London in 1750. He finished his gems elaborately 
 but they are, according to King, cold, weak and spiritless. 
 
 M. Aschari in 1725 signs a fine bust of Diana on a pale 
 topaz. 
 
 Anton Pichler, 1697—1779, settled at Naples in 1730 and 
 was famous for imitating the antique. His usual subjects were 
 
184 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 figures of Venus and Cupid. His signature, often found, is A. TT. 
 
 Girolamo Rossi worked at Livorno about 1730. 
 
 Johann Christopher Dorsch of Nuremburg, 1676—1732, 
 did much work in the style of the Renaissance and also a large 
 number of poor imperial heads. Two daughters followed his 
 profession, one of whom, Susanna, better known as Madame 
 Preissler, was his superior both in cameos and intaglios. Her 
 brother-in-law, the younger Preissler, also did good work. 
 
 F. J. Barier, born at Paris in 1680, is known as an engraver 
 of modern portraits and was employed by Louis XV. 
 
 Jacques Guay of Marseilles followed him in this employ¬ 
 ment and did a fine cameo bust of the King, also a good portrait 
 of Cr§billon and many heads from the antique which Mariette 
 calls perfect imitations. His Victory of Fontenoy on a sard 
 is very spirited and many of his gems are in the Bibliotheque 
 National. 
 
 Becker, who died in 1743, was accounted the first of his 
 profession in Germany. Born at Coblenz, he went to Vienna 
 and thence to St. Petersburg, at the invitation of Peter the 
 Great. His only known portraits on gems were of Charles VI 
 and of Prince Eugene. Most of his work was coats of arms 
 of various German princes. Several gems of this period are 
 signed, Hecker, probably another artist, though King suggests 
 it is merely a misspelling of the name. 
 
 F. Ghingi worked at Naples in 1750. 
 
 Waldev of Strasburg is little known except from the praise 
 of his pupil, F. M. Fabii, a Venetian, who practised his art at 
 Vienna and cut numerous cameos, including an Otho, a Pallas, 
 and an Alexander in sardonyx. Among his intaglios were sards 
 with heads of Julia, daughter of Titus, Pallas and Cybele. 
 
 Masini, also a Venetian, did excellent work at Florence, 
 where, also, were located, L. M. Weber, A. Santini, Giovanni 
 Cavini and A. Ricci (Briosco Crispo) :—all these along the 
 middle of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Francesco Borghigiani was born at Florence in 1727 but 
 went to Rome in 1751, where he did cameo heads of Sokrates, 
 Tiberius and Faustina and an intaglio of Regulus. Thence he 
 
ARTISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 185 
 
 moved to Livorno and cut many gems, notably a Roman Consul 
 in plasma and a cameo head of Faustina. Returning to Flor¬ 
 ence in 1752, he attained high celebrity under the patronage 
 of the painter, Ignatius Hughford, and did a copy of the Pitti 
 Bacchante, a female head in jacinth, a Phokion, a Judgment 
 of Paris, a cameo head of Christ, a cameo skull and cross-bones 
 and many other fine works. 
 
 Gottfried Graaft—an excellent name for the times—en¬ 
 joyed considerable reputation at Rome about 1760. 
 
 After the death of Flavio Sirletti, Carlo Costanzi succeeded 
 to his pre-eminence. He resided at Rome and did a Leda, a 
 head of Antinous on diamond for the King of Portugal and 
 reproduced many antiques, including the Strozzi Medusa, sig¬ 
 nature and all, on a stone of the same kind, a chalcedony, that 
 deceived the connoisseurs. Also he left many portraits of his 
 contemporaries: a Maria Theresa in sapphire, a Cardinal 
 Spinola on agate-onyx, a head of the Pretender and, on an 
 emerald two inches across, a head of Pope Benedict XIV in 
 relief with those of St. Peter and St. Paul on the reverse. There 
 is also a Cosimo III bearing his signature: CAV. CAR. COS¬ 
 TANZI. 
 
 His brother, Giovanni Costanzi, worked with him and was 
 best known for a head of Nero engraved on a diamond. 
 
 Jean Lorenz Natter of Biberach, 1705—1762, excelled his 
 predecessors in imitations of the antique, though his copies al¬ 
 ways show a difference. At the beginning of his career he en¬ 
 graved coats of arms at Venice; then, going to Florence, he 
 came under the influence of Baron Stosch and supplied him 
 with many of his “ancient” masterpieces. Later, at Rome, he 
 worked with much success, producing, notably, a reduced copy 
 of the Julia, daughter of Titus, by Evodos and a portrait of Car¬ 
 dinal Albani. Thence he went to London where he published 
 in 1755 a book on antique gem-engraving. Several of his signed 
 works reached the Marlborough Cabinet, together with a number 
 of unsigned imperial heads. From London he journeyed to 
 Persia and thence to St. Petersburg. His earliest signature is 
 L. N., his later, NATTER or its translation into Greek, 
 
186 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 YAPOY. Sometimes lie signed with a rebus figure of a ser¬ 
 pent. He insisted that he never sold any of his work as antique. 
 
 C. Brown, an English gem-engraver, worked along the mid¬ 
 dle of the century, both in London and Paris, and was noted 
 for intaglio heads of Bacchantes, figures of Cupids and por¬ 
 traits. He also cut cameos. His signature was either C. B. or 
 his name in full. W. Brown, his brother, was also a fair artist. 
 The signature, “Brown,” found, sometimes, on a gem, leaves it, 
 usually, uncertain by which of the two it was done. 
 
 Wray of Salisbury, who died in 1770, engraved a few fine 
 intaglios: The Dying Cleopatra, a copy of the Strozzi Medusa, a 
 Magdalene, a Flora, two Miltons, one in full face and one in 
 profile, a Cicero and several others. He signs both in English 
 and with his name Hellenized into OYPAIOI. 
 
 Louis Siries, a Frenchman, who lived at Florence, was one 
 of the best gem-engravers of his time. His tendency was to 
 essay impossibilities, often in the line of minuteness, and St. 
 Laurent says he “Dreaded nothing so much as the being thought 
 an imitator of the ancients.” Microscopic cuttings on thin 
 yellow sards let into frames of white agate have been left by 
 him; also notable are a Crucifixion intaglio in lapis lazuli, a 
 relief entitled “The Wonders of Nature, the Arts and Sciences,” 
 a cameo bust of Louis XV surrounded by the Zodiac, facing 
 heads of Frances Stephen and Maria Theresa, Sol in his car in 
 the Zodiac, Hercules and Antaios, with many others. King 
 does not rank him very high and calls his heads weak and his 
 landscapes mere scratches. He signed either L. S. or his 
 name in full. 
 
 Johann Pichler, the son of Anton, 1734—1791, excelled his 
 father in his art and seems to have been the leading engraver 
 of his time. He was born at Naples and most of his works are 
 intaglios which were often sold by dealers as antiques. To 
 prevent this he is said to have always added his signature, 
 TTIXAEP (PI. XXXII, 16). King says that Pichler told a 
 friend that, although he had striven to imitate the antique, he 
 did not consider his best efforts equal to their mediocre ones. 
 Also he tells the story of a youth with a hoop which he engraved 
 
ARTISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 187 
 
 on a brown sard and lost. Some weeks later Alfani, a noted 
 antiquarian, brought him the gem which he had bought for 
 fifty zecchins from Christiani, another connoisseur who had got 
 it from a peasant who claimed to have dug it up in his garden. 
 Alfani asked Pichler to make a copy for forty zecchins and 
 then sold both at Paris for a hundred louis each. The two 
 purchasers, chancing to meet and compare their gems, each 
 claimed his to be an antique and the other’s a modern copy, 
 finally sending them to Pichler at Rome for his judgment, when 
 the fraud came out. It appears the first gem had been stolen by a 
 pupil who employed the peasant to pass it off on Christiani. 
 The whole narrative is an excellent commentary on the ways 
 of the times. Most of Pichler’s intaglios are on large stones, 
 well drawn, not very deeply cut and highly polished. Busts, 
 notably one of Helen, and figures of Venus after the antique are 
 among his best works. Kohler accuses him, with what justice 
 it is hard to say, of having forged many Etruscan scarabs and 
 of having forged artists’ signatures on many ancient gems. 
 
 Passaglia, a lieutenant in the Papal guard, won very close 
 to the antique, both in spirit and execution, though he is said 
 to have always signed, TTAZAAIAI, for the identification of his 
 work. 
 
 Rega of Naples flourished at the end of the century, dying 
 in 1812. He, too, caught the spirit and execution of the antique 
 much better than had the others, and his subjects seem all to 
 be classical ones. King says that his head of Pallas with a 
 hippocamp finely cut on her helmet (PI. XXXII, 18) and his 
 Ajax in despair, with a recumbent bull by his side, might easily 
 mislead a connoisseur but for the signature, P E r A, which he 
 always used. I venture to differ with Dr. King. 
 
 Simon, who worked at Paris, was a great-grandson of 
 Thomas Simon, Cromwell’s engraver referred to above. Chab- 
 ouillet speaks of his gems as “possessing considerable merit.” 
 
 Giulianelli praises Aaron Woolf (L’Ebreo), who lived at 
 Livorno and at Siena in 1752, and speaks of a Leda on a 
 carnelian and the coat of arms of the King of Naples on a 
 white sapphire. 
 
188 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 La Chaux mentions Michel, a pupil of Guay’s, as an artist 
 of promise in 1784. 
 
 Jeuffroy, of Paris, was much admired by Raspe for his 
 portrait of Mrs. Cosway, the actress, done about 1791. 
 
 In 1797 Millin names as gem-engravers most in repute at 
 Rome, Santarilli, Masini and Capperoni. He also praises a 
 Signora Talani, of Roman extraction. 
 
 Kohler has admired the finish and delicacy of certain 
 portrait cameos of the Russian imperial family, the work of the 
 Grand Duchess, Maria Feodorowna. 
 
 Amastini is said by Nagler to have copied antique gems 
 at Rome during the latter part of the century and this sig¬ 
 nature appears on a cameo of Venus seizing Cupid by the arm, 
 in the British Museum. King speaks of its “Berninesque flight¬ 
 iness.” 
 
 R. A. Burch, who died in England in 1814, belonged to the 
 eighteenth century school and cut excellent cameos and in¬ 
 taglios. A St. George and the Dragon on sardonyx evidences 
 his skill in the former, and heads of Hercules and Ganymede are 
 the best known of his intaglios. 
 
 His pupil, Marchant, 1755—1812, far surpassed him and 
 was the best of all the English gem-engravers (PI. XXXII, 17). 
 He followed the antique style with neat elegance but in a some¬ 
 what stiff, academic spirit. At Rome for sixteen years, he cut 
 modern portraits, antique heads, figures and groups, all in¬ 
 taglios, it is believed, and signed, MARCHANT . ROM2E. 
 The Prince Regent and the Duke of Marlborough were both his 
 patrons, and his masterpiece, Hercules restoring Alkestis to 
 Admetos, was done on commission from the Elector of Saxony 
 and given by him to the Duke of Marlborough. He received 
 £200 for a group of two women, apparently portraits, on a 
 brown sard. 
 
 Other names of British artists of this period are Band, 
 W. Barnett, Bemfleet, Berry, Bragg, E. B. F. Burch, Crane, 
 Joseph Cave, Deane, who left only three angels’ heads, Fraser, 
 Frewin, Grew, Harris, Hill, J. Hills, Holland, Kirk, Lane, Law, 
 Logan, J. Milton, Nossop, Peart, Pingo, W. Pownall, T. Pown- 
 
ARTISTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 189 
 
 all, J. Smith, T. Smith, Thompson, Vere, Warner, Whitley, 
 Wickstead, Williams, Wise and Yeo. 
 
 What the seventeenth century had been to the sixteenth, 
 the nineteenth was to the eighteenth. The traditions con¬ 
 tinued and, down to 1840 or thereabouts, the imitations of the 
 antique were turned out in great numbers, becoming at once 
 more refined and more affected. It was now that they began 
 to indulge in various tricks to give the modern stone an an¬ 
 tique look. Connoisseurship, though still ignorant, was becom¬ 
 ing more suspicious in some directions, since the mass of 
 forgeries had at last forced recognition. 
 
 The discoveries in Etruria in the thirties spurred the 
 forgers to efforts in that direction, as I have said above, but 
 it is not believed that the best workmen gave much attention 
 to this branch and the imitated scarabs were generally rough 
 and unsuccessful. 
 
 Luigi Pichler, a younger son of Anton, was one of the most 
 prominent gem-engravers and worked at- both Vienna and 
 Rome, along the lines of his brother, Johann. He carried tech¬ 
 nique to a high level and polished his engravings most elabor¬ 
 ately (PI. XXXII, 11, 22). His acknowledged works are 
 signed, A.niXAEP. 
 
 In Brussels several members of the Simon family con¬ 
 tinued to thrive. 
 
 Perhaps the best and the most spectacularly known of the 
 fraternity was Benedetto Pistrucci, born at Rome in 1784 but 
 who lived and worked in London for forty years and attained 
 a wonderful measure of pecuniary success. Dr. Billing gives 
 the following prices paid for some of his reliefs: a St. George 
 and the Dragon in jasper, afterward adopted, with slight var¬ 
 iations, as the design on the sovereigns of George IV, 100 
 guineas; a full face Medousa head in jasper, 200 guineas; a lion, 
 bound with garlands by Venus and Cupid (“Force subdued by 
 Love”), 200 guineas; Youthful Bacchus, 300 guineas; St. An¬ 
 drew, 350 guineas, and Minerva 500 guineas. He even received 
 £800 for a cameo showing heads of Augustus and Livia which, 
 by the way, brought £30 at the sale of the Herz Collection in 
 
190 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 1859. His especial genius was evidenced in relief work on 
 stones of one color, of which his Trajan head in sapphirine 
 chalcedony is a fine example. King knows of no signed in¬ 
 taglio from his hand. 
 
 Pistrucci tells in his autobiography, which brings his life 
 down to 1817, how, having repeatedly found cameos of his, 
 which had been roughened and steeped to give them a patina, 
 in the hands of Roman dealers as veritable antiques, he made 
 a practice of placing his private mark, a Greek A, in some 
 concealed place in the hair or drapery of his heads and figures. 
 
 The story of the “Flora,” now in the British Museum, is 
 worth repeating here, both as evidence of the general situation 
 and because it was, doubtless, one of the incidents that paved 
 the way for the collapse which the Poniatowski gems precipita¬ 
 ted. Briefly, the facts are that when Pistrucci was at work 
 at the house of Sir Joseph Banks, on a model for a portrait 
 head, Mr. Richard Payne Knight, one of the best known an¬ 
 tiquaries and collectors of the time, called and showed them 
 triumphantly a small head in cameo which he held to be a 
 veritable antique and for which he had just paid £500 to the 
 dealer, Bonelli. The gem was broken off from the back of the 
 head down to the throat and the lower part was lacking. Pis¬ 
 trucci at once announced that, six years before, he himself had 
 executed the cameo as a Flora on a stone of peculiar shape 
 which he had managed so that it seemed to have been broken, 
 and that he had got £5 from Bonelli for it. He further said 
 that they would find his private mark hidden in the hair at 
 the top of the head, unless Bonelli had erased it. How far 
 Payne Knight yielded at the time we have only Pistrucci’s 
 word for and he claims that he did yield, after an angry dis¬ 
 pute. It is certain that the connoisseur was touched at his 
 most sensitive point. He soon succeeded, however, with the 
 aid of Bonelli, in reassuring himself and to the time of his 
 death refused to accept the gem as other than antique, catalog¬ 
 ing it, finally, as a Proserpina crowned with flowers and main¬ 
 taining Pistrucci’s claim to be an impudent attempt to prove 
 an unmerited pre-eminence for himself. Experts took sides 
 
FORGERS AND THE PONIATOWSKI GEMS 191 
 
 and the controversy waxed hot, with the inevitable result of 
 unsettling the opinions of many as to the infallibility of the 
 judgments they had relied on. Considering the “Flora” now 
 and in the light of present knowledge, it is hard to see how 
 it could ever have been an object of dispute among cognoscenti. 
 Whether Pistrucci did it or not, it is quite apparent that it is 
 no work of antiquity. 
 
 Prominent among the artists and forgers of the early part 
 of the nineteenth century were Cerbara and Girometti at Rome, 
 the former of whom was famous for his intaglios and the lat : 
 ter for cameos, notably his Hebe presenting nectar to Jove, 
 done on an oriental onyx. 
 
 Calandrelli worked at Berlin and some of his gems found 
 their way into the great Prussian collection there (PI. XXXII, 
 19), the brothers Tipa forged merrily at Trapani in Sicily, 
 but most famous, perhaps, of the Italians were the precious 
 quartette, Ginganelli, Dies, Odelli and Tomaso Cades (PI. 
 XXXII, 20), noted mainly as the principal perpetrators of the 
 Poniatowski gems. These it was who killed the goose that 
 had laid so many golden eggs, though it can hardly be doubted 
 that the bird had so conducted itself that its demise could not 
 have been very long delayed. 
 
 Prince Poniatowski’s part in this remarkable performance 
 has never been satisfactorily explained. He had inherited from 
 his uncle, Stanislaus, the last king of Poland, a collection of 
 one hundred and fifty-four gems, most of them of undoubted 
 antiquity and including many of the most important examples, 
 like the female head by Dioskourides, then held to be an Io. To 
 these he added nearly three thousand more which were made 
 at his order by the Roman gem-cutters, the subjects being their 
 own or the Prince’s conceptions of pictures from classic history 
 and mythology, done on oriental sards, amethysts and crystals 
 of fine quality and, for the most part, considerable size. There 
 is absolutely no suggestion of antiquity in the melodramatic 
 flamboyancy of these compositions (PI. XXXII, 21), many 
 of them involving a number of figures, and the supposition that 
 the Prince was himself deceived by the artists is inconceivable. 
 
192 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 The fact that he never tried to sell any of the gems would seem 
 to negative the supposition that he himself sought to profit 
 by the fraud, and the motive which King advances that, being 
 deeply interested in the glyptic art, he wished to encourage its 
 professors and to prove them competent to rival the ancients 
 seems to me to be hardly tenable in the face of the fact that 
 to Odelli was assigned the province of providing every gem 
 with the forged signature of some real or imaginary artist of 
 antiquity. Altogether the whole performance carries us be¬ 
 yond the realm of any reasonable line of explanation and one 
 is driven to take refuge in a suspicion that Prince Poniatowski 
 had simply become an unbalanced monomaniac on the subject. 
 He died at Florence in 1833, and the collection was sold in 
 London in 1839, when such was the effect of the scandal that 
 even the wonderful “Io,” discredited by the bad company into 
 which she had fallen, was knocked down for £17. A few years 
 before £1000 would have been a low price for her. 
 
 To show the condition that resulted, some hundred and 
 fifty of the Poniatowski gems that were put up in London in 
 1854 could not get bids of over 25s to 30s, in spite of which— 
 and this is, perhaps, the most remarkable feature of the whole 
 affair—certain persons, in 1858, issued an elaborate work 
 maintaining in all seriousness the antiquity of these discred¬ 
 ited forgeries and the genuineness of their utterly absurd at¬ 
 tributions. They are now scattered all over Europe and, sev¬ 
 eral years ago, about a hundred of them were presented by 
 the late Mr. E. McK. Holly, together with a large collection of 
 other gems, to the New York Charity Organization Society to 
 be disposed of for its benefit. These were placed on sale at 
 Tiffany and Co.’s at prices ranging from $90 to $150. Prob¬ 
 ably some were sold but many still remain at the Organization 
 rooms in New York City and whoever desires a Poniatowski 
 gem can secure one there. As pretty work, characteristic of 
 their period, they have a certain value; as monuments in the 
 history of forgery they have another, but the combination is 
 not over-attractive. 
 
 Enough has been said to point out the causes which led 
 
DECLINE OF THE ART 
 
 193 
 
 to the general loss of interest in engraved gems as subjects of 
 connoisseurship and objects of the collector’s desire. The ef¬ 
 fect on the prices obtainable for them was equally inevitable. 
 From sums that ranged to $5000 and more, the sale of the 
 “Io” of Dioskourides for £17, of Pistrucci’s cameo of Augustus 
 and Livia, for which he received £800, for £30 and of number¬ 
 less ordinary specimens for next to nothing tell the story. 
 Thus, with the uncertainty as to and loss of interest in the 
 antique, the taste for and values of contemporary work suf¬ 
 fered a like collapse. Clever craftsmen could no longer get 
 any but the most paltry prices for either their forgeries or 
 their acknowledged art, and hence there soon ceased to be 
 either clever forgers or artists. 
 
 A few pretty good workmen struggled on after 1850: the 
 two daughters of Pistrucci, Elena and Elisa, at Rome, Bassi 
 at Florence, Paul Lebas and Luigi Isler at Paris, Brett and, 
 later, Renton in England. Soon, however, even such excellence 
 as was theirs faded and, today, in Europe and America little 
 is done that is above contempt. The more important jewelers 
 usually have someone in their employ or at hand who can cut 
 a respectable coat of arms for a seal, which is about all the 
 demand calls for. An exception is Ottavio Negri, formerly of 
 Rome, but now located in New York, who is capable of excellent 
 work (PI. XXXII, 9), were the demand for it greater. His 
 classical heads, some done on moon-stones, are charming and I 
 have seen a plaque of his in rock-crystal of swans, in which the 
 reflection of the birds in the water is very cleverly effected by 
 means of shallow intaglios of them on the back of the stone. 
 Such ancient subjects as he does are not in the nature of 
 forgeries. 
 
 In Paris, too, there have been of late several gem-engravers 
 whose work is well spoken of, though I am not personally fam¬ 
 iliar with it: Lefevre, recently deceased, and Lechevrelle who 
 is still living; and it is possible that, at the other European 
 centres, there may be workmen of more or less ability whose 
 names are, owing to the meagre demand, known only to small 
 circles. 
 
 i 
 
194 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 In the East it seems to be rather different. Though the 
 signets of the Turks are usually cut in metal, the wealthy still 
 use a ring-stone, and the skill necessary to cut the graceful lines 
 of their script (PI. XXXII, 1) is available for disreputable 
 purposes (PL XXXII, 8). Count Michael Tyszkiewicz in his 
 Memories of an Old Collector tells of a lot of ancient unen¬ 
 graved scarabs, mostly chalcedony, that were found in Cyprus 
 and promptly bought by some dealers who had them engraved 
 by a clever workman with a skill amply calculated to deceive 
 even the reasonably wary and scattered them over Europe. 
 Less successful attempts on modern scarabs were also put forth 
 even in Tyszkiewicz’s time and, with the new discoveries of 
 Mycensean and archaic Greek art, the awakened interest and 
 the fair prices, it was quite natural to expect the revival of 
 forgery in that line referred to by Furtwangler and to which 
 I have already alluded. 
 
 I know of but one forger in Constantinople, a Greek, who 
 is reputed to make occasional trips to Asia Minor where, in 
 exchange for genuine finds, he distributes his work among the 
 peasants who bury it to be dug up for the delectation of mis¬ 
 sionaries and tourists. Also there is a small factory at Pan¬ 
 derma on the other side of the Bosphorus, and, at Tyre, a Syrian, 
 Najib Saadi, has during the last three years made copies of a 
 few ancient intaglios that must be scrutinized rather closely 
 to fix their provenance, but the only establishment of any size 
 in Northern Asia Minor is that of a Turk at Caesarea. He has 
 in his employ several Greeks and Armenians who turn out 
 gems, cameos and coins which go, for the most part, to Smyrna 
 for marketing. 
 
 In Italy, and, more especially at Rome, are still cut a large 
 number of intaglios in stone. Most of these, while copies of 
 antique designs, many of them on gems artificially colored in 
 Germany, are evidently not intended to be sold as forgeries and 
 those that are, whether Etruscan scarabs or imitations of 
 Roman gems of the Empire, can deceive only the ignorant 
 tourist for whose custom they are primarily intended. Dealers 
 at Rome tell you the work is done at Naples and Neapolitan 
 
GEM-ENGRAVERS OF TODAY 
 
 195 
 
 dealers say, Rome, but I found no evidence of any manufacture 
 to speak of at the former place. Enrico Girardet at Rome is 
 probably about the best of the present day Italian gem-en¬ 
 gravers and admits that examples of his work have been sold 
 as antiques. That he made them as forgeries, however, he 
 denies and I do not doubt his truthfulness. He does little now 
 in the way of intaglios. Gaetano Trabacchi works, I believe 
 entirely honestly, for Augusto Castellani, one of the most 
 reputable of the Roman dealers in antiquities and facsimiles of 
 ancient jewelry; Francesco Ciapponi cuts some cameos; An¬ 
 tonio and Virginio Lanzi (PI. XXXII, 4, 5, 14?) and Ma¬ 
 riano Macceroni (PI. XXXII, 2, 3) still work at intaglios from 
 ancient designs and in quite similar styles, copying, for the 
 most part, the “pretty” subjects among the Cades series of 
 casts. The first named, now an old man, has done some fairly 
 good work in his day, at least in the matter of details. Each 
 of these gem-engravers suggests one or more of his confreres 
 as the source of the modern Roman fakes but the truth is not 
 especially important. I was assured of the antiquity of a 
 number of obvious forgeries at the shop of Giovanni Lanzi, a 
 relative of Antonio and Virginio, and he recommended me to 
 a certain shop on the Via Bonella, which I found well stocked 
 with goods of the same kind. I have also seen many of these 
 that were said to have been found at Ostia, the active excava¬ 
 tions at which place having doubtless substituted it for the pop¬ 
 ular Pompeii provenance of fifty years ago as a pretended 
 source. As for Ciapponi, his partner innocently tried to sell 
 me as an antique a gem which the more honest engraver had 
 told me a few minutes before was his own work. A glance, 
 however, at the character of the output of these men is quite 
 sufficient to guard one against the possibility of deception. 
 
 Incidentally, a word may be said here about the Cades 
 casts, the models from which forgeries have long been done 
 on the lines I have suggested. There are about six thousand 
 five hundred of them, apart from the Egyptian scarabs and 
 those catalogued as Cinque-Cento or modern, and it is interest- 
 
196 
 
 GEMS OF MODERN TIMES 
 
 ing to note that nearly two thousand of these are either pic¬ 
 tures from the Erotic and Bacchic cycles or portrait heads. 
 
 With these remarks I may close the portion of this book 
 which traces the history and phases of the development of 
 gem-engraving in intaglio. It does not pretend to be either 
 exhaustive or exclusive. Such a work would mean substitu¬ 
 ting at least a volume for each chapter. The attempt has been 
 to give here a good general view of the tendencies and manifes¬ 
 tations of each epoch in a systematic way and with enough 
 typical examples to enable the student or connoisseur to place 
 specimens accurately and detect the incongruities that spell 
 hostility to the thought, spirit, technique or material of each 
 period and art source. 
 
PART II 
 
 THE DEITIES AND OTHER PERSONAGES COMMON OR 
 LIABLE TO BE FOUND ON ENGRAVED GEMS, WITH 
 THEIR APPEARANCE, ATTRIBUTES, ETC. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 ZEUS—JUPITER 
 
 (PL XV, 15; XVI, 12; XXI, 16, 17; XXII, 9; XXIII, 11—13, 19; XXVIII, 21) 
 
 “The Father of Gods and Men” was, naturally, one of the 
 most common of the deities engraved on gems. He is most 
 often represented after the Pheidian epoch as the enthroned 
 Zeus of Olympia with the lower part of his body draped and 
 his head crowned with a wreath of olive. The standing Zeus, 
 either nude or with only a mantle over his arm or shoulders, 
 is also frequent. His body is powerful but not over-muscular, 
 and his hair, in later art, when treated specifically, is generally 
 piled up on his head. The face, full-bearded, save rarely in 
 early Greek or Italian art, is serene and full of kindly dignity, 
 but these finer points are, of course, only noticeable on gems 
 of finished excellence. Rarely he is shown, either on foot or 
 in a chariot, contending with Earth-giants. 
 
 Primarily a sky-god, his usual attributes are the eagle and 
 the thunderbolt, or, as ruler of Olympos, he holds a sceptre, and, 
 as the victorious Zeus Nikephoros, a figure of Victory. The 
 patera or sacrificial dish is also a not uncommon attribute. As 
 Zeus Orkios, the avenger of broken oaths, his aspect is terrible 
 and he hurls a thunderbolt, sometimes holding one in each 
 hand. Rarely he is shown in other arts as a child with the 
 she-goat Amaltheia or with the Kouretes around him. I know 
 of no such representation on a gem, but it is a possibility to be 
 looked for. 
 
 He is often pictured under his metamorphoses: as the bull 
 with Europe, the swan with Leda, the satyr with Antiope and 
 the eagle with Ganymedes (PI. IV, 8; X, 6; XIX, 13 ?; XXVI,17). 
 
 Many variant cults of Zeus existed from early times in 
 different cities of the Hellenic world. Gems of these periods 
 
 199 
 
200 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 are very rare, and at the periods when the great mass of our 
 examples must be dated, the unifying sway of the Roman world- 
 power had pretty thoroughly conventionalized the two types 
 first described. A few words, however, about such of the local 
 cults as suggest special features might guide some fortunate 
 student in the interpretation of an early gem otherwise a 
 puzzle, especially if he were lucky enough to be able to fix its 
 provenance. 
 
 Zeus Endendros (living in the tree) was worshipped at 
 Dodona. In statues of the Dodonan Zeus the Olympian olive 
 wreath is replaced by one of oak leaves. 
 
 Zeus Lykeios was worshipped in Arkadia, and there is ev¬ 
 idence that, at an early time, children were offered up to him. 
 The cult there seems to have involved something of the wolf- 
 transformation superstitions that have survived in parts of 
 Europe almost if not quite to the present time. It would be 
 very interesting and pertinent to find the god figured with a 
 wolf on an early Greek gem. 
 
 Zeus Apomyios (averter of flies) had his seat in Elis. 
 
 Several of the cult titles seem to indicate an early infringe¬ 
 ment upon what, later, became the province of Poseidon. Zeus 
 Apobateros (protector of landings), Zeus Ourios or Euenemos 
 (of fair winds) and Zeus Enalios (of the sea) were undoubt¬ 
 edly sailors’ gods, while in Karia there was the cult of a Zeno- 
 Poseidon, a composite deity. 
 
 At certain points, too, there was more or less early con¬ 
 fusion of his personality or combination of his worship with 
 those of both Apollo and Dionysos. 
 
 Though generally and, at last, exclusively a sky-god, there 
 is no doubt as to his early worship at Athens as Zeus Georgos 
 (the ground tiller), a god of crops, and in Phrygia as Zeus 
 Karpodotes (giver of fruit). Thence, and by a natural gra¬ 
 dation, we find at Korinth the worship of Zeus Chthonios (of the 
 Under-world)—a far cry from the god of the eagle. Wheat- 
 ears, fruits, and even the Chthonian serpent may some day be 
 found with a representation of one of these local types. 
 
 Under many titles and in many places Zeus appears as a 
 
ZEUS 
 
 201 
 
 god of the family, protector of paternal rights and of hospital¬ 
 ity, a god of the State, of its assemblies, its armies or its col¬ 
 onies, but it is not probable that any of these would present 
 novel attributes, unless the ox eating wheat or barley on the 
 altar of Zeus Polios before being sacrificed might furnish a 
 theme or the Zeus Chrysaor (of the golden sword), found on 
 the Asiatic mainland in such semi-Hellenic regions as Karia 
 and Bithynia. More promising are the wealth-giving types 
 which seem to infringe upon the province of Plouto: Zeus 
 Kteseos (giver of wealth) at Athens, Zeus Plousios (the 
 wealthy) at Sparta, and Zeus Olbios (blessed in worldly goods) 
 in Cilicia. 
 
 It was, however, the worship of the Olympian Zeus that 
 spread from Olympia, Athens, Sparta, Korinth, Megara, Chal- 
 kis, Miletos and Syracuse, over all the Hellenic and, finally, on 
 his identification with the Roman Jupiter, over all the Roman 
 World. Only the standing type, perhaps suggesting Jupiter 
 Stator (the stayer of flight), contended with it in popularity. 
 
 At Anxur was a cult of the Beardless Jupiter—the boy 
 god, son of Saturn. 
 
 Here, also, it is well to consider two developments of 
 Jupiter. The most important of these was his later identifica¬ 
 tion with the Ptolemaic-Alexandrian Serapis, god of the dead 
 and of the Under-world. This movement, rather an absorp¬ 
 tion by an occidentalized Serapis of Jupiter, Plouto, Helios, 
 Aesculapius and other deities, was of a piece with the whole¬ 
 sale Hadrianic importation of Egyptian deities into the Roman 
 religion by which what was already a tendency became a re¬ 
 ligious fad. Representations of Jupiter Serapis are very com¬ 
 mon and date, for the most part, from Hadrian’s time or later. 
 They are distinguished by the attribute of the modius or corn- 
 measure on his head, a symbol of the lower world where the 
 seed dies and whence it springs forth to new life. Not in¬ 
 frequently, too, the head is crowned with rays. The figure of 
 a foot, sacred to the Alexandrian cult of Serapis and rather 
 rarely found on Roman gems, may be placed as an attribute 
 symbolizing Jupiter Serapis. 
 
202 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 Much rarer, because it never became an imperially favored 
 fashion, is the Jupiter Ammon type. In Greece, from ancient 
 times, a connection existed between the Zeus of Dodona and the 
 Ammon of Upper Egypt, and they were held to be the same god. 
 In Hellenistic and Roman art Jupiter Ammon is to be distin¬ 
 guished by the ram’s horn sprouting from his head. 
 
 The Baal of Doliche, with his bull and double ax, was wor¬ 
 shipped by the Imperial armies as Jupiter Dolichenus. 
 
 HERA—JUNO 
 
 Representations of Hera or Juno are comparatively rare 
 on gems. In very early times she was worshipped as an Earth- 
 goddess, especially through Peloponnesos, and her place as the 
 wife of Zeus seems to have been though an early yet somewhat 
 a later development in the sense of its general acceptance. In 
 Argos and Euboia was the cult of Hera Zeuxidia (of the yok¬ 
 ing), and wheat-ears were called the flowers of Hera. Also 
 there was the cult of Hera Antheia (of flowers). The pre- 
 Dorian Hera Telchinia (working in metals) at Rhodes was a 
 distinct and probably non-Hellenic cult. 
 
 With her final placing in the Greek theogeny we find her 
 pre-eminently a goddess of women, protectress of both maiden¬ 
 hood and marriage and giver of issue, doubtless as a develop¬ 
 ment from her presidence over the fruitfulness of the soil. 
 
 Her type statue of later times, the work of Polycleitos, was 
 at Argos and represented her robed and enthroned, crowned 
 with the Stephanos or forehead diadem and holding a pome¬ 
 granate and a sceptre tipped with a cuckoo as the harbinger 
 of spring. Besides these her attributes were the veiled head, 
 as a marriage divinity, the goose of Juno Regina of the Cap¬ 
 itol, the goat of Juno Caprotina, also an early Roman cult, 
 the crow of Juno Sospita of Lanuvium, and the flower in the 
 hand of Juno Lucina of the Roman Matronalia. Like most 
 gods and goddesses she often holds a sacrificial patera. The 
 sceptre is not found as an attribute prior to the fifth century 
 and the peacock, perhaps the most common of all, was much 
 
HERA, POSEIDON 
 
 203 
 
 later and would never be found on a genuine scarab or scar- 
 aboid. She is always pictured fully draped. In mythology her 
 attendants were Iris, goddess of the rainbow, and the Horai 
 or Seasons, the latter as on an Earth-goddess, as may also be 
 the significance of the rare attendance of a seiren as a sepul¬ 
 chral figure. 
 
 From these it follows that representations of Hera are not 
 always the easiest to identify, especially on cheap work. Most 
 of her attributes are common to many other goddesses, like 
 the sceptre and Stephanos, while Aphrodite, Demeter and Per¬ 
 sephone all have the pomegranate. 
 
 In very few of her cults was she regarded a war-goddess, 
 though the Hera Prodroma (running forward) of Sikyon and 
 the Hera Areia (Marslike) of Paestum seem to have been of 
 that character, as were also the Juno Curites of the Sabines, 
 with her spear, and the Juno Sospita (the savior) of Lanuvium, 
 where her statue represented her with a goatskin over her 
 matron’s robe and a shield and brandished spear. 
 
 After the Third Punic War the ancient tutelary goddess 
 of Carthage, Astarte, was brought to Rome, where she was 
 reverenced under the name of Juno Ccelestis, and when, under 
 the Empire, Carthage became once more a city, the cult was 
 very flourishing. She is represented on a late gem riding on 
 a lion. Juno Moneta (the admonisher) of the Capitol in whose 
 temple money, thence named, was coined had as attribute a 
 balance. 
 
 POSEIDON—NEPTUNE 
 (PI. XIX, 16; XXIII, 20; XXIV, 5, 22) 
 
 Poseidon was especially a deity of the Ionian race and 
 appears quite frequently on gems. His figure as shown is not 
 unlike that of Zeus, with the face almost always bearded. The 
 representations with tumbled beard and hair are not found 
 until after Pheidias’ time, and his statue type, holding the 
 trident and a dolphin, and with one foot on a rock or a ship’s 
 prow, is probably derived from a statue at Korinth, the work 
 
204 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 of Lysippos. Occasionally draped in earlier times, he is often 
 then and always later shown nude or with merely a scarf over 
 his arm or shoulder. 
 
 At first he was undoubtedly a fresh-water god and, hence, 
 a patron of vegetation, but when men essayed to conquer the 
 sea his province was transferred and he became the patron 
 deity of mariners and fishermen. 
 
 The bull and horse were sacred to him and he is often 
 pictured borne over the sea in a chariot drawn by horses or 
 hippokamps, half horse, half fish. Occasionally his wife, Am- 
 phitrite, is shown with him or the fountain-nvmph, Amymone. 
 
 Besides the usual attributes of the dolphin and trident, 
 there is also the tunny-fish and, rarely, the pine wreath. Very 
 rare symbols but dating from the earliest times are a bough, 
 a bunch of grapes, a ploughshare, and even a thunderbolt, but 
 I have never seen a gem bearing any of these. 
 
 TRITONS 
 
 (PI. V, 18; IX, 5; XIII, 6?; XXII, 10; XXIV, 22; XXVI, 3) 
 
 These were later emanations of Triton, son of Poseidon 
 and Amphitrite, whose home was Lake Tritonis in Libya. They 
 are shown with men’s bodies and fishes’ tails. In still later art 
 they occasionally have horses’ forefeet, as being half triton, 
 half hippokamp. Their usual attribute is some form of conch 
 shell which they blow as a trumpet or hold. They also some¬ 
 times carry tridents. 
 
 HADES—PLQUTO—ORCUS—DIS 
 (PI. VII, 16) 
 
 This is one of the rarest figures found on gems, partly, no 
 doubt, on account of his gloomy associations, though the Greek 
 Plouto and the Roman Dis as gods of wealth might have been 
 supposed at least to soften the idea. Still, this province of 
 the god was only derived from his Chthonian sway, and a 
 
HADES, DEMETER 
 
 205 
 
 deity inexorable, inaccessible to prayers and sacrifices was not 
 one whose influence was likely to be invoked on signets. 
 
 He is shown sometimes enthroned and always draped, and 
 the three-headed dog, Kerberos, is his attendant. Occasionally 
 his wife, Persephone, is pictured with him, and on one gem 
 he is seizing her in the meadows of Enna to bear her away. His 
 hair generally hangs low on his forehead. 
 
 The vase painters have tried to picture him under the 
 milder aspect of a beneficent Earth-god, with kalathos, fruit, 
 a cornucopia or a two-pronged pick-axe, but vases had not be¬ 
 hind them the talismanic idea. I know of no gem which shows 
 the eagle, sometimes found on his sceptre in sculpture and 
 which seems to suggest that he was originally evolved from 
 Zeus. Another attribute is the key. The cypress and the nar¬ 
 cissus were his sacred tree and flower, and in the rare sacri¬ 
 fices offered him on exceptional occasions black sheep were 
 used. 
 
 With the Etruscans, who seem to have had a taste for hor¬ 
 rors, his figure may have been pictured for the mere horror’s 
 sake. They sometimes showed him with a dog or wolf muzzle 
 head-dress and a spear entwined with serpents. 
 
 With the introduction of the Serapis worship in Rome and 
 its wide-spreading absorptions of native divinities, Hades, as 
 might be expected, was one of those most readily assimilated. 
 Thence we find the former assuming many of the latter’s at¬ 
 tributes as a sort of Hades-Serapis. No foreign infusion, how¬ 
 ever, could avail to make him a popular god. 
 
 DEMETER—CERES 
 (PI. XXIII, 2) 
 
 Demeter, the Earth-mother, the Corn-mother, is a not 
 especially uncommon figure on gems, especially in her later 
 conventionalized forms. Matronly, enthroned or standing, 
 fully draped and hooded or with her head crowned with wheat- 
 ears and leaves or, sometimes, with a Stephanos, she holds in 
 her hands wheat-ears, a cornucopia, torches (wherewith she 
 
206 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 sought Persephone, her ravished daughter), poppies or a kal- 
 athos (fruit basket). The pomegranate is also one of her at¬ 
 tributes and she may, perhaps, be found holding the mystic 
 casket containing the arcana sacra of the lower world. Cattle 
 and swine were sacrificed to her, and the latter, together with 
 the serpent, were natural attributes of a goddess so distinctly 
 Chthonian,—in a greater degree, even, than were all the corn- 
 gods of the early cults. The ant, too, was her sacred insect. 
 
 A very ancient cult of Demeter had its seat in Arkadia. 
 There the goddess was worshipped in the guise of a figure with 
 a horse’s head, surrounded by serpents and holding a dove in 
 one hand and a dolphin in the other. This, probably, either 
 grew out of or gave rise to the legend of the steed, Areion, 
 which sprang from Poseidon’s intercourse with her under the 
 form of a mare. 
 
 Sometimes she is pictured with Persephone or with Trip- 
 tolemos, their agent, and in view of this it may be well to con¬ 
 sider these divinities here. 
 
 PERSEPHONE—KORE—PROSERPINA 
 (PI. VII, 16) 
 
 Originally a dualization of Demeter, the corn-maiden who 
 rises from the ground with the grain, the goddess of young 
 vegetation in even early theogonies, Proserpina was con¬ 
 sidered her daughter and the wife of Plouto who ravished her 
 away while gathering flowers in the meadows of Enna in cen¬ 
 tral Sicily. Rare on gems, she usually is found either with her 
 mother, to whom she may be pouring a libation, or enthroned 
 with or being carried off by Plouto. In the former of these 
 last two pictures she naturally wears the stephanos and holds 
 a sceptre. Always robed, her attributes are the pomegranate, 
 key, mystic casket, cornucopia, ears of wheat, torch, cup, and 
 cock. When figured alone, as a beautiful maiden, she is not 
 always easy to identify. A pig standing on a bundle of myrtle 
 twigs has been supposed to symbolize her Chthonian power. 
 
TRIPTOLEMOS, HESTIA, APOLLO 207 
 
 TRIPTOLEMOS—DEMOPHOON—BONUS EVENTUS 
 (PI. XXIV, 20, 21) 
 
 Triptolemos, the favorite of Demeter, the Bonus Eventus 
 of the Romans, is a rather common gem subject, especially 
 throughout the times of the Empire, in his last named person¬ 
 ification of good fortune. Earlier pictures show him as a man, 
 bearded or smooth-faced, undraped or with only a mantle, in¬ 
 voking the half figure of a girl (Persephone) that is springing 
 up from the ground together with stalks of grain. He is also 
 represented in Greek art in a winged chariot or in one drawn 
 by serpents, though I have never seen a gem with this picture. 
 On Roman gems Bonus Eventus is shown as a naked youth or, 
 rarely, with a mantle, unbearded and, usually, with a patera 
 in one hand and wheat-ear in the other. Sometimes he holds 
 a poppy or a cornucopia. 
 
 HESTIA—VESTA 
 
 I know of but a single authenticated gem representation of 
 this goddess so important as the guardian of the hearth both in 
 Greece and Rome. Possibly the difficulty of identification may 
 be responsible, in some measure, for this lack, for there is 
 nothing especially distinctive about her figure or her attributes. 
 Statues represent her standing or enthroned, matronly in form, 
 pose, and costume, despite her virginity. Her head is always 
 covered with a hood or veil and her attributes are the sceptre, 
 torch, patera and Palladium. In the gem in the Berlin Museum 
 she is shown with an ass on each side. 
 
 APOLLO 
 
 (PI. IV, 24; V, 15?; X, 15c; XIV, 5, 8; XX, 3; XXI, 14; 
 
 XXII, 4; XXIII, 3, 4; XXIV, 13) 
 
 Representations of Apollo, the most brilliant creation of 
 Greek religious thought, while rather rare on later and poorer 
 gems, were naturally a favorite subject of the best periods and 
 the best artists. 
 
208 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 In a few early cults, as at Amyklai, he was bearded, but 
 early in the sixth century B. C. the beardless Apollo bad be¬ 
 come the recognized type. At the beginning of the third cen¬ 
 tury B. C. the effeminate representations of him came into 
 vogue. More commonly he is nude or with only a cloak or 
 scarf but the Apollo Kitbaraoidos always wears a long flowing 
 robe, and many other pictures of him with a lyre and with 
 the lower part of his body draped are evidently inspired by 
 some recognized statue type. 
 
 His attributes are many, most conventionally the lyre, 
 bow and arrow, tripod, and laurel branch; less commonly the 
 palm and, rarely in varying degrees, the dolphin, swan, hawk, 
 crow, raven, snake, wolf and wild goat, the mouse, as figured 
 beneath the foot of the Sminthian Apollo of Skopas, and the 
 deer (a not very rare Etruscan attribute) which appears with 
 him in the statue by Kanachos. The column, too, seems to 
 have some closer relation to him than as a mere statuesque ac¬ 
 cessory, perhaps because his earliest monuments were mere 
 conical pillars, though many primitive deities were symbolized 
 in like manner. The griffin, emblem of the Hyperborean Apollo, 
 is common in the later representations. 
 
 Throughout all the early cults, many of which held their 
 ground down to a late period and any of which might readily 
 influence a gem picture, we find a remarkable variety of powers 
 appropriated to him. Like most of the older gods he was prob¬ 
 ably originally a deity of vegetation, trees, flowers, and har¬ 
 vests, thence a pastoral god who had care of flocks and herds 
 and a god of the chase who, at the same time, hunted the rapa¬ 
 cious and cherished generally the milder of the wild creatures. 
 
 As a wolf-god he was pictured at Tarsos standing on an 
 omphalos, grasping the paws of two wolves arranged heral¬ 
 dically, and his power over vegetation was evidenced by the rite 
 in the Karneia, at Sparta, where youths bearing grape clusters 
 pursued a man decked with garlands; also at the Daphnephoria, 
 in Bceotia, where a youth carried an olive log wreathed with 
 garlands and flowers with a ball on top from which other balls 
 were suspended. 
 
APOLLO 
 
 209 
 
 The marble omphalos or boss at Delphi, supposed to be 
 the center of the World, may be represented occasionally. 
 
 On the coins of Tarentum he holds a flower. 
 
 At Chalkedon he was pictured riding on a swan, and sev¬ 
 eral Etruscan scarabs bear the same device or show the god 
 as a charioteer driving a yoke of swans. 
 
 At Delos and at Olbia in Bithynia he has the kalathos 
 and at Side he holds a pomegranate. 
 
 He did not generally figure as a war-god, but at Megara 
 his statue held a spear, and Spartan coins show him with 
 helmet, spear, and bow, the figure ending sometimes in a 
 column, and with a goat and a laurel wreath in the field. 
 
 Much more common are evidences of his sea domain, prob¬ 
 ably a resultant of increasing Greek colonization, whence as 
 “Founder of the Colony” and “Builder of the Home” this phase 
 of “The Dolphin-God” was a natural emanation. A suggestion 
 of this may also be found in his oracle at Syros, where re¬ 
 sponses were given according to the movements of certain fishes 
 in a pool or to the eagerness with which they eat of the sacrifice. 
 More definitely the dolphin on the coins of Delphi and Olbia, 
 the tunny fish on those of Kyzikos, and the trident on those 
 of Alexandria signalize his sea power. Coins of Antigonos 
 Gonatas show him seated on a ship’s prow. 
 
 At Teos there was a curious cult statue of the Four-handed 
 Apollo, a unique representation, as is the figure of Victory 
 which he holds at Patrai. 
 
 His especial office in many places was that of legislator or 
 law-giver, slaves bought their freedom through him, and, with 
 Herakles and Hermes, he presided over athletic games (Note 
 Apollo Lukeios at Athens). 
 
 As a god of healing and an averter of pestilences his wor¬ 
 ship was widespread in early times. Later, he seems to have 
 abdicated this function in favor of his son, Asklepios. 
 
 Perhaps the story of the slaying of the dragon, Python, re¬ 
 fers to this phase of Apollo, when the dragon would typify a 
 demon of pestilence. Perhaps it symbolizes the Sun-god slay¬ 
 ing the mists of winter. A few early gems which show Apollo 
 
210 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 slaying a polypus may have reference to his sea power men¬ 
 tioned above and, at the same time, be the basis of the Python 
 saga. 
 
 Above all he presided over the fine arts: music, song, dance, 
 and the intellectual side of life. The Muses and the Graces 
 were his attendants. It is rather surprising that no late mon¬ 
 uments show him with a scroll. 
 
 I have reserved to the last his best-known province: that 
 of the Sun-god. All deities of vegetation had either Under¬ 
 world or solar relation and there is little or no evidence of 
 the former in Apollo. On the other hand, possibly his powers 
 as a Sun-god and still more probably his widely recognized 
 province as a god of divination led to his identification in later 
 times, after Euripides, to be exact, with Helios, the early Greek 
 personification of the all-seeing orb of day. It probably had 
 its origin among the Asiatic Greeks, since the griffin was & 
 solar emblem in the East. 
 
 HELIOS 
 
 (PI. XVI, 7; XXVII, 14; XXIX, 17) 
 
 The Sun-god of early Greek mythology, latet identified 
 with Apollo and still later with the Persian Mithras, is a rather 
 common figure on Roman gems, especially those of the Middle 
 and Lower Empire when both his Mithraic association and the 
 favor in which the sports of the circus were held ministered 
 to his popularity. He is represented as a youth whose waving 
 locks are crowned with rays, sometimes as a bust, sometimes 
 a standing figure but more often as a charioteer driving his 
 team. The crown of rays and the whip are his attributes. 
 
 THE MUSES 
 
 (PI. XVIII, 5; XXI, 1; XXVII, 16) 
 
 Especially associated with Apollo and, to some extent, 
 also, with Dionysos, they were originally nymphs of inspiring 
 springs. At first but three in number: Melete (Meditation), 
 
THE MUSES, ARTEMIS 
 
 211 
 
 Mneme (Remembrance) and Aoide (Song), they were later 
 amplified to nine. Kalliope, muse of epic poetry, bears a tablet 
 and stylus, sometimes a roll; Kleio, of history, an open scroll 
 or several in a box; Euterpe, of lyric poetry, a flute; Mel¬ 
 pomene, of tragedy, a tragic mask, a club or a sword; Terp¬ 
 sichore, of choral dance, a lyre and plectrum; Erato, of erotic 
 poetry, also a lyre; Polymnia, patroness of the higher hymns, 
 is usually shown veiled, pensive and meditating; Urania, of 
 astronomy, has a globe; Thalia, of comedy and idyllic poetry, 
 a comic mask, a pedum and ivy wreath. They all wear long 
 garments and sometimes, also, a cloak. It should be added 
 that the especial attributes given above were assigned in com¬ 
 paratively later times. 
 
 ARTEMIS—DIANA 
 
 (PI. I, 5?; II, 12?;IV, 6?; VII, 12; XIV, 4; XIX, 2; XXIII, 7, 26, 27; 
 
 XXIV, 18; XXVIII, 19) 
 
 Unlike the worship of her brother, Apollo, that of Artemis, 
 even in the most civilized periods of Greek culture, retained 
 more of savagery than did the cults of any other of the greater 
 deities. That she was primarily an Earth-goddess is certain, but 
 of the wilds rather than of the harvest fields. First a protect¬ 
 ress of animals, later, a huntress goddess, with the exception 
 of the goat in late times, only wild creatures were sacred to 
 her: the hare, wolf (at Troizen), wild boar, bear, and, of course, 
 the stag and doe. On early gems she appears holding a water- 
 bird by the neck, or a stag and lion. Of birds, the quail was 
 her especial favorite. Lakes, marshes, rivers, and, hence, wood¬ 
 land trees and fish were under her protection, all of which are 
 evidenced in many early cult names. Artemis Eurynome, wor¬ 
 shipped in Arkadia, suggests a fish-goddess, while at Phigaleia 
 was invoked a goddess, said to have been Artemis, whose lower 
 half was a fish’s tail. 
 
 Though accounted a virgin goddess in all later classic lit¬ 
 erature, yet her chastity was never presented as a cult. In 
 many places her office was the encouragement of child-bearing, 
 
212 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 the assistance of women in labor, and the rearing of children, 
 and in certain cults, like that in Elis and on Mt. Taygetos, it is 
 even possible to find orgiastic and lascivious dances and phal¬ 
 lic emblems. 
 
 Rare war functions are indicated by such cult titles as 
 Eukleia (the glorious) and Soteira (the savior) as which she 
 strides in Amazon attire with a torch in each hand. A meas¬ 
 ure of care over mariners and travelers by sea is shown by the 
 titles, Neosoos, Ekbateria and Euporia. 
 
 Altogether, whatever there was of spiritual, moral or in¬ 
 tellectual force in her worship was the later outcome of the 
 imagination of poets and artists. By these she is conventionally 
 represented as a huntress with long chiton or short tunic and 
 with the usual attributes of bow, arrow, and quiver or, some¬ 
 times, a spear. Often a dog accompanies her and, rarely, she 
 rides in a chariot drawn by hinds. Occasionally one breast 
 is exposed but her figure is never nude except when she is 
 represented as discovered bathing by Aktaion. Of the animals 
 mentioned above, the stag or doe is her conventional attend¬ 
 ant. As a moon-goddess, with the crescent, she is shown only 
 in later art, after her identification with Selene. 
 
 As a deity of the Under-world, she was Hekate and, as 
 such, her attributes were torches, keys, serpents and daggers 
 or swords. The two last named types are of sufficient import¬ 
 ance to be considered separately in sequence. 
 
 Of minor cults there was that of Amphipolis where she 
 wears a polos or basin-shaped sun-dial on her head and, with 
 a torch in each hand, rides a bull which suggests some connec¬ 
 tion with Europe. The Artemis of Kolchis rides on serpents, 
 and another type may be noted which holds a flower or a fir- 
 apple. The Artemis of the Tauric Chersonesos wears the tur¬ 
 ret crown of Cybele. 
 
 On Etruscan gems she is often winged. The Roman Diana 
 of the Aventine had a temple adorned with the horns of cattle 
 instead of stags, and a cow was offered to her there. What 
 seem to be representations of the Arician Diana show her with 
 a stag, a dish of fruit and the bough which the slave broke 
 
ARTEMIS 
 
 213 
 
 from the sacred tree as a challenge to her reigning priest, the 
 Rex Nemorensis. 
 
 Most notable of the fusing of Eastern and Western ideas 
 is the Artemis of Ephesos, a barbaric personification of the 
 fructifying and all-nourishing powers of nature, worshipped 
 with orgiastic rites. Her figure, with the breasts exposed, is 
 swathed to the feet in a spiral, checquered or lozenge-lined 
 garment. When covered with rows of breasts, as the figure 
 often is, they are separated by parallel bands, but the details 
 and decorations vary considerably. On either side of her are 
 animals, conventionally stags or does, on her head is a barbaric 
 head-dress of some kind and her hands, extending from her 
 sides, hold either palm branches or what seem to be supports 
 or fillets depending to the ground. Details of this famous idol 
 vary, especially in later times when all cults found housing at 
 Rome, and were more or less modified, but the main features 
 hold closely. Other possible attributes are the lyre, spindle, 
 birds, bees, lions, goats or vases. I know of no gem representa¬ 
 tion of the conventional type that can be dated before about 
 150 B. C. 
 
 In studying these variant forms we must bear in mind that 
 Asia Minor was prolific of similar and even more strangely 
 personified cults, of some of which we know little, of others 
 next to nothing. There was the Artemis Leukophryne at Mag¬ 
 nesia in Lydia, the Artemis Kolone at Sardis, the Artemis of 
 Perge in Pamphylia, and many others. 
 
 The Ionic adoption of this barbarian deity as an Artemis 
 is only one manifestation of the many identifications and con¬ 
 nections to which the peculiar vagueness and confusion of ideas 
 which seem to have characterized her esoteric cult gave rise. 
 It will be well to run over by name, briefly, her Oriental iden¬ 
 tifications, since, possibly, they may furnish an occasional in¬ 
 terpretation of some otherwise cryptic gem. They include, be¬ 
 sides those already mentioned, Cybele, Bendis, Britomartis, 
 Diktymia, and, perhaps, Ariadne and Europe, all of which may 
 have been local names of one goddess whose worship spread 
 
214 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 through Phrygia and Thrace into Northern Greece and through 
 Karia into Crete. The name of Artemis was also sometimes 
 connected with such other foreign divinities as Astarte, Der- 
 keto, Atargatis, Anaitis, and Ma. Still further, the nymph 
 Kyrene, Atalante and Iphigeneia have all been held to be 
 Greek forms of the same goddess. 
 
 Again, out of the principle of moral retribution connected 
 with certain phases of the Artemis worship came the identifica¬ 
 tion with or emanation of Nemesis (also to be treated of sep¬ 
 arately) and, through her, a connection with the Moirai or 
 Fates, so, too with Adrasteia, twin sister of Nemesis and per¬ 
 haps a local name of Cybele, detached at an early time, a 
 mountain goddess whose attendants were the Idaian Daktyloi 
 and whose close relation with Cybele was recognized in the 
 Orphic cults. She was especially honored at Andros and Kos. 
 Lastly, the name, Artemis Eileithyia, shows an identification 
 with the goddess of childbirth who was honored at Olympia 
 together with a male deity, Sosipolis, who took the form of a 
 serpent or a child and was probably the Zeus-Dionysos of Crete. 
 Eileithyia was his foster-mother. The torch was her attribute. 
 
 SELENE—PHOIBE—LUCINA 
 (PI. XXVI, 18) 
 
 This early Greek goddess, later identified*with Artemis, 
 deserves separate consideration here, because her province as 
 personification of the moon and the night gave much to the 
 later art-type of the greater divinity. She was more speci¬ 
 fically pictured as a bust between the horns of the crescent 
 moon, sometimes with a diadem. Sometimes she had long 
 wings, sometimes, crowned with a crescent, she rode in a 
 chariot drawn by horses or by cows whose horns symbolized 
 the moon. She is always draped and occasionally her veil is 
 disposed in an arch above her head. Raised and inverted 
 torches to indicate the rising and setting of her light were 
 her familiar attributes. 
 
HEKATE 
 
 215 
 
 HEKATE 
 (PI. XXIX, 16) 
 
 The Chthonian form of Artemis, sometimes, later, con¬ 
 fused with Persephone, was prior to the fifth century rep¬ 
 resented as a single figure with torches as attributes. Her 
 early provinces were manifold and varied. She gave aid in 
 war, sat by kings in judgment, brought honor to horsemen 
 and athletes, aided the hunter and the fisherman, joined with 
 Hermes in giving increase to the flocks and herds, and was a 
 foster-mother to children. She was associated with Zeus 
 Meilichios at Athens, and at Idrias in Karia the festival of 
 the key was celebrated in her honor. Like the Artemis of 
 Kolchis, she rides on serpents. 
 
 Her original moon affiliations are more doubtful and 
 what she shows of these, as when, with rays on her head and 
 two torches, she goes before the chariot of Hades, was probably 
 drawn from her association with Artemis, since the double 
 torches had reference to the night of the Under-world as well 
 as to the rising and setting of the Moon. 
 
 She was closely connected with the Kabeiroi in Samo- 
 thrace and with the witchcraft of Thessaly, and these rela¬ 
 tions, together with the gloomier phases of her Under-world 
 powers, finally triumphed, so that her worship became one of 
 the evil things that grew with the decline of pure Hellenism. 
 Ghosts, witches, and the darker forms of magic owned her 
 dominance. She haunted graves and crossways, accompanied 
 by the dogs of the Styx. 
 
 It was not till after the time of Alkamenes, the pupil of 
 Pheidias, that the conventionalized representation of Ilekate, 
 as three draped female figures joined back to back, took definite 
 shape and became the controlling art motive. Its origin is 
 vague and I have seen no hypothesis not open to grave objec¬ 
 tions. Certainly it voices the later and more unpleasant phase 
 of the goddess. Good artists shunned it and I have found it 
 pictured only on a few gems of the magic-working class. The 
 
216 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 attributes which this tripartite deity holds are the torch, cord, 
 key, serpent, dagger, lance, and scourge. 
 
 NEMESIS 
 
 (PI. XXV, 4. See PI. XIX, 3) 
 
 The figure of Nemesis on gems is not at all an uncommon 
 one and the distinguishing characteristic of it is the peculiar 
 bending of one arm with the elbow down and the hand raised 
 as if about to pluck the robe from her breast. This gesture 
 is found in many early Artemis pictures, indicating the con¬ 
 nection between the two and that it is the Artemis-Nemesis 
 type the artist has in mind. In later art she seems to have 
 become a more distinct personality. Especial attributes of 
 Artemis are missing, like the stag or doe, and she develops 
 attributes of her own, such as the bridle, yoke, and measur¬ 
 ing rod—symbols of control and proportion, the scourge and 
 sword of punishment, and the wheel of swiftness. Very often 
 this last quality is also evidenced by her being winged and, 
 rarely, by picturing her seated in a chariot drawn by griffins, 
 her sacred beasts. A branch or a patera is also a common at¬ 
 tribute though not especially a distinctive one. She is always 
 clothed. 
 
 Rhamnos near Athens, and Smyrna were the early seats 
 of her cult. 
 
 LETO 
 
 The mother of Apollo and Artemis is rarely shown; only, 
 I think, as fleeing with her two children from the wrath of 
 Hera. 
 
 ATHENA—PALLAS—MINERVA 
 
 (PI. XI, 1; XIV, 2, 14; XX, 9; XXIII, 25; XXVIII, 18. See XXVI, 8) 
 
 Athena was one of the few Greek divinities whose wor¬ 
 ship was never tainted with barbaric ideas, orgiastic excesses, 
 impure symbolism or mystery. Attempts were made to identify 
 her, probably as a war goddess, with Egyptian, Asiatic, Kol- 
 
ATHENA 
 
 217 
 
 chian and Iberian deities of similar powers, but these identi¬ 
 fications never took ground in Greece and came to little else¬ 
 where. She was always, first of all, the goddess of the State, 
 the incarnation of its laws and public virtues, and its protec¬ 
 tress in war, all of which are evidenced in many of her cult 
 titles. As ministering to these ends, she presided over the 
 industrial arts (in Athens over the cultivation of the olive) 
 and the life and growth of the family and was a patroness of 
 athletics. She shared with Zeus the giving of Victory, and 
 Nike, whom we will consider next, was an emanation from 
 her. Her cults, though evidencing little of the profound re¬ 
 ligious consciousness found in those of Zeus and Apollo, were 
 always noble and a clear reflex of civilized Hellenic polity. 
 
 There are a few scattered cults that indicate her presidence 
 over matters independent of those mentioned above; such as 
 that of Athena Hygeia at Athens in the sixth century B. C. 
 and Athena Aithyia (of the gulls) on the Megarid coast. 
 Several others suggest control over the waters and the protec¬ 
 tion of mariners, but generally she personified no physical 
 element. Torch-races were run in her honor. 
 
 The conventional representations of Athena show her 
 draped in a long tunic and sometimes with a mantle. She 
 wears either the lofty crested Pheidian helmet or, less often, 
 the unadorned Corinthian one, and is shown either rushing 
 to battle as the Athena Promachos or standing. Sometimes 
 both shield and lance are raised, sometimes she leans on one 
 with the other resting on the ground, as the peace-loving 
 goddess who has achieved victory. Sometimes she then holds 
 a patera and sometimes she pours a libation from it on an 
 altar. More rarely she is pictured seated, and, occasionally, 
 overthrowing an Earth-giant. Her conventional attributes are 
 the olive branch, owl, serpent (as Athena Hygeia and in 
 Etruria), lance, helm, and shield which last often shows the 
 Medousa head on it when the work is minute enough. Rarer 
 attributes are a cock, a lamp or a distaff and spindle. 
 
 On several early gems she has wings (in Etruscan art 
 she often has them as do many other deities) ; on one she is 
 
218 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 shown with Diomedes in a chariot; on one she has a cornu¬ 
 copia and on another a mask, but these last two are excep¬ 
 tional and unique in spirit. In later art she sometimes holds 
 a thunderbolt. 
 
 Athena-Nike (rare) holds a helmet in her hand. 
 
 NIKE—VICTORY 
 
 (PI. V, 7; IX, 12, 13; XVIII, 22; XX, 12; XXI, 17; XXIII, 24; 
 
 XXIV, 14, 15; XXV, 9; XXVIII, 18; XXIX, 7, 17) 
 
 Coming now to this emanation of Athena, perhaps the 
 most frequent of all the figures on gems, with the exception 
 of Fortuna and, possibly, Hermes, we find her generally rep¬ 
 resented in a tunic, often a short one, and sometimes with 
 the upper part of her body nude. Very rarely she is altogether 
 nude or with only a scarf or bit of drapery. Usually she is 
 winged; always so, I think, in later times, and her conventional 
 attributes are the palm branch or wreath. In rare instances, 
 where she comes as a herald of victory, she bears a caduceus. 
 A trophy, too, is a somewhat rarer attribute, and a candelabra, 
 a very rare one. Once I have seen her pictured with an eagle, 
 once casting dice, and once with a thunderbolt. Not in¬ 
 frequently she is figured sacrificing a bull, often writing on a 
 shield and very often driving a chariot with two or four horses. 
 
 Nike is also one of the commonest figures shown with 
 other gods, often as a Victoriola borne in the hand of Zeus, 
 Athena, Fortuna or Ares, and it is not unusual to find one or 
 two Nikes crowning a Jupiter Serapis, often between legionary 
 standards and perhaps with an altar and an eagle, evidently 
 a popular signet type for soldiers of the Middle and Lower 
 Empire. It is also natural to find her worked in on gems in 
 combination with sundry luck-bringing symbols. 
 
 ARES—MARS 
 
 (PI. XXIII, 22—24. See PI. XVII, 12; XIX, 4) 
 
 This god is very rare on Greek gems, but the types of 
 
ARES, APHRODITE 
 
 219 
 
 Mars Ultor and the Mars Gradivus striding forward with a 
 trophy are common on Roman work of the Empire. The 
 first is shown as a standing figure, with spear and shield rest¬ 
 ing on the ground. Mars Navalis was first figured after the 
 Battle of Actium, his foot on the prow of a ship and holding 
 a Victoriola in his hand. The face type is usually unbearded. 
 In Greek archaic art and on gems of purely Roman character 
 he wears armor; on Hellenistic gems or Roman that draw 
 their inspiration from the Hellenistic, he is nude save for the 
 helmet. Sometimes he is fighting an Earth-giant and occas¬ 
 ionally he is shown with Cupid in some pose suggesting the 
 latter’s superiority. 
 
 His attributes beside the spear, shield, Victoriola and 
 trophy, are, more rarely, the torch, wreath or palm branch. 
 The wolf and the woodpecker were sacred to him in the animal 
 world, but they attend him on gems very rarely. The ram was 
 sacrificed to him. 
 
 APHRODITE—VENUS 
 
 (PI. VII, 11, 15; VIII, 20, 23; IX, 3, 15; XIV, 11; XV, 4, 8, 12; 
 
 XIX, 8?, 10, 13?; XX, 10; XXII, 5; XXIII, 6, 10, 21; 
 
 XXIV, 10—12) 
 
 This goddess, more or less popular in all times, was origi¬ 
 nally an Earth-divinity of probably Oriental origin. Her 
 numerous identifications with barbaric deities, such as Ishtar, 
 Attar, Atargatis, Astarte, Derketo, Belit, Mylitta, and Tanit, 
 connect her with the Assyrian, Aramaic, Canaanite, and Phoe¬ 
 nician theologies; Anaitis takes her into the Persian, and Allat, 
 among the Syro-Arabians. There also seems to have been identi¬ 
 fication in some Greek cults with Athena, Pasiphae, and, pos¬ 
 sibly, with Europe, Ariadne, Harmonia, Hippodameia, and 
 Phaidra. 
 
 As Aphrodite-Persephone there was a certain Under-world 
 relation and, thence, a connection with the Fates, Furies, and 
 Nemesis. Here the poppy and the tortoise were sacred to her 
 and this idea was current in Etruria. 
 
220 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 As Aphrodite Epitragia, a cult of the Attic coast, she 
 rides a goat, and at Thespiai she was worshiped as a Moon- 
 goddess, under the name of Aphrodite Melainis and with the 
 crescent as a symbol. 
 
 She was even a war-goddess in some Greek cults, and civic 
 and political provinces came to her as a goddess of marriage 
 and birth. Her control of human fruitfulness, first on moral 
 lines and, later, without restrictions, doubtless grew out of 
 her early care over the produce of the soil which gave her the 
 kalathos as an emblem, not appearing, however, to my knowl¬ 
 edge on any gem, though I have found the cornucopia in one 
 instance. As a city goddess she wore the turret crown in 
 art, but neither has this been identified on any gems I have 
 seen. It is always possible, however, and, as an attribute, 
 may have led to the identification with Cybele. 
 
 As a sea-goddess, suggested by her birth, her cults were 
 wider and more enduring and carried with them such attributes 
 as the rudder, prow, dolphin, and mussel-shell. Horses, es¬ 
 pecially sea-horses, and other sea-monsters, occur with her on 
 gems but it is usually doubtful whether such representations 
 are of Aphrodite or of Amphitrite. As Aphrodite Euploia (of 
 the fair voyage) and under like titles she may be figured 
 with any appropriate attribute. 
 
 Coming down, however, to the usual gem pictures, it is 
 Aphrodite the woman that prevails through Greek art and 
 that inspired the work of the gem-engravers. Usually draped 
 in early art, an altogether modest representation; in Hellenistic 
 times the drapery was apt to be very slight or non-existent: 
 a scarf, a mantle which has slipped down about the legs leaving 
 the body nude, or, following the ideals of the Hellenistic 
 sculptors, she appears entirely nude, as if coming from the 
 bath or born from the sea. An early gem shows her draped 
 and rising from a flower, and the Aphrodite Urania, the celes¬ 
 tial Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus and Harmonia instead of 
 Dione as in the generally accepted legend, is always draped. 
 In this phase she was adopted at Rome as the Venus Genetrix 
 or Mother of HSneas and, thence, of the Roman people. The 
 
APHRODITE, THE GRACES 
 
 221 
 
 tortoise seems to have been an attribute of this type as well 
 as of the Chthonian Aphrodite. It was under Julius Caesar, 
 who adopted the Venus Victrix as his patron goddess and wore 
 her on his signet, that the Venus Genetrix representation was 
 changed to fit his taste and that of his times, and the con¬ 
 ventionalized form commonest on Roman gems took shape. 
 This statue type which occurs in numerous gem engravings 
 of all degrees of merit, shows the goddess beside a column, her 
 weight resting on one leg, the other flexed, with a shield beside 
 her and carrying a spear while she holds a helmet in one hand. 
 Naturally the details were sometimes varied on the gems. 
 
 Through all Greek and Graeco-Roman art there are many 
 gem pictures of Aphrodite and Venus in all kinds of what may 
 be called genre scenes. Eros and, later, Cupid, and his at¬ 
 tributes such as bow, quiver, torch, and butterfly are shown 
 with her in all manner of compositions. Sometimes she has a 
 shield in other than the Victrix type. Here one foot is apt 
 to rest on a slight elevation and the figure seems more akin 
 to that of Nike. Priapic Herms also occur in Venus pictures 
 on later gems, both Greek and Graeco-Roman. The legends 
 of her loves are found illustrated rather more rarely. Alto¬ 
 gether, there is little of the courtesan in Aphroditic art, as 
 there was little in her worship until it became corrupted in 
 degenerate times. 
 
 Attributes other than those already mentioned are the 
 mirror and the dove, also the swan, swallow, sparrow, and the 
 myrtle, rose, apple, and bathing urn—all undoubtedly more 
 or less rare. Rarer still is the bull, and an unidentified bird, 
 called the iynx, was also sacred to her. Eastern emblems are 
 the griffin, roe, and egg. The Graces and, sometimes, but less 
 typically, the Seasons, attend her in mythology, but I do not 
 know of them on ancient gems. Aphrodite was apt to be a 
 subject favored by the better artists, and these were generally 
 hostile to compositions containing more than two figures. 
 
 THE CHARITES—GRACES 
 
 In art these were first represented draped. Later they 
 
222 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 were shown nude and either joining hands or embracing. Com¬ 
 mon on modern gems, I have never seen them on an ancient one. 
 
 EROS—AMOR—CUPID 
 
 (PI. V, 21; VII, 4, 11, 15; IX, 3, 4; XII, 25; XIV, 11; XV, 3, 4, 7, 8; 
 
 XVIII, 9, 10; XIX, 5; XX, 10; XXI, 3; XXIII, 8; 
 
 XXIV, 1—3, 6—8, 12; XXV, 2; XXVI, 9; 
 
 XXVII, 18; XXIX, 8, 9, 18) 
 
 Perhaps one of the oldest seats of the worship of Eros was 
 Thespiai in Boeotia where his image was, like most of the 
 earliest representations of Greek gods, a rough unhewn stone. 
 
 His developments were governed by artistic rather than by 
 cult influences. For this reason he is shown in more varied 
 poses and occupations than any other divinity and, in Roman 
 times, when Amor or Cupid, not a native deity, was evolved 
 as a mere adaptation of Eros, he had little religious signifi¬ 
 cance, and the fantastic and humorous were allowed full swing 
 in the art that may be said to have utilized him. 
 
 All the earlier Greek artists represented him as a beauti¬ 
 ful boy just verging upon youth, nearly always nude and with 
 wings. After Alexander the childish type, so well known to 
 modern art, began to take shape and finally became the con¬ 
 ventional form under which he was pictured. 
 
 Of course his characteristic associations are with Aphro¬ 
 dite and with Psyche, but there is hardly any occupation in 
 which he is not or may not be found. It may be well to add in 
 this connection that, from the general appeal of the subject, 
 Cupid pictures are common among the forgeries, and the broad 
 scope of the genuine work makes it rather more difficult than 
 with other figures to distinguish the false. 
 
 His regular attributes are the bow, arrow, quiver, and 
 torch. 
 
 PSYCHE 
 
 (PI. XI, 23?; XIX, 3, 10, 14; XXIV, 5; XXVI, 2; XXIX, 9) 
 
 From her constant association with Eros, Psyche should 
 
PSYCHE, DIONYSOS 
 
 223 
 
 be considered in this connection. A late appearance in Greek 
 story and art, we nevertheless find the soul represented as a 
 butterfly or a maid with butterfly’s wings as early as the sixth 
 century, B. C. She is quite common in Hellenistic and later 
 pictures, nearly always draped or partly so and winged, gener¬ 
 ally with butterfly wings. The butterfly was her emblem and, 
 by its appearance in the field of gems, frequently serves to 
 identify an otherwise uncertain figure or head. Down to the 
 end of Graeco-Roman art she was often pictured as a butterfly. 
 On one gem I find her with a torch, on another, with a caduceus, 
 evidently symbolic of Hermes in his psychopompic character. 
 
 There seems to have been some connection between Psyche 
 and Nemesis, as we find representations of a maiden with 
 typical bent arm and the butterfly, also busts with a veil 
 thrown over the back of the head and a butterfly in the field, 
 which probably have reference to this association of ideas. 
 
 DIONYSOS—IACCHOS—BACCHUS—LIBER 
 
 (PL VII, 3; XIV, 6, 13; XV, 13; XVIII, 8; XIX, 1; XX, 13; XXI, 21; 
 
 XXII, 2; XXIII, 5; XXVIII, 17) 
 
 Pre-eminently an Earth-god and adored as such, with De¬ 
 meter and Persephone, the cults of Dionysos were widespread 
 and the Oriental element is more or less prominent in most of 
 them. His was a worship most difficult to maintain in Hellenic 
 purity, most susceptible to barbaric influences and to degener¬ 
 ate into all manner of orgiastic excesses and licentious rites. 
 He is common on gems, especially on those of the later develop¬ 
 ments. 
 
 In early Greek and Etruscan art he is always represented 
 robed, bearded, generally crowned with the vine, and of benig¬ 
 nant aspect. This type pertained through all time as an ar¬ 
 chaism, though the dignity of it was often lost in the emphasis 
 of the vicious tendencies of his worship. Later representations 
 altogether favored the beautiful youth and, occasionally, the 
 child type, often of an effeminate aspect and generally nude 
 or nearly so. In one class of distinctly effeminate representa- 
 
224 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 tions he wears a long garment. He is seldom throned but often 
 in a reclining posture and sometimes riding a panther or in 
 a chariot drawn by these, his favored beasts. Also the bull, 
 lion, fawn, lynx, tiger, ass, goat, serpent, and dolphin were sacred 
 to him, and he wears, often, a panther’s or a fawn’s skin. The 
 goose, too, seems to have been related to many Dionysiac and 
 kindred Aphroditic cults. His typical attributes are the thyr- 
 sos, wine cup, grapes, vine, laurel, ivy, and rose. A comedy 
 mask was a not uncommon attribute, as of one who presided 
 as a genial god over poetry, music, and the drama and was thus 
 related to Aphrodite, Eros, the Graces, and the Muses. Some¬ 
 times, even, he is symbolized by a mask. His relation to Apollo 
 seems, rather, to be based on his inspiring to prophecy. His 
 most ancient images displayed the phallus as an emblem of 
 generative power, but I do not know of this idea being empha¬ 
 sized on a gem. On one Etruscan scarab he carries a cornu¬ 
 copia, and on an early Greek vase he rides a bull. 
 
 His companions in later art, when he is not shown alone, 
 are Seilenos or one or more satyrs, nymphs or bacchantes and, 
 of course, his mythological life is sometimes pictured, as with 
 Ariadne. 
 
 As Zagreus, the horned child of Zeus and of Persephone 
 or Demeter, his Under-world associations are emphasized and 
 his being born anew symbolizes the spring vegetation. The 
 Orphic cults had special regard for this phase of him but I 
 have never seen a gem that seems to express it. 
 
 Most prominent among his Eastern identifications is that 
 with the Thracian and Phrygian god, Sabazios, who was, some¬ 
 times, also identified with Zeus and whose orgiastic worship, 
 closely affiliated with that of Rhea-Cybele and Attis, was in¬ 
 troduced into Athens in the fifth century B. C. and, in the days 
 of later paganism, was widely spread in Italy. Also a god of 
 dying and reviving nature, his especial emblem was the serpent. 
 The gem artists seem to have neglected him but he is possible 
 on unexplained or new stones. 
 
 The Italian Liber, god of wine, was also identified with 
 Dionysos. 
 
SEILENOS, SATYRS 225 
 
 SEILENOS 
 
 (PI. IV, 1; V, 1, 23; VI, 7, 11; XII, 13; XIII, 8; XIX, 1. 
 
 See XXI, 13; XXVII, 3, 4) 
 
 Of the lesser divinities that are connected with Dionysos 
 or Bacchus, Seilenos is the most important, both intrinsically 
 and on the score of his frequent appearance on gems. A prim¬ 
 itive woodland and fountain deity in Asia Minor, with a care 
 over animals and gifted with music and prophecy, he was taken 
 up by Greece as the son of Pan or Hermes and a nymph, the 
 oldest of the satyrs and the teacher of Dionysos. In later art 
 he is just a drunken old satyr, often accompanied by a goat 
 or riding on one or on an ass. Sometimes a rooster or a hare, 
 but usually the amphora, wine cup or wine skin is found with 
 him. Not infrequently on Etruscan gems he is sailing on an 
 amphora or on a raft supported by them, and, throughout the 
 early Italian cycle, he seems to be closely related to Herakles. 
 On one gem he is shown with a sphinx, on one with a lyre, and 
 on a third, an archaic Greek stone, he is pronouncedly itliy- 
 phallic and drives a chariot drawn by lions. 
 
 His figure is nearly always naked, that of an aged satyr, 
 with a tail, often with animal ears, snub-nosed, bearded, usually 
 pot-bellied, and sometimes with a hairy body. Occasionally he 
 has little horns. 
 
 In early Greek, Phoenician, and Etruscan art his figure 
 was undoubtedly powerful in some way as an amulet, though, 
 even then, he seems also to have been pictured solely with an 
 eye to the humorous possibilities which controlled in so many 
 later gems. Likewise, a Seilenos mask was often engraved for 
 its talismanic power, and when the Roman symplegmata be¬ 
 came the fashionable charms it was usually worked into the 
 design. 
 
 SATYRS 
 
 (PI. VIII, 18 22; XVI, 13; XVIII, 7; XIX, 1) 
 
 These figures belong especially in the Bacchic cycle. They 
 are common in gem pictures as purely art motives rather than 
 as expressing any religious idea, and their occupations are 
 
226 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 varied, though primarily those that lie within the province of 
 Dionysos. They are pictured with amphoras, wine cups, and 
 wine skins; drinking, pouring wine, and exhilarated or som¬ 
 nolent from its effects; dancing, playing flutes or cymbals, 
 drawing the garment from some sleeping nymph or struggling 
 with her, playing with Cupid or an animal, usually a goat, 
 and in compositions akin to what we call genre, but, as a rule, 
 sportive or humorous. We do not find them on early gems 
 when the ideas of wearers were more serious and the Bacchic 
 cycle unpopular, but in Hellenistic art and still more in 
 Graeco-Roman their place is well established. 
 
 Their figures are generally nude or nearly so, their hair 
 disordered, sometimes crowned with wreaths, and their point¬ 
 ed ears and little horns are often shown. Sometimes they 
 are ithyphallic but the tail is their most distinguishing charac¬ 
 teristic. The pedum or shepherd’s crook is a not uncommon 
 attribute and also the thyrsos or, for that matter, any of the 
 emblems of Dionysos. 
 
 The satyr, Marsyas, is indicated by his flute, or he is shown 
 bound to a tree and about to be flayed by Apollo (PI. XXIV, 
 13). 
 
 PAN—FAUNUS 
 
 (PI. VII, 14; VIII, 21?; XXI, 21?) 
 
 Belonging to the Dionysiac cycle, Pan was originally an 
 Arkadian nature-god of woodlands and a protector of flocks. 
 He also became a god of prophecy. Before the time of Praxi¬ 
 teles he is shown in human form but with horns sprouting 
 from his head and bearing a shepherd’s pipe or a pedum. 
 Later, the goat’s legs were given him but the earlier rep¬ 
 resentation was by no means given up, especially where either 
 an archaizing tendency or taste for the more attractive figure 
 as opposed to the grotesque dominated. Common attributes 
 were a garland or twigs of pine and a tortoise. Greek gems 
 of the good period show him with a bird in his hand. The 
 Romans identified him with the Italian Faunus or good spirit 
 of the woods. 
 
NYMPHS, BACCHANTES 
 
 227 
 
 NYMPHS 
 
 (PI. IV, 19; XV, 5?, 7?, 10; XXII, 10) 
 
 Lowest, together with the satyrs, among the divinities, 
 these personifications of Nature in her specific forms are the 
 loveliest of all the creations of Greek mythology, and, though 
 connected in many ways with many gods, yet seem to fall 
 naturally in place here as belonging, for the most part, on gems 
 at least, to the Bacchic cycle. 
 
 They are pictured as beautiful maidens, nude or lightly 
 clothed, and often with flowers or garlands. The satyrs are 
 their familiar companions. Also they are shown with Dionysos 
 and may appear wfith Pan, Herakles, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes 
 or in many other associations. The sea and ocean nymphs, 
 Nereids and Okeanids, are the natural companions of Posei¬ 
 don and his Tritons. Shells, dolphins, sea-monsters and other 
 emblems of the sea are their appropriate attributes. The 
 naiads, nymphs of streams and fountains, are often shown 
 drawing water or carrying it in an urn. Besides these are 
 the dryads or hamadryads, wood-nymphs each of whom was sup¬ 
 posed to have her life associated with that of some particular 
 tree. The oreads are the nymphs of the hills. The Nereid, 
 Galene, shown as the head and shoulders of a girl swimming, 
 is a common type of Hellenistic art (PI. XY, 10). 
 
 BACCHANTES 
 
 (PI. VIII, 22; IX, 6, 8; XIV, 9; XXI, 20) 
 
 Bacchantes or Mainads, while not necessarily divine 
 personages, are yet often nymphs. They are the especial com¬ 
 panions of Dionysos and typify the influence of the wine-god. 
 Wreathed with vine leaves and lightly clothed with fawn skins 
 or fluttering draperies, they are the embodiment of revelling 
 enthusiasm. Dancing, rushing madly forward, or overcome 
 by wine, they bear thyrsi, cymbals, swords, dismembered kids 
 or roe-calves and, sometimes, even serpents. 
 
228 GREATER GODS AND THEIR ASSOCIATES 
 
 HERMES—MERCURIUS 
 
 (PI, IV, 17; V, 17; VIII, 15; XII, 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 19; XIII, 19; XVII, 11; 
 
 XX, 2; XXII, 12; XXIII, 14—16. See XXVI, 5, 6) 
 
 As the deity presiding over worldly and, more especially, 
 commercial prosperity, Hermes is naturally one of the three or 
 four commonest figures on gem signets. 
 
 Originally, like most early divinities, an Earth-god of 
 harvests and flocks, with the usual Chthonian relations, his 
 later provinces grew out of the establishment of commerce and 
 the fact that his development best fitted him for the place. 
 Mercurius, his Roman identification, seems to have been a 
 trade god from pretty early times. 
 
 The first distinctive figures of Hermes, derived from the 
 column that personified all the gods in barbaric times, was 
 what we know as the Herm, a square pillar surmounted by a 
 bearded head and equipped with a phallus, and this representa¬ 
 tion pertains through all art along with the most artistic 
 later conceptions. Herms were set up by the roadways, es¬ 
 pecially at cross-roads, and came to symbolize the God’s care 
 over these means of civilized communication. 
 
 As the protector of flocks and herds, his early province 
 extends down into the latest times. He is pictured with a 
 sheep or a ram, often riding on one. 
 
 His Chthonian character, too, maintained itself, perhaps 
 fostered by the cult brotherhoods of Italy, and the Hermes 
 Psychopompos (conductor of souls) is shown on a long line 
 of gems where he appears with the half figure of a man issuing 
 out of the ground or from a jar symbolic of the Under-world. 
 Sometimes the soul is typified as a human-headed swan, a 
 butterfly or a girl with butterfly wings, whence the Psyche 
 myth. As such he was later identified with the Egyptian 
 Anubis. As a god of sleep and dreams he is closely related to 
 Hypnos. His control over buried treasure was a natural 
 resultant of wealth-giving and Under-world power. His mytho¬ 
 logical character showed him as the master of all manner of 
 cleverness, craft, lying, chicanery, even to the point of theft. 
 
HERMES, HEPHAISTOS 
 
 229 
 
 In fact, he was the especial patron of thieves. As herald and 
 messenger of the gods, he was invested with the diplomacy 
 necessary in one having ambassadorial functions and, thence, 
 again, probably came the Hermes Logios, god of eloquence. 
 
 As a patron god of the palaistra and all manner of gym¬ 
 nastic sports, it was as an exponent of skill rather than of 
 mere strength that he held his place. As such his attribute 
 was the strigil and, sometimes, the palm tree, as the source 
 of the oil used by athletes. 
 
 His inventions were many, including the lyre, whence the 
 tortoise was sacred to him, the shepherd’s pipe, and even, ac¬ 
 cording to later times, letters, figures, mathematics, and 
 astronomy. As god of trade he carries a purse. 
 
 His figure in early art was often bearded, as were the 
 Herm heads. Generally, however, and always in late represen¬ 
 tations, he is beardless. Occasionally robed on archaic Greek 
 gems, in all later art he is either nude or wears a mantle, short 
 traveling cloak or some light bit of drapery. 
 
 Besides those already referred to, his typical attributes 
 extending through all times are the petasos or broad-brimmed 
 traveling hat, sometimes winged, the winged sandals, and, 
 pre-eminently, the caduceus or herald’s staff, originally a rod 
 about the end of which two short branches intertwined, and, 
 later, the conventional form: a rod twined with two serpents 
 whose heads rise, facing, above the end. The rooster is his 
 most common attendant, possibly on the score of its reputa¬ 
 tion for being wide-awake, and on one gem a rooster is en¬ 
 graved wearing the petasos and holding a caduceus. A unique 
 specimen shows Hermes rolling a hoop, possibly as an emblem 
 of fortune. 
 
 HEPHAISTOS—VULCAN 
 
 This god is a very rare figure on gems. In ancient art 
 he wears a semi-oval cap and a tunic which leaves one arm and 
 shoulder bare. He is bearded, but on one of the few Hephaistos 
 gems, an Etruscan scarab, Sethlans, the Etruscan Vulcan, is 
 shown smooth-faced. His attributes are the hammer, tongs, 
 and other instruments of the iron-worker’s craft. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES WITH THEIR 
 ATTRIBUTES—MONSTERS 
 
 TYCHE—FORTUNA 
 
 (PI. XXV, 9, 21; XXIX, 7, 17. See PI. XIV, 12) 
 
 Among the lesser divinities, many of whom were personi¬ 
 fications of different virtues, the most important to the 
 student of gems, as being the commonest of all figures on these, 
 is Fortuna. She does not seem to be found on early signets, 
 though the temple of the Fortuna of Prseneste, with its oracle 
 given by the famous Sortes Prsenestinae (Prsenestian lots), 
 was a center of Italian pilgrimage from very ancient times. 
 With the growth of the more material superstitions in the 
 Hellenistic Age, however, Fortuna was widely worshipped, as 
 the personification of prosperity and, in Roman times, down to 
 the latest art, she is shown in a very considerable proportion 
 of the gem-pictures, usually as a single figure, but often with 
 other deities; sometimes seated but, as a rule, standing. 
 
 She is nearly always draped, a few half-draped figures 
 being of rather doubtful identification, and, sometimes, a veil 
 hangs at the back of her head. 
 
 Her attributes are, first and foremost, the cornucopia, 
 symbol of the gifts of nature, and the rudder or steering oar, 
 as guiding the affairs of the World. Rarer, is the wheel or 
 ball at her feet, typifying her unsteadiness. 
 
 There were many local cults that may be within the lines 
 of probable representation, such as the Tyche of Antioch, 
 sculptured by Eutyches as a seated figure with a mural crown 
 and with wheat-ears in her hand. 
 
 230 
 
ASKLEPIOS, HYGEIA, TELESPHOROS, RHEA 231 
 
 Also, through later times and in the general mixture of 
 deities and cults, it is not uncommon to find other goddesses 
 with attributes of Fortuna or Fortuna with theirs, such, for 
 instance, as an Artemis-Tyche. 
 
 ASKLEPIOS—^SCULAPIUS 
 (PI. XXIV, 19) 
 
 The worship of Asklepios, son of Apollo and god of heal¬ 
 ing, was widespread in Greece, especially in Peloponnesos. 
 Pergamos, Trikka in Thessaly, and Kos, all were centers of 
 his cult, and in Rome iEsculapius was especially honored after 
 293 B. C. 
 
 He is not uncommon on gems and is represented as a 
 bearded man, nearly always in a long himation or mantle, 
 though on one gem given in Furtwangler he is shown nude. 
 His attribute is a staff around which a serpent twines. A 
 cock was sacrificed to him. His attendants, when he has 
 them, are his daughter, Hygeia, and the boy, Telesphoros. 
 
 In later Roman art, iEsculapius was one of the deities 
 confounded with the Egyptian Serapis. 
 
 HYGEIA 
 
 (PI. XXII, 8; XXIV, 19) 
 
 The daughter of Asklepios is shown on gems as a maiden, 
 generally draped, rarely half nude, and giving drink to a 
 serpent. 
 
 TELESPHOROS 
 
 Pictured as a boy, the deity of recovery appears occasion¬ 
 ally with Asklepios or Hygeia. 
 
 RHEA—KUBELE (CYBELE)—MAGNA MATER 
 (PI. I, 5?; XXIII, 1) 
 
 The cult of Rhea, mother of Zeus and his brothers and 
 sisters, and worshipped in Rome as Magna Mater, was prom- 
 
232 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 inent in Greece. Not identical with Gaia or Demeter, she 
 was nevertheless closely allied to them as an Earth-goddess, a 
 personification of the procreative power of Nature. She seems to 
 have been the central figure of early Cretan theology where the 
 ox, serpent and lion were her attributes. Flowers and fruits 
 were naturally under her care. There, also, she was a war- 
 goddess with spear, bow, and helmet, and she seems to have 
 had some orgiastic character which was lost when she became 
 popular on the mainland of Greece, as being foreign to Hel¬ 
 lenic ideas and refinement. Pheidias sculptured her as a benign 
 matron with a lion and a tympanum or small drum. In one 
 sense she should hardly be classed among the lesser divinities, 
 but her real prominence throughout classical times seems to 
 have depended almost entirely on her identification with other 
 goddesses. 
 
 Whether Rhea was originally the same as the Phrygian 
 Cybele is not certain but that she was later pretty thoroughly 
 merged in her is clear. As Cybele she was not favored in 
 Greece, where such rites as hers, the extreme of the orgiastic, 
 were regarded with little favor, but in Rome of a later day 
 the popularity of her worship was very marked, even extend¬ 
 ing down beyond the Christian supremacy and making its in¬ 
 fluence felt in heretical sects. 
 
 As the founder of cities, the mural crown, a diadem of 
 towers, was Cybele’s attribute, but, even more generally, the 
 tympanum and the lion. She is usually shown either en¬ 
 throned between lions, in a chariot drawn by them or riding 
 on one. Also, the oak and pine were sacred to her. 
 
 A goddess of many associations and admixtures, both 
 Artemis and Aphrodite were confounded with her in some 
 cults and, as the former, she has the crescent moon on one 
 gem. 
 
 At Rome the worship of Magna Mater was introduced 
 from Phrygia in 204 B. C. The sacred black stone, her 
 emblem, was brought from that country and installed in a 
 temple built for it on the Palatine Hill. 
 
SYRIA DEA, KOURETES 
 
 233 
 
 SYRIA DEA 
 (PI. XXIII, 17) 
 
 This deity of generation and fecundity, worshipped in 
 Syria under the name of Atargatis, was introduced into Greece 
 after the death of Alexander and spread to Rome under the 
 Empire. We find her, according to the custom of later pagan¬ 
 ism, with a long list of identifications and connections, and 
 she shares the attributes of Juno, Venus, Rhea, Cybele, Min¬ 
 erva, Diana, and others. On Roman monuments she is, gen¬ 
 erally, like Cybele, enthroned between lions. The fish was 
 sacred to her. 
 
 KOURETES, KABEIROI, IDAIAN DAKTYLOI 
 (See PI. XXVI, 29) 
 
 The Cretan Kouretes, the Idaian Daktyloi of Phrygia and 
 Crete, and the Kabeiroi of Samothrace, seem all to have been 
 in the nature of magicians and demonic smiths, with control, 
 primarily, over the working of metals. The first named, 
 according to legend, had, by striking their spears against their 
 shields, drowned the cries of the infant Zeus, so that Kronos 
 could not find and destroy him; the second had mysteries in 
 many places and secured their initiates against disaster, es¬ 
 pecially by sea, and the last named, besides having powers 
 over nature and patronage of music and rhythm, also afforded 
 magical protection against perils. 
 
 All of them were more or less identified with the worship 
 of Rhea and Cybele, and, from their mysterious magic-working 
 influence, we would naturally expect their appearance on gems. 
 
 The hammer and, possibly as to the Kabeiroi, the rhyton, 
 a peculiar kind of drinking cup ending in an animal’s head, 
 are attributes that might serve to identify them, but they may 
 usually be suspected in figures of metal workers, expecially 
 when these have any dwarfish or demonic aspect,—perhaps, 
 also, the not uncommon dwarf riding a sea-horse or sailing 
 on an amphora, may be one of the Daktyloi. Little definite 
 
234 
 
 LESSEE AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 is known about their worship which seems to have been, for 
 the most part, mysteries, and an atmosphere of vagueness en¬ 
 velops the subject. 
 
 GAIA—TELLUS 
 (See PI. IV, 8; XXVI, 17) 
 
 I do not know that the figure of Gaia, the original Earth- 
 goddess according to the Theogeny of Hesiod, or of Tellus, 
 her Roman equivalent, has ever been found on a gem. In later 
 Hellenistic art she was represented as a draped, matronly 
 woman with children in her lap and cattle around her, or 
 amid figures that personify fire or water. At Athens she was 
 worshipped as Gaia Kourotrophos, the nourisher of children, 
 and as Gaia Chthonios, a deity of the Under-world, to whom 
 were offered seven black lambs. At Delphi she was honored 
 as the primeval prophetess who sent forth the inspiring Earth- 
 vapors. 
 
 Europe has been regarded as a Creto-Bceotian form of 
 Gaia, and Themis, her daughter, goddess of law and order, 
 who sometimes was pictured riding a bull, was an emanation 
 from her. Conventional later representations of Themis show 
 a stately, robed woman holding a pair of scales and a cor¬ 
 nucopia to symbolize the blessings of order. 
 
 OKEANOS—OCEANUS 
 
 In ancient Greek mythology the River of the World 
 which bounds the Earth and Sea was personified, in art, as a 
 venerable man with a long beard and bull’s horns on his head; 
 on coins, as a man-headed bull. Crabs’ claws are also at¬ 
 tributes, but he seems to be very rare or non-occurrent on the 
 gems. 
 
 MELIKERTES 
 
 A Greek sea-deity, perhaps derived originally from the 
 Phoenician Melkart and identified with Palaimon and the 
 Roman Portunus, god of harbors, is shown in art mounted 
 
GLAUKOS, THANATOS, HYPNOS 
 
 235 
 
 or reclining on a dolphin. Megara and Korinth were especial 
 seats of his worship, but it extended throughout the Mediter¬ 
 ranean coasts. 
 
 GLAUKOS 
 
 In art he is usually the sea-deity,—an old man with long 
 beard and hair, a fish’s tail, and shells as attributes,—a dif¬ 
 ficult figure to distinguish on gems from the common Triton. 
 
 The Cretan Glaukos, son of Minos, may be shown in the 
 honey jar into which he fell and met his death, to be after¬ 
 ward brought to life by the seer, Polyeidos. 
 
 THANATOS 
 
 (PI. XXIV, 9. See PI. XIII, 15) 
 
 The Greek personification of Death is shown as a nude 
 figure, usually winged, with crossed legs to symbolize rest and 
 holding a lowered torch or leaning on an extinguished one. 
 Several winged figures on Etruscan scarabs may be Thanatos, 
 most plausibly one that is shown bending over an urn and 
 another that, together with a winged woman, possibly Eos, is 
 bearing away a dead hero (Memnon). Later Roman rep¬ 
 resentations are only to be distinguished from those of Cupid 
 by the crossed legs and the reversed torch. Furtwangler has 
 interpreted a figure with the reversed torch but whose legs are 
 not crossed as symbolizing wearied love. 
 
 HYPNOS 
 
 (PI. XIX, 19; XXIV, 17; XXV, 5) 
 
 The personification of sleep was pictured in ancient art 
 under various forms; often with the wings of an eagle or a 
 butterfly on his head. Sometimes he holds a poppy or a horn 
 from which he drops slumber. One Etruscan scarab shows 
 a winged figure of an old man holding a twig and standing 
 over a weary Herakles, doubtless a Hypnos, as is a similar 
 figure with a sleeping woman on his knees. 
 
236 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 MORPHEUS 
 
 The Greek Oneiroi (dreams) have not been to my knowl¬ 
 edge pictured on gems. Hesiod called them the children of 
 night; brothers and sisters of Hypnos and Thanatos. Later, 
 they were held to be sons of Hypnos. Morpheus, the best 
 known, appeared only in human form and was shown in art 
 as an old man pouring from a horn. He was worshipped es¬ 
 pecially at places where there were dream-oracles and at 
 shrines of Asklepios. Ikelos took the shape of a man or of 
 any kind of animal and typified the oppressive dreams we 
 call night-mares. Phantasos appeared in the guise of some 
 inanimate object. 
 
 EUTHENIA—ABUNDANTIA 
 (PL XXV, 18) 
 
 Euthenia is represented in art as a woman with poppies 
 or wheat-ears. At Alexandria she was pictured supported by 
 a sphinx, at Thyria with a goblet. The Roman personifica¬ 
 tion of abundance may well be common on gems, and where 
 we find a female figure with the cornucopia of Fortuna but 
 without the rudder, Abundantia may be suspected. As a gem 
 subject, however, she yields in talismanic suggestiveness to 
 Fortuna and would, naturally, be used much less frequently. 
 
 HEBE—JUVENTAS 
 
 Daughter of Zeus and Hera, cup-bearer of the gods, god* 
 dess of eternal youth, and identified with the Roman Juventas, 
 Hebe is very rare on gems. In art she is generally represented 
 draped, often with wings and pouring nectar from a vase. A 
 branch, also, is a frequent attribute. 
 
 As the wife of Herakles she was worshipped with him, 
 especially at Sikyon and Phleious, sometimes under the name 
 of Dia or of Ganymeda, an identification with her male suc¬ 
 cessor in office of divine cup-bearer. 
 
GANYMEDES, IRIS, EOS, METIIE 237 
 
 GANYMEDES 
 (PI. X, 6) 
 
 Ganymedes, the beautiful shepherd boy who, according to 
 the Homeric myth, was carried off by Zeus under the form 
 of an eagle to succeed Hebe as the divine cup-bearer after she 
 had become the bride of the deified Herakles, is represented 
 not very infrequently on later gems. He is generally shown 
 as a naked youth with the eagle descending upon him or bear¬ 
 ing him away or else drinking from a cup which he holds. Some¬ 
 times he carries a pedum, sometimes a dog or one of his flock 
 is beside him and sometimes he wears the Phrygian cap to 
 indicate his Trojan origin. 
 
 IRIS 
 
 Greek personification of the rainbow and especial mes¬ 
 senger of Hera and sometimes of Zeus, Iris is figured in ancient 
 art draped and with wings; occasionally, also, she has winged 
 feet. She carries the caduceus of Hermes and, sometimes, 
 a vase. 
 
 EOS—AURORA 
 
 (PI. VIII, 9. See PI. XI, 24; XIII, 15) 
 
 Eos is usually shown on late gems, either in a chariot or, 
 winged and draped, hovering in the sky or moving before Ares. 
 Sometimes she carries a torch or sprinkles dew from a vase. 
 On Etruscan scarabs a winged female carrying a dead hero 
 is, probably, Eos bearing away the body of her son, Memnon, 
 slain before Troy, and on one probable picture of her there is 
 a serpent engraved in the field of the gem. 
 
 METHE 
 
 This deity, who presided over drunkenness and is said to 
 have been engraved on the signet of Kleopatra, is a nude female 
 figure, with such attributes as a cup, hydra, thyrsos, vine 
 branch or grapes. 
 
238 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 PRIAPOS 
 (PI. XV, 4) 
 
 The god of fertility and generation is usually pictured as 
 a Herm with phallic symbols and thyrsos, club or sickle. In 
 early art various ithyphallic figures may represent him. 
 
 MOIRAI—PARCAS 
 (PL XIV, 3) 
 
 The Fates, though well known in art, are not much in 
 the line of gem subjects. Little was to be gained by flattering 
 or striving to propitiate such inexorable deities. In art Klotho 
 is shown spinning the thread of life, Lachesis marking out the 
 destinies of men on a globe, and Atropos severing the thread 
 with her shears, showing the hour on a sundial, drawing a 
 lot or holding scales. Occasionally they have wings on their 
 heads. 
 
 EUMENIDES—ERINYES 
 
 The Furies, avengers of crime, are also not found on gems, 
 except, perhaps, in the composition of some hero-picture, pos¬ 
 sibly with Orestes. In such a role the Fury might be difficult 
 to identify except from the context. 
 
 In early art they were representations of terror, with long 
 robes and twining serpents for hair. Later, they were softened 
 into beautiful virgins, with or without snakes about their 
 heads, sometimes with wings and carrying torches, scourges or 
 sickles. 
 
 MEDOUSA 
 
 (PI. V, 10, 22; VI, 6?; XI, 14; XII, 9; XVIII, 18; XX, 8; XXI, 4; 
 
 XXII, 1; XXIX, 21) 
 
 The figure or head of this one of the Gorgons best known 
 in art was always considered a most powerful talisman and 
 appears on the gems of all periods; often together with other 
 luck-bringing types and emblems. 
 
ME DO USA, HORAI 
 
 239 
 
 In all early representations, Phmnician, archaic Greek, 
 and Etruscan, she is a thing of horror and fear, with bristling 
 serpent hair, distorted face, and, often, protruding tongue. 
 In Phoenician art the figure is usually naked, with wings, and 
 often with a second pair which are sometimes attached to her 
 legs. On archaic Greek and Etruscan gems, she is robed, 
 usually with wings or double wings, sometimes brandishing 
 serpents, and, once, with Herakles, where both are holding 
 up lions. On Etruscan scarabs she is also pictured being slain 
 by Perseus or he is seen bearing the severed head. In early 
 Roman art w r e find usually the head, either in the hands of 
 Perseus or fixed on the shield or breastplate of Athena or of 
 some hero. 
 
 In later art it is the head alone that is a favored gem pic¬ 
 ture, and its horrors are eliminated with the exception of the 
 serpent hair which is, often, merely suggested in a way to 
 take nothing from the beauty which now generally charac¬ 
 terizes the face. On these heads, also, there is apt to be a pair 
 of wdngs. 
 
 HORAI 
 
 Varied at different times and places as to their number 
 and names, the Hours or Seasons were attendants of Aphro¬ 
 dite, though less typically so than were the Graces. Origi¬ 
 nally they were Eunomia, Eirene and Dike. 
 
 Eirene, goddess of peace and identified wdth the Roman 
 Pax, w as also worshipped as a goddess of wealth and is rep¬ 
 resented as such, w r itH the infant Ploutos in her arms. Her 
 attributes are the cornucopia, olive branch, ears of wheat, 
 caduceus, and, on one gem, a sceptre. Rarely she is winged. 
 As Pax she carries an olive branch. 
 
 Astraia, later identified w r ith Dike (Justice), was the 
 Virgo of the constellations. Her attributes are the scales or 
 a crown of stars. A harvest season sign, she often carries a 
 W’heat-ear on gems of Imperial times. 
 
 There were, also, four Horai who represented specifically 
 the four seasons. Of these the best knowm, Chloris, goddess of 
 
240 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 spring and flowers, was identified with the Roman Flora. If 
 found on ancient gems she would probably be crowned with 
 flowers or holding them and difficult to attribute with much 
 certainty. She is especially dangerous, as being more or less 
 a favorite in modern work. 
 
 JEQUXTAS 
 (PI. XXV, 16) 
 
 This Roman personification of the fairness that represents 
 the spirit rather than the letter of the law, needs a separate 
 heading as being not infrequent on Roman gems. The scales 
 are her attribute. 
 
 VERTUMNUS AND POMONA 
 
 Latin god and goddess of the fruits of the Earth, who pre¬ 
 sided over the changing year. I have found neither on gems. 
 Art attributes were fruits or the pruning knife. 
 
 SATURN 
 
 (See PI. XXI, 19?) 
 
 An ancient Italian god of sowing and harvest, later identi¬ 
 fied with the Greek Kronos. The sickle was his symbol. 
 
 JANUS 
 
 (PI. XXVIII, 13) 
 
 This Roman god appears occasionally on the gems as two 
 bearded heads with the backs combined, as in the Roman ses. 
 Bearded double masks, back to back, may be meant to rep¬ 
 resent him. As the porter of the gates of Heaven, the staff 
 and key were his attributes. In very late art he is sometimes 
 shown unbearded and in one hand he holds the number 
 300 (CCC), in the other 05 (LXV), as indicating the days of 
 the year. This, however, would hardly be found on a gem. 
 
VEIOVIS, HERMAPHRODITOS, DEA ROMA 241 
 
 VEIOV1S 
 
 Also an old Italian deity, early forgotten and unlikely on 
 gems. He was identified with Apollo, Zeus and, later, with 
 Dis. A goat was sacrificed to him. In early art he was pic¬ 
 tured beardless and with a bunch of arrows, which was, also, 
 one of the conventional representations of a thunderbolt, but 
 his cult seems to have died out at an early date. 
 
 HERMAPHRODITOS 
 
 The bisexual figure, derived etymologically from Hermes 
 and Aphrodite, was a favorite subject in later art. Artistically 
 a creation of fancy, it did not appear before the fourth 
 century B. C., was connected with the Dionysiac and Erotic 
 cycles, and bore their attributes rather indiscriminately. 
 Indicated by the bosom of a woman and masculine genitals, 
 the type appears occasionally on gems. 
 
 DEA ROMA 
 (PI. XXV, 3) 
 
 Foremost in frequency in gem pictures among the long 
 list of Roman personifications, most of which appear seldom 
 or never on gems, is the rather popular figure of the World- 
 conquering city, worshipped, first, in the second century, in 
 Asia Minor, as a form of Tyche, with a mural crown and 
 various attributes of power and prosperity. Under Augustus 
 the cult in many Hellenic cities was connected with that of 
 the deified Julius Caesar and with the complimentary worship 
 of the Emperor. She seems to have been associated with 
 Venus Genetrix, and a double temple to both was built in 
 Rome by Hadrian. In her own city she was represented as a 
 fully draped figure with helmet, shield, and spear, often dif¬ 
 ficult to distinguish from Minerva, except in such cases as on 
 the gem where the shepherd Faustulus and the wolf stand be¬ 
 fore her. On Roman coins her head is often shown with a 
 winged helmet. Other city types appear on later gems and 
 
242 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 must be identified when found, secundum artem. (See PI. 
 XXV, 21; XXVIII, 20). 
 
 LIBYA 
 
 (PI. XVIII, 23) 
 
 This personification of the province of Africa is indicated 
 by the elephant skin head-dress with tusks and trunk. 
 
 /ETERNITAS 
 
 This personification holds in her hands Sol and Luna. It 
 has not been found on gems, but the symbols of the Sun and 
 Moon were figured in late, especially in Oriental, art, as typify¬ 
 ing eternity—that is, so long as these heavenly bodies shall 
 endure. 
 
 ANNONA (YEAR’S PRODUCE) 
 
 The patroness of corn importation, personified at a rather 
 late date, had as attributes the kalathos, ears of wheat, a cornu¬ 
 copia, and a ship. She carried a figure of Roma in her hand. 
 I have seen no gems. 
 
 CONCORDIA 
 
 Symbolized by a female figure with a veil, this personi¬ 
 fication of internal peace was worshipped at Rome as early 
 as 367 B. C. She was invoked together with Janus, Salus, 
 and Pax, and, by matrons, with Venus and Fortuna. In 
 Imperial times Concordia Augusta was invoked in favor of the 
 emperors’ matrimonial happiness. I know of no identified gem 
 representation. 
 
 FAMA 
 
 Fame, reputation, or good report, was personified as a 
 figure with a trumpet and spear. I know of no ancient gems. 
 
 FIDES 
 
 The personification of good faith in keeping one’s word or 
 oath was represented with outstretched right hand and a 
 
ROMAN PERSONIFICATIONS 
 
 243 
 
 veiled head. Her attributes were wheat-ears, fruits, the turtle¬ 
 dove, and, especially, two clasped hands. I know of no figure 
 on a gem, but the clasped hands, sometimes holding a stalk 
 of wheat between them, was a recognized device on rings sig¬ 
 nalizing a marriage or betrothal. (See PI. XXVIII, 16). 
 
 FELICITAS 
 
 This personification of good fortune, a draped female 
 figure, bore the cornucopia and the caduceus. I know of no 
 gem pictures. 
 
 HILARITAS 
 
 Mirth, cheerfulness, appears personified on the coins of 
 Hadrian, with a cornucopia and a palm, and with children 
 around her. Improbable on gems. 
 
 HONOS 
 
 The personification of honor was a youthful figure with 
 long locks, a chaplet of bay leaves, a sceptre, and a cornucopia. 
 I have never identified this on a gem. 
 
 VIRTUS 
 
 Warlike courage, to which Marcellus first raised a shrine 
 in Rome and, later, Marius, was a youthful figure with long 
 tresses and a richly ornamented helmet. Very doubtful on gems. 
 
 LIBERTAS 
 
 The personification of liberty had a temple on the Aven- 
 tine. She was sculptured as a richly dressed matron, with a 
 laurel wreath. After the death of Julius Caesar, she was 
 shown with a dagger and a liberty cap, a short-lived represen¬ 
 tation, though possibly preserved secretly by members of the 
 old aristocratic faction. 
 
244 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 PUDICITIA 
 
 The worship of modesty and chastity was a cult of patri¬ 
 cian matrons in Rome, certainly as early as the fourth century 
 B. C. The goddess was represented as a draped matron con¬ 
 cealing her right hand in her garment. Later she fell out of 
 favor for obvious reasons, but the cult was revived in Imperial 
 times, in honor of some of the empresses. Doubtful on gems. 
 
 SALTJS 
 
 As the personification of health, Salus was identified with 
 Hygeia and represented similarly. As a deity personifying the 
 welfare of the Roman State she had a temple on the Quirinal 
 as early as 302 B. C., where she was probably represented in 
 similar form. I know of no gems. 
 
 SECURITAS 
 
 The personification of security leans on a column with her 
 hand to her head. I have seen no gems. 
 
 PIETAS 
 
 Personification of domestic affection; she had a temple in 
 Rome at least as early as 181 B. C., vowed by Acilius Glabrio, 
 where she was shown as a matron strewing incense on an altar. 
 Her symbol was a stork. Doubtful on gems. 
 
 PROVIDENTIA DEORUM 
 
 The foreseeing care of the gods, as personified, has for 
 attribute a bird of augury. It is found, I think, only on coins. 
 
 SPES 
 
 (PI. XXV, 10; XXVIII, 21) 
 
 Spes or Hope, especially hope for the blessings of a fruit¬ 
 ful harvest and, in later times, for a fruitful marriage, was 
 a goddess of the future invoked at marriages and births. She 
 had several temples in Rome and, contrary to most of these 
 
SPES, PENATES 
 
 245 
 
 personifications, is found on a few of our gems. A youthful 
 female figure in a long robe which she raises slightly with her 
 left hand, she carries in the right a bud. On one gem, instead 
 of the typical bud, she holds a small figure of Bonus Eventus 
 with a patera and ears of wheat. 
 
 Many of the above personifications, together with others 
 even more vague and less familiar, were, naturally, adaptable 
 to what might be called personal cult-phases inspired by 
 motives of Imperial compliment. Such are Spes Augusta, 
 Securitas Augusta, Providentia Augusti, Concordia Exer- 
 citium, Fides Cohortium, Gloria Exercitus, Gloria Saeculi, 
 Gloria Romanorum, etc. 
 
 I have given the attributes stated above, mostly from coins 
 or statues and a few from gems which have been satisfactorily 
 identified, but there is no reason to believe that all of these 
 personifications were ever conventionalized in exclusive artistic 
 forms. An artist dealing with such a subject might well have 
 felt at liberty to express it in any way that might seem to him 
 satisfactory, and the student may find such representations in 
 figures that are puzzling in their vague approach to better 
 recognized types. In the matter of attributes, for instance, 
 the cornucopia belongs to most of them, because the good 
 qualities and satisfactory relations personified in such deifica¬ 
 tions were calculated to induce prosperity and plenty. Other 
 attributes are apt to be of as easy interpretation, save in rare 
 cases, like that of the raised robe that distinguishes Spes, the 
 reason for which must go back to some early cult idea and a 
 resultant type statue of which we have no record. 
 
 PENATES 
 
 These household deities of the Romans do not seem to be 
 pictured on gems. Many of the little bronze figures of them 
 which have been preserved show no especial distinguishing 
 characteristics, but sometimes they were represented dancing 
 and holding a drinking horn to symbolize prosperity. 
 
246 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 GENII 
 
 (PI. XXIII, 9; XXIV, 16) 
 
 According to Italian ideas, every locality and every man 
 had its or his genius or creator. Genii of places were generally 
 represented as serpents. The genius of the Roman People 
 stood in the Forum, a figure of a bearded man with a diadem, 
 cornucopia and sceptre. The genius of a person was usually 
 clothed in a toga, with the head mantled, and bore a cornucopia 
 and patera. We may also sometimes suspect such subjects as 
 the genius of Mars and the genii of the various emperors which 
 were worshipped and which appear on coins. Wings were 
 often added to these figures, but the cornucopia and, often, the 
 serpent were the conventional attributes. Owing to uncertain¬ 
 ties of identifications they may appear on gems more frequently 
 than the record shows, and figures of youths may be sometimes 
 suspected from the context to be meant to be genii. 
 
 The planetary genii shown on Gnostic amulets were 
 creations of quite a different kind and will be considered in 
 their place. 
 
 Of the foreign Oriental deities, worshipped through the 
 Roman World under the Empire, some have, from their associa¬ 
 tions, been treated already. The rest may be considered here. 
 There were a great number of these, and new types and com¬ 
 binations may always be looked for. Many are very difficult 
 to name, such as the figure covered with the skin of a fish and 
 carrying a basket, found on a gem and probably Babylonian 
 in origin. Combinations of Zeus and Baal evolved logically 
 and Tyche Pantheios, Minerva Pantheia, Bacchus Pantheios 
 and other Pantheistic combinations are found, leading up to 
 the idea of the Abraxas god invented by Basileides. 
 
 Of those that are shown in conventional and readily 
 identifiable forms, by far the most common is Harpokrates. 
 
HARPOKRATES, ISIS 
 
 247 
 
 HARPOKRATES—HORUS 
 (PL XV, 17; XXI, 11; XXIX, 20b, 26) 
 
 This Greek adaptation of the younger Egyptian Horus, 
 son of Isis and Osiris, was, as a deity of early vegetation, some¬ 
 times identified with Priapos and even with Eros. The Egyptians 
 represented him as a naked boy with his finger on his mouth 
 and, from a misunderstanding of this symbolism expressing 
 the idea of infancy, the Greeks made their Harpokrates the 
 god of silence and secrecy. He is always shown with his finger 
 to his lips, holding a cornucopia and with a lotos flower on 
 his head to indicate his Isiac relation. 
 
 Figures of Horus, according to the Egyptian type, are 
 common on Gnostic gems, a naked child with finger to his 
 mouth and seated on a lotos flower or in a crescent shaped 
 boat. Generally he carries a scourge, and various symbols and 
 names are often added, but the identification is always easy. 
 
 Together with Horus we find on the talismans of these 
 sects many figures taken from the Egyptian theogeny: the 
 jackal-headed Anubis, the ass-headed Typhon, the baboon and 
 ibis of Thoth, and all manner of adaptations and combinations, 
 each, often, unique and to be explained, if at all, only on its 
 own lines (PI. XXVI, 5; XXIX, 28a). 
 
 ISIS 
 
 (PI. XV, 11; XXII, 9; XXIII, 18) 
 
 The worship of this Egyptian goddess of procreation and 
 birth, the feminine principle in nature, shown in Egyptian and 
 Phoenician art with a cow’s head or horns, sometimes with 
 the moon’s orb between them, and, often, with the child, Horus, 
 in her lap, spread to Greece and, after the Second Punic War, 
 obtained a foothold in Rome, which it maintained in spite of 
 strong governmental opposition. Under the Empire it was 
 recognized and became very popular. Isis was often combined 
 with other deities. Her attributes were the lotos, sistrum, 
 cornucopia, serpent, wheat-ears, vase, and moon orb set between 
 
248 
 
 LESSER AND LATER DEITIES 
 
 horns. Her figure in Roman art was generally fully draped. 
 Rarely, as a patroness of navigation (Isis Pharia), she holds 
 a sail and, sometimes, she rides the dog Sirius. 
 
 MITHRAS OR MXTHRA 
 (See PI. XXIX, 19) 
 
 The figure of Mithras whose individuality, origin and cult 
 have been discussed in our historical sketch, was convention¬ 
 ally represented as a youth in Persian costume and cap, plung¬ 
 ing a sword into a bull. Raised and lowered torches were his 
 emblems, or the rising and setting of the Sun was symbolized 
 in some similar way. It is quite probable that he may be 
 figured otherwise than as given above, as in acts or postures 
 representing scenes in his mystic history, but the veil is dark 
 and our knowledge incomplete. 
 
 ABRAXAS OR ABRASAX 
 (PI. XXIX, 20a) 
 
 The conventional figure of the Abraxas Pantheios, common 
 on Gnostic gems, has a human body clad in a corselet, a cock’s 
 head and serpents instead of legs. On one arm he bears a 
 shield and in his hand a scourge, rarely a dart or sword and, 
 on one gem, a mace. On a few the head is a hawk’s or lion’s; 
 on one, an ass’, seeking to propitiate Typhon by the combina¬ 
 tion, and various attributes are sometimes pictured in the 
 field, as suited to a Pantheios. The figure, however, is always 
 unmistakable. 
 
 CHNUMIS OR CHNUBIS 
 (PI. XXIX, 22, 27) 
 
 The Agathodaimon is often figured on Gnostic gems in 
 the form of a serpent with a lion’s head surrounded by rays, 
 generally seven or twelve. 
 
ASTRAL POWERS, BES, MONSTERS 249 
 
 ASTRAL POWERS OR GNOSTIC GENII 
 (PL XXIX, 24) 
 
 These representations, generally very crudely executed, are 
 quite distinct from the genii of Roman mythology and rep¬ 
 resent the powers presiding over the different regions of the 
 heavens and over the heavenly bodies. They are always wing¬ 
 ed, generally with two pairs of wings. Sometimes they have 
 a bird’s tail and, often, four arms. They usually hold sceptres 
 and often the sacramental table is represented resting on their 
 heads. The extreme roughness of much of the work on these 
 stones makes it often difficult to determine just what is meant 
 to be pictured. 
 
 BES—BESA 
 (PL VI, 4, 6?, 8, 10, 12) 
 
 The figure of this Syro-Egyptian deity is very common on 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scarabs. The Egyptian type is 
 a bandy-legged dwarf, the Syrian is more shapely. In both, 
 however, the face has certain demonic characteristics. There 
 are evident associations between Bes and the Greek Herakles, 
 and, more especially, with Seilenos, so that representations are 
 apt to run toward either of these characters. The Seilenos 
 type of face is usually given him, often in its most brutalized 
 form. Usually he is shown on the scarabs fighting with an 
 animal or animals or holding them up in his hands to symbolize 
 his power. Specific provinces of Bes are to guard his worship¬ 
 ers against disease and, particularly, to aid women, to whom 
 he ministers in childbirth and, hence, to protect children. 
 
 MONSTERS 
 
 (PL X, 7b, 9; II, 1; III, lb, 9, 10; IV, IS; V, 6, 12; VI, 3; VII, 7; XIII, 22) 
 
 Turning back to the realm of Greek art, its monstrous 
 creations, many of which are familiar to us, deserve, never¬ 
 theless, a few words. As already detailed, all manner of com¬ 
 binations were used for signets, nearly always with a more 
 
250 
 
 MONSTERS 
 
 or less definite idea of invoking magical influence or aid for 
 the wearer. It will only be necessary to consider specifically 
 here those types whose mythological origins and recognized 
 names have made them conventional. 
 
 SPHINX 
 
 (PI. IV, 16; V. 14; X, 18; XVII, 17; XIX, 18) 
 
 The sphinx, derived from Egypt, was represented in the 
 earliest Greek art as a lion with a woman's head and usually 
 winged. Later, it sometimes showed the woman’s breasts, and, 
 still later, even more of her body. A serpent’s tail was 
 occasionally added. 
 
 GRIFFIN 
 
 (PI. II, 2, 16; III, 16; VI, 12, 17; VII, 6; X, 8; XXIX, 18) 
 
 The figure of this monster, Oriental in its origin, had the 
 body of a lion and the wings and head of an eagle. On one 
 very early gem it has also an eagle’s tail. 
 
 KENTAUROI—CENTAURS 
 (PI. V, 4; VII, 5; XVII, 3; XXV, 15) 
 
 These were beings with horses’ bodies and legs but with a 
 man’s body from the waist up instead of a neck. On archaic 
 Greek, Etruscan and Phoenician gems they are not infrequently 
 shown as men, legs, feet and all, with the hinder half of a 
 horse attached. Cheiron was the best known, as the tutor of 
 some of the most famous heroes, Asklepios in medicine, Achil- 
 leus in playing the lyre &c. Nessos, who was slain by Hera- 
 kles while trying to carry away Dejaneira, is also pictured in 
 art. 
 
 HIPPOKAMPS 
 (PI. XXV, 2) 
 
 Creatures, half horse and half fish. 
 
HARPIES, SEIRENS, CHXMAIRA, RIVER-GODS 251 
 
 HARPIES 
 
 Originally storm-demons that caused men to disappear, 
 they were, according to Hesiod, winged maidens with flowing 
 hair. Later they were represented as half bird, half maiden. 
 Apparently having little magic-working power, they are prob¬ 
 ably rarely if ever found on gems and, when occurrent, would 
 be very difficult to distinguish from some other forms, especial¬ 
 ly those of seirens. 
 
 SEIRENS 
 
 (PI. V, 5; VIII, 6; XIII, 16, 17) 
 
 These symbols of magic beauty and the power of song are 
 common on gems. They were represented as birds with women’s 
 heads or with the upper part of a winged woman set on bird’s 
 legs. 
 
 CHIMAIRA 
 
 (PI. Ill, 14; XXVII, 15) 
 
 This monster, destroyed by Bellerophon, is represented as 
 a lion with a goat’s head springing from its back and a 
 serpent tail. 
 
 RIVER-GODS (ACHELOOS) 
 
 (PI. IV, 7; X, 3; XIII, 23; XVIII, 24?; XXV, 7) 
 
 These creatures seem to have taken their conventional 
 form of a man-headed bull from the numerous self-transforma¬ 
 tions of which Acheloos, god of the river that ran between 
 iEtolia and Akarnania, was capable and to which he resorted 
 in his combat with Herakles. Through Sicily and the Greek 
 cities of Southern Italy, river-god cults were especially popular. 
 They are also represented as male heads with bull’s horns. 
 
 PEGASOS 
 
 (PI. Ill, 11; XIX, 18; XXVI, 11) 
 
 The winged horse, born of Poseidon and Medousa. Ac- 
 
252 
 
 MONSTERS 
 
 cording to the Alexandrian poets, the Hippokrene spring on 
 Mt. Helikon, which inspired to poesy, rose from a blow of his 
 hoof. 
 
 KERBEROS—CERBERUS 
 (PI. V, 9; XXVII, 17) 
 
 The three-headed watch-dog of the Under-world. 
 
 EARTH-GIANTS 
 
 (PI. XII, 21; XXII, 11; XXIII, 13) 
 
 On early Greek and Etruscan gems, these are usually rep¬ 
 resented as nude, wild looking warriors hurling huge rocks, 
 though, even then, we sometimes find the serpent-legs which 
 characterize them in later times. Rarely they have wings. 
 They are often shown being conquered by some god. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 Of the various heroes of the epic cycles shown on gems, 
 some are difficult or impossible to identify. It is not always 
 a thing to be positively stated whether a picture of some 
 warrior without any distinguishing characteristic is meant for 
 a specific personage, but, in such cases, the original meaning 
 counts for little and, to all our intents and purposes, the work 
 is simply an artistic conception of daily life. 
 
 Greater responsibility and much greater interest attaches 
 to certain figures w 7 hich, from their special attributes and at¬ 
 titudes, as well as from the similarity of repeated types, are 
 evidently meant for definite personalities but which seem to 
 carry no clear means of attribution. Such is the kneeling 
 figure of the warrior found on many early Italian gems and 
 concerning which Dr. Furtwangler hazards the guesses of 
 Marcus Curtius and Decius Mus (PI. XVII, 8). Neither seems 
 to me at all satisfying. Surely if it were the former, the horse 
 w r ould be shown or some suggestion of the plunge or the fabled 
 chasm would be introduced, as they are in other gem pictures. 
 As for the latter, while pictures of historic individuals and 
 occurrences are rare they are not unknown on Roman gems, 
 but any representation of the martyr-consul would surely bear 
 a suggestion of the peculiar feature of his sacrifice; the cincture 
 Gabinus. These figures must still be placed in a class where 
 others undoubtedly fall; heroes of some one of the many 
 poems of antiquity lost, perhaps, forever, possibly to be dis¬ 
 covered by some fortunate antiquarian or archaeologist. 
 
 On many Etruscan scarabs all difficulties, save those in- 
 
 253 
 
254 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 volved in Etruscan epigraphy and their torturing of Greek 
 names, are fully solved by the habit of placing in the field 
 of the gem the name of the hero represented, but such in¬ 
 scriptions have not infrequently been added on ancient scarabs 
 by modern forgers, and the Etruscan had a disturbing habit of 
 naming, quite arbitrarily, entirely impersonal figures. 
 
 Known Etruscan forms of Greek heroic names, bearing in 
 mind the fact that they read more often from right to left in 
 the impression, are 
 
 for Herakles—Ercle or Hercle 
 Kastor—Castur 
 Polydeukes (Pollux)—Pul- 
 tuke 
 
 Tydeus—Tute 
 Amphiaraos—Amphtiare 
 Polyneikes—Phulnice 
 Adrastos—Atresthe 
 Parthenopaios—Parthana- 
 paes 
 
 Ixion—Ichsiun 
 Orestes—U ruzthe 
 Agamemnon—Akhmiem 
 
 Aktaion- 
 
 Achilleus—Achale, Achele, 
 Achile or Achle 
 Odysseus—Ulusse, Ulxe 
 (or Utuse?) 
 
 Aias (Ajax)—Ainas or with 
 a digamma for the N 
 Theseus—These 
 Perseus—Pherse 
 Peleus—Pele 
 
 Klytaimnestra—Klutumus- 
 thra 
 
 Kyknos—Kukne 
 Kapaneus—Kapne 
 Ataiun 
 
 Of the heroes more or less popular on gems, first and fore¬ 
 most in overwhelming preponderance is 
 
 HERAKLES—HERCULES 
 
 (PI. Ill, 9; IV, 7, 25; V, 3, 10, 20, 24; VII, 13; IX, 9; X, 17; XI, 6, 21; 
 
 XII, 4, 5, 12, 23?; XIII, 2, 5, 9?, 12, 13; XV, 18; XVIII, 1; 
 
 XX, 1, 7; XXII, 13; XXV, 7, 19; XXVII, 11, 17) 
 
 Greatest of all the hero-creations of Greek fable is Hera¬ 
 kles. Always a figure pre-eminently muscular and powerful, 
 in early art he is often unbearded, in later, more frequently the 
 reverse. His typical attributes are the bow, club and lion’s 
 skin, the last two dating from Peisander of Rhodes, in the 
 
HERAKLES 
 
 255 
 
 latter half of the seventh century B. C., who also fixed the 
 number of the “Labors” at twelve, perhaps in imitation of the 
 contests of Melkart, the Phoenician Herakles, with the twelve 
 beasts of the Zodiac. The Carthaginians saw in him this 
 national deity and, somewhat Phoenicianized, he was a popular 
 figure on their scarabs. As a child he was sometimes shown 
 strangling serpents and, in Etruscan art, an amphora is often 
 pictured with him. He is also found bringing water from a 
 spring, catching it in his lion-skin or sailing on a raft buoyed 
 up by amphoras. Certainly in Italian mythology he had, together 
 with Seilenos, some control over springs and water, especially 
 hot springs, and the legends of his voyage across the sea in 
 the bowl of the Sun may be indicated on certain scarabs. 
 Drunkenness, too, seems to be associated with him and he is 
 often shown holding a wine cup. The wild olive and white 
 poplar were his sacred trees, the cornucopia was sometimes 
 given him as to a luck-bringing personage, and wild boars were 
 his sacrificial animals. In Rome he was worshipped as Mou- 
 sagetes ^Master of the Muses) and on late gems he is occasion¬ 
 ally shown playing a lyre. In early Italian cults he seems to 
 have been connected in some more or less vague way with the 
 shepherd hero, Garanus, the Italian conqueror of Cacus, and 
 with the deity, Sancus or Dius Fidius. 
 
 Many of the “Labors” are popular on gems, the first perhaps 
 most so. Given in order they are: 
 
 1st: The conquest of the Nemean lion. 
 
 2nd: The conquest of the Lernian hydra or water drag¬ 
 on (Not infrequent). 
 
 3rd: The conquest of the Erymanthian boar (Rare). 
 
 4th: The capture of the Kyryneian hind (I have not 
 seen this on gems save on a cameo in the Berlin 
 Museum). 
 
 5th: The chase of the Stymphalian birds. He is thus 
 represented shooting at them with his bow. 
 
 6th: The gaining of the girdle of Hippolyte, Queen of 
 the Amazons (I have not found it on gems). 
 
 7th: The cleaning of the Augeian stables t (I have not 
 
256 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 found it on gems and the subject is an improbable 
 one). 
 
 8th: The capture of the Marathon bull, afterward slain 
 by Theseus. Herakles is pictured carrying a bull 
 on his shoulders. 
 
 9th: The capture of the man-eating horses of Diomedes. 
 Probably shown on several gems, on one of which 
 horses seem to be eating a man. Diomedes was 
 thrown by Herakles to his own man-eating steeds. 
 
 10th: The quest of the oxen of Geryon. (Not pictured 
 that I know of, though many adventures were in¬ 
 cluded in this labor, especially the voyage in the 
 Sun-bowl). 
 
 11th: The quest of the apples of the Hesperides. He is 
 thus sometimes shown holding an apple or a bough 
 or slaying the guardian dragon. 
 
 12th: The bringing of Cerberus from the Under-world. 
 (Not rare on gems). 
 
 Other exploits of Herakles found in gem pictures are the 
 killing of Kyknos and of Antaios (Herakles is shown wrestling 
 with the latter and lifting him from the ground), also his 
 fight with the river god, Acheloos, usually in the guise of a 
 contest with a man-headed bull. His apotheosis is found on 
 one Etruscan scarab, and on another he is seated on his 
 funeral pyre. 
 
 Still further adventures may be found, perhaps some 
 drawn from lost poems. An Etruscan scarab in the collection 
 of W. Gedney Beatty (PI. XII, 4) is a veritable puzzle in the 
 field of Herakles myths. 
 
 Omphale, whom Herakles was compelled to serve, is shown 
 on a series of beautiful gems as a charming female figure, nude, 
 save for the lion’s skin, and bearing the hero’s club. (See the 
 Renaissance copy, PI. XXX, 13). He, on the other hand, has 
 been pictured in art with the distaff of the Lydian queen, but 
 I have never seen the subject on an ancient gem and I doubt 
 its occurrence, as not being in accord with the popular line of 
 Herakles representations. 
 
DIOSKOROI, THESEUS 
 
 257 
 
 ANTAIOS 
 (PI. XXV, 19) 
 
 Shown only in pictures of his being strangled by Herakles,, 
 
 KYKNOS 
 
 (PI. XI, 6) 
 
 Shown only in pictures of his being slain by Herakles. 
 
 DIOSKOROI 
 (PI. VIII, 2; XXIX, 1) 
 
 Kastor and Polydeukes (Pollux). Heroes of the young 
 athletes and warriors, and guardians of seamen, the twins 
 were honored from an early date at Sparta, Olympia, Athens, 
 and many other places in Greece, as w r ell as throughout Italy, 
 and, especially, at Rome, Ostia and Tusculum. They are rep¬ 
 resented as youths, usually with oval helmets and spears, 
 while two stars, either on the helmets or in the field of the 
 gem, symbolize their place in the heavens as the constel¬ 
 lation, Gemini. Often their horses, Xanthos and Kullaros, are 
 shown with them. A picture of the death of Kastor, on an 
 Etruscan scarab, is only identifiable by the inscription (PI. 
 XII, 11). 
 
 Their ancient symbol at Sparta was two parallel beams 
 joined by cross pieces, and their sea-sign was a flame on the 
 masthead. 
 
 THESEUS 
 
 (PI. XI, 11; XII, 23?; XX, 14) 
 
 An athletic figure, but slighter than Herakles, beardless, 
 sometimes in a chlamys and petasos, sometimes a lion’s skin, 
 but more frequently nude. The sword is definitely an early 
 attribute, from the story of his lifting the rock to obtain his 
 father’s shoes and sword. Therefore this act, too, often ap¬ 
 pears in his pictures. More especially on later gems the club 
 
258 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 is liis weapon and, often, lie lias both sword and club. His 
 conquest of the Minotaur or bull-headed man was a popular 
 subject. 
 
 PERSEUS 
 (PI. XI, 14; XII, 9) 
 
 A common figure on gems, often shown killing Medousa or 
 holding the head in his hand. Other attributes are the sickle¬ 
 shaped sword, the winged sandals of Hermes, and the helmet 
 of Hades, usually pictured with the wings and head of a bird. 
 
 AKTAION 
 
 (PI. XII, 20; XXIV, 18) 
 
 Shown either as a man attacked by dogs or, sometimes, 
 as peering over a rock at Artemis and with the stag’s horns 
 already sprouting from his head. These representations of his 
 crime and its punishment date only from Hellenistic times. 
 In early Etruscan art, for instance, he is pictured as a hunter 
 with his dog. 
 
 ORPHEUS 
 
 A rarer subject than those above described, in earlier art 
 he appears wearing a long robe, though his Hellenic character 
 is preserved. Later, he became Orientalized and was given the 
 Phrygian garb. His attribute is the lyre. 
 
 MELEAGROS—MELEAGER 
 
 Shown as hunter, often with a dog and with the Kalydonian 
 boar’s head as his attribute. 
 
 BELLEROPHON 
 (PI. XXVII, 15) 
 
 A warrior mounted on the winged horse, Pegasos, and, 
 usually, attacking the Chimaira. 
 
DANAE, ORESTES 259 
 
 DANAE 
 (PI. VIII, 12) 
 
 Pictured as a maiden receiving the shower of gold in which 
 Zeus descended on her. The falling gold is not always specific¬ 
 ally shown, but she expresses the idea by her upward look or 
 by holding out her robe as if to catch the blessing of the divine 
 favor. 
 
 ATALANTE 
 
 Also rare. She has no specific attribute, though we might 
 expect the Kalydonian boar’s head and skin, from the Arkadian 
 legend or, from the Boeotian, the golden apple she stopped 
 to pick up in the race with Hippomenes. 
 
 HYAKINTHOS—HYACINTHUS 
 (PI. X, 15d?;XII, 18) 
 
 Shown on one Etruscan scarab, as a youth bending over 
 a discus, with blood dropping from his head. 
 
 ORESTES 
 (PI. XVII, 23?) 
 
 No especial attribute. On one gem he is pictured a prison¬ 
 er before Iphigeneia at the shrine of the Tauric Artemis. He 
 may be shown slaying a woman (Klytaimnestra), where a Fury 
 is introduced in the scene to indicate that it is a murder rather 
 than a sacrifice. He might, also, be shown pursued by the 
 Furies, together with Pylades or, with Elektra, at the tomb of 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 KLYTAIMNESTRA AND ELEKTRA 
 
 As above. 
 
 JASON 
 
 Usually represented beside the prow of a ship and, on one 
 
260 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 gem, together with Medeia, taking the golden fleece from the 
 tree. 
 
 MEDEIA 
 
 Shown with a child or children. 
 
 ARGOS 
 (PI. XVII, 16) 
 
 Shown building the ship, Argo. 
 
 IKAROS AND DAIDALOS 
 (PI. XIII, 14?) 
 
 The former is pictured on one gem receiving one of the 
 wings just fashioned by his father, Daidalos, or, again, as a 
 youth equipped with wings. Daidalos is shown in the same 
 pictures as an old man, sometimes as a smaller figure, possibly 
 to suggest the idea of a magic working gnome. 
 
 TANTALOS 
 (PI. XII, 17) 
 
 Rare. Probably shown on two Etruscan scarabs as a man 
 bending over flowing water or an amphora as if to drink. The 
 inscription on one of these has been read, “Taitle.” 
 
 XXION 
 (PI. XII, 16) 
 
 Rare. I know of one gem, an Etruscan scarab, which rep¬ 
 resents him bound to his wheel. 
 
 K ADM OS 
 (PL X, 12; XII, 22) 
 
 Shown as a warrior contending with a serpent and rather 
 common on Etruscan scarabs, or with an amphora at the 
 spring. 
 
PROMETHEUS, OIDIPOUS 
 
 2G1 
 
 LEBA 
 
 (PI. XIX, 13?) 
 
 Pictured as a nude figure with Zeus in the form of a swan 
 and not rare on ancient gems. The more pornographic represen¬ 
 tations which we find quite commonly are generally works of 
 the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 
 
 PASIPHAE 
 
 She may be pictured rarely. One gem showing a half 
 draped woman beside a cow or bull has been thus identified 
 speculatively. 
 
 PROMETHEUS 
 (PI. Ill, 17a; XVII, 14) 
 
 Not an unusual subject on gems, he is pictured from early 
 times bound to the rock, usually with the eagle preying on 
 his liver. Also he appears on a series of gems as a magician 
 at work on the figure of a man. 
 
 OIDIPOUS—CEDIPUS 
 (PI. XVII, 17) 
 
 Pictured not uncommonly either propounding his riddle 
 to the Sphinx or killing her. 
 
 TITYOS 
 (PI. IV, 2) 
 
 He is shown on Etruscan scarabs pierced by the arrow of 
 Apollo. I know of no gem which shows him being preyed 
 upon by the two vultures of the fable, the only sure means 
 of distinguishing such a representation from that of Prome¬ 
 theus, 
 
262 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 ORTHRYADES 
 (PI. XVII, 5) 
 
 His is the not uncommon picture of a dying hero writing 
 on a shield to proclaim the Spartan victory over the Argives 
 at Thyrea. 
 
 ACHILLEUS 
 
 (PL XI, 4, 7, 8?, 15, 17?; XIII, 20, 24; XVII, 3, 13; XX, 15; XXV, 14) 
 
 One of the most widely pictured types of the Trojan War 
 cycle, he is to be distinguished on gems only as he appears in 
 some one of the scenes from his life. He is shown beardless, 
 with his arms beside him, meditating in his tent or receiving 
 the new arms brought him by Thetis. Also he appears playing 
 a lyre or, as a boy, being taught to play on it by the centaur, 
 Clieiron. Sometimes he is supporting the dying Amazon queen, 
 Penthesileia, and he is also found in his chariot with the body 
 of Hektor dragged behind. Priamos, too, is occasionally shown 
 kneeling before him and begging for the surrender of Hektor’s 
 body. Lastly, on a number of gems, he appears with his heel 
 pierced by the arrow of Paris which is to cause his death. 
 Undoubtedly other hero-pictures show him where, however, 
 the accuracy of the attribution begins to be more or less doubt¬ 
 ful. 
 
 THETIS 
 
 Probably shown on early gems mounted on a sea monster. 
 Later and rarely, she is pictured bringing the arms made 
 by Hephaistos for her son, Achilleus. 
 
 PRIAMOS—PRIAM 
 
 Shown usually as an old man, a suppliant before Achil¬ 
 leus; occasionally, in the scene of his death at the hands of 
 Neoptolemos and, on one gem, with Hermes, bringing home 
 the body of Hektor. 
 
PENTHESILEIA, PHILOKTETES 
 
 263 
 
 PENTHESILEIA 
 
 (PL XI, 15 ) 
 
 Shown as the Amazon queen overcome by Achilleus. Her 
 attribute is the double ax of the Amazons. The Amazon shield, 
 variedly crescent shaped, does not appear on early gems I have 
 seen but might readily be found on late examples. 
 
 HEKTOR 
 
 Identifiable in pictures representing his parting from An¬ 
 dromache and the infant Astyanax, also as dead and drawn 
 behind the chariot of Achilleus or being brought back to Troy 
 by Priamos and Hermes. 
 
 ANDROMACHE 
 
 Only with Hektor as above. 
 
 PHILOKTETES 
 (PL IX, 1; XIII, 21; XXV, 17) 
 
 A very popular gem subject. Usually the bow and arrows 
 of Herakles and the serpent that stung his foot serve to identify 
 him and he is often shown on the island of Lemnos, either nurs¬ 
 ing his wounded foot, fanning the flies from it with a bird’s 
 wing or limping with the aid of a staff. In certain group 
 pictures the warrior holding out his foot to be treated by 
 Machaon is, doubtless, he. 
 
 MACHAON 
 (Pl. XXV, 17) 
 
 The surgeon of the Greeks before Troy is pictured not very 
 commonly, usually treating the foot of Philoktetes or, per¬ 
 haps, in scenes where a warrior seems to be taking care of a 
 wounded comrade. 
 
264 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 ODYSSEUS—ULYSSES 
 (PL IX, 7; XIV, 10; XVIII, 2; XXV, 8) 
 
 One of the most popular of the hero types, as the embodi¬ 
 ment of diplomacy and cunning. He is shown bearded, either 
 with the semi-oval cap of a sailor and often a staff and being 
 recognized by the dog, Argos, or as a warrior, aiding Diomedes 
 to steal the Palladium or, again, in either character, seated and 
 pondering over some plan. Other pictures are less certain, 
 though on one gem he seems to be slaying Doion, on another 
 offering a wine cup, presumably to Polyphemos, on a third 
 ploughing, while Palamedes lays his child before him in the 
 furrow, and on a fourth inspecting the arms of Achilleus which 
 w T ere awarded him after that hero’s death. On Etruscan scarabs 
 he is found with the sack of Aiolos or, sometimes, sacrificing 
 a ram, preparatory to his descent into the Under-world. 
 
 DIOMEDES 
 
 (PI. XX, 5; XXV, 17) (PI. IV, 5) 
 
 Also a popular figure, though not to the same extent. 
 Usually shown as a beardless warrior with the Palladium, often 
 in company with Odysseus. Once he is pictured with Athena 
 in his chariot, and the third warrior in the Machaon-Philok- 
 tetes scenes is doubtless he, since he went to Lemnos to bring 
 the wounded hero to Troy that the magic arrows might effect 
 its capture. In the fighting and camp scenes his identity can 
 only be guessed. He may be shown, according to Furtwangler, 
 as a hero drawing an arrow from his foot, as indication of 
 his surviving the wound, unlike Achilleus. 
 
 Diomedes, son of Ares and Kyrene, is pictured being 
 devoured by his man-eating horses to whom Herakles threw 
 him. 
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Either rare or of doubtful identification on gems. 
 
AIAS, PATROKLOS 
 MENELAOS 
 
 265 
 
 (PL V, 8) 
 
 The same comment may be made, except where he is car¬ 
 rying the naked corpse of Patroklos. 
 
 AIAS—AJAX 
 
 (PL XI, 7; XII, 15; XVII, 13, 24?; XXV, 1, 20) 
 
 Again a rather popular figure. A bearded warrior, he is 
 generally pictured carrying the body of Achilleus, defending 
 that of Patroklos, tearing Kassandra from the statue of 
 Athena, looking at the arms of Achilleus, seated by the head 
 of an animal he has torn to pieces in his madness, slaying him¬ 
 self, and, perhaps, in other scenes from the Iliad. 
 
 PATROKLOS 
 
 (PL V, 8; XI, 8?, 17?) 
 
 Shown as a fallen hero with the battle raging over him, or 
 as a naked corpse on the shoulders of Menelaos; also, on one 
 gem, as being halted by Apollo before the gate of Troy. His 
 borrowing the arms of Achilleus may be the subject of one gem, 
 and his parting from him, of another. 
 
 NEOPTOLEMOS 
 
 Not very common. Usually shown sacrificing Polyxene 
 or killing the aged Priam. 
 
 POLYXENE 
 
 Rather rare. Shown as above. 
 
 KASSANDRA 
 
 (PL XVI, 5 ?; XVIII, 4; XXV, 20) 
 
 Much more common. Shown sitting before the Pal¬ 
 ladium, embracing it for protection or being torn away by Aias. 
 
266 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 There is also a series of female heads which, either from the 
 thoughtful expression, the olive wreath or the serpent in the 
 field, are supposed to be that of the Trojan prophetess. 
 
 PARIS 
 
 (Pi. XI, 5?; XII, 14) 
 
 Not infrequent. Usually pictured as a beautiful youth 
 in a Phrygian cap. On Etruscan scarabs he is shown bending 
 his bow or drawing an arrow from his quiver. His judgment 
 of the rival beauties of the three goddesses occurs on two 
 gems, Hermes also being present. It may be well to remember 
 that this is pre-eminently the kind of picture that would be 
 popular with modern imitators. 
 
 LAOKOON 
 
 (PI. XVII, 6) 
 
 Rare. Shown with his two sons attacked by the serpents. 
 Also frequent in modern work. 
 
 AINEIAS—iENEAS 
 
 Shown carrying Anchises from the sack of Troy and, 
 usually, with the boy Askanios beside him. 
 
 ANCHISES AND ASKANIOS 
 
 As above. 
 
 KAPANEUS 
 (PI. XI, 9, 20; XVII, 4) 
 
 By far the commonest of the heroes of the Theban cycle, 
 especially on Etruscan and early Roman gems. He is seen 
 stricken by the thunderbolt, often falling from the ladder by 
 which he has sought to mount the wall, and, also, bearing away 
 half a gate. 
 
TYDEUS, ROMULUS AND REMUS 
 
 ETEOKLES AND POLYNEIKES 
 (PI. XI, 13) 
 
 267 
 
 Rare and only identifiable when pictured killing each 
 other or when named. 
 
 TYDEUS 
 
 (PI. XI, 12, 13; XII, 3) 
 
 Not rare on scarabs but practically unidentifiable except 
 when his name is added. 
 
 AMPHIARIOS, ADRASTOS AND PARTHENOPAIOS 
 (PI. XI, 13) 
 
 These heroes, also, can only be identified when named. 
 
 ROMULUS AND REMUS 
 (PI. XXV, 3) 
 
 Of Roman hero types, these only can be identified as at 
 all common. They are shown as infants being suckled by the 
 she-wolf. Often the shepherd, Faustulus, stands near, and Roma 
 or Mars may also be added to the picture. There are many 
 forgeries of the she-wolf and the twins alone, and the gems 
 where her head is not turned toward them are all almost surely 
 false, since these are generally copied from the group in the 
 Capitol to which the twins were added in modern times. 
 
 FAUSTULUS 
 (PI. XXV, 3) 
 
 Shown as a shepherd as above. 
 
 VIRBIUS (OR DIANUS) 
 
 (PI. XVII, 9) 
 
 The first Rex Nemorensis, or, perhaps, the early male 
 
268 
 
 HEROES AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES 
 
 counterpart of the Diana Nemorensis, is probably pictured on 
 several early Roman gems which show a man with a stag or 
 preparing to sacrifice it. 
 
 HORATII 
 
 The three Horatii may be pictured on certain early 
 Roman gems as three heroes armed in Italian fashion, but 
 they have not been surely identified. 
 
 MARCUS CURTIUS 
 
 (PL XVIII, 3) 
 
 Shown as a warrior falling from a horse that seems to be 
 stumbling or plunging forward, as if into the Curtian chasm. 
 
 MUCIUS SC/EVOLA 
 
 Common enough on forged gems. I have, however, seen 
 one picture of a Roman hero thrusting his hand into an altar 
 flame which seems to me genuine. Though the Roman heroic 
 types are, doubtless, like historical subjects, very rare, this 
 would certainly be the most natural signet device for one of 
 the Mucian gens who where numerous and prominent in Roman 
 history. 
 
 It is probable that other heroes are occasionally pictured, 
 but I think I have given those that are at all common or that 
 we can hope to identify. 
 
 AMAZONS 
 
 These may also be included under this head. They are 
 shown as female warriors contending with Greeks. Where 
 attributes occur they are the double ax or the Amazon shield, 
 
 either crescent shaped or like Fig. 28. Em¬ 
 presses and mistresses of emperors were some¬ 
 times pictured as Amazons on late gems. 
 
 Fig. 38. 
 
PART III 
 
 TECHNIQUE—MATERIALS—HISTORICAL AND 
 MYTHOLOGICAL SIGNETS 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 TOOLS AND TECHNICAL METHODS OF GEM 
 ENGRAVING 
 
 What is, perhaps, the earliest notice of the method of 
 cutting intaglio designs in stone is found in Herodotus (VII, 
 69), who writes of the arrows of the Ethiopians as being 
 “Tipped with a stone made sharp and with which (or thus) they 
 engrave their seals.” This has been construed by King and 
 others as meaning that the intaglios were scratched in with the 
 point of the arrow, but the translation is rather uncertain in 
 view of the fact that the Greek admits of both the readings 
 given above. We know, however, that many stones were cut 
 with signet devices by having the pictures scratched into them 
 by a sharp point of some harder substance held in the hand 
 of the engraver. In Minoan and Mycenaean times the softer 
 materials were generally engraved in this way, and the signets 
 of the Greek Middle Ages and the Melian “Island stones” of 
 the budding revival are, for the most part, examples of such 
 workmanship. 
 
 With the discovery and adaptation of harder materials 
 in more civilized communities, the possibilities of such an in¬ 
 strument were greatly increased, and we find it referred to as 
 “adamas” in Jeremiah, XVII. Adamas has come to be loosely 
 translated, diamond, and the corresponding tool of modern 
 times is called the diamond-point, a sharp splinter of that gem 
 set in a handle. Etymologically, however, the term, adamas, 
 meant merely a superlatively hard substance, and it is more 
 than doubtful if the true diamond was known to the ancients. 
 The consensus of the best opinions is that the adamas, of which 
 Pliny says there were six kinds, was a variety of corundum, 
 probably our white sapphire. 
 
 271 
 
272 
 
 TOOLS AND TECHNICAL METHODS 
 
 On the harder gems; sard, carnelian, chalcedony, jasper, 
 etc., this early method of scratching in designs was laborious 
 and ineffective. Even on the softer stones it is not co-incident 
 with fine work, and, with the revival of art and the perfection 
 of wheel-technique to be described later, it is probable that the 
 point was seldom used on stones as hard as quartz. King and 
 many writers of the last century hold the contrary of this and 
 exaggerate the importance of indications of “diamond-point” 
 work as being one of the best evidences of antiquity, but, con¬ 
 sidering all the signs and arguments, it does not seem probable 
 that much use of this tool was made in engraving the harder 
 gem substances before Graeco-Roman times, and hardly any 
 before those of Alexander. Then it was undoubtedly employed, 
 occasionally, as a finishing instrument for minute details 
 and fine, sharp lines. 
 
 It was Natter who, in the early part of the eighteenth 
 century, announced the then current opinion that “The ex¬ 
 tensive use of the diamond-point is the grand distinction be¬ 
 tween the antique and the modern art”; and Sirletti, who died 
 at Rome in 1737, had already employed that instrument at the 
 suggestion, says Gori, of Baron Stosch and, doubtless, with an 
 eye to establishing the genuineness of his forgeries. Diamond- 
 point work soon became the desiderata of the collectors, and 
 the engravers naturally did their best to meet the demand. 
 
 Along with the scratched-in work on soft stones, there is 
 also evidence on such gems, both in early and late times, of 
 the use of a rotating drill, also, probably, held in the hand. 
 Large depressions were thus sunk in the stone, to be finished 
 off with pointed instruments, but whether these hand-drills 
 were tipped with stone or metal is a matter of conjecture as, 
 also, whether any hard powder was used as a cutting medium, 
 though in the periods when such a material was known and 
 utilized in the wheel-work on hard gems it would be remark¬ 
 able if its efficacy were ignored in any case where it would 
 be an aid. 
 
 This brings us to the overwhelmingly prevalent method of 
 gem-engraving, not only employed on the best work of the best 
 
DRILL, WHEEL, CUTTING MEDIUM 
 
 273 
 
 period but also on the hard quartzes of the Minoan age and, 
 down to the present time, whenever and wherever intaglio gems 
 have been cut in such material. This is the use of metal drills, 
 generally with more or less rounded heads, tubular drills, and 
 disks, all of which are caused to revolve rapidly by means of 
 some rotating mechanism and which cut into the stone, not 
 by means of their own hardness, for they are comparatively 
 soft metal, but by rubbing in a medium composed of some kind 
 of powdered emery mixed with oil which grinds out the hardest 
 quartz with remarkable rapidity. The circular disks of dif¬ 
 ferent sizes and fineness, governed by such a rotating mechanism, 
 have given the name of wheel-engraving to this kind of work, 
 and the best opinions of today attribute to it the possibility 
 of a delicacy of line for which to King and his fore-writers the 
 diamond point had seemed an absolute requisite. Furtwangler 
 maintains that even the finest lines of Dexamenos are executed 
 by this instrument and points out, as the means of recognizing 
 its agency, that the ends of these are never sharp but always 
 somewhat rounded, a feature which imparts to the picture a 
 softness and delicacy foreign to the effect of the sharp lines 
 of the diamond-point, so often used by the Graeco-Roman gem- 
 engravers in finishing their work, at a time when contrasts in 
 technique on the same gem were considered good art. The 
 tubular drill was probably used to cut circles and certain 
 curves. 
 
 The powder employed for the cutting by the early artists, 
 whose instruments were of soft metal, like ours, came origi¬ 
 nally from the island of Naxos and was a kind of emery con¬ 
 taining some iron, which is still imported from the same place 
 for similar uses. Pliny states (XXXVI, 10) that the use 
 of Naxian stone was superseded in later times by that of a 
 similar substance found in Armenia. 
 
 With the drills or disks of different sizes, then, the larger 
 depressions were sunk in the stone, overlapping where neces¬ 
 sary, and the finishing was done with the fine disks, though 
 in the class of late Etruscan gems which I have referred to as 
 drill-work scarabs there is little or no evidence of wheel- 
 
274 
 
 TOOLS AND TECHNICAL METHODS 
 
 work, and the whole design seems to have been wrought by a 
 combination of drilled out depressions. Today the different 
 wheel-disks seem to suffice for the greater part of the work, 
 and the drill proper is little used. It is probable that in early 
 times, and we know that in Hellenistic, some sort of more or 
 less sketchy design was first scratched in with the diamond- 
 point on the polished stone, to be, of course, obliterated in the 
 finished work. The custom now is to make the preliminary 
 outline sketch on, not in, the stone with a copper, brass or 
 silver point, the polish being first slightly dulled, or, again, 
 the surface is sometimes covered with a w r ash and the sketch 
 drawn with an ordinary pencil. 
 
 As for the mechanism by which the drill and wheel were 
 made to revolve we have little definite evidence. Today it is 
 done by a foot or electric motor lathe, the tools, as needed, 
 being set firmly in the mandril. The gem, fixed in a sort of 
 handle, is held against the cutting edge and moved as the 
 work requires, while the rapidly whirling tool rubs the oil and 
 emery into the stone, biting away its substance until the pic¬ 
 ture takes shape. This lathe, of course, has the advantage of 
 leaving both the workman’s hands free. 
 
 What the ancients used instead of the inventions of modern 
 times, we are unable to picture clearly, though we know they 
 had some form of mechanism for the rapid turning of drill 
 and wheel. The writers do not aid us and our single basis 
 of information is the funeral stone of a gem-cutter which 
 was found at Philadelphia in Asia Minor. It dates from the 
 time of the Empire and shows a contrivance (Fig. 29) which 
 suggests the bow used in metal work by 
 jewelers today. This instrument, drawn 
 quickly back and forth, with the string 
 looped about a spindle holding the tool, 
 imparts to the latter the necessary rotary 
 motion. Whether the gem or the mandril was stationary in 
 the ancient work we do not know. Furtwangler suggests that 
 they applied their tools to the stone held firmly in place, 
 instead of pressing the latter against the tool, and he also 
 
TURNING MECHANISM, LENS 
 
 275 
 
 says that, while with a hand-bow they would be at the seeming 
 disadvantage of not having both hands free as do our workmen, 
 their control might be better for some purposes. I see no 
 reason for such assumptions. Modern jewelers hold their 
 work against the tool revolving in a stationary spindle looped 
 in the bow, and it is difficult to conceive of sufficient steadiness 
 in a tool held in the hand and worked by such a mechanism. 
 Moreover, with a stationary spindle the bow might easily be 
 manipulated by an assistant and the artist still have both 
 hands free for the gem. There are features, too, in the above 
 picture from the grave-stela, incomplete as it probably is, that 
 imply some modification of the bow mechanism. Possibly it 
 represents an improvement on a hand-bow of earlier times, 
 but the question is one that sends us to the field of conjecture 
 and, after all, its solution would mean nothing in the study 
 of the work. For that it is enough to know that the cutting 
 was done by revolving tools. 
 
 Another not especially important matter upon which more 
 or less theorizing has been indulged in is whether a lens was 
 used by the ancient artist. As a necessity it ranks much 
 lower in such minute work than might at first thought appear. 
 I have seen gem-cutters use it, but only to examine impressions 
 of an intaglio, taken from time to time as the cutting progress¬ 
 ed. Touch seems to be the sense upon which they chiefly rely, 
 and it is easy to conceive of such perfection of touch in an 
 artist as would make each unseen stroke as certain as those 
 of the sculptor of a colossal statue. Naturally it is impossible, 
 in any event, for the eye to guide the progress of an engraving 
 obscured as it is by a smear of oil and powdered emery. More¬ 
 over, it is a matter of conjecture whether the ancients had 
 such a knowledge of the lens as would enable them to apply 
 it effectively to work of this character. 
 
 Granting first rate eyesight and an educated sense of 
 touch, we need not wonder at any degree of excellence in an 
 intaglio. Analogies are not lacking that show the perfection 
 to which aptness and training can bring the senses, until all 
 achievement lies well within the bounds of possibility. Inci- 
 
276 
 
 TOOLS AND TECHNICAL METHODS 
 
 dentally, it is told of Pistrucci that, until his death at seventy- 
 three years of age, he never had to use glasses for his work. 
 
 After the completion of the engraving, its polishing was 
 next in order. The surface and, usually, the back of the stone 
 seem to have been polished before the engraving was done, 
 since, otherwise, the preliminary sketch could hardly be 
 effective and, moreover, much polishing of the surface after 
 the engraving was completed would tend to mar its outlines, 
 as we often see in the case of repolished gems. Modern 
 engravers who dull the polish before drawing their sketch, have 
 only to restore it with moistened rotten stone which does not 
 seem to fray the lines as does, often, the attempt to repolish 
 a stone in the ancient style. This ancient polish was effected 
 by rubbing it back and forth on a polishing surface covered 
 with finely ground Naxian powder: a process which produced 
 a more or less wavy effect of which I have already spoken in 
 my Introduction as the hog-back polish. The absolutely even, 
 looking-glass polish found on most modern gems could not be 
 got by the ancient method. 
 
 For the polishing of the interior of the intaglio we can 
 only speculate as to the means employed. Lead pointed tools 
 and even quills have been used in modern times to rub the 
 diamond powder over both the large and small intaglio sur¬ 
 faces. This operation is merely a matter of industry, for, 
 though the polishing of minute interior surfaces means a good 
 deal of labor, many modern intaglios have received a polish 
 seldom attempted by the ancients, save only the diligent 
 Etruscans through all their later periods and the artists of 
 Grmco-Roman times. 
 
 As to the presence, absence, degree and distribution of 
 interior polish in different periods and places, these have been 
 described, I trust with sufficient fulness, under the appropriate 
 headings. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE STONES USED FOR ANCIENT INTAGLIOS 
 
 The stones used by the ancient engravers we, of course, 
 have, but it is often difficult or conjectural to identify them 
 with their ancient names. Part of this difficulty is due to 
 the fact that their mineralogical composition was unknown 
 to the Greeks and Romans who distinguished the species on a 
 basis of their appearance alone and, largely, according to their 
 colors. Thus we find the same name applied to several ma¬ 
 terials of very different character and, conversely, different 
 names given to mere color varieties of the same gem. 
 
 Always, too, we must bear in mind that, from the stand¬ 
 point of the maker and wearer of talisman or amulet, the 
 substance was often quite as important to the end as was the 
 device. 
 
 To consider, now, the kinds of stones not used for ancient 
 intaglios, we may, of course, begin by eliminating those not 
 found in or within trading distance of the homes of the work. 
 Secondly, we may eliminate the diamond. We do not know 
 just when the ancients became acquainted with it but we do 
 know that it was never engraved by them. As for the ruby, 
 whether Oriental, spinel or balas, the ancient intaglios found 
 on it are so superlatively few and far between and, gene¬ 
 rally, so open to suspicion that it is pretty safe to deny the 
 antiquity of any picture cut in such material. The sapphire 
 is almost in the same category, but it was rarely used in 
 Graeco-Roman and later times. Whether it was the “cyanus,” 
 “sapirus,” “hyacinthus” or “beryllus aeroides” of Pliny is a 
 question about which opinions have varied and on which no 
 satisfactory conclusion has been reached. 
 
 The emerald is nearly as rare among ancient intaglios 
 
 277 
 
STONES USED 
 
 278 
 
 as is the sapphire, and we are still in the class of materials 
 which may be described as extra hazardous. It was called 
 “smaragdus,” a name which it shared with several other green 
 stones, all powerful in their magic influences. 
 
 The c-ymophane or cat’s-eye chrysoberyl and the opal were 
 never used. 
 
 Carnelian or Sard. —Coming now to the stones most in 
 use, it would be pretty safe to say that at least forty-nine 
 fiftieths of ancient intaglios are on different varieties of quartz 
 and, among these, again, by far the commonest are the carne- 
 lians or sards. These names have been so loosely and variously 
 used by different authors as to leave the subject in very much 
 of a tangle. 
 
 Pliny writes: “The most esteemed kind is that of the 
 vicinity of Babylon . . ., though it is to be found in numerous 
 other localities, Paros and Assos, for example. In India there 
 are three varieties of this stone: the red sard, the one known 
 as ‘pionia’ from its thickness, and a third kind beneath which 
 they place a ground of silver tinsel. The Indian stones are 
 transparent, those of Arabia being more opaque. There are 
 some found, also, in the vicinity of Leukas in Epeiros, and 
 in Egypt, which have a ground placed beneath them of leaf 
 gold. . . . Among the ancients there was no precious stone 
 in more common use than this. . . . Those stones which are 
 like honey in color are generally disapproved of and, still 
 more, when they have the complexion of earthenware.” Such 
 preferences, of course, varied at different periods. All were 
 called sards, the deep reds and brownish being considered male 
 stones, the lighter, female. The brilliant red “Babylonian 
 stones,” coming from the East, were believed to make the 
 wearer brave in battle and to be a protection against and a 
 remedy for wounds. 
 
 In England the term, carnelian, seems to be commonly used 
 for the more opaque varieties, generally of a dull red color. 
 This is the stone found in Italian streams, also in Egypt, 
 and many scarabs, both Etruscan and Egyptian, are fashioned 
 in it. The English “sards” are the more translucent stones, 
 
SARD, CHALCEDONY, PLASMA 
 
 279 
 
 but some writers adopt either name exclusively or both inter¬ 
 changeably. 
 
 The sardoine of the French is the dark red, translucent, 
 sometimes even transparent stone, often verging into so dark 
 a brown as to be almost black except when held up to the 
 light, and it is this that Dr. Furtwangler calls the brown sard. 
 With him all the lighter shades, whether translucent or opaque, 
 are carnelians, running down through the lighter reds into 
 a clear yellow. Often they are streaked or variegated like 
 agate. I have followed Furtwangler’s nomenclature, though 
 it is not always easy to fix where the “carnelian” ends and the 
 “brown sard” begins. 
 
 Chalcedony. —Also a quartz and very common, especially 
 at certain periods, this stone is generally half transparent or 
 translucent, though sometimes opaque. Sometimes it is a more 
 or less milky w r hite ranging into various shades of gray or into 
 yellowish, brownish or bluish tints. The brown and yellow 
 shades run into the sard which, in composition, is really a 
 yellow, red or brown chalcedony. The bluish gray, so es¬ 
 pecially affected by the Persians that there must have been some 
 underlying belief in its magic powers, is called by the French, 
 sapphirine. We do not know the ancient name for this stone. 
 Perhaps it was the “leucachetes” of Pliny, though he hardly 
 gives the consideration to that gem which one would expect 
 him to give to so widely popular a material. More probably 
 his “leucachates” was merely the opaque white variety. Both 
 Furtwangler and King incline to identify it with the ancient 
 “jaspis” which seems to me misleading, since what we call 
 chalcedony is primarily a whitish stone with various shadings, 
 and the greenish tints which Pliny’s “jaspis” had, have given 
 a distinct name to certain green quartzes which may, much 
 more justly, be identified with it. 
 
 Plasma. —The “jaspis” of Pliny seems to me to be identical 
 with our plasma, a quartz ranging from the almost transparent 
 to translucent and often so muddy and impure as to be 
 practically opaque. Its color runs from greenish white 
 through yellowish green up to the darkest green tints. Often 
 
280 
 
 STONES USED 
 
 the greenish and yellowish shadings are uneven and give the 
 effect of clouding or even mottling. It was very popular in 
 the early Empire. Of course it had magic power and in later 
 times, engraved with the Chnumis Agathodaimon, it was re¬ 
 puted a cure for diseases of the chest and stomach. 
 
 Chrysoprase. —Chrysoprase, the ancient “chrysoprasus,” 
 is merely the name given to the clear apple or leek green 
 varieties of plasma, often ranging into golden tints. Pliny 
 speaks of it as a kind of “prasius,” a name which also includes 
 several special types of banded or spotted green stones. 
 
 Jasper. —The practically opaque colored quartzes which 
 we call jasper were very common gem stones. The range of 
 colors and of their combinations is wide and, doubtless, each 
 had its name, though we can but guess at a few of them. Our 
 green jasper may have been included under the name, “jaspis,” 
 though it is hardly probable. The red jasper was very popular 
 from Augustan times down, varying in shades from a dull 
 brownish red through blood red into a bright, beautiful vermil¬ 
 ion capable of receiving a fine polish. It seems probable that 
 it was known anciently as “luematitis,” of which Pliny says: 
 “It is a stone of blood red color, and we must not omit to 
 mention the assurance given that the possession of it reveals 
 treacherous designs on the part of the barbarians. Zachalias 
 of Babylon, in the books which he dedicated to King Mithri- 
 dates, attributing the destinies of man to certain properties 
 innate in precious stones, is not content with vaunting the 
 merits of this stone as curative of diseases of the eyes and 
 liver, but recommends it also as insuring success to petitions 
 addressed to kings. He also makes it play its part in law¬ 
 suits and judgments, and even goes so far as to say that it is 
 highly beneficial to be rubbed with it on the field of battle.” 
 Yellow jasper, as to the old name of which we are without 
 any good evidence, came into use only in the later Empire. 
 Also there is white jasper, practically the same as white 
 agate or opaque white chalcedony, and various shades of brown 
 ranging into black. Of course there were many jaspers of 
 mingled colors, including a red with white mottlings, used 
 
JASPER, BLOODSTONE, AGATE 
 
 281 
 
 in Mycenaean times, the red and yellow, popular with Dexa- 
 menos and his contemporaries in the best Greek period, and a 
 green and brown used in the late Empire. 
 
 Bloodstone.-— One of these mixed jaspers, quite popular 
 in late Imperial and also modern times, has with us the 
 separate name of bloodstone and is identical with the ancient 
 “heliotropium”; a green jasper, sometimes slightly translucent 
 at the edges and spotted with red. Pliny writes of it: “In 
 the use of this stone, also, we have a most glaring illustration 
 of the impudent effrontery of the adepts in magic, for they 
 say that, if it is combined with the plant, heliotropium, and 
 certain incantations are then repeated over it, it will render 
 the person invisible who carries it about him.” Evidently 
 there were skeptics before Bob Ingersoll. 
 
 Agate or Onyx. —The agate or ancient “achates” was a 
 more or less popular stone in all epochs, since its varied lines 
 and conformations were calculated to suggest ideas as to its 
 mysterious origin and the resultant magic-working powers 
 alluded to in many ancient writings including Pliny, Sokrates 
 Dionysios, Epiphanios, and the Orphic Poems. 
 
 The difference between agate and onyx has always been 
 rather vaguely defined. Both are variegated quartz, and, 
 perhaps the best line of demarcation is that the onyx consists 
 of only two layers of different colors, a white and dark brown 
 or black, whereas the agate is a combination of lines and 
 layers, usually straight but often forced into wavy, zigzag, 
 irregular and fantastic figures. The most usual shades are 
 milky, bluish, yellowish or brownish whites, grays, yellows, 
 reds, browns, and blacks. 
 
 The ancient varieties of “achates” were many, based in part 
 on colors or combinations, and, doubtless, some of the gems 
 were not agates at all. We refer to certain types, where the 
 colors run regularly across the stone, as striped or banded 
 agates, respectively when the lines are narrow or broad. When 
 they run about a middle point, the gem is called a circle- 
 agate and when the colors, breadth of lines, and size of the 
 central point suggests the idea, an eye-agate. This last type 
 
282 
 
 STONES USED 
 
 was, naturally, a wonder-worker of great power. Pliny 
 describes one variety of eye-agate, the “Beli-oculus” (eye of 
 Baal), held in the highest veneration by the Assyrians, as 
 having a whitish iris about a black pupil. Also he refers to 
 another, stating that the “Leucophthalmos, which in other re¬ 
 spects is of a reddish hue, presents all the appearance of an 
 eye in white and black.” 
 
 Nicolo. —A definite agate or, more properly, onyx combina¬ 
 tion w r as the ‘LEgyptilla” or Arabian sardonyx of Pliny, which 
 first came into fashion in the first century B. C. We know 
 it as the nicolo. It consists of an opaque black or, rarely, a 
 dark or even light brown layer, with a bluish white one super¬ 
 imposed. Intaglios in it were always cut through the light 
 layer into the dark, so that the term, nicolo, has come to refer 
 as much to the style of cutting as to the substance. Later in 
 the Empire it was also the fashion to bevel off the edges, leaving 
 a border of the dark layer. 
 
 Sardonyx.— This stone, as its name suggests, was, prima¬ 
 rily, a kind of onyx in which the darker layer was sard. Pliny 
 says, quoting from earlier writers, that the true sardonyx came 
 from India and was transparent and that the opaque gems 
 which had usurped the name in his day were then called “blind 
 sardonyx.” He also states that the Arabian sardonyx of his 
 times presented no traces of the transparent Indian sard but 
 that the name, sardonyx, was given to several varieties of color¬ 
 ed stones, some in three colors, such as black, red, and white, 
 so that it had come, doubtless, to include the onyx as well, or, 
 perhaps, even, was distinguished from it by having three instead 
 of two layers of different colors. Today, the last named distinc¬ 
 tion has also been maintained, but the only rational one is that 
 which the name indicates: that the sardonyx is simply a layer 
 stone in which the darker layer is sard, taking the term as 
 covering all the shades from dark brownish red to light reddish 
 yellow. 
 
 The Greeks and Etruscans, as I have already written, cut 
 this gem across the layers, as they did the agate, but in Roman 
 Imperial times the sardonyx was usually cut in the form of a 
 
ROOK-CRYSTAL, AMETHYST, BERYL 
 
 283 
 
 truncated cone, so that all the colors would show on the sides, 
 and the intaglio was engraved in the sard layer forming the 
 smaller surface. 
 
 Rock-Crystal. —Turning to the crystalline quartzes we 
 have, first, the rock-crystal which needs no explanation and 
 which occurred in Mycenaean and Greek times and, again, in 
 Roman Imperial. Neither the Etruscans nor the early Italians 
 used it. It was a favorite material during the Renaissance. 
 
 Amethyst. —Also a crystalline quartz, this gem, while 
 commoner than the preceding, followed generally its lines of 
 occurrence. The deepest purples were the Indian stones. The 
 lighter ones may have been Pliny’s “hyacinthus.” In amulet 
 lore the amethyst was supposed, as its name indicates, to 
 protect the wearer against drunkenness, also to insure access 
 to the presence of kings, avert hail and locusts, and perform 
 other desirable services. 
 
 Beryl. —Coming now to the more valuable stones imported 
 from the East, after the conquests of Alexander, the beryl, a 
 gem of the same character as the emerald, was perhaps most 
 highly prized; so highly, in fact, that in Hellenistic and Augus¬ 
 tan times such works as we find on it are always of merit. 
 Pliny mentions a number of varieties of his “beryllus”, under 
 which name it is probable that he included some kinds of topaz. 
 He speaks of those “Which in color resemble the pure green 
 of the sea,” those “Of a somewhat paler color but approaching 
 a golden tint,” which he calls the “chrysoberyllus” and, still 
 more pale, the “chrysoprasus.” 
 
 Aquamarine. —This variety of beryl, bluish green in color 
 and probably referred to by Pliny as the hyacinthine beryl, 
 was highly prized. It may also be the “hyacinthus” of his list. 
 Such sea-colored stones, engraved with the figure of Poseidon 
 or some other sea-deity, were held to have the power of protect¬ 
 ing their wearers from shipwreck and like perils. 
 
 Topaz. —Yellow topazes are found very rarely with ancient 
 engravings. It was probably the “chrysolithos” of the ancients. 
 
 Peridot. —Our peridot or chrysolite, on the other hand, 
 
284 
 
 STONES USED 
 
 seems to have been the “topazios” of Pliny and was also a stone 
 very rarely used by ancient engravers. 
 
 Moonstone. —Even more rare are pictures on the moon¬ 
 stone, the ancient name of which is unknown. As with us 
 it was always cut convex. 
 
 Garnet. —Most common of all the Eastern gems intro¬ 
 duced in Hellenistic times were several varieties of the garnet. 
 It was called “carbunculus” and “anthrax.” From India came 
 the pure transparent red without violet or orange intermixture. 
 Excellent engraving is found on it. Also garnets having the 
 orange or brownish tone, known as hyacinthine garnets and 
 not easily distinguished from the true hyacinth or zircon, 
 were great favorites, as were those with a violet shade—alman- 
 dines; common, especially in the East throughout the Helle¬ 
 nistic and Graeco-Roman periods. All were, as a rule, cut 
 strongly convex and not infrequently with concave backs. 
 Small garnets, sometimes cut flat, with cheap, rude engrav¬ 
 ings, were not uncommon even in Sassanian times. 
 
 Turquoise. —Our turquoise was probably the “callais” of 
 Pliny. Hardly ever used by the Greeks, it was rarely employ¬ 
 ed by Graeco-Roman artists. 
 
 Lapis Lazuli. —“Cyanus” and “sapirus,” already alluded 
 to as possible names for the sapphire, were much more probably 
 lapis lazulis. Not much used in classic periods, it is some¬ 
 times found bearing cheap intaglios of Roman times and was 
 rather common as a material of the Sassanian gem cutters. 
 During the Renaissance it experienced a revival of an undesir¬ 
 able character to which I have alluded in place. 
 
 Green Malachite. —This was the ancient “molochitis” 
 and was very rarely used. 
 
 Serpentine. —This stone w T as used considerably in Myce¬ 
 naean times. Later there was no demand for it. 
 
 Hematite. —The old name of “haematitis” included not 
 only the red jasper but also a class of iron-stones which run 
 in color from dark steel gray to iron black or brownish red. 
 Much used for Oriental cylinders, it had spread into Greece in 
 the Mycenaean Age and appeared there also in the Archaic. 
 
HEMATITE, STEATITE 
 
 285 
 
 Later, it naturally fell into disrepute, only to be revived again 
 in late Roman times, when the wonderful magic influence with 
 which the Chaldmans had invested it made it a very common 
 material for Gnostic talismans and amulets and for other 
 wonder-working gems. 
 
 Porphyry. —Some kinds of porphyry were also used by 
 Mycenagan engravers, but the later periods ignored it until 
 the times of the Gnostics. It was also employed during the 
 Renaissance. 
 
 Steatite. —The various shades of steatite or soapstone; 
 white, gray, pale yellow, greenish, reddish, brownish, and black¬ 
 ish, were favored in periods when signets were engraved directly 
 by hand. Soft, generally opaque, though sometimes slightly 
 translucent at the edges, it was an easy material to w T ork and 
 readily obtainable throughout the infancy of the art. Even 
 later it was not altogether dropped by makers of the poorest 
 and cheapest signets, but, with the general use of instruments 
 turned by mechanism, it became easier to engrave a hard 
 stone with the wheel than to cut steatite by hand, and its 
 disuse followed naturally. 
 
 Marble. —A few gems were cut in this substance which 
 had been used to some extent for the cylinders of the East. 
 The “porphyrites leptospsephos” of Pliny was the red and 
 white marble of Egypt. 
 
 Shales. —These were used occasionally in the days of hand- 
 cut stones. 
 
 Doubtless stray examples in other materials than those 
 mentioned may occur, but they must be set down as in the class 
 of exceptions. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HISTORICAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL SIGNETS 
 
 Of deep interest to the student of gems is the knowledge 
 we have from ancient literature of the signet devices of many 
 of the personages of antiquity. Few of the stones themselves 
 have been found and identified, but the chances are that most 
 of them are still in existence and the possibility of a discovery 
 and satisfactory identification in such a line is always one of 
 the romantic dreams we love to cherish. A list of these devices 
 is desirable from every standpoint. 
 
 Polykrates; Tyrant of Samos. —A lyre, engraved on a 
 smaragdus by Theodoros of Samos. Clemens Alexandrinus 
 (III, 11), Herodotus (III, 41) and Pausanias (VIII, 14) 
 merely say that the stone was a smaragdus. Dr. Benndorf, in 
 his reading of Pliny (XXXIV, 19), maintains that the famous 
 portrait statue of Theodoros, made by himself, held in its hand, 
 not a minute quadriga, but a scarab engraved with a quadriga, 
 and that this was, doubtless, the famous device (Zeitschrift fur 
 die Oesterreich Gymnasien, 1873, pp. 401—411). If he be right, 
 however, about the reading I would be inclined to infer that 
 the quadriga would be as likely to have been the signet of the 
 artist himself as of his royal patron. 
 
 Amphitryon; (mythical).—Helios rising in his chariot 
 (Plautus’ Amphitryon; Act 1, Scene 1). Of course a fiction 
 of the playwright, but interesting in its choice of subject. 
 
 Orestes; (mythical).—According to Sophokles ( Elektra ), 
 Orestes’ signet pictured the ivory shoulder of Pelops. The 
 subject suggests something in the nature of the bent arm or 
 leg pictographs on Cretan gems. 
 
 Odysseus. —Another mythical signet is the dolphin which 
 
 286 
 
GREEK PERSONAL SIGNETS 
 
 287 
 
 legend fixes as the device of Odysseus. Plutarch, in his De 
 Bollertia Animalium, (XXXVI), quotes Kritheus’ testimony, 
 from the Zakynthian Records, to the above effect. 
 
 Xerxes. —A nude female figure with disheveled hair, 
 probably Anaitis (Polyainos); but the scholiast on Thukidides 
 (I, 129) says: “The signet of the king of the Persians bore, 
 according to some, the monarch’s own portrait; according to 
 others that of Cyrus, the founder of the monarchy, or, as others 
 again say, the horse of Dareios, in virtue of whose neighing 
 he was elected king.” Any of these latter would doubtless be 
 of Greek workmanship. The design given by Polyainos was 
 not uncommon on Oriental seals, both cylinders and cones, and 
 seems more probable. 
 
 Battos; King of Kyrene. —A figure of himself with a 
 personification (or the genius) of the city of Kyrene bringing 
 him an offering of a sylphium plant. A. S. Murray, in his 
 introduction to the Catalogue of Engraved Gems in the 
 British Museum, refers to this device but neglects to cite his 
 authority. 
 
 Ismenias; the flute player. —A figure of the nymph, 
 Amymone, engraved on a smaragdus (Pliny, XXXVII, 3). 
 
 Klearchos ; one of the generals of Cyrus the Younger. 
 —The maidens of Karya in Lakonia dancing in honor of 
 Artemis. Given by him, when a prisoner awaiting death, to 
 Ktesias, the physician of Artaxerxes, as an acknowledgment of 
 his favor in obtaining a comb for his hair which was worn long 
 after the Spartan fashion. (Plutarch’s Life of Artaxerxes ). 
 
 Alexander the Great. —After his conquest of Dareios, 
 Alexander is said to have used for his Persian edicts the con¬ 
 quered king’s signet, perhaps the green chalcedony cylinder 
 now in the British Museum showing the monarch in his chariot 
 and which bears the legend, “I Dareios the King.” His personal 
 seal, used for all other purposes and set in the ring he gave 
 when dying to Perdikkas, may have borne a lion emblematic 
 of his descent from Herakles, as stated by King; the device 
 with which, according to Plutarch, Philip dreamed he had 
 
288 
 
 HISTORICAL SIGNETS 
 
 sealed up Ms wife’s womb. Perhaps it was a smaragdus en¬ 
 graved with his portrait by Pyrgoteles. 
 
 Seleukos. —An anchor. Justin (XV, 4) tells that the 
 mother of Seleukos dreamed that she had conceived a son by 
 Apollo who gave her a ring which he desired her to give to the 
 child she should bear, and, on awaking, she found in her bed 
 what she took to be the signet of the god, engraved with the 
 above device, which she presented to her son when he was 
 going, with Alexander, to the Persian wars. 
 
 Kallikrates; a courtier op Ptolemaios III (Euer- 
 getes). —A head of Odysseus (Athenseus, VI, 59). 
 
 Pyrrhos; King of Epeiros. —Pliny states (XXXVII, 3) 
 that this king possessed an agate which showed Apoll5 playing 
 a lyre with the nine Muses around him, the picture being 
 portrayed solely by the veins in the stone without the aid of 
 engraving. This, of course, could not have been used as a 
 signet. 
 
 Ptolemaios VIII, surnamed Lathyros or Soter II.— 
 A portrait of himself engraved on a very precious smaragdus 
 which he gave to Lucullus, on the latter’s departure for Rome. 
 
 Athenion; ambassador from Athens to the court of 
 Mithridates. —The portrait of that monarch (Athenaeus, 
 V, 49). 
 
 Areios ; King of Sparta. —An eagle grasping a serpent in 
 its talons (Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, XII, 4). 
 
 In the time of Pausanias (III, 11) the Spartan govern¬ 
 ment sealed all their public documents with the portrait of 
 Polydoros, one of their ancient kings. 
 
 “King Hydaspes, of Ethiopia”. —Dr. King, with his not 
 uncommon inaccuracy, attributes to this imaginary monarch 
 the signet ring described by Heliodoros, Bishop of Trikka, 
 about 400 A. D., in Book V of his Theagenes and Charicleia, 
 as having been given by Kalisiris to Nausikles, as a ransom 
 for the heroine of the tale. The gem, says that author, was an 
 amethyst of deep purple, “Of the size of a maiden’s eye,” en¬ 
 graved with the picture of a shepherd seated on a rock and 
 piping to his sheep, the whole being surrounded by a cable 
 
ROMAN PERSONAL SIGNETS 
 
 289 
 
 border which is spoken of figuratively as a stone wall to re¬ 
 strain the wandering of the flock. Now this gem is described 
 so minutely that it evidently belonged to or was one admired 
 by Heliodoros himself and, as such, is most interesting, and 
 could probably be identified if ever found. This is not, how¬ 
 ever, the gem assigned by him to Hydaspes and w r orn by his 
 daughter, Charikleia. The latter is described in Book VIII of 
 the same work as a “pantarbe inscribed with sacred letters.” 
 What the pantarbe was we do not know. The idea of the 
 sacred letters was doubtless got from the Gnostic talismans 
 of Heliodoros’ time. 
 
 Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatits ; Consul, 298 B. C.— 
 The earliest known Roman signet with personal affiliation is 
 the standing figure of Victory with wreath and palm branch 
 on a sard which is stated by Middleton and intimated by 
 King to have been found in 1780 in the sarcophagus of Lucius 
 Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, and is “now” (1891), according to 
 the former authority, in the possession of the Duke of North¬ 
 umberland. King’s statement is clouded by his usual inaccura¬ 
 cies, such as that the gem was given in 1780 by Pope Clement 
 XIII (who died in 1769) to M. Dutens, the traveling companion 
 of Lord Beverley. How far Middleton has followed King in 
 his facts, I do not know, but the picture strikes me as incon¬ 
 gruous, both in subject and treatment, with the Roman cuttings 
 of that period, and, as several sarcophagi of later Scipios were 
 found in the same tomb, it seems possible that it may have 
 belonged to one of these. Without the basic evidence in hand 
 and in view of the looseness of records of discovery at that 
 time, I feel bound to hazard such a query. 
 
 Quintus Cornelius Lupus.—A sard, formerly in the 
 Waterton Collection, bearing a horse’s head and two Gallic 
 shields, commemorative of the victory of one of his kinsmen, 
 either C. Cornelius Cethegus who defeated the Insubres in 197 
 B. C., or P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica who overcame the Boii in 
 191. Possibly, by the introduction of the two shields, the owner 
 may have referred to both exploits. 
 
 Marcellus; the opponent of Hannibal. —There is a 
 
290 
 
 HISTORICAL SIGNETS 
 
 portrait head, with the rim of a shield showing in front, en¬ 
 graved on a light sard in the King Collection at the Metro¬ 
 politan Museum, about which Dr. King hazards the most 
 interesting and perhaps not impossible guess that this may be 
 the signet which Hannibal took from the finger of the dead 
 consul and with which, on forged letters, he is said to have 
 tried to deceive several towns which held to the Roman alliance. 
 The good Doctor holds that the likeness agrees exactly with 
 that of Marcellus on the denarii of the Claudian gens. Counter 
 to this supposition is the fact that the date, 208 B. C., is very 
 early for a Roman portrait head on a gem. See Plate XVIII, 
 25. 
 
 Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. —The head of Sy- 
 phax, King of the Numidians. This attribution is given in 
 the Chambers Encyclopaedia article on gems and in other 
 books of reference. I assume that some original authority for 
 the statement exists but I have been quite unable to unearth it. 
 
 The son of the native of Intercatia, said to have been located 
 not far from Astorga in Spain, whose father was slain in 
 single combat with Publius Cornelius Scipio JEmilianus, chose 
 a picture of the duel for his signet device, and Stilo Prae- 
 coninus, quoted by Pliny (XXXVII, 4), jokingly asked what 
 the man would have done had his father slain Scipio. See, 
 also, Epitome of Livy (Book XLVIII). 
 
 Gn^us Scipio (There is some doubt as to the full name); 
 the degenerate son of Scipio Africanus. —His father’s por¬ 
 trait (Valerius Maximus, III, 5). 
 
 Lucius Cornelius Sulla. —According to Pliny (XXXVII, 
 4) and Plutarch’s Life of Sulla, the dictator’s seal was a pic¬ 
 ture of the surrender to him, by Bocchus, of Jugurtha, probably 
 as it is portrayed on his denarii. Valerius Maximus (VII, 14) 
 also mentions this device, but Dion Cassius (XLII, 18) states 
 that, like Pompey’s signet, Sulla’s showed three trophies, to 
 commemorate his victories over the generals of Mithridates, a 
 device borne on the reverse of another of his denarii. Possibly 
 the former was changed for the latter in his later years. 
 
 Gn^dus Pompeius Magnus. —According to Dion Cassius 
 
ROMAN PERSONAL SIGNETS 
 
 291 
 
 (XLII, 18), Pompey’s signet, with which Caesar verified his 
 death to the Senate, also displayed three trophies, probably to 
 commemorate his victories over Mithridates, the Cilician 
 pirates, and the Arabians, but Plutarch, in his Life of Pompey, 
 states that the signet sent by the murderers to Ciesar showed 
 a lion with a sword in its paw. These descriptions are neces¬ 
 sarily contradictory and the divergence cannot be explained 
 on the theory of a change of signet. 
 
 Caius Julius CiESAK. —A figure of Venus Victrix (Dion 
 Cassius, XLIII, 43). 
 
 Publius Lentulus Suba ; one of the leaders in the con¬ 
 spiracy of Catiline. —A portrait of his grandfather, Publius 
 Cornelius Lentulus, consul 162 B. C. (Cicero against Catiline, 
 
 III, 5). 
 
 Augustus. —His first recorded signet was engraved with 
 the figure of a sphinx; Pliny (XXXVII, 4) stating that 
 Augustus had found two gems bearing this device among 
 the effects of his mother, but that, on his friends’ joking him 
 about the diplomatic vagueness of his letters and edicts during 
 the times of the civil wars and the appropriateness of the 
 sphinx as a seal for “enigmas,” he adopted instead a gem 
 bearing a likeness of Alexander the Great, perhaps one of the 
 famous smaragdi engraved by Pyrgoteles. Pliny’s statement 
 here seems to be exclusive, but, earlier in the same chapter, he 
 tells of “A very excellent likeness of the late Emperor Augus¬ 
 tus” which was engraved by Dioskourides upon a signet which, 
 ever since, the Roman emperors have used. That would include 
 Domitian. Dion Cassius (LI, 3), writing in the second half 
 of the 2nd century A. D., says of Augustus’ signets: “He had 
 had the seal which he used most at that time” (The Civil 
 Wars) “made double, with a sphinx rising on both sides. Sub¬ 
 sequently, he had his own image made in intaglio and sealed 
 everything with that. Later emperors likewise employed it 
 except Galba.” Certainly this reads as if the sphinx seal was 
 a cameo which would be, to say the least, remarkable and 
 unique. 
 
 Caius Cilnius Maecenas. —This famous connoisseur and 
 
292 
 
 HISTORICAL SIGNETS 
 
 patron of the arts had a frog engraved on his seal (Pliny, 
 XXXVII, 4). 
 
 Kleopatra. —An epigram in the Greek Anthology, at¬ 
 tributed both to Asklepiades and to Antipatros of Thessalonika, 
 describes the signet of the Egyptian Queen as an amethyst 
 engraved with a figure of Methe. 
 
 Nero. —While there is no record of its use as his signet, 
 Suetonius tells (Life of Nero, Chap. 46) that Sporus, one of 
 the emperor’s favorites, made him a new-year’s present of a 
 ring with a gem engraved with a picture of the rape of Pro¬ 
 serpina : an ill-omened subject, as being emblematic of death 
 and a favorite device on tombs. 
 
 Pallas; freedman of Claudius. —Cav. Paolo Alessandro 
 Maffei, in his Gemme Antiche Figurate (Vol. Ill, p. 182) tells 
 of a carnelian engraved with a picture of Bellerophon spearing 
 the Chimaira, found among the ashes in a porphyry urn in a 
 sumptuous tomb on the Via Tiburtina, about a mile from Rome. 
 Maffei’s argument, citing Pliny the Younger and Tacitus, is 
 ingenious and establishes a very reasonable probability that 
 this was, indeed, the signet of Pallas. His tomb was located 
 on the Via Tiburtina, near the first mile-stone, and his claimed 
 descent from the “Kings of Arcadia,” while alleged in refer¬ 
 ence to the “Arcadians” who were fabled to have settled on the 
 Palatine Hill, was, doubtless, suggested by his birth in 
 Arkadia, in Peloponnesos, the people of which held close rela¬ 
 tions with the neighboring city of Korinth where Bellerophon 
 was the national hero. 
 
 Galba.—A dog bending forward from the prow of a ship; 
 his ancestral device. (Dion Cassius, LI, 3). 
 
 Hadrian. —His own portrait (Spartianus’ Hadrianus, 
 Chap. 26). This ring’s slipping from his finger while he was 
 taking the auspices on new-year’s day was considered an omen 
 of his approaching death. 
 
 Pliny the Younger. —A quadriga (Letters , X, 26). 
 
 Commodus. —According to Lampridius, in his Life of Com- 
 modus, that emperor had a picture of his mistress, Marcia, 
 garbed as an Amazon. The text does not state that this was 
 
LATER IMPERIAL SIGNETS 
 
 293 
 
 a signet, but Capitolinus, in his Life of Clodius Albinus, quotes 
 a letter of Commodus to Albinus in which its seal is referred 
 to as being the figure of an Amazon. The two taken together 
 make it clear that the emperor’s signet was Marcia, pictured 
 as an Amazon. 
 
 Constantius II.—A sapphire with a picture of the 
 Emperor spearing a wild boar in the plains of Caesarea, the 
 locality being typified by a recumbent female figure and the 
 legend, KECAPIA KATTTTAAOKIA. The name, CONSTANTIVS AVG, 
 identifies the signet, which is owned by Prince Trivulzio of 
 Milan. 
 
 Mabcia; daughter of Stilicho and wife of Honorius, 
 first Emperor of the West. —A note to Book XXXVII, Chap. 
 16, in the Bonn translation of Pliny tells of an emerald found in 
 her tomb in 1593 and “now” in the Vatican with the head of 
 her husband engraved upon it. 
 
 Mauritius; Emperor of the East, 578-602 A. D.—King 
 states, in his Handbook of Engraved Gems, that the great seal 
 of this emperor, a chalcedony, 2 by V/z inches in size, bearing 
 his bust in full face, with the orb of empire in his hand and 
 the legend, D. N. MAVRITIVS. P. P. AVG., was catalogued in the 
 sale of the Mertens-Schaafhausen Cabinet in 1859, as hav¬ 
 ing been dug up at Grafin near Bonn, and speaks of the 
 gem as the most important example of its class anywhere 
 extant. In his Antique Gems and Rings he refers to the same 
 stone as having been heired by Madame Mertens-Schaafhausen 
 of Bonn with the rest of the Praun gems, and goes on to state, 
 with his usual looseness and proneness to contradiction, that 
 “It has a somewhat suspicious look about it and may, after 
 all, be nothing more than a work of the Renaissance.” 
 
 Phocas ; the murderer and successor of Mauritius. —The 
 same authority also speaks of the seal of Phocas, as being in 
 the cabinet of M. Montigny of Paris: a portrait in all respects 
 similar to the full-face likeness on the solidi, 1 by 3/4 inches 
 in size and done on a lapis lazuli. 
 
 Comnenus. —The seal of a prince of this house in the 
 twelfth century is referred to by King as No. 49 in the De la 
 
294 
 
 HISTORICAL SIGNETS 
 
 Turbie Cabinet: a carnelian adorned with arabesques, quite 
 in the Saracenic style, which encircle the legend, KOMNHNOC 
 TOY CEBACTOY (Comnenus, son of Augustus). 
 
 Alaric; King of the Goths. —A bust in full face, poorly 
 done on a sapphire and inscribed, ALARICVS REX GOTHORVM. 
 Described by King as being in the Vienna Cabinet. 
 
DESCRIPTION AND EXPLANATION OF PLATES 
 
DESCRIPTION AND EXPLANATION OF PLATES 
 
 In earlier works on this subject there has been a tendency to 
 ignore in the illustrations the great mass of ordinary and poor 
 gems which are, nevertheless, highly interesting to the student and 
 much more obtainable by collectors than are the masterpieces of 
 ancient art. In these plates I have tried to give such stones an 
 adequate representation. Where ownership is not otherwise indi¬ 
 cated the examples are in my own collection, and where ownership 
 is noted as unknown or the gem as having belonged to some one 
 of the great collections that have been dispersed I have been cour¬ 
 teously permitted to avail myself of the collection of casts owned by 
 Tiffany & Co. of New York. 
 
 PLATE I 
 
 Minoan Gems 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis.) 
 
 1. Yellowish chalcedony from Crete, Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 56). Long parallelopiped with the four unbored sides en¬ 
 graved as follows: 
 
 (a) A ship with rigged mast and oars and what seem 
 like two crescents above; also a figure like a St. Andrew’s 
 cross with a ball at the end of each arm, and a third object 
 which is undeterminable. There is a suggestion of a double 
 line border along two of the sides. 
 
 (b) Divided in three parts by double lines. These bear 
 pictographic symbols the first two of which are undetermin¬ 
 able. The third is an eye. 
 
 (c) Pictographs, among which are recognizable a human 
 leg, a double circle, and a plant of some kind. 
 
 (d) Pictographs, including a plough (?), scissors (?), 
 saw (?), and two of the same kind of cross figures as on 
 “ a.” 
 
 2. Hematite, from Crete, in British Museum (Catal. No. 74). 
 
 Glandular stone with truncated ends. 
 
 Two oxen, of one of which only the head is shown. Be¬ 
 fore the other is a man, his body distorted to fit in the field 
 
 297 
 
298 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 of the gem in which, also, are several symbols, probably of the 
 Minoan script. 
 
 3. Dark reddish steatite, from Crete, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 34). Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 Two lions arranged heraldically with fore-feet on a 
 pedestal between them and heads regardant. Above is a sun. 
 
 4. Agate, from Crete, in Boston Museum (No. 81,133). Three- 
 
 sided stone. The three faces are ovals, and all are engraved 
 very crudely. 
 
 (a) An animal of some sort, probably a cow. 
 
 (b) Three objects that look like archery targets. 
 
 (c) Four circles, three of them double, each surmounted 
 by a ball. 
 
 5. Carnelian, from Crete, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2). 
 
 Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 A female figure wearing a diadem and a bell-shaped skirt 
 and shooting a bow. Evidently some goddess, perhaps Rhea or 
 Artemis. She seems to be girt with a sword and has a quiver 
 on her back. The full, bare bosom indicates fruitfulness. 
 
 6. Red and white agate, from Crete, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 50). Stone with three convex, oval sides, all engraved. 
 
 (a) A ship with two masts and sails. 
 
 (b) A female figure, undoubtedly some goddess, in a bell¬ 
 shaped skirt with deep border. She bears a branch in her 
 hand, and behind her there seems to be a similar object. 
 
 (c) A fish. 
 
 7. Light greenish steatite, from Crete, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 62). Stone with three almost rectangular sides, all en¬ 
 graved by hand in crude, early fashion. 
 
 (a) Three fishes. 
 
 (b) A demon-like figure, before whom stands a spear 
 or staff, from which four roundish objects seem to be 
 hanging. 
 
 (c) Two men and a bird. 
 
 8. Carnelian, from Crete, in British Museum (Catal. No. 78). 
 
 Lens-shaped stone calcined by fire. 
 
 Three men, the middle one with a three-cornered head 
 (some demon?) or wearing a three-cornered hat or helmet. 
 The first seems to be leaping. Possibly it represents athletic 
 games. 
 
 9. Serpentine, from Crete, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 12). 
 
 Lens-shaped stone. 
 
MYCEN2EAN GEMS 
 
 299 
 
 A demonic figure, with an animal’s head, bearing a dead 
 stag on his shoulder. Before him is a bush and, on each side, 
 a star, perhaps merely to fill the field. 
 
 10. Hematite, from Crete, in British Museum (Catal. No. 75). 
 
 Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 A naked man, in distorted attitude, seizing a bull by the 
 horn. Perhaps it pictures some sport of the Cretan bull- 
 ring. 
 
 11. Carnelian, from Knossos, Crete, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 79). Glandular stone. 
 
 Two-horse chariot with curious pole arrangement sim¬ 
 ilar to that found in Assyrian sculptures. The driver holds 
 the reins high and has a whip with two lashes. At each end 
 of the picture double decorative lines are used to fill the field. 
 
 PLATE II 
 
 Mycen.ean Gems 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer aans.) 
 
 1. Rock-crystal, from Phigalia, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 10). 
 
 Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 A naked man, undoubtedly a god, standing between two 
 demonic figures which he is holding, as it appears, by their 
 tongues. The monsters have horse-like heads, lion’s legs, 
 human arms, and lower bodies like those of insects. 
 
 2. Agate, from Athens, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 43). Glan¬ 
 
 dular stone. 
 
 A griffin (?) swooping down with wide spread wings 
 upon a running lion which turns its head to defend itself. 
 
 3. Darkish carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 01, 7572). Lens¬ 
 
 shaped stone. 
 
 A bull (or cow) turning to lick its hind foot. 
 
 4. Carnelian, from Peloponnesos, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 40). Glandular stone. 
 
 A man, with long hair, spearing a boar in a marsh. 
 
 5. Banded agate, from Peloponnesos, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 20). Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 A bull, falling, with a spear thrust into its neck. 
 
 6. Brown-red jasper with small white spots, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 48). Glandular stone. 
 
300 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 A confused design, perhaps meant to represent a wood or 
 thicket. The introduction of several crescents in the pic¬ 
 ture doubtless has some significance. 
 
 7. Mottled red and grayish jasper, in Boston Museum (No. 
 
 01,7563). Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 A bull with head turned as if licking his back. Below is 
 an ornament shaped somewhat like the Mycenaean shield. 
 Above the back are two ornaments that may be meant to rep¬ 
 resent sacred knots, like the ivory one from Knossos figured 
 in Vol. IX of the Annual of the British School at Athens, p. 8. 
 
 8. Amethyst, in Boston Museum (No. 01,7567). Glandular stone 
 
 with truncated ends. 
 
 A lion, with head turned back, pierced by an arrow. 
 
 9. Banded agate, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 22). Lens-shaped 
 
 stone. 
 
 A bullock, with tongue hanging out and a short sword 
 thrust in the back of its neck, lying on what is, doubtless, 
 intended to represent an altar. A palm tree curving around 
 part of the rim of the stone may suggest the grove of 
 a neighboring temple. Evidently the picture shows a 
 sacrifice. 
 
 10. Hematite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 80). Glandular stone 
 
 with truncated ends. 
 
 A male figure with drapery about his hips, holding up a 
 fish by the line with which he has caught it. 
 
 11. Hematite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 37). Lens-shaped 
 
 stone. 
 
 A bull attacked by a lion and a griffin. All three are 
 drawn in curious distorted attitudes, so as to fit the field. 
 The bull’s head is in full front and exaggerated for decorative 
 effect. 
 
 12. Sardonyx, from Elis, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 3). Lens¬ 
 
 shaped stone. 
 
 A woman, evidently a goddess, perhaps Artemis, holding 
 up a goat by the horns to symbolize her sway over animals. 
 The upper part of her body is bare, with the breasts em¬ 
 phasized, and she wears a bell-shaped, decorated skirt. 
 
 13. Carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 01,7574). Flat, almond- 
 
 shaped stone. 
 
 Two antelopes lying down, one with its head turned back. 
 
 14. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 55). Lens-shaped 
 
 stone. 
 
GEMS OF THE GREEK MIDDLE AGES 
 
 301 
 
 Two ibexes arranged heraldically with forefeet raised 
 and heads regardant. 
 
 15. Serpentine, from Athens, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6). 
 
 Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 Two men, with bird-like heads, rushing at each other, 
 grasping each other’s heads, and stabbing with short swords. 
 Several round objects in the field may represent stones which 
 they have thrown. 
 
 16. Steatite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 30). Lens-shaped 
 
 stone. 
 
 A lion looking upward toward a griffin that hovers above 
 him with spread wings. 
 
 17. Agate (calcined), in British Museum (Catal. No. 43). Short 
 
 hemicylindrical stone, broader in the middle. 
 
 Two goats, one with head turned back. Two bushes are 
 arranged so as to fill the field. 
 
 18. Red jasper, in Boston Museum (No. 98,713). Lens-shaped 
 
 stone. 
 
 A cow suckling a calf. 
 
 19. Agate, with vertical bands of bluish white and yellowish brown, 
 
 in Boston Museum (No. 01, 7582). Rectangular stone. 
 
 A man falling beneath a bull. 
 
 20. Chalcedony, in Boston Museum (No. 01,7548). Lens-shaped 
 
 stone. 
 
 A cow suckling a calf. Around part of the rim bends a 
 thistle-like plant. 
 
 21. Brown and white striped agate, from Peloponnesos, in Berlin 
 
 Museum (Catal. No. 49). Stone with three convex sides, two 
 of which are engraved. 
 
 On the one shown here are two boars lying down with 
 rushes rising over them. Several oblique lines fill the exergue. 
 
 PLATE III 
 
 Gems op the Greek Middle Ages 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Greenish mica-slate, from Megara, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 No. 80). Flat, round stone with the upper side smaller and 
 engraved on both sides. 
 
302 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 (a) On the larger surface are the foreparts of two 
 horses in reversed positions and joined to one body. In the 
 field are three bushes. 
 
 (b) On the smaller surface is a demonic figure with 
 wings hanging down from his shoulders. 
 
 2. Whitish steatite searaboid, from Cyprus, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 71). 
 
 A chariot or cart carrying three men and drawn by one 
 horse. Probably a second is to be assumed to be beyond him. 
 
 3. Soft whitish stone searaboid, from Asia Minor. 
 
 A rudely drawn animal (goat or bull) with a bush be¬ 
 fore it. 
 
 4. Steatite searaboid, from Kamiros, in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 130). 
 
 Rosette made up of eight leaves. Cable border. 
 
 5. Serpentine, in British Museum (Catal. No. 97). Flat rect¬ 
 
 angular stone, engraved on both sides. 
 
 (a) A central disk with rays. 
 
 (b) A bull sinking on one knee, with head turned back 
 and a crescent in the field above him. 
 
 6. Serpentine, in British Museum (Catal. No. 102). Scarab-like 
 
 stone with a crouching lion in place of the beetle relief. 
 
 A man holding a horse by the head. Above the horse is a 
 bird and beneath him what may be meant for a fish. 
 
 7. Steatite scarab, from Kamiros, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 142). 
 
 The tree of life, beneath which are two oxen (?) ar¬ 
 ranged symmetrically with heads bent down. Under each 
 of them is an Egyptian crux ansata. 
 
 8. Bright green steatite, from Beirut, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 78). Flat seal with a bored handle. 
 
 Two men, apparently about to cut down a large stalk of 
 grain or, perhaps, a tree which stands between them. 
 
 Island Stones 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 9. Yellowish steatite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 82). Lens¬ 
 
 shaped stone. 
 
 Herakles contending with a sea-demon whose body is 
 covered with scales and ends in a fish’s tail. Perhaps it is 
 
ISLAND STONES 
 
 303 
 
 the one from whom he rescued the daughter of Laomedon. 
 The hero is nude, bearded, and has a quiver slung on his back. 
 Two fishes fill the field of the gem. 
 
 10. Whitish steatite, from the Greek islands, in British Museum. 
 
 Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 A winged sea-horse. Half the rim of the field is filled 
 with two lines of joined drill holes which form a sort of ir¬ 
 regular half-border. 
 
 11. Steatite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 24). Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 Pegasos. 
 
 12. Steatite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 56). Lens-shaped 
 
 stone. 
 
 A goat with its body distorted and hind legs raised so 
 as to fill the field above its back. A drill-hole and a feather 
 motive decoration are also introduced for the same purpose. 
 
 13. Light greenish, translucent steatite, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 92). Glandular stone. 
 
 A boar with head down, as if feeding. Two lines dec¬ 
 orate the back of the gem. 
 
 14. Meerschaumlike stone, from Melos, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 96). Lens-shaped gem, engraved on both sides. 
 
 Chimaira. In the field are four drill-holes and several 
 lines with cross strokes. The exergue is filled with a row of 
 downward strokes. On the other side of this gem (not 
 figured) are a man and woman in an obscene attitude. 
 
 15. Light greenish, translucent steatite, from the Greek islands, 
 
 in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 90). Lens-shaped stone. 
 
 A wild goat (or ibex) leaping, with head turned back. 
 Characteristic feather decoration in the field. 
 
 16. Steatite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 86). Glandular stone. 
 
 A griffin with head turned back. 
 
 17. Grayish green steatite, in British Museum (Catal. No. 81). 
 
 Lens-shaped stone engraved on both sides. 
 
 (a) A naked man, stretched on his back, with a large 
 bird attacking him; perhaps Prometheus and the eagle. 
 
 (b) A pattern of symmetrically arranged lines. 
 
304 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 PLATE IV 
 
 Archaic Greek Gems of the Sixth Century, B. C., and the First 
 Twenty Years of the Fifth 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Rock-crystal scaraboid, from Cyprus, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 140). 
 
 Seilenos, reclining, with a kantharos in his hand. By 
 his knee stands a two-handled vessel for mixing wine. The 
 hair and beard are treated in the early manner of archaic 
 art. 
 
 2. Carnelian scarab, from Corneto, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 137). 
 
 Tityos, with long hair and beard, kneeling and trying to 
 draw the arrow from his side. Early Greek work for the 
 Etruscan market. The border is especially ornate. 
 
 3. Light translucent carnelian scaraboid, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 173). 
 
 It is engraved on top, bottom, and along both sides. 
 Only the first two are here pictured. Both have the cable 
 border. 
 
 (a) On the flat base, a lion with a dolphin above and an 
 ear of grain below. 
 
 (b) On the convex top, a four-horse chariot represented 
 in full front. The driver seems to be nude and is raising his 
 arm. A zigzag line fills the exergue. The work is appar¬ 
 ently of the end of the sixth or the early fifth century. 
 
 4. Chalcedony scarab with light brownish spots, from Greece, in 
 
 Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 156). 
 
 A nude, unbearded warrior with spear and shield. Done 
 very much in the style of the West Aigeinetan pediment. Cable 
 border. Work of about the same period as No. 3, above. 
 
 5. Plasma, probably cut down from either a scarab or a scaraboid, 
 
 in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 299). 
 
 Diomedes, nude and stretched on a sort of bier, while his 
 four man-eating horses stand above, one of them biting him. 
 Herakles stands by his head, and a palm tree rises at the left. 
 Cable border. End of sixth century. 
 
 6. Hematite scarab, from Aigeina, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 124). 
 
 A winged goddess, draped, probably Artemis, holding 
 
ARCHAIC GREEK GEMS 
 
 305 
 
 up a lion and a goat by their tails. Cable border. Work of 
 the early sixth century. 
 
 7. Plasma scarab (calcined?), from Falerii, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 136). 
 
 Herakles, bearded and wearing his lion’s skin, contend¬ 
 ing with the river-god Acheloos who is represented as a bull 
 with a manlike face and whose power of transformation is 
 suggested by the serpent and the dolphin in the field. 
 Herakles is grasping him by the horn and tail. Cable border. 
 The exergue is filled with cross-hatchings. Early Ionian 
 work done for the Etruscan market. 
 
 8. Carnelian scarab, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 161). 
 
 A draped figure the sex of which is uncertain reclining 
 on the back of a running bull and holding him by the horn. 
 It may be meant for Europe or, if male, for Dionysos. The 
 shape of the garment argues for the former hypothesis, but 
 the fact that the rider looks a little as if meant to be bearded 
 might negative such a supposition. The crudeness of the 
 work on the very small figure, however, leaves the point un¬ 
 certain. The engraving is polished. Border of joined drill¬ 
 holes. Probably rather early sixth century work. 
 
 9. Black jasper scarab, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 164). 
 
 Head of a negro in a high crested helmet. Cable border. 
 Work of the early transition period, still showing signs of the 
 severe style. 
 
 10. Black jasper scaraboid, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 175). 
 
 A cow suckling a calf. The engraving is highly polished. 
 Cable border. Probably sixth century work. 
 
 11. Carnelian scarab, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 162). 
 
 A bearded head done in severe style. Cable border. 
 Early work of the sixth century. 
 
 12. Translucent carnelian scarab, from Aigeina, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 157). 
 
 A bearded, naked man kneeling with both hands to his 
 breast. The hair and beard are done with the drill. Cable 
 border. Probably later sixth century work. 
 
 13. Translucent, diagonally striped sardonyx scarab, in Berlin Mu¬ 
 
 seum (Catal. No. 168). 
 
 A lion devouring a bull. Cable border. Probably mid¬ 
 dle sixth century work. 
 
 14. Carnelian scaraboid. from Greece, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 176). 
 
306 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 A nude negro in a squatting position. The breast and 
 belly are very crudely done. Cable border. Sixth century 
 work. 
 
 15. Scarab of opaque white stone, from Melos, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 154). 
 
 A crouching demon, like those of the Mycenaean epoch, 
 with the upper part of a lion and the lower part human. 
 The surface of the stone is damaged and no border shows in 
 the cast. Probably sixth century work. 
 
 16. Rock-crystal scarab, from Crete, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 141). 
 
 A sphinx seizing a naked man whom she has over¬ 
 thrown. The hair is worked out in the older style. Cable 
 border. Engraving unpolished. Work of not later than the 
 middle of the sixth century. 
 
 17. Chalcedony scaraboid, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 160). 
 
 An unbearded Hermes in a kneeling position, wearing the 
 petasos and nude but for a scarf thrown over his shoulders. 
 He carries his caduceus. Very fine work of the late transi¬ 
 tion period with the muscles and the linea alba well worked 
 out. The engraving is highly polished. Cable border. 
 
 18. Carnelian scarab, from Italy, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 169). 
 
 A human leg with the knee bent up and the genitals 
 showing, beyond which the figure ends in the forefront of a 
 horse. A drill-hole occupies the field above. Cable border. 
 Probably south Italian Greek work of the later sixth century 
 or early transition period. 
 
 19. Bluish black, white speckled agate scarab, from the Troas, in 
 
 Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 159). 
 
 A nude woman, probably a Naiad, in kneeling attitude, 
 holding a hydra (water jar) into which water is running from 
 a lion-head spout. She wears a hood and ear-ring. Inscrip¬ 
 tion, SiHMONO^ (of Semon). Furtwangler holds this to be the 
 name of the artist, in the genitive, but it seems to me at 
 least as likely to be that of the owner. Cable border. Strik¬ 
 ing Ionic work of the transition period. 
 
 20. Greenish jasper scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 241). 
 
 An unbearded Scythian archer fleeing and turning to 
 loose his arrow at some pursuing foe. Cable border. 
 
 21. Green jasper scarab, in Boston Museum (No. 98,714). 
 
ARCHAIC GREEK GEMS 
 
 307 
 
 A lion attacking a boar. Cable border. Sixth century- 
 work showing Phoenician influence. 
 
 22. Green jasper scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 239). 
 
 A warrior running with bent knee action, with helmet, 
 shield, lance, and crude suggestion of mantle. Cable border. 
 Poor sixth century work. 
 
 23. Carnelian scarab with a seiren substituted for the beetle relief, 
 
 in British Museum (Catal. No. 248). 
 
 Nude, kneeling figure of the Hyacinthine Apollo, his lyre 
 under his arm and holding a flower. Similar to the type on 
 the Tarentine coinage. Cable border. 
 
 24. Banded agate scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 265). 
 
 Herakles, nude and armed with his club, raising one 
 foot to bind his sandal. An early appearance of the sandal¬ 
 binding motive in the late archaic period. 
 
 PLATE V 
 
 Archaic Greek Gems ( concluded) 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Grayish brown and white agate scarab, in British Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 289). 
 
 Seilenos in a bent-over attitude, apparently dancing and 
 holding a goblet in his hand. At his feet is a large wine 
 krater. He has horse’s ears and hoofs, and his hair and 
 beard are done entirely with drill-holes. The belly muscles 
 are shown in three folds, in the style of the early archaic 
 art. Cable border. The engraving has no polish. Sixth 
 century work. 
 
 2. Bright greenish, half translucent steatite, in scarab form but 
 
 with a satyr’s head instead of the beetle relief, in British 
 Museum (Catal. No. 479). 
 
 A bearded citharist in a long tunic, crowned with a dia¬ 
 dem and holding a lyre and plectrum. One foot is raised, 
 resting on a rock. Around the edge runs the inscription in 
 damaged letters, PI EflOIE^E^held to be the signature 
 of Syries, an Euboian artist of the Ionic School, though the 
 letters are much the worse for age and have been differently 
 read. Cable border. 
 
308 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 3. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 333). 
 
 Herakles, unbearded and nude, without his lion’s skin 
 but bearing club, bow, and quiver. The work is of the sixth 
 century and seems to show some Phoenician influence as does 
 the simple line border. 
 
 4. Grayish white banded agate scarab, from Sicily, in British 
 
 Museum (Catal. No. 295). 
 
 A centaur with long hair, beard, horse’s ears, and nose 
 of the Seilenos type carrying off a woman dressed in a long 
 tunic. His fore legs are human and the horse’s body begins 
 at the buttocks of the Seilenos figure. He has double genitals. 
 The engraving is unpolished. Cable border. Sixth century 
 work. 
 
 5. Carnelian in scarab form but with a negro’s head instead of the 
 
 beetle relief, in British Museum (Catal. No. 471). 
 
 Flying seiren with a wreath (or pearl necklace) in her 
 hand. She wears a cap with a long streamer decorating it. 
 Cable border. 
 
 6. Translucent carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 264). 
 
 A kneeling female demon with four wings and a cow’s ( ?) 
 head. Cable border. The conception seems to show an Ori¬ 
 ental influence. 
 
 7. Rock-crystal scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 249). 
 
 Winged Nike with a flower in one hand and holding up 
 her drapery with the other. The right knee is sharply bent 
 and she wears a hood. Border of drill-holes. Sixth century 
 work. 
 
 8. Translucent carnelian scarab (calcined), in British Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 250). 
 
 A kneeling warrior in helmet and Ionic corselet carrying 
 a naked dead man on his shoulder. Probably Menelaos and 
 Patroklos. Cable border. 
 
 9. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 266). 
 
 Herakles, unbearded, nude, and without the lion’s skin, 
 brandishing his club and carrying the tripod. The dog, 
 Kerberos, runs beside him, three serpents rising from his 
 back. A star decorates the field. Border of joined drill¬ 
 holes. Sixth century work. 
 
 10. Bluish chalcedony cone with eight-sided base like the later 
 Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian shapes. The boring does 
 not run through. In Boston Museum (No. 95.80). 
 
ARCHAIC GREEK GEMS 
 
 309 
 
 Herakles in a short tunic and with a short beard. His 
 head and legs are in profile but his back is turned to the 
 front. In one hand he holds his club and with the other a 
 lion by the head. Facing him is Medousa, also in a tunic, 
 with head and body shown full front and legs in profile. 
 She is winged and carries two lions by the tails. Her head 
 is of the terror inspiring type with serpent locks rising from 
 it. Ionic work of the sixth century showing strong Oriental 
 influence. 
 
 11. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 321). 
 
 A man driving a two-horse chariot. Behind him another 
 man with a horse are facing in the opposite direction. Cable 
 border. Ionic work of the sixth century. 
 
 12. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 233). 
 
 A winged demon of the Seilenos type with the hind half 
 of a lion joined to his buttocks, kneeling on one knee and 
 holding a goat by the fore leg and horn. Cable border, the 
 exergue filled with cross-hatching. Sixth century work show¬ 
 ing Phoenician influence. 
 
 13. Bluish chalcedony cone, like No. 10, in Boston Museum. 
 
 Two birds of prey devouring a dead goat. Behind is a 
 bush. 
 
 14. Translucent light brown sard scarab or scaraboid cut away to 
 
 the line of the boring, in Metropolitan Museum, N. Y. (King 
 Coll., Catal. No. 311). 
 
 A winged sphinx crouching down in front and holding 
 a twig or flower in her fore-paws. Her hair is tied up in a 
 large bunch at the top of her head. Cable border. 
 
 15. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 475). 
 
 A nude youth, perhaps Apollo, kneeling and playing a 
 lyre. The short hair is done entirely with the drill, and the 
 stomach muscles are shown by four bands. Cable border. 
 Sixth century work. 
 
 16. Carnelian scarab (slightly calcined), in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 279). 
 
 A nude athlete leaning on a staff and with an oil-flask 
 hanging from his arm. Sixth century work. 
 
 17. Bluish chalcedony cone, like Nos. 10 and 13, in Metropolitan 
 
 Museum, New York (King Coll., Catal. No. 3). 
 
 Hermes, unbearded and draped in a long Ionic tunic, 
 with his caduceus over his shoulder and a flower in his hand. 
 His feet are winged and his hair long behind. On his head 
 
310 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 is a curious cap ornamented by a long feather that curves 
 forward. An eagle or hawk stands before him. Ionic work 
 of the sixth century. 
 
 18. Rock-crystal of long rectangular form, in Boston Museum (No. 
 
 01.7594). 
 
 A bearded Triton wearing a cap or a fillet about his head 
 and with his hair gathered in a bunch behind. 
 
 19. Carnelian scarab, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A nude, helmeted horseman riding with both legs on 
 one side of his steed and carrying a spear. A round shield 
 with a Gorgon head on it hangs at his back. A dog is shown 
 under the horse and, beneath that, a panther mask, full face. 
 Cable border. Probably work of the transition period. 
 
 20. Chalcedony scarab or scaraboid cut down, from Tortosa, in 
 
 Ribliothbque Nationale, Paris (Coll. Luynes, No. 262). 
 
 Herakles kneeling, nude and unbearded, and carrying a 
 lion over his shoulder. His club shows behind him, and un¬ 
 der it is cut a Cypriote or Phoenician ( ?) sign, Sixth cen¬ 
 tury work. 
 
 21. Carnelian scaraboid, from Cyprus, in Metropolitan Museum, 
 
 New York (Cesnola Coll., No. 149). 
 
 A winged youth of the Eros type carrying away in his 
 flight a nude maiden who holds a lyre in her hand. The Mu¬ 
 seum authorities describe this picture as a representation of 
 Boreas and Oreithyia, but Furtwangler, with, I think, sounder 
 reason, argues that it signifies merely the conquest of Eros 
 over some maiden. One cannot but fancy how perfect a 
 signet this would be for some poetess like Sappho. Line bor¬ 
 der. Sixth century work. 
 
 22. Rock-crystal scaraboid, in Boston Museum (No. 01,7558). 
 
 Medousa, winged and with the hind half of a horse joined 
 to her buttocks, seizing a lion. She wears a long garment. 
 The face is shown full front and is of the same type as No. 
 10, above. A zigzag line fills the exergue. Cable border. 
 Sixth century work. 
 
 23. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 290). 
 
 Seilenos kneeling, nude, with a goblet in one hand and a 
 jug in the other. He has horse’s ears, a bald forehead, and 
 long hair behind. Cable border. Sixth century work. 
 
 24. Light, translucent carnelian scarab, in Boston Museum (No. 
 
 98,729). 
 
 Herakles, unbearded and with lion’s skin, its mask ar- 
 
GRiECO-PHCENICIAN GEMS 
 
 311 
 
 ranged as a hood and the feet hanging down between his 
 legs. His quiver hangs at his side, and his bow and arrows 
 are in one hand while he raises his club in the other. Be¬ 
 fore him is a small nude figure with long hair and hands 
 raised as if in supplication—possibly a worshipper. The 
 exergue is filled with cross-lines. Border of joined drill¬ 
 holes. Sixth century work. 
 
 25. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Thebes, in Boston Museum (No. 
 98,720). 
 
 A lion attacking a bull. In the left field a tortoise is 
 shown and in the right a figure like a modified Oriental 
 winged disk. 
 
 PLATE VI 
 
 Gr^co-Phcenician Gems 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except uohen other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Camelian scaraboid (unbored), in Biblioth&que Nationale, 
 
 Paris (Coll. Chabouillet, No. 1081). 
 
 In the middle stands an Egyptian king wearing an apron 
 and the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with the uraeus in 
 front and carrying a sceptre. He is unbearded but shows 
 the royal lock of hair. This marks him as the “ Golden Horus, 
 son of Ra,” one of the titles of the Pharaohs. The figure is 
 in the Egypto-Syrian style. On each side of him is a smaller 
 figure in a long garment, more in the Persian style. These 
 two are beardless and have their heads shaven like the 
 Egyptian priests. Each raises a hand in the gesture of adora¬ 
 tion. The picture shows a mingling of Egyptian and Per¬ 
 sian elements. The workmanship is of the Phoenician art 
 of the end of the sixth century. The exergue is filled with 
 crossed lines. Furtwangler suggests, with much ingenuity 
 and some reason, that this stone had its origin in the conquest 
 of Egypt by Kambyses, and that he is here represented as 
 Pharaoh. 
 
 2. Rock-crystal scarab, in Bibliothbque Nationale, Paris (Coll. 
 
 Luynes, No. 268). 
 
 Demonic figure in Egypto-Syrian style with four wings 
 on his body and one on each heel. He wears an apron and 
 the crown of Upper Egypt and carries in each hand a feather, 
 
312 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 the symbol of victory in Egyptian art. The exergue is filled 
 with crossed lines. The workmanship is akin to that of 
 Greek art, and shows the precision of the second half of the 
 sixth century. 
 
 3. Green jasper scarab, from Sardinia, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 104). 
 
 A demon kneeling on one knee, his upper half a lion, the 
 lower a man with a lion’s tail. He wears the Egyptian apron. 
 Cable border. 
 
 4. Green jasper scarab, from Tamassos in Cyprus, found in a 
 
 grave of the sixth century; in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 102 ). 
 
 Besa shown in profile wearing a feather crown and con¬ 
 tending with a lion which stands before him on its hind 
 legs. Above it are a star and a sun resting on a crescent. 
 The exergue is filled with cross-lines. Line border. 
 
 5. Green jasper scarab, from Tharros in Sardinia, in British Mu¬ 
 
 seum (Catal. No. 215). 
 
 A king (or god), bearded and with conical cap, his 
 mantle falling over one leg, the other bare, striking with an 
 Egyptian axe a kneeling naked figure, probably a demon, 
 who seems to be trying to escape and raises his hands in sup¬ 
 plication. The exergue is filled with cross-lines. Line border. 
 
 6. Green jasper scarab, from Tharros, in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 171). 
 
 Two negro masks joined together, back to back, by a 
 third mask which is full-faced, grinning and wears a crown 
 of feathers (?) (Besa?). These, however, may be meant for 
 serpent-locks, in which case the face would be of Medousa. 
 Below the neck are the fore parts of two lions, a sheep’s head, 
 and a sparrow hawk, all joined together. Irregular cable 
 border. 
 
 7. Green jasper scarab, from Tharros, in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 182). 
 
 A warrior marching and looking behind, as if at a pur¬ 
 suing enemy against whose attack he holds his shield on 
 which is set a Seilenos mask, while he thrusts backward with 
 his spear. He wears greaves and a linen corselet. His 
 thighs are clothed in some fashion indicated by transverse 
 strokes. Cable border. 
 
 8. Green jasper scarab, from Tharros, in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 172). 
 
GIEECO-Pi HENICIAN GEMS 
 
 313 
 
 Nude, winged figure running. The face is that of Besa 
 and he wears a crown of three feathers. In his hands he 
 brandishes two uraei, and two others proceed from his sides. 
 The exergue is filled with cross-lines. Line border. Graeco- 
 Phoenician work with strong Egyptian influence. 
 
 9. Green jasper scarab, from Tharros, in British Museum (Catal. 
 No. 196). 
 
 A bearded god, probably Bel-Khamon, seated on a throne 
 which is flanked by sphinxes. Before him stands a blazing 
 censer (?) and above is the winged globe. Exergue filled 
 with cross-lines. Cable border. Graeco-Phoenician work, 
 with Egyptian influence. 
 
 10. Black and white banded agate scarab, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 100). 
 
 Besa with feather crown. The face and body are shown 
 full front, the legs in profile, the mantle falling over one 
 leg. Wild goats and uraei spring from his hands which are 
 at his waist, while two lions hang down, held by the legs. 
 Exergue filled with cross-lines. Graeco-Phoenician work of 
 the sixth century, with Egyptian influence. 
 
 11. Green jasper scarab, from Tharros, in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 218). 
 
 Seilenos bearded, squatting, with a goblet in his hand. 
 The head and hair with the long lock behind are those of Besa, 
 and he has a horse’s tail, like that of the Greek Seilenos, 
 though much longer. Cable border. Work of the sixth 
 century. 
 
 12. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 229). 
 
 Besa, bearded, shown in profile, wearing the feather 
 crown, his thighs draped, and with a uraeus springing 
 from his waist. He is stabbing a griffin which stands 
 erect before him. Exergue filled with cross-lines. Cable 
 border. 
 
 13. Green jasper scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 235). 
 
 Two lions attacking a bull which has 'transfixed one 
 of them with one of his horns. Above hangs a lotos flower. 
 Exergue filled with cross-lines. Cable border. 
 
 14. Carnelian scarab, in Boston Museum (No. 98,738). 
 
 A lion resting in a swamp of lotos flowers which rise 
 above him. Exergue filled with cross-lines. 
 
314 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Greek-Persian Gems 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis.) 
 
 15. Bluish chalcedony, right-angled stone, the top bevelled in five 
 
 facets and the picture only on the bottom, in Berlin Museum 
 (Catal. No. 185). 
 
 A combat with lances between a mounted Persian and 
 an adversary on foot who carries a shield. The work is 
 very careless and shows free use of the drill. 
 
 16. Bluish chalcedony scaraboid, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, 
 
 New York. 
 
 A boar running. Work of about 350 B. C. 
 
 17. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Sparta, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 188). 
 
 A Persian lion-griffin with wings bent forward. It has 
 a goat’s horn and eagle’s hind legs. 
 
 18. Red and white agate rectangular stone with faceted top 
 
 and engraved on all six faces, from the neighborhood of 
 Bagdad. 
 
 (a) On the bottom, which is considerably damaged, a 
 Persian horseman, horse and man shown full front but with 
 defective foreshortening, spearing a boar which springs at 
 him. The man is clothed entirely in a close fitting garment. 
 
 (b) On the top, a hawk, and on the four bevelled edges 
 a running bear, a lizard, a fox sniffing at what seems to be a 
 grasshopper, and a bushy tailed dog lying down. 
 
 Work of not later than 450 B. C. 
 
 19. Chalcedony scaraboid engraved on both sides, in Boston Mu¬ 
 
 seum (No. 03,1013). 
 
 (a) On the convex side, a draped woman, with flowing 
 head-dress, seated in a chair with a bird perched on her hand. 
 Before her stands a dwarf. 
 
 (b) On the flat side, another seated woman, similarly 
 dressed, playing a trigSnon or triangular lyre. Before her 
 stands a dog with a bushy tail. 
 
 Fourth century work. 
 
 20. Bluish chalcedony scaraboid, in Metropolitan Museum, New 
 
 York (King Coll., Catal. No. 304). 
 
 A stag sinking on one knee, as if wounded. 
 
 21. Rock-crystal scaraboid, from Constantinople, in Berlin Mu¬ 
 
 seum (Catal. No. 184). 
 
 A mounted hunter with a lance attacking two wild goats. 
 
GEMS OF THE BEST PERIOD OF GREEK ART 315 
 
 22. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Megalopolis, in Berlin Museum 
 (Catal. No. 181). 
 
 A Persian woman in a trailing robe with long hanging 
 sleeves. Her hair is dressed in a long braid tied at the end. 
 She carries in one hand an alabastron and, in the other, a 
 drinking-cup and a spoon. Fourth century work. 
 
 PLATE VII 
 
 Gems of the Best Period of Greek Art 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Bluish, light-clouded chalcedony scaraboid, from Kertsch, in 
 
 Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A flying crane. Beneath, in two lines, is the inscrip¬ 
 tion AEEAMEPO^ EPOIE XIO^ (Dexamenos the Chian made). 
 Line border. This is, perhaps, the most important, as 
 well as one of the most beautiful gems known. 
 
 2. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Cyprus, in Boston Museum (No. 
 
 1075,86). 
 
 A lion killing a mule. Cable border. Work of second 
 quarter of the fifth century. 
 
 3. Carnelian cone (chipped), the base oblong and cut slightly con¬ 
 
 vex, in British Museum (Catal. No. 550). 
 
 A child, probably the young Dionysos, seated on the 
 ground and reaching out for a bunch of grapes that hangs 
 on a vine. Work of second half of the fifth century. 
 
 4. Carnelian, probably originally a scaraboid. Owner unknown. 
 
 Described from former descriptions and a modern glass paste 
 reproduction. 
 
 Eros as a child, though the head seems older and he is 
 very far from the later Cupid type. He is winged and rests 
 on his knees and one hand. Behind him is the open shell 
 from which, according to one tradition, he was fabled to 
 have been born. Beneath is inscribed, <J>PY[~IAAO^ (Phrygil- 
 los), doubtless the name of the artist, who has been identified 
 with a Syracusan coin-designer of the second half of the 
 fifth century. Cable border. 
 
 5. Chalcedony with brownish spots, apparently cut down from a 
 
 scaraboid, in British Museum (Catal. No. 557). 
 
 A bearded centaur running with the skin of an animal 
 
316 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 fastened about his neck and floating out behind him, while 
 an arrow (of Herakles?) pierces his back. Below his tail are 
 the letters XI, probably the beginning of the owner’s name. 
 Line border. Art of the school of Dexamenos. 
 
 6. Bluish chalcedony scaraboid, from Greece, in Boston Mu¬ 
 
 seum (No. 10339.5). 
 
 A griffin attacking a stag. Underneath is a conventional 
 representation of rocks. 
 
 7. Brownish chalcedony scaraboid (slightly chipped), in collec¬ 
 
 tion of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 A combined monster with the head and neck of a horned 
 dragon, a beard, a mane, the wings of a grasshopper, and an 
 insect’s body. 
 
 8. Garnelian scaraboid, from Tarsos, in British Museum. 
 
 A youth, in a pointed, crested helmet and a cloak flutter¬ 
 ing behind him, leaning forward with one foot raised to fasten 
 his sandal. 
 
 9. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Kertsch, in Hermitage Museum, 
 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
 A lion. 
 
 10. Carnelian scaraboid, from Crete, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 303). 
 
 A prancing horse. 
 
 11. Translucent carnelian scaraboid, from Kertsch, in Hermitage 
 
 Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A seated woman (Aphrodite?) in a long tunic and 
 mantle leaning forward to kiss a nude, winged Eros who em¬ 
 braces her. School of Dexamenos. 
 
 12. Bluish chalcedony scaraboid, from South Russia, in Hermitage 
 
 Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Artemis draped to the feet in a long tunic. The motive 
 has the character of the Pheidian sculptures. In her right 
 hand she holds a sacrificial dish, in her left, her bow. She 
 wears a diadem of towers as does the Artemis on the coins 
 of the Tauric Chersonesos. 
 
 13. Convex chalcedony ring-stone, from Aigion, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 177). 
 
 On the convex side, unbored, a nude, bearded Herakles. 
 His lion’s skin is thrown over his left arm, in which hand he, 
 also, carries his bow. In the right hand is his club. In the 
 left upper field the owl of Athena perches on his shoulder, in¬ 
 dicating the protection of the goddess. Though a ring-stone 
 
GEMS OF THE BEST PERIOD OF GREEK ART 317 
 
 this gem is evidently work of the second quarter of the 
 fifth century. 
 
 14. Rock-crystal scaraboid, in Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 
 
 Pan, bearded and horned, seated on a rock and with a 
 bird, perhaps a raven, perched on one hand. An example of 
 the crude work of the best period. 
 
 15. Translucent scaraboid (stone unknown), from Kertsch, in 
 
 Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Aphrodite fully draped and seated on a rock giving suck 
 to Eros, who stands, winged, at her knee. The perspective is 
 admirably handled. 
 
 16. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Cyprus, in Metropolitan Museum, 
 
 New York (Cesnola Coll., No. 142). 
 
 A bearded man in a long tunic and mantle seizing a 
 maiden, also clothed in a tunic to her feet and wearing a 
 hood, who is dropping a lighted torch. It probably repre¬ 
 sents Hades seizing Kore. Line border. Work of second 
 quarter of the fifth century. 
 
 17. Chalcedony scaraboid, from South Russia, in Hermitage Mu¬ 
 
 seum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A nude woman resting on her toes with knees sharply 
 bent and removing or putting on her mantle as if before or 
 after bathing. She wears a pearl necklace. 
 
 18. Translucent carnelian scarab, from Kertsch, in Hermitage Mu¬ 
 
 seum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Head of a youth in a Phrygian cap, perhaps Paris. Curv¬ 
 ing around on part of the cap that falls over the neck are 
 the letters TEPAA (Perga), evidently the beginning of a 
 name. Cable border. 
 
 PLATE VIII 
 
 Gems of the Best Period of Greek Art (concluded) 
 
 (These stones are iored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Dark brown sard scaraboid, from Tanagra, in Berlin Museum 
 (Catal. No. 302). 
 
 A bull sinking on one knee. Above is the ending of an 
 inscription, ^AO^, which Furtwangler considers the ending 
 in the genitive of some artist’s name, following a line of 
 argument which, as 1 have set forth elsewhere, is to me un- 
 
318 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 convincing. Ornate border of joined squares with central 
 dots. Work of the middle of the fifth century. 
 
 2. Carnelian, pierced like a scaraboid, with convex picture sur¬ 
 
 face and the back part cut off; from Asia Minor (?), in Ber¬ 
 lin Museum (Catal. No. 328). 
 
 The two Dioskoroi represented as boys, both with 
 mantles, kneeling and playing with knucklebones. One 
 wears a fillet around his head. The other’s hair is somewhat 
 rumpled. To the left is a fish, and, above, a crux ansata. 
 Below is a very unusual descriptive inscription: AIO^KOPOI. 
 Work of the middle of the fifth century. 
 
 3. Rock-crystal scaraboid (chipped), in Boston Museum (No. 
 
 01,7545). 
 
 A bull stung by a gadfly and running or stumbling. 
 Above is the inscription, OE — A, the break intervening, and 
 down the side, in front, E£E, facing the wrong way, as often 
 happens. Several guesses as to the complete inscription 
 have been hazarded. Cable border. 
 
 4. Rectangular, milky chalcedony, the top of the stone cut in three 
 
 facets running lengthwise; from Greece, in Berlin Museum 
 (Catal. No. 333). 
 
 On the base is a locust or grasshopper. 
 
 5. Banded agate barrel-shaped cylinder, with the picture side cut 
 
 flat, from Greece, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 331). 
 
 A woman in a long tunic. Her head is turned back and 
 she is combing out her long hair. Work of the second quar¬ 
 ter of the fifth century. 
 
 6. Eye-agate scaraboid with the picture surface somewhat convex. 
 
 A seiren wearing a peculiar head-dress and having the 
 body and tail of a scorpion. Very crude Ionic work of the 
 Asiatic mainland. The head-dress shows strong Oriental 
 influence. 
 
 7. Mottled green plasma scaraboid, from Cyprus, in Metropolitan 
 
 Museum, New York (Cesnola Coll., No. 242). 
 
 A youth in a crouching attitude wearing a hat with a 
 brim and holding in his hand an object which may be meant 
 for a conch-shell. Surface of stone with high polish; interior 
 of intaglio, dull. The feet seem to have been worn away, pos¬ 
 sibly by hard repolishing of the stone in ancient times. 
 
 8. Mixed red and yellowish jasper ring-stone (somewhat chipped), 
 
 unbored, from the neighborhood of Taormina, Sicily. 
 
 A beardless man, in a long robe and with one foot 
 
GEMS OF THE BEST PERIOD OF GREEK ART 319 
 
 raised, pouring water (or wine) from a top-shaped vessel. It 
 evidently represents the closing ceremony of the Eleusinian 
 Mysteries, when libations of water were poured east and west, 
 with mystical formulae, from two top-shaped vessels. This 
 gem gives rise, as I have suggested in my introduction, to a 
 most interesting speculation. From the subject it is highly 
 probable that it was the signet of an Athenian, the Athenian 
 expedition against Syracuse wintered in 414 B. C. at Naxos, 
 just under Taormina, and the material is altogether in ac¬ 
 cord with that date though it is early for a flat ring-stone. 
 The engraving is crude but, as we have set forth elsewhere, 
 it has been too much the fashion to deny all poor work to 
 good periods of art. Altogether I am strongly inclined to 
 consider the gem the signet of a member of that ill-fated 
 Sicilian expedition whose destruction paved the way for the 
 fall of Athens. 
 
 9. Banded agate scaraboid, from Ithome, in British Museum 
 (Catal. No. 480). 
 
 A female head wearing a diadem in front. Beneath is 
 the inscription, EO^ (Eos), which gives us another ex¬ 
 ample of a descriptive inscription, more understandable, per¬ 
 haps, in the case of a head which would, otherwise, be pretty 
 sure to fail of identification. 
 
 10. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 431). 
 
 Head of a youth wearing a pilos or pointed cap strung 
 with a cord at top. Cable border. Work of the Pheidian 
 school. 
 
 11. Carnelian ring-stone, unbored, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 347). 
 
 A naked negro slave asleep in a squatting position. The 
 hair is done entirely with drill-holes. Drill-hole border. Ap¬ 
 parently work of the earlier part of the epoch but showing a 
 fair attempt at foreshortening. 
 
 12. Red jasper scaraboid with white streaks, from Greece, in Bos¬ 
 
 ton Museum (No. 98,716). 
 
 Danae, in a long tunic, leaning against a couch and 
 holding out her garment in both hands to catch the descend¬ 
 ing shower of gold. The head of the couch is decorated, and 
 two pillows lie on it. Cable border. Work of the middle of 
 the fifth century. 
 
 13. Yellowish brown chalcedony scarab, from Syracuse, in British 
 
 Museum (Catal. No. 361). 
 
320 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Female head in full face with hair bound up in a flowing 
 knot at the top. She wears ear-rings and a necklace of 
 pendants. Cable border. Work of the second quarter of the 
 fifth century. 
 
 14. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 291). 
 
 A horse rolling on its back. Cable border. Work of the 
 second quarter of the fifth century. 
 
 15. Flat rectangular carnelian with convex back, from Athens, in 
 
 Boston Museum (No. 95.85). 
 
 Ithyphallic bearded Herm of Hermes with a modius-like 
 head-dress. Beside it is a caduceus. Work of the latter 
 half of the fifth century. 
 
 16. Carnelian scarab, from Kertsch, in Hermitage Museum, St. 
 
 Petersburg. 
 
 A crouching, nude woman holding her garment before 
 her as if surprised. She squats on a double ground-line, the 
 lower one done with drill-holes. Cable border. The work 
 seems akin to that of the school of Dexamenos. 
 
 17. Carnelian cylinder, cut like No. 5, above (somewhat calcined) ; 
 
 in British Museum (Catal. No. 555). 
 
 A seated youth, with the lower half of his body draped, 
 playing a trigonon. Intaglio unpolished. Work of the 
 school of Dexamenos but rather later. 
 
 18. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Larnaka, in Ashmolean Museum, 
 
 Oxford. 
 
 A naked satyr dancing and carrying a thyrsos and a 
 branch. Bather careless work. 
 
 19. Banded agate cylinder, flattened on the engraved side, from 
 
 Greece, in Boston Museum (No. 98.721). 
 
 A crane standing on one foot. Beautiful work of the 
 school of Dexamenos. 
 
 20. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Syria, in Ashmolean Museum, Ox¬ 
 
 ford. 
 
 Aphrodite, nude to the hips, standing in a statuesque 
 pose, with one hand resting on a low column. On the 
 other perches a dove. Her hair is done with a few drill¬ 
 holes. On the convex side of this scaraboid another design 
 was cut in late imperial times. See Plate XXII, 9. 
 
 21. Chalcedony scaraboid, from Syria (chipped and calcined). 
 
 An incompleted work, probably intended to be a Pan. 
 The horns seem pretty clear but the head and beard are 
 only suggested, and the arms and other parts unfinished. 
 
GEMS OF THE FINISHED STYLES 
 
 321 
 
 One arm is extended and the other raised as if to cast a 
 javelin the line of which seems, also, to be faintly traced. 
 The condition of both the stone and the work suggests that 
 the latter was interrupted by some catastrophe involving 
 fire which fell either upon the city or the house of the 
 artist. The condition makes the attribution of the period 
 rather uncertain but I have little doubt that the gem belongs 
 here. 
 
 22. Agate (?) scaraboid, in British Museum (Catal. No. 478). 
 
 A naked satyr seizing and half raising from the ground 
 a mainad who wears an Ionic tunic. In one hand she car¬ 
 ries a thyrsos; the other arm is extended as if to keep her 
 balance. Cable border. Work of about 450 B. C. 
 
 23. Brownish chalcedony scaraboid, from Lakonia, in Berlin Mu¬ 
 
 seum (Catal. No. 313). 
 
 Aphrodite, with mantle about her hips and legs, seated 
 on a stool and balancing a rod on one finger. Work of the 
 end of the fifth century or possibly a little later. 
 
 PLATE IX 
 
 Gems of tiie Finished Styles 
 
 (The scaraboids on this plate are bored through the longer axis.) 
 
 1. Carnelian ring-stone, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 349). 
 
 Philoktetes, bearded and nude, seated, mournful, on a 
 rock with the bow and quiver of Herakles behind him. 
 
 2. Grayish white agate ring-stone (chipped), from Peloponnesos, 
 
 in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 346). 
 
 Head of a youth, his short hair bound with a fillet. 
 
 3. Carnelian ring-stone (somewhat chipped), in British Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 552). 
 
 Aphrodite, fully draped save for the right breast which 
 is left bare and wearing a diadem and necklace, seated, with 
 a nude, unwinged Eros leaning against her. 
 
 4. Carnelian ring-stone, from Athens, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 351). 
 
 Eros as a winged youth shooting his bow. Inscription, 
 0AYMPI05, the name of the artist. This Olympios is, doubt¬ 
 less, identical with the coin-designer of the same name of the 
 Arkadian coinage of 370 B. C. 
 
322 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 5. Brownish red sard ring-stone, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 354). 
 
 Unbearded Triton, both legs ending in fishes’ tails, hold¬ 
 ing a trident in one hand and a rudder in the other. Be¬ 
 neath him are two dolphins. Cable border. Work of about 
 Alexander’s time. 
 
 6. Dull, light brownish chalcedony rectangular gem with fac¬ 
 
 eted top, bored through the longer axis, from the thea¬ 
 tre of Dionysos, Athens, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 334). 
 
 On the under side, a dancing Bacchante with flowing 
 drapery, the left breast bare, and a sphendone or diadem on 
 her head. In one hand she carries a thyrsos, in the other 
 a sword. 
 
 7. Mottled jasper scaraboid, in Boston Museum (No. 01,7539). 
 
 Odysseus, bearded and nude save for a cloak wrapped 
 about one arm. He wears a pilos on his head and holds his 
 sheathed sword. One foot rests on a rock, his elbow on 
 the knee, the hand supporting his chin as if in thought. 
 The cast shows a protuberance on the right stomach muscles 
 which I presume is a chip in the stone. 
 
 8. Carnelian (broken and the lower right side incorrectly restored 
 
 in gold) ; in British Museum (Catal. No. 554). 
 
 Mainad, in tunic and fawn’s skin, holding a wreath 
 in one hand and a thyrsos decorated with fillets in the other. 
 In the unbroken stone she was, certainly, not kneeling on an 
 altar. 
 
 9. Rock-crystal scaraboid, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 317). 
 
 Herakles, beardless and nude save for a cloak on one 
 arm, leaning on his club which rests on a rock and holding 
 out his bow. Statuesque motive. 
 
 10. Bluish chalcedony scaraboid, in Biblioth&que Nationale, Paris 
 
 (Coll. Chabouillet, No. 1093). 
 
 Astronomical design symbolizing the constellations of the 
 Serpent and the Greater and Lesser Bears. 
 
 11. Chalcedony scaraboid sprinkled with yellow jasper, in Berlin 
 
 Museum (Catal. No. 310). 
 
 A bull with lowered head. 
 
 12. Chalcedony scaraboid, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 319). 
 
 A female figure, with garment about her legs and a veil, 
 seated on the base of a low column. Before her stands a 
 winged Victory, also with garment about her legs, crowning 
 
GEMS OF THE FINISHED STYLES 
 
 323 
 
 her with a wreath. The identity of the seated figure is un¬ 
 certain. 
 
 13. Chalcedony scaraboid, in British Museum (Catal. No. 1161). 
 
 Nike, with long wings and garment about her legs, hang¬ 
 ing a sword on a trophy at the base of which rests a second 
 shield. A double pointed dart stands beside it from which 
 depends a pennant bearing the inscription, ON AT A, adapted 
 to its curves. This is held by Furtwiingler and others to 
 be the name of the artist, Onatas. Both gem and signature 
 seem to me worse than doubtful. The whole design and the 
 placing of the letters smack strongly of the eighteenth 
 century forgers but I include it here on the authority of 
 others and as an interesting example of what, in my opinion, 
 an ancient gem should not be. 
 
 14. Dark red jasper scaraboid sprinkled with chalcedony, in Berlin 
 
 Museum (Catal. No. 320). 
 
 An amphora with a pointed lid. 
 
 15. Rock-crystal scaraboid (chipped), from Sparta, in Berlin Mu¬ 
 
 seum (Catal. No. 314). 
 
 Aphrodite with mantle over one arm and about her hips 
 and legs. In one hand she holds a mirror and with the other 
 she is arranging her hair. The motive is like that of the 
 Praxitelean Venus of Arles. It may possibly date from 
 the end of the fifth century. 
 
 PLATE X 
 
 Gems of the Finished Styles ( concluded ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones except when otherwise stated.) 
 
 1. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 355). 
 
 A nude, winged youth bearing a thunderbolt and with 
 bristling hair (or a crown of rays). He has one hand on 
 the shoulder of a smaller, nude youth beside him who car¬ 
 ries what seems to be a thyrsos and, possibly, a bunch of 
 grapes. These figures cannot be identified, though Furtwang- 
 ler hazards a far guess that it may be Alkibiades under the 
 protection of the Eros armed with a thunderbolt, the device 
 he bore on his shield. Though classed in this epoch by 
 Furtwangler, I am inclined to place the gem much later. 
 The material would bespeak for it a Graeco-Roman origin. 
 
 2. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 341). 
 
324 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 A horseman, in Scythian tunic, trousers, and cap, gal¬ 
 loping over an antelope that has doubled on him. Cable 
 border. This, also, may be Graeco-Roman. 
 
 3. Black jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 356). 
 
 Acheloos, with a winged Victory floating above. A sim¬ 
 ilar figure is found on the coins of Neapolis and several other 
 cities, and the gem is probably work of the South Italian 
 Greeks. 
 
 4. Carnelian scarab, bored through, from Apulia, in British Mu¬ 
 
 seum (Catal. No. 423). 
 
 A man’s and woman’s hands clasped, the latter with a 
 bracelet on the wrist. Inscription XAIPE KAI (be thou 
 happy). Cable border. A good wishes gift. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 353). 
 
 A crane attacking a serpent. 
 
 6. Carnelian fragment, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 352). 
 
 Ganymedes being borne aloft by the eagle of Zeus. 
 
 7. Chalcedony scaraboid, bored through, in Boston Museum (No. 
 
 98.718). 
 
 A cow browsing on the leaves of a tree. The work may 
 be of the fifth century. 
 
 8. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 359). 
 
 A griffin standing over a fallen stag and seizing its 
 throat in his jaws. The griffin has pointed ears and a lion’s 
 mane. 
 
 9. Chalcedony (broken), in British Museum (Catal. No. 553). 
 
 A bearded warrior, in short tunic and corselet, stooping 
 on one knee to seize a stone. A panther’s skin covers one 
 shoulder and arm, and he holds two javelins. The intaglio 
 is unpolished. 
 
 10. Grayish chalcedony with light yellowish brown tone, in Ber¬ 
 
 lin Museum (Catal. No. 350). 
 
 An actor, with a goat’s skin about his loins, taking off a 
 bearded satyr mask. Against his shoulder leans a thyrsos 
 with fillets. 
 
 11. Carnelian scaraboid, bored through, from Asia, in Berlin Mu¬ 
 
 seum (Catal. No. 1010). 
 
 On the convex side is pictured a seated woman, fully 
 draped, about to fasten or unfasten her sandal. Work of 
 second half of the fourth century. 
 
 12. Carnelian, cut down from a scarab, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 300). 
 
GEMS OF THE FINISHED STYLES 
 
 325 
 
 Kadmos, unbearded and nude save for the cloak wrapped 
 about one arm, attacking with his sword the dragon which 
 coils about a rock from which the water flows. A pitcher lies 
 on the ground at the hero’s feet. Cable border. South 
 Italian Greek work, possibly of the fifth century. 
 
 13. Carnelian (broken), in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 348). 
 
 A horseman, with a cloak floating from his shoulders, 
 thrusting with his spear at some creature behind the rock 
 over which his horse prances. Cable border. South Italian 
 Greek work, perhaps of the fifth century, as the stomach 
 muscles in three folds seem to indicate. 
 
 14. Carnelian scarab, bored through, in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 420). 
 
 A woman, with garment about her shoulders, seated on 
 a rock and playing with a dog. 
 
 15. Carnelian, long rectangular stone, bored through and engraved 
 
 on four sides (broken), in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 337). 
 (a) and (b) Tripods. 
 
 (c) Apollo, nude save for a cloak hanging on his back, 
 with hair high on his forehead and flowing down his neck. 
 In one hand he holds a laurel bough, in the other a bowl. 
 
 (d) A youth, nude save for a cloak, holding a diskos (?) 
 in both hands. Perhaps Hyakinthos. 
 
 16. Convex carnelian, bored through but found set solid in a ring; 
 
 in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 329). 
 
 A nude boy, with an amulet hanging from his breast, 
 seated on the ground. Beneath him a hound pursues a stag 
 and seizes it by the leg. Below these are a fawn and a goose. 
 
 17. Agate scarab (broken), in British Museum (Catal. No. 315). 
 
 Herakles, bearded and nude, his club in his hand, one 
 foot resting on a rock from which water flows from a lion- 
 head spout. Cable border. South Italian Greek work. 
 
 13. Chalcedony scaraboid (chipped), in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 476). 
 
 A sphinx seated on her haunches. 
 
 19. Pale brownish sard (broken), in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 556). 
 
 A woman, fully draped, seated on a chair and reading a 
 book. Before her a lyre rests on a pedestal on which is in¬ 
 scribed in very faint letters, GPQC (Eros). Probably some 
 poetess of love, like Sappho. 
 
 \ 
 
326 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 PLATE XI 
 
 Etruscan Scarabs 
 
 (These stones are all bored through the longer axis except when 
 otherwise stated. The inscriptions follow, generally, the read¬ 
 ing in the impressions but where, as is not infrequently the case, 
 the letters are scattered and read both ways, I have transcribed 
 them from left to right. It is only material that the student 
 should familiarise his eye with both orders of the letters, since, 
 while Etruscan reads from right to left, their gem-cutters 
 worked, sometimes with reference to the impression, sometimes 
 with reference to the reading on the stone itself.) 
 
 1. Banded agate, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Athena, walking. She wears a long, elaborate tunic and 
 a helmet, and bears a spear and shield. Four serpents fill the 
 field, two on each side. Gable border. Exergue filled with a 
 cross-strokes design. Archaic work of the end of the sixth 
 century, belonging to our first group. 
 
 2. Carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 98,735). 
 
 A female figure with long tunic which she is holding up 
 with one hand. In the other hand she carries a palm-branch. 
 Cable border. Archaic work of the end of the sixth century, 
 belonging to our first group. 
 
 3. Carnelian, from Givita Castellana, in collection of Mrs. Henry 
 
 Draper, New York. 
 
 An elaborately draped figure wearing a helmet and car¬ 
 rying a spear. One raised hand holds up an end of the 
 short mantle on a level with the head. Before her is an 
 object somewhat resembling an altar set on a rock. Cable 
 border. Archaic work of the end of the sixth century, be¬ 
 longing to our first group. 
 
 4. Carnelian, from Corneto, in British Museum (Catal. No. 272). 
 
 Achilleus, seated on a stool, mourning for the loss of 
 Briseis. A mantle represented by drill-holes is thrown 
 around his hips. Inscribed (Achle). Cable border. 
 
 Style of the Greek transition period, belonging to our sec¬ 
 ond group. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 302). 
 
 A bearded, nude hero, perhaps Paris, kneeling on one knee 
 and stringing his bow. Border of joined drill-dots. Exergue 
 filled, in part, by the cross-stroke design found on “ 1,” in part 
 
ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 327 
 
 by parallel perpendicular lines. Foreshortening of one leg 
 is attempted. Style of Greek transition period, belonging to 
 our second group. 
 
 6. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 276). 
 
 Herakles, nude but for the lion’s skin over his shoulders, 
 attacking with raised club Kyknos, who, also nude and with 
 helmet and shield, sinks backward under the blows. In¬ 
 scribed 34400 (Hercle) and KVKNE. (Kukne). Border of 
 joined drill-dots. Exergue filled with a very perfectly ex¬ 
 ecuted cross-stroke design. Style of Greek transition period, 
 belonging to our second group. 
 
 7. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. For the 
 
 scarab relief we here find the figure of a seiren. 
 
 Ajax, bearded and equipped with helmet, greaves, and 
 an elaborately ornamented corselet with scalloped skirt, rest¬ 
 ing on one knee and bearing on his shoulder the naked body 
 of the dead Achilleus. Before them runs a small, nude, 
 winged figure, doubtless intended to symbolize the spirit of 
 the dead hero. Inscribed ZAO \A (Aivas) and 
 (Achele). Cable border. Exergue filled with crossed hori¬ 
 zontal and perpendicular lines. Style of Greek transition 
 period, belonging to our second group. 
 
 8. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 472). For the scarab 
 
 relief is substituted a kneeling female figure with wings. 
 
 An unbearded hero, with helmet, greaves, and richly or¬ 
 namented and jewelled corselet. He holds a shield resting 
 on the ground before him and is giving a visored helmet to a 
 youth who, with a long cloak wrapped about him and a lance 
 in his hand, reaches out to receive it. Perhaps it is Achilleus 
 lending his arms to Patroklos. Cable border. Exergue filled 
 with the cross-stroke design. Greek transition style, belong¬ 
 ing to our second group. 
 
 9. Sardonyx of three layers, in British Museum (Catal. No. 473). 
 
 For the scarab relief is substituted a figure of a negro slave, 
 asleep in a squatting attitude, much like the motive of the in¬ 
 taglio shown Plate VIII, 10. 
 
 Kapaneus, nude and beardless, with helmet, shield, and 
 sword that drops from his hand, sinking on one knee while the 
 thunderbolt strikes the back of his neck. Border of joined 
 drill-dots. Greek transition style, belonging to our second 
 group. 
 
 10. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
328 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 A lion crouching on its forequarters with lashing tail. 
 Cable border. Belongs to our second group. 
 
 11. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Theseus, seated on a stool, pondering or mourning, with 
 a mantle about his hips. The motive is absolutely similar 
 to “ 4 ” above, and the inscription, 3 ?3 © (These), may be one 
 of the arbitrary flights of Etruscan fancy in the matter of 
 describing the subjects on their gems. Cable border. Greek 
 transition style, belonging to our second group. 
 
 12. Carnelian, cut down from a scarab, but showing no sign of the 
 
 boring, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 195). 
 
 Tydeus, nude and unbearded, leaning over and scraping 
 his leg with a strigil. The inscription, 3TVT (Tute), is the 
 only indication of the artist’s intent to identify the figure. 
 Cable border. Greek transition style, belonging to our sec¬ 
 ond group. 
 
 13. Carnelian, with a most ornate and highly finished scarab relief. 
 
 Cut in two along the line of the boring; in Berlin Mu¬ 
 seum (Catal. No. 194). 
 
 Five heroes, all unbearded, are shown seated on stools 
 or standing on a horizontal ground-line. The inscription tells 
 the subject: a council of leaders at the siege of Thebes. In 
 the middle sits Amphiarios, a mantle, indicated by drill-holes, 
 about his hips and thighs and a lance in his hand, with the 
 inscription, 3GAII©/*! A (Amphtiare). Opposite sits Poly- 
 neikes, with cloak falling from his shoulders about his legs, 
 his head resting on his hand. Inscription, 3 31^ 4 V© 
 (Phulnice), and, behind Amphiarios, Parthenopaios, wrapped 
 in his mantle, his hands on his knees, with the inscription, 
 TADOf\NP;rP\^/ (Parthanapaes). The heads of all these 
 are bare. Between the last named and Amphiarios stands 
 Adrastos with helmet, spear, and a Mycenaean shield. Inscrip¬ 
 tion, ftTDE5©E (Atresthe), and, in the background over 
 Polyneikes, Tydeus, in helmet and corselet and holding a 
 spear, with the inscription, 3TVT (Tute). Border of joined 
 drill dots. A very fine work of our second group and unique 
 in the number of figures represented. 
 
 14. Carnelian, from Corneto, in British Museum (Catal. No. 278). 
 
 Perseus, with a winged petasos and a short cloak fall¬ 
 ing back from his shoulders, cutting off the head of Medousa, 
 who, fully draped in Ionic archaic style, sinks on her knees 
 before him. The head has nothing of the Medousa type 
 
ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 329 
 
 about it but she holds a serpent in one hand. Both figures 
 rest on a double ground-line with a sort of leaf pattern 
 between. Border of joined drill-dots. The work probably 
 belongs to our second group, though the picturesque subject 
 points to a rather later date, in which case it should be classed 
 as an imitation of an earlier style. 
 
 15. Cross-banded Sardonyx, in British Museum (Catal. No. 281). 
 
 Achilleus, beardless, in full panoply, with corselet and 
 helmet highly ornamented and a short mantle draped over 
 one arm, holding up Penthesileia, who, wounded, sinks on her 
 knees with drooping head. She wears a helmet, a linen (?) 
 corselet with a short skirt of lighter texture, and high shoes. 
 A round shield is on her arm, and her double-headed axe has 
 dropped from her hand. Running over one shoulder and 
 obliquely across her breast is what may be meant for a broad 
 sword-belt. Achilleus’ spear stands upright by his side. 
 Cable border. Exergue filled with the cross-line design. 
 Fine archaic work belonging, stylistically, to our second 
 group but picturesque, showing quite successful foreshorten¬ 
 ing, and, perhaps, of as late manufacture as the latter part 
 of the fifth century. 
 
 16. Cross-banded sardonyx, in Boston Museum (No. 95,77). 
 
 Two nude warriors with helmets and shields, one bearded, 
 the other beardless, supporting a third who is kneeling, 
 wounded, on the ground. He, also, is bearded. Cable bor¬ 
 der. The work is archaic in style but, like “ 15,” is, perhaps, 
 of later date than 450 B. C. 
 
 17. Camelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 327). 
 
 A beardless man, wrapped in a long cloak and seated on 
 a stool, from whom a young hero, also beardless and armed 
 with a helmet, shield, and spear, is parting, turning his head 
 as he goes as if to bid farewell. Both rest on a ground-line. 
 Inscription, k£!OI> (Laor). The subject is uncertain. It 
 may be Patroklos parting from Achilleus. Cable border. 
 The work is in the severe Greek style strongly Etruscanized 
 and, probably, belongs along the middle of the fifth century. 
 
 18. Chalcedony, in British Museum (Catal. No. 335). 
 
 A nude, bearded man, perhaps an athlete, leaning on a 
 staff or spear and with a round vessel (for oil?) hanging 
 on his arm. He also holds what may be meant for a strigil. 
 Cable border. The work lacks polish and, also, the orna¬ 
 mented line about the base of the beetle, as do the Greek 
 
330 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 scarabs, but the style is strongly that of the Etruscanized 
 archaic Greek. Probably work of along the middle of the 
 fifth century. 
 
 19. Garnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 255). 
 
 Nude, beardless youth, bending forward with a hare on 
 his arm which he seems to have picked up from beside a bush 
 which stands before him. In the other hand he holds a 
 pedum. Probably a rural genre scene, rare on Etruscan 
 scarabs. Work of the middle of the fifth century and kin¬ 
 dred to our second group. 
 
 20. Banded agate, in British Museum (Catal. No. 269). 
 
 Kapaneus, nude but for a short mantle and with a shield 
 on his arm, sinking down on one knee as the thunderbolt 
 strikes his head. Shows attempted foreshortening. Cable 
 border. Akin to our second group but dating, probably, 
 from not earlier than 450 B. C. 
 
 21. Banded agate, in British Museum (Catal. No. 298). 
 
 Herakles, unbearded, with his lion’s skin about his shoul¬ 
 ders and one hand resting on his club, seated upon his own 
 self-erected funeral pyre. The hair is done with drill-holes. 
 Cable border. Akin to second group but much more free and 
 dating, probably, from not earlier than 450 B. C. 
 
 22. Agate, from Chiusi, in British Museum (Catal. No. 354). 
 
 A warrior, helmetless and with streaming hair, but with 
 corselet, shield, and sword, rushing over the naked body of a 
 fallen foe and turning his head to look backward. Cable 
 border. It is very difficult to date this gem at all accurately. 
 It might fall anywhere between 450 and 350 B. C. 
 
 23. Banded sardonyx, in British Museum (Catal. No. 353). 
 
 A woman, in a long tunic and with a mantle about her 
 hips, seated on a stool with elbow on knee and head resting 
 on her hand. She seems to have butterfly’s wings on her 
 shoulders, and her head is shown in full face. Before her, 
 in the field, is a bow. Though much like some Penelope 
 types, it is probably a Psyche—surely so if the wings be meant 
 for butterfly’s. In that case the bow is that of Eros. The 
 date of this gem is also difficult to fix but it is probably of 
 along 450 B. C. 
 
 24. Garnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A winged female figure, draped like No. 23, seated 
 on a stool and holding in her right hand a small winged 
 demon who carries an indistinguishable object. At her feet 
 
ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 331 
 
 is a caduceus. The subject cannot be surely identified but 
 the presence of the caduceus suggests that the small figure 
 may be a soul, perhaps that of Memnon in the hand of his 
 mother, Eos. Cable border. The work looks like a fourth 
 century attempt to imitate the classical style. 
 
 PLATE XII 
 
 Etruscan Scarabs ( continued ) 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, cut down from a scarab, the boring showing on the 
 
 back, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 203). 
 
 Hermes, unbearded, nude, and bending over, his petasos 
 hanging at the back of his neck. He holds, in one hand, his 
 caduceus and, in the other, a small, nude figure that has 
 what looks like a small bough in one hand and raises the 
 other as if in adoration. Evidently it symbolizes a soul 
 which Hermes carries, as “ Psychopompos.” Cable border. 
 The body, head, and hair show the free influence breaking 
 through the archaic forms. 
 
 2. Sardonyx, in British Museum (Catal. No. 320). 
 
 Hermes Psychopompos, unbearded, nude, and standing 
 erect, his petasos hanging at his back and his caduceus in one 
 hand, while, on the other arm, he carries a small, nude 
 eidolon figure of a soul. At his feet is a conventional repre¬ 
 sentation of water—the stream of Acheron. Cable border. 
 Work like No. 1, of our third group. 
 
 3. Carnelian, from Yulci, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 204). 
 
 Tydeus, nude and bearded, either running or falling 
 wounded—the artist’s intention is not very clear. On his 
 arm he bears his shield, in the other hand his sword, while 
 his helmet has fallen off and lies at his feet. Inscription, 
 3TVr (Tute). Cable border. Third group. 
 
 4. Banded agate, in collection W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 This gem is a veritable puzzle from every standpoint. 
 Herakles stands nude, his club beside him and his lion’s 
 skin hanging over it while, with the other hand, he seems 
 to hold an upright nude figure whose buttocks would suggest 
 a female and which lacks head, shoulders, and arms. Above 
 
332 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 it are six small dots, but they are not so placed as to be 
 possible indications of an incompleted figure nor does the 
 sharp line of demarcation where the body ends leave such a 
 supposition reasonable. I know of no Herakles myth that 
 will explain this subject. Cable border. In the matter of 
 classification and period this scarab is also confusing. The 
 full softness of the figures and the head and face of the 
 Herakles would carry it into the fourth century, but the 
 treatment of his legs, one in profile and one full front, and 
 the broad, square shoulders are archaic as is, also, the ab¬ 
 solute lack of polish in the intaglio. Altogether, I have put 
 it here in class three by way of compromise but shall quarrel 
 with no one who disputes me. I may add that the scarab is 
 unquestionably genuine, since the opposite hypothesis might 
 occur to some who have not studied the stone itself. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 314). 
 
 Hermes and Herakles talking together. The former has 
 a cloak thrown over his shoulders, his caduceus in one hand 
 and his petasos hanging from the other. He wears his winged 
 sandals. Herakles has his lion’s skin, bow, and quiver, while 
 his club is at his feet. Beautiful border of s curves with 
 dots between. Exergue filled with the conventional cross-line 
 design. Work of our third group. 
 
 6. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 324). 
 
 A nude demon, with large wings, holding a garment of 
 some sort behind him with both hands. Cable border. Third 
 group. 
 
 7. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 359). 
 
 A female head with hair elaborately dressed. Cable 
 border. A rare subject in Etruscan art. Class three, for 
 lack of better attribution. 
 
 8. Banded agate, in British Museum (Catal. No. 313). 
 
 Hermes, bearded and nude, his petasos hanging at the 
 back of his neck and his caduceus in his hand. Cable border. 
 The legs only show archaic influence, and the whole work 
 is finely detailed. Third group. 
 
 9. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 201). 
 
 Perseus, nude and beardless, carrying his curved sword 
 or harpe in one hand and the head of Medousa in the other. 
 Blood drops from both. Over one arm is slung a sort of 
 wallet and he wears the winged sandals of Hermes. The 
 head of Medousa does not show conventional characteristics. 
 
ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 333 
 
 Inscription, Q)£DfE (Pherse). Cable border. Coarse work 
 of group three. 
 
 10. Camelian, in Boston Museum (No. 98.717). 
 
 Hermes, unbearded, a petasos on his head and his cloak 
 over his shoulders, kneeling with his caduceus in one hand 
 and a necklace in the other. Cable border. Third group. 
 
 11. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 202). 
 
 Kastor, nude and kneeling, supporting himself with one 
 hand while, with the other, he holds the back of his neck, 
 as if wounded. It evidently pictures the death of Kastor. 
 Inscription, OVT5A 3 (Castur). Cable border. The archaic 
 influence shows little or none. Work of about 450 B. C. or 
 somewhat later. Fourth group. 
 
 12. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 367). 
 
 Youthful, unbearded Herakles seated on a rock in an 
 attitude of meditation, his club resting on another rock be¬ 
 fore him from which a fountain springs. Cable border. Fine 
 Etruscan work of the fourth group. It shows no stiffness 
 and dates along the end of the fifth century. 
 
 13. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 368). 
 
 Seilenos, nude, seated on two amphoras which are 
 equipped with a mast and sail. Beneath is water. Cable 
 border. Work of the latter half of fifth century. Fourth 
 group. 
 
 14. Black and white banded agate, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 297). 
 
 Paris, nude but for a cloak which falls from his shoulders, 
 bending to draw an arrow from his quiver while he holds his 
 bow in his hand. Inscription, ?!<3/<n (Paris). Cable bor¬ 
 der. Fine, free work of early second half of fifth century. 
 Fourth group. 
 
 15. Carnelian, from Chiusi, in British Museum (Catal. No. 312). 
 
 Ajax, nude and beardless, throwing himself on his sword 
 which is set against a rock. Blood drops from the wound. 
 Border of drill-dots. Fourth group. 
 
 16. Brownish chalcedony, in British Museum (Catal. No. 334). 
 
 Ixion, nude and bearded, standing bound to his wheel. 
 Inscription, I'kClV/V (Ichsiun). It may be noted that the 
 Greek sigma is used here. Cable border. Fourth group, but 
 showing severe treatment of the legs and considerable stiff¬ 
 ness. 
 
 17. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 308). 
 
334 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Tantalos, bearded and with a cloak over his shoulders 
 and following the line of his back, bending forward and try¬ 
 ing to reach water flowing over a rock. Cable border. Free 
 work of second half of the fifth century. Fourth group. 
 
 18. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 498). 
 
 Hyakinthos, nude and beardless, bending over a diskos 
 which lies on the ground, while the blood drops from his 
 wounded head. Inscription, 3)VA (Luce), perhaps for 
 Lukeios, an epithet of Apollo as god of the palaistra, at whose 
 hands Hyakinthos received his death-wound. Cable border. 
 Second half of the fifth century. Fourth group. 
 
 19. Chalcedony scarab with the back cut away, from Chiusi, in 
 
 British Museum (Catal. No. 433). 
 
 Hermes Psychopompos with winged hat and sandals, and 
 cloak following the line of his back. He holds his caduceus 
 and leans over, beckoning to a bearded head which emerges 
 from a jar. A type picture of raising a soul from the under¬ 
 world. Cable border. Free work of second half of fifth 
 century. Fourth group. 
 
 20. Carnelian, from Toscaneila, in Boston Museum (No. 98.730). 
 
 Aktaion, with a short beard, his mantle about his hips 
 and thrown over one arm, rising from a chair of Attic 
 shape and playing with a dog that he has on leash. Below 
 him is a rock and, above, water issuing from a lion-head 
 fountain-spout. Behind the stream is a star-like object which 
 Furtwangler thinks is a pomegranate. Inscription, ATAIVT 
 (Ataiun). Second half of fifth century. Fourth group. 
 
 21. Carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 98,773). 
 
 An unbearded, nude man, probably one of tho giants, 
 with a shield on his left arm over which, also, a cloak is 
 draped, rushing upward over rocky ground and about to hurl 
 a huge stone. His spear has fallen from his hands. Inscrip¬ 
 tion, M £ A 5 (Meas). Cable border. Free work of about 
 400 B. C. 
 
 22. Carnelian cut down from a scarab, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 205). 
 
 A nude, beardless youth, doubtless Kadmos, with sword 
 and shield, examining the ground before him where water is 
 running from a rock. A water-jar stands between his feet. 
 Cable border. A fourth century work with an affectation of 
 earlier hair treatment and sharpness. 
 
 23. Carnelian, from Chiusi* in British Museum (Catal. No. 316). 
 
ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 335 
 
 Theseus (or Herakles), his cloak about his shoulders and 
 his sheathed sword in his left hand while he swings his club. 
 Near him runs a wild boar (if Herakles, the Erymanthian 
 boar). Cable border. Free fourth century work with no 
 trace of archaism. 
 
 24. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 374). 
 
 A nude figure standing with his arms around another 
 who, with a garment about the hips, seems to be seated on a 
 couch. Cable border. Ordinary work of the fourth cen¬ 
 tury B. C. 
 
 25. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 438). 
 
 Eros, as a winged youth, kneeling with his hands bound 
 behind his back. Cable border. Good, free work of the 
 fourth century. 
 
 PLATE XIII 
 
 Etruscan Scarabs ( concluded ) 
 
 (These stones are bored through the longer axis except when other¬ 
 wise stated.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 264). 
 
 Two stags, the bodies joined together and having one 
 head. Line border. Done entirely with the round drill. 
 
 2. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 217). 
 
 Herakles, nude and running with bent knee action. He 
 carries his club and, also, two amphoras bound together with 
 ropes. Cable border. Done with round drill. 
 
 3. Carnelian, from Perugia, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 214). 
 
 Horseman on a galloping horse, nude and carrying shield. 
 He turns backward as if guarding against the blow of a 
 pursuer. Cable border. Done with round drill. 
 
 4. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 365). 
 
 A chariot race with six cars arranged around the out¬ 
 side of the design. In a central cartouch three judges with 
 staffs are seated on stools. Cable border. Done with round 
 drill. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 381). 
 
 Herakles, nude, killing the Hydra with his club. Beneath 
 him is a rock. Cable border. Done with round drill. 
 
 6. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 237). 
 
 A Triton-like sea-demon. Beneath him is a fish. Line 
 border. Done with round drill. 
 
336 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 7. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 266). 
 
 The foreparts of two dogs (?) arranged reversely and 
 joined together by one body. Line border. Done with round 
 drill. 
 
 8. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 227). 
 
 Seilenos pouring water or wine from an amphora. No 
 border. Done with round drill. 
 
 9. Light greenish plasma searaboid, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 400). 
 
 A nude man, perhaps Herakles, bending over and holding 
 an animal. If Herakles, the object behind him is meant for a 
 club. Above are two drill-holes, as if to fill the space. 
 Cable border. The style is distinctly of the Etruscan drill- 
 work type but the unusual material and shape may point to a 
 more southern provenance, perhaps Samnium. 
 
 10. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 374). 
 
 A haruspex, in a long mantle and cap, walking with a 
 staff and holding in his hand what seems to be the entrails 
 of an animal. Inscription, ?\TA14 (Natis). Line border. 
 Done with round drill, the clothes finished with a few lines. 
 
 11. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 222). 
 
 A nude winged demon bending over to pick up or put 
 down an urn. Joined to the nape of his neck is a curious 
 ball-like object. Cable border. Done with round drill, the 
 wings finished with the wheel. 
 
 12. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 231). 
 
 Herakles, unbearded and nude, his club in his hand, 
 seated, pondering, on an amphora which rests on a raft 
 supported by three amphoras. Before him is a bush. Cable 
 border. Blocked in with round drill but the head and hair 
 finished with the wheel, and the body muscles well worked 
 out. 
 
 13. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 328). 
 
 Herakles, nude. The bow and club have fallen from his 
 hands and he is being lifted by two female (?) figures in 
 long tunics and mantles. Probably a representation of the 
 hero’s journey to Heaven. Cable border. Done with round 
 drill, the clothes finished with the wheel. 
 
 14. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 330). 
 
 A nude winged demon flying and holding two indefinite 
 objects in his hands. In the British Museum catalogue it is 
 called Daidalos and the objects, a saw and an adze(?). 
 
ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
 337 
 
 Furtwiingler calls the adze a pedum and the saw a snare (?). 
 Cable border. Done with round drill, the head and wings 
 finished with the wheel. 
 
 15. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 223). 
 
 A winged female ( ?) demon in a long tunic, probably Eos, 
 if male, Thanatos, holding an urn from which water seems to 
 be flowing. Behind her is a serpent and, behind her head, 
 an undistinguishable object. Cable border. Done with 
 round drill, the tunic and wings finished with the wheel. 
 
 16. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 377). 
 
 A harpyesque or seiren-like demon, w T ith a bird’s body 
 and feet joined to which are a woman’s body and head. She 
 holds a sword in her hand, and her hair is drawn up in a knot 
 at the top of the head. Done with round drill but finished 
 quite carefully with sharp wheel strokes. 
 
 17. Carnelian scarab, from Cervetri, in collection of Mrs. Henry 
 
 Draper, New York. 
 
 A seiren with spread wings. Cable border. Done with 
 round drill, the tail and wing-feathers with sharp wheel 
 strokes. 
 
 18. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 370). 
 
 A nude youth seated on a rock and holding an amphora 
 on his knees. Behind him is a serpent. According to Ger¬ 
 hard, Polyphemos with the pitcher of wine given him by Odys¬ 
 seus; a far-fetched attribution. Cable border. Done with 
 round drill, the hair finished with the wheel. 
 
 19. Carnelian, cut down from scarab, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 371). 
 
 Hermes, beardless, wearing a petasos and with a cloak 
 hanging from his shoulders, holding a human-headed swan, 
 doubtless meant to symbolize a soul, by the head. There has 
 been a cable border which is also cut away, leaving only a few 
 traces. Done with round drill and finished with a few 
 strokes of the wheel. 
 
 20. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 274). 
 
 Achilleus, nude, his shield on his arm, sinking back, 
 wounded, with the arrow of Paris in his foot. His hair is 
 done in a roll with a long, feather-like knot flowing out be¬ 
 hind. Cable border. Good work of the fourth century, 
 blocked in with the drill but finely finished with a sharp cut¬ 
 ting instrument. An evident imitation of the earlier styles. 
 
 21. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 277). 
 
338 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 A bearded, nude hero wearing a helmet and carrying 
 a bow and club. He is kneeling on one knee as a serpent 
 bites his foot. Over one shoulder is a star. It is, undoubt¬ 
 edly, Philoktetes bearing the arms of Herakles, whose 
 apotheosis may be symbolized by the star. Cable border. 
 Fine work of the fourth century, blocked in with the drill 
 and finished with sharp wheel strokes. Also an imitation of 
 the earlier styles. 
 
 22. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 208). 
 
 A demon with a man’s body and a bull’s head, perhaps 
 the Minotaur, carrying a bough (?) in one hand and a round 
 vessel with a thong handle in the other. Cable border. 
 Fourth century work, done, for the most part, with the drill 
 but the details are well worked out and the gem is evidently 
 an affectation of the earlier styles. 
 
 23. Carnelian cut down from a scarab, in British Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 444). 
 
 The Campanian man-headed bull (Acheloos). In the field 
 are a plant and a star. In the exergue is a serpent. The 
 cast seems to show traces of a cable border that has been 
 cut away. Fourth century drill-work finished with the wheel. 
 The inscription, TEAAZ, in Greek letters, is a modern 
 forgery. 
 
 24. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 275). 
 
 Achilleus (?), nude and bearing a shield while he bends, 
 with one foot raised on a rock, to pick up a helmet and spear. 
 Cable border. Fourth century work blocked in with drill and 
 finished with the wheel in imitation of older styles. The 
 four Greek letters in the field are a meaningless modem 
 forgery. 
 
HELLENISTIC GEMS 
 
 339 
 
 PLATE XIV 
 
 Hbllenistic Gems 
 
 (These are ring-stones except when otherwise stated.) 
 
 1. Carnelian of a beautiful deep red tint, in Hermitage Museum, 
 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
 Full-length, nude likeness of Alexander the Great with 
 the attributes of Zeus. In one hand he holds the thunderbolt 
 and in the other his sheathed sword with the Aigis thrown 
 over it. His shield rests on the ground, and before him 
 stands an eagle. The head is of the Alexander type, and 
 there was, at Ephesos, a full-length painting of Alexander 
 as Zeus, done by Apelles, to which this gem evidently stands 
 in close relationship. The inscription, N 61 COY, seems to 
 be later work, probably of imperial times, and, if so, is some 
 more recent owner’s name in the genitive. The gem is large 
 for a ring-stone but large rings were sometimes worn and the 
 inscription seems to indicate that it was used, in later times, 
 at least, as a signet. 
 
 2. Convex carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 661). 
 
 Athena wearing a long tunic and a helmet. In one 
 hand she holds a thunderbolt, in the other her spear. An 
 ornamented scarf is thrown over her left arm and seems 
 to be connected with some object behind her. The figure 
 has been described as leaning against a pillar which I do not 
 find in evidence. Statuesque motive sketchily carried out. 
 
 3. Convex, dark brown, shaded agate (somewhat broken), in 
 
 Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., Catal. No. 
 207). 
 
 A nude female figure, shown in full front, leaning on a 
 low column with a scarf over one arm and floating across 
 her thigh. In the other hand she holds a distaff. She also 
 wears a necklace, bracelets, and ear-rings. It would seem to 
 be intended for that rare subject, one of the Fates, probably 
 Klotho. 
 
 4. Carnelian (somewhat broken), from Cyprus, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 1042). 
 
 Artemis in a long tunic girt in at the waist. In one 
 hand she holds her bow and, with the other, reaches over her 
 shoulder to draw an arrow from her quiver. Sketchy work. 
 
 5. Convex peridot, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King 
 
 Coll., Catal. No. 118). 
 
340 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Apollo, nude save for his mantle thrown over one arm, 
 leaning on a low column against which his lyre rests. In one 
 hand he holds his bow. Statuesque motive. 
 
 6. Convex carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Dionysos, unbearded and nude but for a scarf over his 
 arm, shown full front, leaning on a low column. In one hand 
 he holds a thyrsos. Fillets hang from his head. 
 
 7. Slightly convex carnelian; owner unknown. 
 
 A nude female figure with necklace, bracelets, and 
 anklets, leaning against a lavatory basin set on a small col¬ 
 umn. Her arms are raised as if arranging her hair. In¬ 
 scription, IKDTTA, held by Furtwangler to be the signature 
 of the artist, Skopas, whose identity I have commented on 
 in the text. Certainly the signature here, if it be a sig¬ 
 nature, does not comply with the standard of unobtrusive¬ 
 ness. 
 
 8. Strongly convex hyacinth, in British Museum (Catal. No. 729). 
 
 Apollo in a pose following a Praxitelean motive, the 
 lower part of his body draped. He seems to be tuning his 
 lyre which he rests on the head of a small, draped female 
 figure, perhaps one of the Hours, who holds a patera in her 
 hand. 
 
 9. Four-sided rectangular amethyst, bored through the longer axis, 
 
 in British Museum (Catal. No. 5G3). 
 
 On each of the four sides is engraved a dancing mainad 
 in flowing drapery. The second of these holds a serpent in 
 one hand. This gem may be Augustan work. 
 
 10. Strongly convex garnet, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Odysseus, bearded, wearing the characteristic pilos, and 
 nude but for a suggestion of drapery over one arm. One foot 
 is raised, resting on a rock, and he holds a rudder in his hand. 
 
 11. Strongly convex hyacinth, in British Museum (Catal. No. 815). 
 
 Aphrodite standing with a mantle draped about her legs 
 and holding the child Eros by the wing. He is playing 
 a large lyre and seems to be trying to escape. The inscrip¬ 
 tion, AAAIQNOC, is modem and was probably cut in in 
 the eighteenth century. 
 
 12. Strongly convex garnet, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Agathe-Tyche, draped about the legs, with one foot raised 
 on a rock and holding a large cornucopia. 
 
 13. Convex carnelian, perhaps a ring-stone, in Hermitage Museum, 
 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
HELLENISTIC GEMS 
 
 341 
 
 Dionysos, unbearded, in a statuesque pose, leaning on a 
 low column. His legs are draped and a mantle is thrown 
 over one arm. In one hand he hold a thyrsos adorned with 
 long streamers and, in the other, a kantliaros. A panther 
 stands at his feet. This gem has been placed in Augustan 
 times, but its character is markedly Hellenistic and, what¬ 
 ever the date of the work, it belongs stylistically and, prob¬ 
 ably, actually in this epoch. 
 
 14. Deep red, convex carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 649). 
 
 Athena, fully draped and leaning on her shield. She 
 holds a helmet in one hand and a spear rests across her 
 arm. The motive is much like that of the peaceful Athena of 
 Pheidias. The inscription, ON6CAC €00, in two lines, 
 has, after some hesitation, been definitely accepted by Furt- 
 wangler as the signature of Onesas. The gem itself is un¬ 
 questionably ancient. 
 
 15. Strongly convex brown sard, in Berlin Museum (Oatal. No. 
 
 1037). 
 
 A youthful and rather effeminate-looking god with mantle 
 over the arms and about the legs and leaning on a low col¬ 
 umn. A fillet binds his hair. The lack of attributes makes 
 the identity doubtful but the type is that of Apollo or Di¬ 
 onysos. 
 
 PLATE XV 
 
 Hellenistic Gems ( continued ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6441). 
 
 A youth and two girls partially draped and reclining 
 on couches about a small, round table. One of the girls holds 
 a wine cup, and the attitudes of all express the hilarity of 
 the occasion. A figure, evidently a servant, fantastically 
 made up with wings, as if in some character, brings a dish 
 of fruit. At the other side stands a tall lamp. 
 
 2. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6458). 
 
 An ichneumon approaching an erect cobra in a lotos 
 swamp. Probably the work of some Alexandrian gem-en¬ 
 graver. 
 
 3. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6437). 
 
 Eros bending over and looking into a large krater. 
 
342 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 4. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6440). 
 
 Aphrodite, draped about the legs, leaning against a low 
 column while, beside her, Eros wrestles with an unwinged 
 boy. On the other side stands an ephebos with a wreath and 
 a palm-branch. Beyond the wrestlers is a bearded Herm of 
 peculiar shape and, behind it, a branch with fruit (?) hang¬ 
 ing on it. Sketchy work. 
 
 5. Convex topaz, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1102). 
 
 A girl, in fluttering drapery, kneeling on a rock and 
 bending forward to lay a mask before an ithyphallic Herm. 
 Sketchy work. 
 
 6. Amethyst, convex on both sides, cut in two pieces and showing 
 
 that it was originally bored through; in Berlin Museum 
 (Catal. No. 1100). 
 
 On one side, a woman, fully draped, leading a horse be¬ 
 neath which is a serpent. (The picture on the other side is 
 not figured here.) 
 
 7. Convex topaz, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1101). 
 
 A sleeping woman, with garment draped about her legs, 
 behind whom stands an Eros with large wings. 
 
 8. Convex rock-crystal, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 3064). 
 
 A fully-draped woman, probably Aphrodite, holding an 
 undistinguishable object in one hand. Before her stands a 
 small Eros, and behind is a decorated column on which is a 
 nude statue of Aphrodite. Sketchy work. 
 
 9. Convex garnet, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1127). 
 
 Helmet with high, flowing crest and a large horn project¬ 
 ing from the front. Its peculiar form resembles types on the 
 coins of Antiochos VI of Syria. 
 
 10. Chalcedony, from Smyrna, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6955). 
 
 Head and shoulders of the Nereid, Galene, swimming 
 with hair floating out behind her. 
 
 11. Undescribed stone, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Head of Isis with Egyptian head-dress and long ringlets 
 arranged in the Libyan fashion. 
 
 12. Convex hyacinth, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1040). 
 
 Aphrodite, a garment draped about her legs, with one 
 hand resting on a low column behind her. 
 
 13. Carnelian cut in octagonal shape at some later time, from Asia 
 
 Minor. 
 
 A warrior, in full panoply, kneeling on one knee before 
 a low column on which is a comedy mask to which he is offer- 
 
HELLENISTIC GEMS 
 
 343 
 
 ing a wreath. His shield and spear rest against the col¬ 
 umn. Evidently an offering to Dionysos in recognition of aid 
 in battle. 
 
 14. Convex hyacinth (broken), in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 1368). 
 
 A nude youth with one foot raised as if to bind his 
 sandal. The inscription, IEIAIAI CPOCI ($ei<5ia? inosi), 
 in two lines, is the signature of the gem-engraver, Pheidias. 
 
 15. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6434). 
 
 Zeus Serapis, a mantle over one shoulder and about his 
 legs, with a kalathos on his head and holding a long sceptre. 
 Beside him is the three-headed dog of the Underworld, Ker¬ 
 beros. Work of the school of Lysippos. 
 
 16. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A mounted man leading a pack-horse. A slave going be¬ 
 fore him carries a slain deer on his shoulders. Evidently a 
 return from the hunt. Sketchy work. 
 
 17. Convex agate, from Asia Minor. 
 
 Harpokrates, nude save for a mantle over one arm, car¬ 
 rying a cornucopia. On his head is a lotos flower and his 
 finger is at his lips in his characteristic gesture. 
 
 18. Convex sard, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Head of Herakles as a child with the lion’s skin about 
 his neck. 
 
 19. Carnelian scaraboid, unbored, with the picture on the convex 
 
 side. 
 
 A female Herm-bust with fillet and long ringlets. 
 
 20. Strongly convex garnet. 
 
 A dolphin. 
 
 21. Dark convex carnelian. Formerly in my collection but lost in 
 
 August, 1910. Set in modern silver ring. 
 
 A nude, bearded man running and bearing a torch and 
 a palm-branch. Evidently the signet of some victor in the 
 torch-race and assumed in commemoration of the event. The 
 bent-knee running action is an affectation of the earlier style. 
 
 PLATE XVI 
 
 Hellenistic Gems ( concluded ) 
 
 (These are ring-stones except when otherwise stated.) 
 
 1. Sardonyx of two layers, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
344 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Bust-portrait of some Hellenistic king with fillet diadem 
 and cloak. The eyes are widely open. The likeness resembles 
 that of Antiochos II as found on his coinage. The gem is 
 too large for a ring and must have been used as an ornament. 
 
 2. Sardonyx of two layers, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Bust-portrait of Mithridates VI (Eupator) with fillet 
 diadem, corselet, and cloak. The brooches fastening the lat¬ 
 ter are decorated with thunderbolts. The eyes are widely 
 open, showing the pupils, and the beard is short. The gem 
 is much too large for any ring and was undoubtedly an orna¬ 
 ment. It is a fine example of the portraiture of the times. 
 
 3. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Bust-portrait, with tunic, of an Hellenistic queen with 
 hair arrangement like that on coins of Berenike II. She 
 wears a fillet diadem and a laurel wreath. 
 
 4. Convex carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Portrait-head of an Hellenistic king wearing a diadem. 
 The prominent eyes have the Ptolemaic character. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6953). 
 
 Bust of a laurel-crowned woman with flowing hair. In 
 one hand she holds a serpent before her. Doubtless intended 
 to represent some prophetess and priestess of Apollo, perhaps 
 Kassandra. 
 
 6. Chalcedony, in Boston Museum (No. 98.727). 
 
 Bearded, laurel-crowned portrait-head, not unlike the 
 portraits of King Perseus of Macedonia. Some doubt has 
 been cast on the genuineness of this gem, but Furtwangler 
 gives it as Hellenistic work. He seems to have had no op¬ 
 portunity to examine the stone itself. It is certainly fine 
 work. 
 
 7. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 1103). 
 
 Nearly full-face head of Helios, crowned with rays. The 
 eyes are widely open and show the pupils. 
 
 8. Convex brownish-yellow chalcedony sprinkled with yellow 
 
 jasper, in British Museum (Catal. No. 1529). 
 
 Portrait-head resembling that of Eumenes I of Pergamos 
 as seen on his coinage. The cloak shows about his shoulders. 
 
 9. Clear yellowish-brown sard, sprinkled with yellowish jasper, 
 
 scaraboid, bored through, with the picture on the flat surface; 
 in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1009). 
 
 Portrait-head of a beardless man with widely open eyes 
 showing the pupils. On the convex side of the stone (not 
 
EARLY ROMAN GEMS 
 
 345 
 
 shown here) is engraved a shield bearing a Gorgbn’s head 
 with wings and two serpents knotted under the chin. The 
 date of this gem may be in the latter half of the fourth 
 century B. C. 
 
 10. Convex garnet (chipped), in Hermitage Museum, St. Peters¬ 
 
 burg. 
 
 Female head, probably a portrait, with ear-rings and long 
 hair. 
 
 11. Strongly convex garnet, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Idealistic female head with laurel wreath and long hair. 
 The eyes are widely open. 
 
 12. Convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1105). 
 
 Nearly full-face bust of Zeus-Serapis with tunic and 
 mantle. On the head is a modius ornamented with olive 
 leaves. The cutting is very deep. 
 
 13. Strongly convex garnet, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Head of a youthful satyr with goat’s horns and a fawn’s 
 skin fastened under his chin. 
 
 14. Convex garnet, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Portrait-bust with cloak or tunic and laurel wreath. 
 
 PLATE XVII 
 
 Early Roman Gems Under Etruscan Influence 
 
 (These are ring-stones except when otherwise stated. The scarabs 
 are bored through the longer axis.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, owner unknown. 
 
 Two Salii, priests of Mars, carrying, hung on a pole be¬ 
 tween them, five squarish ancilii (sacred shields), the sides 
 indented and decorated with lines and dots. The first priest 
 has in his hand a pointed priest’s cap with cheek-flaps, and 
 both wear helmets and short coats. Cable border. 
 
 2. Carnelian (somewhat chipped), in collection of W. Gedney 
 
 Beatty, New York. 
 
 A warrior with helmet, corselet, spear, sword, and shield 
 bearing the device of a thunderbolt. He is leading a war- 
 horse. Inscription, S E. Cable border. 
 
 3. Dark red carnelian. 
 
 Cheiron teaching the young Achilleus to play the lyre. 
 Behind him is a column against which leans a thyrsos. Cable 
 border. Crude, poor work. 
 
34G 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 4. Carnelian scarab. 
 
 Kapaneus, nude and beardless, with helmet, shield, and 
 sword, falling from the broken ladder. Cable border. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A young hero, nude and beardless, his shield on his arm, 
 his helmet fallen off, apparently dying but writing, with his 
 failing strength, the word, VICl, on the shield of a vanquished 
 foe. One of these has fallen behind the shield and another is 
 sinking down in the background. Undoubtedly Orthryades, 
 the Spartan hero of Thyrea (compare PI. XXXII, 10). 
 
 6. Carnelian scarab, in British Museum. 
 
 A bearded man and tw T o beardless youths, all nude, 
 around whom three large serpents are twining. It is evi¬ 
 dently a picture of the death of Laocoon and his sons. The 
 father and one son show their hair disordered and as if 
 erect with fright. The other youth’s hair has the rolled 
 band treatment common in this epoch. Cable border. It is 
 possible that this gem may be late Etruscan, but the style and 
 the subject point more clearly to a Roman origin. The group, 
 it will be noticed, is not at all like that in the Vatican. 
 
 7. Translucent carnelian scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 292). 
 
 A cult group of three female figures in long garments, 
 the middle one, shown in full front, is looking up toward a 
 sword which one of her companions holds above her. She 
 wears a necklace. The two side figures, done in profile, face 
 toward her and each carries a small pitcher. Their hair is 
 executed with parallel strokes and is arranged with the 
 bunch behind common in this epoch. Cable border. 
 
 8. Carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 98.722). 
 
 A beardless warrior, in full panoply of the Italian style, 
 stooping down on one knee, sword in hand and with head 
 bent toward the ground. His corselet is elaborately orna¬ 
 mented and a sphinx is depicted on the back. This is one 
 of a considerable number of pictures about the subject of 
 which Furtwangler hazards the unsatisfying guess of Decius 
 Mus. Cable border (compare PI. XXXII, 12). 
 
 9. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 853). 
 
 A bearded man, with hair treated characteristically with 
 the bunch behind and cloak following the line of his back, 
 standing with raised knife before an altar behind which is a 
 stag. Doubtless intended for Virbius, the male counterpart 
 
EARLY ROMAN GEMS 
 
 347 
 
 (or the first priest) of Diana Nemorensis, whom the Italians 
 identified with Hyppolitos. Cable border. 
 
 10. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 868). 
 
 A nude, beardless youth with a curved knife in his hand, 
 bending over a goat's head which he holds by the horn. 
 Probably one of the Luperci who sacrificed goats in honor of 
 Faunus. Inscription, CROSC, part of the owner’s name. 
 Cable border. 
 
 11. Dark brown sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 440). 
 
 Hermes Psychopompos, beardless and with cloak follow¬ 
 ing the curve of his back, bending down to raise up a soul 
 from the Underworld. He carries a winged caduceus. The 
 soul is indicated by a man’s head and one arm, the hand 
 of which the god holds. Cable border. 
 
 12. Slightly convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 873). 
 
 A nude, beardless warrior, with a helmet and a shield, 
 standing before a column around which a serpent twines 
 and on which is perched a bird. A ram kneels at its foot. 
 Undoubtedly a hero consulting the oracle of Mars to 
 whom the woodpecker was sacred and the ram offered in 
 sacrifice. The twining serpent suggests the oracular idea. 
 Inscription, POTITI, the owner’s name. 
 
 13. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 647). 
 
 Ajax, bearded and in full panoply, carrying the dead body 
 of Achilleus, also in full panoply but beardless. The arrow 
 of Paris is fixed in the latter’s foot. The picture and lack 
 of border show the influence of the free style. 
 
 14. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 445). 
 
 A beardless man, with a sceptre or measuring rod and a 
 cloak following the back curve, bending over the upper half of 
 a human figure. Probably intended to represent Prometheus 
 creating a man, as the idea was accepted in the Orphic cults 
 of Italy. Cable border. 
 
 15. Brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 417). 
 
 A peasant, in tunic and cloak, leaning on his staff and 
 contemplating a head which lies on the ground before him. 
 One of a large group of pictures with evidently a definite 
 meaning but of which no satisfying interpretation has been 
 offered. Cable border. 
 
 16. Dark carnelian or sard, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 243). 
 
348 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 A beardless man, with cloak following his back-line, 
 shaping with an adze the stem-piece of a ship. Doubtless 
 Argos at work on the Argo. 
 
 17. Chalcedony or white carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 799). 
 
 Oidipous, nude and beardless, standing with his sword at 
 his side before a rock on which is the Sphinx whose riddle he 
 is answering. 
 
 18. Brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 488). 
 
 A bearded man, in corselet and cloak following his back- 
 line, standing, with a sacrificial dish in one hand and a raised 
 knife in the other, before an altar on which is the upper half 
 of the body of a beardless youth. Evidently a representa¬ 
 tion of human sacrifice not unknown in the Italian cults. 
 Cable border. 
 
 19. Carnelian with white stripes, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 850). 
 
 A nude, beardless man, in a pointed priest’s cap and car¬ 
 rying a lituus (augur’s wand), standing, with hand raised as 
 if in adoration, before a palm tree. Though squarish in shape 
 the gem lacks the usual border. 
 
 20. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 472). 
 
 A nude, beardless youth, his hair treated with the side- 
 roll and the bunch behind as is characteristic of the later 
 severe style, standing with a sword in one hand and a severed 
 head in the other. One of a long line of unexplained pictures. 
 Cable border. 
 
 21. Banded agate scarab, in British Museum (Catal. No. 422). 
 
 A bearded man, with a cloak wrapped about his hips and 
 legs, holding a sacrificial dish from which hangs what seems 
 to be a chain with a ring attached over an altar with a cover 
 and a branch thrown about it. Inscription, in Greek letters, 
 ANNIA- CGBACTH: the name of the owner, Annia Augusta, 
 turned into Greek. Cable border. 
 
 22. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 392). 
 
 A bearded man, in a cloak, writing on a tablet what seems 
 to be the oracular response given by a head which, with 
 part of the body attached, rises from the ground before him. 
 Furtwangler has interpreted this line of pictures very satis¬ 
 factorily as Orphic signets showing the head of Orpheus, 
 fabled to have been kept at Antissa, in Lesbos, where it ut¬ 
 tered the oracles of Apollo. 
 
EARLY ROMAN OEMS 
 
 349 
 
 23. Banded sardonyx, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Two nude youths, one with a cloak over his arm and 
 holding an unidentifiable object, the other holding a branch. 
 They are probably Orestes and Pylades. The hair is done 
 with the roll arrangement of the severe Greek styles. 
 
 24. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 623). 
 
 A bearded hero, with helmet, greaves, sword, spear, and 
 a shield bearing the device of a star, standing over and 
 evidently protecting a fallen hero, also bearded. The latter 
 wears a helmet and a tunic which has fallen from one shoul¬ 
 der. Possibly the defending hero is Ajax. Cable border. 
 
 25. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 749). 
 
 A bearded priest, with his cloak wrapped about his hips 
 and legs, leading a bull for sacrifice to a wreathed altar. In 
 the background are two bearded attendants, one with a double 
 sacrificial axe. Beyond the altar is a leafless tree. Be¬ 
 neath the picture is a sort of criss-cross line and dot orna¬ 
 mentation. 
 
 PLATE XVIII 
 
 Early Roman Gems Under Hellenistic Influence 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Convex brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1312). 
 
 Herakles, bearded and nude, micturating. His lion-skin 
 is thrown over his shoulder and he carries his club. 
 
 2. Convex dark brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 1376). 
 
 Odysseus, bearded and nude save for the cloak thrown 
 over his arm, seems to be returning to his home. He wears 
 the pointed pilos on his head. The same subject appears on 
 the coins of the Mamilian gens. Inscription, M -VOL; the 
 owner’s abbreviated name, doubtless a member of that family. 
 
 3. Unknown convex stone, in Berlin Museum (?). 
 
 A horseman, with corselet, helmet, shield, lance, and 
 sword, pitching forward from his stumbling horse. It is un¬ 
 doubtedly a picture of Marcus Curtius plunging, as a self- 
 chosen sacrifice, into the chasm that opened in the Forum. 
 
 4. Convex carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Kassandra seated, fully draped and embracing the Pal¬ 
 ladium which stands on a wreathed altar. 
 
350 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 5. Convex carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Urania seated, fully draped and holding a globe on which 
 she seems to be writing. 
 
 6. Brownish sard, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King 
 
 Coll., Catal. No. 166). 
 
 Two Roman knights attacking two Gauls, distinguished 
 by the Gallic shield, one of whom has fallen and the other, 
 sunk on one knee, still defends himself. 
 
 7. Convex amethyst, from Rome, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 1716). 
 
 Dancing satyr with small horns, nude save for a goat’s 
 skin thrown over his arm. Before him is a pedum. Inscrip¬ 
 tion, Q-C; the owner’s initials. 
 
 8. Convex brownish sard, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Liber, bearded, in long tunic and mantle, holding a 
 thyrsos with fillets and with a wreath about his shoulders. 
 
 9. Slightly convex chalcedony with moss-agate striations. 
 
 Cupid riding on a rooster emblematic of desire. 
 
 10. Convex brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1625). 
 
 Cupid rolling a hoop. 
 
 11. Deep brownish convex sard, in Hermitage Museum, St. Peters¬ 
 
 burg. 
 
 An old shepherd, in a short tunic and cloak, leaning on 
 a staff with three sheep before him. Inscription, M-AL B*H 1L; 
 in two lines; the owner’s name abbreviated. 
 
 12. Clear brownish convex sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 2233). 
 
 A club with a bird perched on it. Beneath, a dart. In¬ 
 scription, PROTEMV£; the owner’s name. 
 
 13. Convex brownish sard with striations. 
 
 A peacock. 
 
 14. Convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2037). 
 
 A lion attacked by a large ant. 
 
 15. Convex brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1248). 
 
 An actor wearing a mask representing the slave of the 
 comedies and running. Inscription, M; the owner’s initial. 
 
 16. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6711). 
 
 A shoe. Inscription, MEMENTO. 
 
 17. Convex brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1798). 
 
 An eagle with spread wings, his body a man’s head. Pos¬ 
 sibly the combination is inspired by the Ganymedes myth. 
 
 18. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6616). 
 
EARLY ROMAN GEMS 
 
 351 
 
 A winged Gorgon head from which issue three legs and 
 three ears of grain; the Sicilian emblem. Inscription, 
 EV°HEMI (Euphemi) ; the owner’s name in the genitive 
 with two letters ligatured. 
 
 19. Clear brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6517). 
 
 A dwarf, in pointed cap and cloak, blowing a double 
 flute. 
 
 20. Convex brownish sard, in British Museum (Catal. No. 1624). 
 
 A sun-dial on a column with a sword behind it and a 
 helmet lying on the ground. Inscription, A FOL; the 
 owner’s name abbreviated. (On the flat side has been added 
 at a much later period the laureated head of a young em¬ 
 peror, perhaps Commodus. See PI. XXI, 8.) 
 
 21. Convex garnet, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1950). 
 
 Female comedy mask with a head-cloth. Inscription, 
 APOLLON IDES; the owner’s name. 
 
 22. Dark brownish convex sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 1783). 
 
 Bust of Victory, winged and with a palm-branch. On the 
 head is a lotos flower indicating a combination of Victory 
 and Isis. 
 
 23. Convex carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Head of Libya decked with the skin of an elephant’s head 
 with trunk and tusks. 
 
 24. Clear brownish convex sard, from Rome, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 1759). 
 
 Bust of a young satyr or river-god with pointed ears 
 and short horns. Inscription, C ; the owner’s initial. 
 
 25. Carnelian, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., 
 
 Catal. No. 256). 
 
 Portrait head of a bald man with part of the rim of a 
 shield in front. This is the stone which Dr. King thinks, 
 on the score of its resemblance to the denarii likenesses, may 
 have been the signet of Marcellus which Hannibal used on 
 forged letters after the death of the Roman general. I have 
 introduced the gem here for that reason, but the assumption, 
 while most interesting, does not seem to me very probable. 
 208 B. C. was a pretty early date for Roman gem-portraiture, 
 though, of course, a Roman might have had his portrait cut 
 by a Greek of Southern Italy. Moreover, I cannot quite dis¬ 
 miss a suspicion of the antiquity of the gem. 
 
352 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 PLATE XIX 
 
 Early Roman Gems Under the Combining Etruscan and Hellen¬ 
 istic Influences 
 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Slightly convex carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 998). 
 
 Liber, bearded, seated on a rock, his cloak about his legs 
 and a thyrsos over his shoulder, reaching out his hand for a 
 goblet which a bearded, horse-tailed Seilenos, also with a 
 thyrsos and a cloak over his arm and about his thighs, holds, 
 while a satyr fills it from a wine-skin. Behind Seilenos a 
 vine is growing. Cable border. It is possible that this gem 
 may belong to early imperial times. 
 
 2. Reddish brown sard, in British Museum. 
 
 Artemis, clothed in a long garment with one breast and 
 shoulder bare, holding her bow in one hand and, with the 
 other, the horn of a stag that stands beside her. The hair 
 shows a band of dots with a braid hanging behind. The in¬ 
 scription, HEIOY, Furtwangler holds to be genuine: the 
 name of a Roman owner, but it seems to me very unlike most 
 of the work of its kind on these gems, especially, in its 
 regular placing, which is more as the later forgers did such 
 things. Cable border, nearly worn away by the repolishing 
 to which the stone has been subjected. 
 
 3. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 947). 
 
 Psyche with butterfly-wings and in long tunic. With 
 one hand she holds up the bottom of her robe and with the 
 other she draws out the top with the bent-arm gesture 
 peculiar to Nemesis. This Psyche-Nemesis combination is 
 very interesting. The style of work shows a lingering Etrus¬ 
 can influence but the picture type and the lack of border in¬ 
 dicate its failing force. 
 
 4. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6468). 
 
 A pantheistic male figure, nude but for the cloak over 
 his arm. He wears the helmet of Mars, whose sword and 
 shield are at his feet. Also, he carries the winged caduceus 
 of Mercury and the cornucopia of Fortuna. One foot is raised 
 and rests upon the orb of the World. A most interesting 
 conception suggesting the World-power of Rome under the 
 fostering care of the gods. 
 
EARLY ROMAN GEMS 
 
 353 
 
 5. Sardonyx of two layers, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 929). 
 
 Eros, nude, winged, and rising on bis toes as if to sug¬ 
 gest flight. His arms are in the position of drawing a bow 
 which, however, is not figured. Interesting as showing a 
 reversion to the earlier type of the youthful Eros. 
 
 6. Garnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A fully dressed girl seated under a tree, as if sleeping, 
 with her hands on her knees. Before her are a kalathos, an 
 ant, and two ears of grain. Above is a bird perched on a 
 wreathed thyrsos. The interpretation of this picture is ex¬ 
 plained at length at the end of Chap. YI. Exergue filled with 
 cross-strokes. 
 
 7. Blackish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6643). 
 
 Symbols: a hand holding a winged caduceus; above, a 
 butterfly, perhaps Psyche, and a club. Inscription, in lig¬ 
 atured letters, MO (amo). The whole is apparently an in¬ 
 vocation by the wearer of strength and cunning in the cause 
 of love. 
 
 8. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 932). 
 
 A fully clothed female figure standing in a flower, prob¬ 
 ably Aphrodite. In each hand she holds a branch with fruit 
 on it. The symbolism seems to convey the idea of the fructi¬ 
 fying power of the goddess. 
 
 9. Brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6518). 
 
 Two skeletons, one of whom is crowning the other. Sig¬ 
 nificant of the shortness of life and the moral that it is best 
 to enjoy it. Probably the signet of some philosophic Epi¬ 
 curean. 
 
 10. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6780). 
 
 Psyche, with butterfly wings and fully draped, her hands 
 bound behind her, is seated on an altar before a column 
 upon which is a statue of Aphrodite whom she seems to be 
 beseeching for mercy. 
 
 11. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Symbols: The rudder of Fortuna and an ear of grain. 
 Inscription, with many ligatures, FLOS"R AI (Philostrati) ; 
 the owner’s name in the genitive. 
 
 12. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6566). 
 
 A boar with grain (?) or acorns (?) on the ground be¬ 
 fore him, and a rooster with an ear of grain in his beak. In 
 the field, a caduceus and a club. Cable border. 
 
354 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 13. Convex brown paste, in the collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New 
 
 York. 
 
 Aphrodite or Leda with a mantle on one arm and a swan 
 beside her. 
 
 14. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 944). 
 
 Herm bust of Psyche with butterfly-wings. 
 
 15. Chalcedony, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6524). 
 
 A locust or grasshopper armed with a sword and shield. 
 
 16. Slightly convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1439). 
 
 Poseidon, bearded and nude save for a cloak over his 
 arm, with his foot on the prow of a ship and holding his 
 trident in one hand and a dolphin in the other. A forerun¬ 
 ner of one of the established types of a later period. 
 
 17. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7082). 
 
 Heads of a horse, ram, and bull with an ear of grain 
 in its mouth. This gem may belong to the imperial period. 
 
 18. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6677). 
 
 A Corinthian helmet decorated with a Pegasos, a buck, 
 and a sphinx. 
 
 19. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6528). 
 
 Herm bust of Hypnos with butterfly-wings and fillet. 
 
 20. Convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1263). 
 
 A bearded philosopher, with his mantle about his legs, 
 seated in a chair before an ithyphallic, bearded Herm and 
 writing on his tablets. 
 
 21. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6536). 
 
 A rather poor portrait-head of Pompey resembling those 
 on his coins. Inscription, P P. Late work of the period. 
 
 22. Brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 1873). 
 
 Portrait-head of some poet or actor with a comedy mask 
 and a club (?) in the field. 
 
 PLATE XX 
 
 Signed Graeco-Roman Gems oe the Early Empire 
 
 (Except when too large the gems on this plate are ring-stones.) 
 1. Bluish aquamarine, in British Museum (Catal. No. 1281). 
 
 Head of the youthful Hercules, his club over his shoul¬ 
 der. A charming work which goes back to some Praxitelean 
 model. Beneath, in very light lettering, is the inscription, 
 TNAIOC; the signature of the artist, Gnseus, as well held 
 
SIGNED GR2EC0-R0MAN GEMS 
 
 355 
 
 by Furtwangler, though A. S. Murray thinks it an owner’s 
 name. A strong argument for its genuineness is that it stood 
 on the gem at least as early as 1606 when Faber, in his com¬ 
 mentaries on the Imagines of Fulvius Ursinus (p. 66), men¬ 
 tions it. Gnaeus was evidently a Roman, who Hellenicised his 
 name for obvious business reasons. 
 
 2. Clear yellowish carnelian, in British Museum. 
 
 Hermes, nude save for the mantle thrown over one shoul¬ 
 der, his caduceus in one hand and a sacrificial dish containing 
 a ram’s head in the other. He stands in profile with his head 
 turned full-face, the pose suggesting Praxiteles. Inscription, 
 AIOCKOYPIAOY; the signature of Dioskourides, the greatest 
 gem-engraver of Augustan times. 
 
 3. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Filleted head of Apollo with cloak. Inscription, YAAOY; 
 the signature of the artist, Hyllos, son of Dioskourides. Be¬ 
 hind the neck are the letters LAVR-MED, showing that 
 the gem once belonged to Lorenzo dei Medici. 
 
 4. Glass-paste in imitation of a hyacinth, formerly among the Marl¬ 
 
 borough gems. 
 
 A nude athlete anointing himself with oil from a hydra 
 which stands on a small table beside him. Evidently a copy 
 from some statue. Inscription, FNAIOY ; the Hellenicised sig¬ 
 nature of Gnaeus, in the genitive. 
 
 5. Carnelian, last noted as in the Devonshire Collection. 
 
 Diomedes, nude save for the cloak thrown over his arm, 
 seated upon a wreathed altar with the Palladium in one hand 
 and his sword in the other. Before him stands a statue on 
 a column at whose base lies a dead priest. Inscription, 
 AIOCKOYPIAOY; the signature of the artist. The idea seems 
 to have been taken from some painting, perhaps one by 
 Polygnotos. 
 
 6. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6984). 
 
 Portrait of Sextus Pompeius, with short beard and 
 moustache, similar to that on his gold coins. Inscription, 
 AfAOANrCAOY (Agathangelou) ; the signature of the artist. 
 
 7. Aquamarine, last noted as in the Devonshire Collection. 
 
 A youthful, unbearded Hercules, his lion-skin over his 
 arm and bearing on his shoulder either the Marathon bull 
 or one of the oxen of Geryones. Probably copied from a 
 statue. Inscription, ANT6PUJTOC ; the signature of the 
 artist, Anteros. 
 
356 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 8. Cloudy chalcedony, rather large to have been used conveni¬ 
 
 ently as a ring-stone, in British Museum (Catal. No. 1256). 
 
 Head of Medousa in profile with flowing hair with which 
 serpents are mingled. Furtwangler regards the type as of 
 about 400 B. C., and suggests that this may be an Augustan 
 copy from the ancient painting of the Gorgon by Timoma- 
 chos. Inscription, IOAQNOC, the name of the gem-engraver, 
 Solon. 
 
 This is the famous Strozzi Medousa, and the antiquity 
 of both the gem and the signature, especially the latter, has 
 been the subject of violent dispute. The weight of author¬ 
 ities, including Furtwangler’s strong pronunciamento, is in 
 favor of the head’s genuineness. I have not had an oppor¬ 
 tunity to examine the stone itself, but there is certainly some¬ 
 thing suspiciously dramatic about the picture. As for the 
 signature, Furtwangler first denied its authenticity but 
 finally supported it, though his arguments are not altogether 
 convincing to me. His final argument is on p. 192 of Yol. 
 II, of his Die Antiken Gemmen. Also there is an interesting 
 dissertation on the subject on p. 148 of the Gem Catalogue of 
 the British Museum. The stone is very beautiful and is cer¬ 
 tainly worth including here, if only as an example of one of 
 the knotty problems that have divided the experts. 
 
 9. Red jasper, also very large for a ring-stone, in Vienna Mu¬ 
 
 seum. 
 
 Bust of Athena, copied from the Athena Parthenos of 
 Pheidias. Inscription, ACIIACIOY; the signature of the 
 artist, Aspasios. 
 
 10. Carnelian (calcined), in British Museum (Catal. No. 2296). 
 
 Aphrodite, with a mantle about her legs, necklace, and 
 bracelets, seated upon a rock and amusing Cupid by balanc¬ 
 ing a rod on one finger. The character of the picture is of 
 the fourth century B. C., from which it is probably copied. 
 Inscription, AYAOC; the name of the artist, Aulus, in the 
 nominative and Hellenicised. 
 
 11. Slightly convex aquamarine, much too large for any ring, 
 
 in Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Coll. Chabouillet, No. 
 2089). 
 
 Bust-portrait of Julia, daughter of the Emperor, Titus, 
 her hair elaborately dressed in the style of the period. In¬ 
 scription, 6YOAOC 6TTOI6I; the signature of the artist, 
 Evodos. 
 
GRAECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 357 
 
 12. Carnelian, in British Museum. 
 
 Nike, winged, with mantle about her legs and sword in 
 hand, bending over, as if to offer in sacrifice a bull which 
 has sunk down. Inscription, CQCTPATOY; the signature of 
 the artist, Sostratos. 
 
 13. Red jasper, in British Museum (Catal. No. 2293). 
 
 Herm-bust of the bearded Dionysos crowned with vine 
 leaves and fillets. After some original of the Pheidian epoch. 
 Inscription, ACTTACIOY; the signature of Aspasios. 
 
 14. Sardonyx of six layers, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6866). 
 
 Theseus, nude save for scarf hanging over one arm and 
 holding his club in the other hand. A work very much 
 in the style of Polycleitos. Inscription, YAAOY; a signature 
 of Hyllos. 
 
 15. Amethyst, in Bibliothbque Nationale, Paris (Coll. Chabouillet, 
 
 No. 1815). 
 
 Achilleus, nude, seated on a rock over which his garment 
 is thrown, and playing a lyre. Before him his sword hangs 
 on a tree against the foot of which rests his shield ornamented 
 with a Gorgon’s head and with running deer in the outer 
 circle. Behind, on the rock, is his helmet. Inscription, 
 flAM-HAOY; the signature of the artist, Pamphilos. 
 
 PLATE XXI 
 
 Gr^co-Roman Gems of the Early Empire ( continued ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 758). 
 
 Bust of the Muse, Melpomene, with flowing hair and 
 tunic. Before her is a comedy mask on a column. Inscrip¬ 
 tion, NAIOY; the signature of Gnseus with the F omitted. 
 Both gem and signature have been strongly questioned by 
 several authorities, but Dr. Furtwiingler later changed his 
 views and held them to be genuine. I have not myself been 
 able to examine the stone. If a forgery it is a very clever 
 one. 
 
 2. Carnelian (badly broken), from Smyrna, in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 3179). 
 
 The upper part of a youthful head, the hair bound with 
 a fillet and treated in the style of the fifth century B. C. 
 
358 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 3. Convex amethyst, in British Museum. 
 
 Cupid seated before a trophy with his hands bound be¬ 
 hind his back. Over his head is the inscription, AYAOY; the 
 signature of the artist, Aulus. 
 
 4. Dull greenish plasma, in British Museum. 
 
 Winged head of Medousa with serpents in her hair. In¬ 
 scription, CUUCOCA6; the signature of the artist, Soso- 
 kles. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 6981). 
 
 A portrait-head with ears pointed like a satyr’s, ivy 
 wreath, and a fawn-skin about the neck. Before him is the 
 face of a bearded mask. Probably the portrait of some 
 comedian. Done in Hellenistic style. 
 
 6. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6985). 
 
 Bather idealized portrait of Julius Caesar with laurel 
 crown and with a lituus and a star in the field. Probably a 
 work of the principiate of Augustus, though there seems to me 
 a possibility of its being a modern forgery. 
 
 7. Carnelian (somewhat broken), in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 6972). 
 
 Head of Sokrates. 
 
 8. Convex brownish sard, in British Museum (Catal. No. 1624). 
 
 This gem was early Roman work under Hellenistic in¬ 
 fluence, with a sun-dial and the owner’s name on the convex 
 side. (See PI. XVIII, 20). The present portrait of a youth¬ 
 ful, beardless emperor, with laurel crown and fillets, was 
 added on the flat side in imperial times. 
 
 9. Light translucent carnelian, from Viterbo, in collection of W. 
 
 Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 A full-face tragedy mask, with hair banked up on top 
 and falling down on both sides, done almost entirely with 
 the drill and somewhat damaged by repolishing. This may 
 be a somewhat earlier work. 
 
 10. Light translucent carnelian. 
 
 A comedy mask in profile with a pedum in the 
 field. 
 
 11. Flat, truncated chalcedony, in collection of Nestor Sanborn, 
 
 New York. 
 
 Head of Harpokrates with upper part of the body. The 
 hair is bound with a fillet and crowned with a lotos flower, 
 and the finger is raised toward the lips in the customary 
 gesture. Behind is a cornucopia. 
 
GRAECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 359 
 
 12. Slightly convex red jasper. 
 
 A dolphin with a bearded mask for a head. Luck-bring¬ 
 ing combination. Crude work. 
 
 13. Yellowish carnelian. 
 
 Two combined masks, one of them of the Seilenos type. 
 Luck-bringing combination. Crude work. 
 
 14. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. G934). 
 
 Head of Apollo with fillet aud flowing hair. The edge 
 of a cloak or tunic shows below the neck. 
 
 15. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8524). 
 
 A bearded Seilenos mask with a boar’s head joined at 
 the back and a second mask forming the boar’s under jaw. 
 Luck-bringing combination. Crude work. 
 
 16. Convex plasma, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Bust of Jupiter with laurel crown. 
 
 17. Convex sard (calcined), in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, 
 
 New York. 
 
 Head of Jupiter Serapis crowned with the modius. 
 Above is a crescent, before him, a sun or star and, flying 
 toward him, a winged Victory with a wreath which she is 
 about to place on his head. Below is an eagle perched on 
 an ox’s skull. A common subject of imperial times, though 
 the ox’s skull is rare and suggests Mithraic influence. 
 
 18. Carnelian (somewhat broken), in Berlin Museum (Catal No. 
 
 6967). 
 
 A copy bust from the famous Amazon statue of Kresilas. 
 
 19. Carnelian of different shades, in Metropolitan Museum, New 
 
 York (King Coll., Catal. No. 65). 
 
 Bearded and veiled head, perhaps of Saturn. If so, it is 
 a very rare gem subject which Dr. King suggests may have 
 been the signet of one of the Sentia gens in which Saturninus 
 was a cognomen. 
 
 20. Convex carnelian (somewhat broken), in British Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 561). 
 
 Head and body of a reclining mainad holding a bearded 
 comedy mask in her hand and with a thyrsos lying across her 
 arm. Her garment is about her hips. Inscription, AIOCK; 
 a modern forgery of the signature of Dioskourides. 
 
 21. Carnelian (broken), in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6872). 
 
 A nude youth, with a pedum, holding a fawn by one foot 
 before a column on which stands a statue of the bearded 
 Dionysos with thyrsos and kantharos. Behind the column is 
 
360 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 a tree. Possibly but not very probably Pan. Fine work 
 showing the influence of Polycleitos. 
 
 PLATE XXII 
 
 Graeco-Roman Gems op the Early Empire ( continued ) 
 
 (These are ring-stones except when otherwise stated.) 
 
 1. Slightly convex carnelian, too large for a ring-signet and very 
 
 deeply cut, so as to be effective as an ornament; in Hermitage 
 Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Bust of Medousa with serpents mingled with her filleted 
 hair and wings on her head. On her breast is a gorget of 
 scales with a serpent collar. 
 
 2. Strongly convex amethyst, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2298). 
 
 Dionysos, bearded, in a long tunic and with a fawn-skin 
 thrown over his shoulder and girt about him. In one hand 
 he carries his thyrsos, in the other a bunch of grapes. It is 
 possible that this gem is Hellenistic work. 
 
 3. Unknown stone and owner. The cast shows that the gem is 
 
 somewhat broken. 
 
 Representation of a chariot race in the circus with four 
 four-horse chariots driving down one of the sides. Behind 
 the last is a man on horse-back and, in the midst, one on foot, 
 evidently thrown from his car. Above is shown the long 
 central wall or spina and, at each end, the three conical 
 pillars marking the starting and turning points. In the 
 middle is the obelisk which, after Augustus’ time, took the 
 place of the ship’s mast which had previously stood there. 
 On the spina are, also, the figure of the winged Victory with 
 a wreath, another statue, and the altars and small shrines 
 with which it was decorated. The whole is a most interest¬ 
 ing and illuminating record, dating certainly later than 
 Augustus and, probably, in the second century, when the 
 chariot races had become very popular. Several gems show 
 similar pictures. 
 
 4. Convex carnelian, from Rome, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 2296). 
 
 Apollo, nude, standing by a column on which is a vase, his 
 bow and arrows in one hand, a laurel wreath with fillets 
 in the other. The motive is taken from some statue of the 
 Pheidian epoch. 
 
GR2EC0-R0MAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 361 
 
 5. Convex amethyst, too large for a ring-signet and very deeply cut 
 
 so as to be effective as an ornament; in Hermitage Museum, 
 St. Petersburg. 
 
 A woman with garment about her legs, probably Aphro¬ 
 dite, riding a sea-dragon. She holds a shell in her hand and, 
 above, floats a Cupid. 
 
 6. Unknown stone and owner. 
 
 Mask of the bearded Dionysos, with wreath of flowers and 
 flowing hair. 
 
 7. Unknown stone and owner. 
 
 Bearded mask, probably of Pan, with long hair and bud¬ 
 ding horns on the forehead. 
 
 8. Banded agate (calcined by fire and broken). 
 
 Hygeia, her mantle about her legs and with one foot 
 raised on what looks like a shield with indented sides. She 
 holds her serpent in one hand and is feeding it from a horn 
 which she holds in the other. 
 
 9. Chalcedony scaraboid, in Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (The 
 
 following picture has been cut, probably about 100 A. D., on 
 the convex side of a scaraboid having on its base the engrav¬ 
 ing of the best period described, PI. VIII, 19). 
 
 Facing busts of Jupiter Serapis with the modius on his 
 head and of Isis with the lotos flower on hers. Between 
 them is a faintly engraved object, apparently an altar with a 
 flame. 
 
 10. Carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 99,103). 
 
 Three-quarters figure of a young Triton with a Nereid 
 seated on his back, their garments about their thighs. In 
 the water beside them are a Cupid and a dolphin. The in¬ 
 scription, YAAOY, is considered a modern forgery of the sig¬ 
 nature of Hyllos. 
 
 11. Carnelian, from Kume, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 75). 
 
 A serpent-legged Earth-giant, with a sword in one hand 
 and a lion’s skin, which he uses for a buckler, in the other. 
 
 12. Carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 99,102). 
 
 Hermes, nude save for the cloak hanging from his shoul¬ 
 ders, playing the lyre. His petasos also hangs on his back, 
 and his feet are winged. Fine Augustan work. 
 
 13. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6966). 
 
 Bust of the youthful, unbearded Hercules with lion’s skin 
 on his head. Type of the coins of Alexander. 
 
362 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 PLATE XXIII 
 
 Gr^co-Roman Gems of the Early Empire ( continued ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Dark sard, slightly convex, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 73). 
 
 Either Cybele or Syria Dea, probably the former, though 
 King has catalogued it as a copy of the famous statue of 
 the Syria Dea of Emesa described by Lucian. The goddess 
 is shown full-face, wearing the crown of turrets, draped, and 
 seated on a throne which rests on the haunches of lions. She 
 holds a tympanum (?) in one hand and a bunch of wheat 
 ears in the other. Work, probably, of not earlier than 100 
 A. D., and, possibly, considerably later. 
 
 2. Brownish variegated jasper (slightly chipped). 
 
 Ceres, fully draped, seated on a throne without a back 
 and holding out wheat ears in her hand over what seems like 
 a small conical altar with horns. Probably not earlier work 
 than of 100 A. D. 
 
 3. Convex carnelian, in British Museum (Catal. No. 722). 
 
 Apollo, nude, leaning on a tree up which a lizard crawls. 
 Copied from the Apollo Sauroktonos of Praxiteles. 
 
 4. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2649). 
 
 Apollo, nude, with fillet-bound hair, his bow in one 
 hand, a fawn in the other. Taken from the archaic statue of 
 Kanachos as shown on the Milesian coinage. 
 
 5. Glass-paste imitating a brown sard. 
 
 Dionysos, beardless, seated on a throne, his garment 
 about his hips and legs, and holding a thyrsos. Before him 
 is a panther. 
 
 6. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6762). 
 
 Aphrodite, in full-front, nude, holding her long tresses 
 in her hands. The type is of the Anadyomene and the 
 work is evidently taken from a statue of about Alexander’s 
 time. 
 
 7. Carnelian (slightly chipped), in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 6742). 
 
 Artemis fully draped and running, her bow in one hand, 
 a torch in the other, and her quiver on her back. The work 
 shows archaic influence and suggests the Artemis Soteira 
 type. 
 
GR2EC0-R0MAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 363 
 
 8. Carnelian, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Cupid stringing his bow. Beneath are two arrows. 
 Taken from some Lysippean statue type. 
 
 9. Convex plasma, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2313). 
 
 A good genius with mantle about hips and legs. In 
 one hand is a patera, in the other a cornucopia ending in a 
 goat’s head. Statue type. 
 
 10. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 67G4). 
 
 Aphrodite, nude, a spear leaning against her shoulder, 
 and a helmet in one hand, the other raised to her head, in the 
 attitude of the Diadumenos, with the elbow resting on 
 the shield. Taken from some statue type of Alexander’s 
 time. 
 
 11. Chalcedony, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6714). 
 
 Jupiter, nude and beardless, a thunderbolt in one hand, a 
 sceptre in the other. Taken, certainly, from some statue 
 type, perhaps of the beardless Jupiter of Anxur. 
 
 12. Convex chalcedony, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2610). 
 
 Jupiter, bearded and nude save for a mantle over his 
 arm. In one hand he holds a thunderbolt, in the other his 
 sceptre. At his feet is an eagle. A statue type similar to 
 that of the Capitoline Jupiter on the medals of Trajan and 
 Hadrian. 
 
 13. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8389). 
 
 Jupiter enthroned, his mantle about his legs and grasp¬ 
 ing by the hair a suppliant serpent-legged Earth-giant at 
 whom he is about to launch the thunderbolt. Behind the 
 giant is a column surmounted by a winged Victory with 
 wreath upon whose head an eagle perches. Work, probably, 
 of the second century A. D. 
 
 14. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6718). 
 
 Hermes, nude, leaning on a low column, his caduceus in 
 one hand. From some statue of the school of Polykleitos. 
 
 15. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6719). 
 
 Hermes, in cloak and petasos, his caduceus in his hand. 
 Before him goes a ram. Statue type. 
 
 16. Convex plasma, from Pompeii (?). 
 
 Hermes, nude but for a scarf over his arm. In one hand 
 he holds the caduceus, in the other a purse. At his feet is a 
 cock. Statue type. 
 
 17. Convex plasma, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New 
 
 York. 
 
364 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Syria Dea, fully draped, enthroned between lions, holding 
 a patera in her hand, and wearing the lotos flower of Isis on 
 her head. 
 
 18. Carnelian, from Nola. 
 
 Isis, fully draped, her lotos flower on her head, her sys- 
 trum in one hand, and a basket in the other. 
 
 19. Convex chalcedony, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New 
 
 York. 
 
 Jupiter enthroned, his mantle about his hips and 
 legs. One hand rests on a long sceptre, the other 
 holds a patera. At his feet is an eagle. Conventional 
 statue type. 
 
 20. Carnelian. 
 
 Neptune, nude and bearded, one hand resting on his 
 trident, the other holding a dolphin. Statue type. 
 
 21. Red jasper. 
 
 Venus Victrix, her mantle about her legs, leaning on a 
 low column against the base of which rests a shield. She 
 holds a helmet in one hand and a spear in the other. A 
 statue type very popular on gems and, probably, the same as 
 that worn on the signet of Julius Caesar. 
 
 22. Carnelian. 
 
 Mars Gradivus, advancing with spear in hand and a pole 
 bearing a trophy over his shoulder. 
 
 23. Convex brownish red sard. 
 
 Mars Ultor, in full panoply with military cloak over his 
 shoulders, one hand resting on his spear, the other on his 
 shield beside him. Statue type. Second century work. 
 
 24. Carnelian. 
 
 Mars Navalis, nude, his foot resting on the prow of a 
 ship. His shield is on his arm and he holds a dart in the 
 same hand; in the other is a winged Victory. The type dates 
 from the battle of Actium. 
 
 25. Carnelian (slightly chipped). 
 
 Minerva, fully draped, wearing a helmet, her shield be¬ 
 side her and one hand resting on her spear. The other 
 holds a patera over a flaming altar. Statue type. 
 
 26. Carnelian (slightly chipped). 
 
 Diana of Ephesos with close reticulated garment coming 
 below the knees. The hands reach out horizontally from her 
 sides toward the two conventional supports, and, below, the 
 foreparts of two stags issue from either side, their heads 
 
GRAECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 365 
 
 turned upward as if seeking protection. The break in the 
 stone obscures the form of the crown. Second century work. 
 
 27. Sardonyx, in the collection of Dr. Herschel Parker, New York. 
 
 Diana of the Aventine, closely draped to the feet, holding 
 wheat ears in one hand, the other raised. From below issue 
 the foreparts of cows. 
 
 PLATE XXIV 
 
 GmECO-RoMAN Gems of the Early Empire ( continued ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6790). 
 
 Cupid, with a stick, making two cocks fight. Nearby 
 stands an ithyphallic Herm with a palm-branch. Squarish 
 stone with cable border. This gem may be Hellenistic work. 
 Neither the subject nor the technique give much aid in plac¬ 
 ing it. 
 
 2. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6786). 
 
 Cupid, with a thyrsos, driving a chariot drawn by a goat 
 and a lion. May be Hellenistic work. 
 
 3. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6809). 
 
 Cupid mounted on a bear which seems to be falling over 
 backwards, as a dog attacks it. Representation of rocks 
 suggests a landscape. May be Hellenistic w T ork. 
 
 4. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6918). 
 
 Two nude boys carrying a third by his arms and feet. 
 Beneath them lies a ball. May be Hellenistic work. 
 
 5. Sard, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Bearded and wreathed head and upper body of Poseidon, 
 nude save for a scarf over one shoulder. Behind him is a 
 trident of peculiar shape in that it has two long prongs 
 branching out below the three. The engraving, especially of 
 the hair, shows the influence of the severe Greek style. 
 
 6. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6773). 
 
 Cupid, with his legs chained, leaning, mournful, on his 
 extinguished torch. A symbol of dead love. Inscription, 
 ILVS; the owmer’s name. 
 
 7. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6794). 
 
 Two Cupids boxing, their hands armed with the cestus. 
 One has been knocked down and hurt. May be Hellenistic 
 work. 
 
366 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 8. Carnelian (chipped), in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6778). 
 
 A weeping Cupid seated on rocks with his foot caught in 
 a trap. Before him is another Cupid with a palm-branch. 
 
 9. Red jasper. 
 
 Thanatos, with crossed legs, leaning on an extinguished 
 torch. 
 
 10. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6766). 
 
 Aphrodite, nude save for a scarf falling over one arm 
 and leg, leaning on a bearded Herm statue at whose base arms 
 are heaped. Beside and beneath her are the attributes of 
 Eros: bow, quiver, and torch. Probably taken from some 
 statue type of Alexander’s time. 
 
 11. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 3006). 
 
 Aphrodite Anadyomene standing in a representation of 
 her temple, with steps, two fluted columns, and a gable roof 
 with a crescent in the pediment. 
 
 12. Convex plasma, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2393). 
 
 Venus Victrix, a mantle about her legs, leaning on a low 
 column against which rests a shield and holding a dart and 
 a helmet. Before her is a Cupid holding up a mirror (?). 
 A similar gem in Vienna bears the name of the goddess in 
 both Greek and Latin. 
 
 13. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8392). 
 
 Apollo, with mantle about his legs and his lyre in his 
 hand, regarding Marsyas, who is hanging by his bound hands 
 on a tree. Before the god kneels Olympos, the satyr’s pupil, 
 begging for mercy. 
 
 14. Convex plasma. 
 
 Victory, winged and fully draped, with a palm-branch 
 over her shoulder and a wreath in her hand. 
 
 15. Nicolo. 
 
 Victory, winged, her mantle about her legs, one foot 
 raised on a rock and resting a shield on her knee. 
 
 16. Chalcedony, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6746). 
 
 A genius, bearded and nude save for a scarf over his 
 arm, holding a cornucopia and a patera. A rather overdone 
 imitation of the archaic style. 
 
 17. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 815). 
 
 A woman, in a long tunic, seated and asleep. Behind 
 her stands Hypnos, nude, bearded, and with large wings. 
 Cable border. This gem must be dated very early in the 
 Augustan period and may even belong to the group of the 
 
GR^CO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 367 
 
 combination epoch when the early Roman styles under Etrus¬ 
 can and Hellenistic influence were coming together. 
 
 18. Chalcedony, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6435). 
 
 Artemis, nude, surprised at the bath by Aktaion, whose 
 head, upon which the stag’s horns are sprouting, peers over 
 a rock upon which are her mantle, bow, and quiver. A water 
 urn stands at its base and a stag’s head hangs above. Char¬ 
 acteristic Hellenistic work and may fall with that period. 
 
 19. Slightly convex brownish-red sard. 
 
 iEsculapius, a cloak over one shoulder and about his hips. 
 Before him stands Hygeia, full draped. He holds his staff 
 with the serpent twining around it, and she, her serpent and 
 cup. 
 
 20. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6747). 
 
 Triptolemos, nude save for the cloak over his arm. In 
 one hand he holds wheat ears and a poppy; the other grasps 
 the handle of a plough. 
 
 21. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8185). 
 
 Bonus Eventus, nude, a wheat ear in one hand. The 
 other holds a patera over a flaming altar. 
 
 22. Brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6857). 
 
 Poseidon, nude and bearded, his trident in his hand, 
 bearing away over the water, in his four-horse chariot, a fully 
 draped maiden (Amymone?). In the water below sports a 
 bearded Triton. 
 
 PLATE XXV 
 
 Gr^co-Roman Gems of the Early Empire ( continued ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Dark brownish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6491). 
 
 Ajax, bearded and nude save for a mantle about his hips, 
 seated, with drawn sword, resting his head on his hand. 
 Around him are the heads of animals, an ox and a ram, 
 which he has torn to pieces in his madness. Probably from 
 the famous painting by Timomachos. 
 
 2. Carnelian (somewhat calcined). 
 
 A Cupid riding two hippocamps. 
 
 3. Carnelian of two shades, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 101). 
 
368 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Roma, fully draped, seated with spear and shield before a 
 tree at the foot of which the wolf suckles Romulus and Re¬ 
 mus. On the other side stands the shepherd, Faustulus, in 
 tunic and goat-skin cloak. Similar to the reverse of a de¬ 
 narius of the Gens Pompeia and, probably, the signet of some 
 member of that family. 
 
 4. Convex sardonyx of three layers, in Metropolitan Museum, New 
 
 York (King Coll., Catal. No. 214). 
 
 Nemesis, winged and fully draped, a branch of ash in her 
 hand and plucking the tunic from her breast with the bent 
 arm gesture peculiar to her. 
 
 5. Blackish sard, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7650). 
 
 Hypnos, nude, a winged cap on his head, an inverted 
 horn in one hand and two poppy-stalks in the other. Statue 
 type, taken, probably, from either Skopas or Myron. 
 
 6. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8199). 
 
 A winged female figure, nude save for a scarf over one 
 arm, with legs crossed, leaning on a sort of double-thyrsos 
 with a pine-cone at each end. At her feet is a goose or swan. 
 Dr. Furtwiingler, in whose Die Antiken Gemmen this gem ap¬ 
 pears (PI. XLIII, 52), discusses it at length and seems in¬ 
 clined to regard it as a copy of the famous Skopas statue of 
 Pothos. I cannot understand this attribution which, as its 
 base, holds the figure to be masculine, a wholly untenable as¬ 
 sumption. I have examined it very carefully and, while there 
 may be some ground for a bi-sexual diagnosis, the female ele¬ 
 ment is certainly preponderant. His conclusion that its ref¬ 
 erence is to the Dionysiac or Aphroditic cults is better sub¬ 
 stantiated by the thyrsos and goose (?), but, if we take the 
 figure as meant to be bi-sexual, a most interesting and much 
 more plausible attribution would name it an Orphic Eros Pro- 
 togonos. The thyrsos would then symbolize the Dionysiac 
 side of Orphism and a swan, the myth of Leda, which has a 
 distinctly Orphic flavor. 
 
 7. Amethyst, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6865). 
 
 Hercules, nude and beardless, his club in one hand, in 
 the other the manlike head of the bull, Acheloos. Statuesque 
 motive from pre-Lysippean times. 
 
 8. Carnelian, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 Ulysses, with pointed cap and cloak over one shoulder 
 and around his hips, leaning on his staff. 
 
 9. Sardonyx of two layers. 
 
GR2EC0-R0MAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 369 
 
 Fortuna, fully draped, with cornucopia and holding in 
 her hand a winged Victory with wreath and palm-branch. 
 Inscription, M ; the owner’s initial. 
 
 10. Convex plasma, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2443). 
 
 Spes, fully draped, drawing out her garment with one 
 hand and holding a flower in the other. Taken, undoubtedly, 
 from an archaic Roman statue. 
 
 11. Nicolo, in British Museum (Catal No. 1817). 
 
 A nude athlete holding a discus, with both hands raised 
 above his head. Statuesque motive, probably from some 
 work of Myron. 
 
 12. Convex plasma, in Berlin Museum (Catal No. 2488). 
 
 A nude athlete with spear over his shoulder. Type of 
 the Doryphoros of Polycleitos. 
 
 13. Convex plasma, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2491). 
 
 A nude athlete, crowned, a discus in one hand and a palm- 
 branch in the other, standing near a Herm statue. Perhaps 
 copied from a work of Eupompos. 
 
 14. Slightly convex banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 
 
 6882). 
 
 Achilleus, nude, seated, mournful, on a stool, his arm 
 resting on his shield which bears the device of a sea-horse. 
 His sword and helmet hang on a pillar near him. Probably 
 taken from some painting. 
 
 15. Nicolo, in collection of Mrs. Henry Draper, New York. 
 
 A centaur with a thyrsos over one shoulder and carry¬ 
 ing a large krater on the other. 
 
 16. Banded agate, owner unknown. 
 
 iEquitas, fully draped, with scales in one hand and cor¬ 
 nucopia in the other. 
 
 17. Carnelian. 
 
 Three nude heroes in helmets, one supporting a second 
 who also bears his shield and holds out one leg toward the 
 third, w T ho seems to be ministering to him. Undoubtedly Di- 
 omedes or Odysseus bringing Philoktetes to Machaon to be 
 cured of his wound. Typical picture of the Etruscan-Roman 
 period, such as was often copied in this epoch where the lack 
 of border and the closed form of the P seem to place it. 
 Inscription, P Q ; the owner’s initials. 
 
 18. Carnelian. 
 
 Draped female figure, probably Abundantia, with a cor¬ 
 nucopia, seated and holding a patera over a flaming altar. 
 
370 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Inscription, EAP, ligatured; the owner’s name abbreviated. 
 Probably second century work. 
 
 19. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8236). 
 
 Hercules wrestling with Antaios, both of them nude 
 and bearded. Probably taken from some statue or painting 
 of Alexander’s time. 
 
 20. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7606). 
 
 A nude hero, with helmet, shield, and spear, dragging 
 away by the hair a fully draped woman. Doubtless Ajax 
 and Kassandra. Probably second century work. 
 
 21. Slightly convex red jasper, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 227). 
 
 Personification of some city, fully draped and wearing 
 the mural crown, enthroned on the shoulders of a river- 
 god (King suggests Antioch on the shoulders of the River 
 Orontes). On one side stands Fortuna with rudder and a 
 modius on her head; on the other, not Victory, as King says, 
 but the city’s founder (if Antioch, Seleukos), wearing a 
 corselet and with his sword under his arm, is crowning her 
 with a wreath. Probably second century work. 
 
 22. Slightly convex amethyst, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 3411). 
 
 Decorated vase showing two handles above and one in 
 front. 
 
 23. Blackish sard with two white stripes, in Berlin Museum (Catal. 
 
 No. 7115). 
 
 Kantharos with two high handles decorated with masks 
 and with a two-horse chariot on the bowl. 
 
 PLATE XXVI 
 
 Gr;eco-Roman Gems of the Early Empire ( continued ) 
 (These are all ring-stones.) 
 
 1. Carnelian. 
 
 A war-galley containing two armed men. 
 
 2. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7096). 
 
 War-galley with cock’s head for prow and cock’s tail 
 at the stern. Above floats a butterfly. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 3. Carnelian. 
 
 A Triton with a rudder over his shoulder and holding a 
 dolphin in his hand. 
 
GRiECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 371 
 
 4. Carnelian. 
 
 A ram’s head with an ear of wheat in its mouth. In¬ 
 scription, HORESTI; the owner’s name. A talisman or 
 amulet. The cutting shows admirably what is known as the 
 meplat style, where the whole design is sunk in the stone. 
 
 5. Carnelian. 
 
 A human figure in tunic and cloak which hangs down 
 over one shoulder and having the head of an ass ( ?) but with 
 short round ears. He carries a palm-branch and a caduceus, 
 such as were borne by the jackal-headed Anubis in the Isiac 
 procession as described in Book XI of The Golden Ass of 
 Apuleius. In the field, also, is the systrum of Isis, but the 
 head of this figure, with its short, round ears and thick 
 muzzle, cannot be meant for that of a jackal or dog. The 
 ass, hippopotamus, and several other animals were sacred to 
 Set or Tvphon, and it may be that some worshipper of that 
 god strove to combine his influence with that of Anubis, in 
 the period of the popularity of Eastern and Egyptian cults in 
 Rome. The subject, joined with the excellent work, seems to 
 place the gem at the time of the Hadrianic revival of the art. 
 
 6. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7084). 
 
 A cock, sacred to Hermes, having a human head with the 
 god’s winged petasos and carrying his caduceus over its shoul¬ 
 der. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 7. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7083). 
 
 A cock with an ass’s head. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 8. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7090). 
 
 The owl of Athena having the helmeted head of the god¬ 
 dess instead of its own and carrying her spear over its shoul¬ 
 der. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 9. Nicolo, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., Catal. 
 
 No. 173). 
 
 Cupid, with a torch, peering into an urn out of which a 
 skeleton is falling and from which a palm-branch springs. 
 It symbolizes, apparently, the victory of love over death. 
 
 10. Bluish green transparent stone, in Metropolitan Museum, New 
 York (King Coll., Catal. No. 53). 
 
 A nude, bi sexual figure, in a half squatting attitude with 
 spread legs. On the ground is a snail upon which a butterfly 
 perches. Some Oriental cult, the identification of which is 
 uncertain, is symbolized by this picture. King calls it “ The 
 Mother of Creation.” 
 
372 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 11. Carnelian. 
 
 Pegasos. 
 
 12. Convex brownish sard, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 141). 
 
 A figure having the head of a goat and the body and tail 
 of a scorpion, bearing a legionary standard. According to 
 Manilius, “ The warlike scorpion follows Mars,” while, as 
 may be found in my text, a number of the legions bore 
 Capricorn for a sign, doubtless in honor of Augustus. The 
 gem may be placed as the signet of an officer of one of these, 
 who sought to invoke the astrological influence of both signs. 
 
 13. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7089). 
 
 A helmeted sphinx, her tail ending in a serpent’s head, 
 with one paw on a shield against which rests a spear. Be¬ 
 hind her is a bush. A talisman or amulet to invoke the aid 
 of Athena. 
 
 14. Light, translucent carnelian, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, 
 
 New York. 
 
 A peacock perching on a pitcher with a high handle. 
 
 15. Convex eye-agate. 
 
 Capricornus bearing a palm-branch. Beneath is a ball, 
 perhaps the celestial globe. An astrological talisman which 
 may be based on the verse of Manilius: 
 
 “ Thou, for thy rule, O Capricorn! hast won 
 All that extends beneath the setting sun.” 
 
 16. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7079). 
 
 A scorpion gripping a fly by the head. On either side an 
 ant, sacred to Ceres, is carrying a grain of wheat. Below are 
 two stars and, above, a half-moon. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 17. Convex amethyst (calcined). 
 
 Europe seated on the Zeus-bull. 
 
 18. Convex brown paste, in imitation of a sard. 
 
 Selene (or Lucina), draped, with a crescent on her head 
 and holding a torch, driving a two-horse chariot. 
 
 19. Convex plasma, in Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 
 
 A boar with its hind feet raised on a rock from around 
 which a dog assails it. The design shows the Hellenistic taste 
 for oblique, foreshortened views of animals, and the gem may 
 belong to that epoch. 
 
 20. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7120). 
 
 A signet ring circling a hare. On either side are wheat 
 ears above one of which floats a butterfly. Across the bezel 
 
 \ 
 
GRiECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 373 
 
 a Cupid drives a chariot to which two cocks are joked. Be¬ 
 neath is a bundle of rods (the fasces?). Inscription, 
 M VIRRI; the owner’s name. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 21. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7048). 
 
 A cow, under a tree, giving suck to her calf. The Hel¬ 
 lenistic taste for foreshortening is even more pronounced here 
 than in No. 19 above. 
 
 22. Convex amethyst. 
 
 A horse w r ith a wreath in its mouth and a palm-branch 
 at its feet. Some successful contestant in the circus, taken 
 as a signet by its owner or backer. 
 
 23. Carnelian (slightly chipped), in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, 
 
 New York. 
 
 A herd of seven deer. 
 
 24. Black jasper. 
 
 A sow. The color of the stone is appropriate to the 
 Chthonian character of the sow as a sacrificial animal. 
 
 25. Carnelian (slightly chipped), in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, 
 
 New York. 
 
 A running boar struck by an arrow and attacked by a 
 dog. The identical picture is found on the denarii of the gens, 
 Hosidia, and the gem was probably the signet of some mem¬ 
 ber of that family. 
 
 26. Convex amethyst. 
 
 A grasshopper on a stalk of wheat nibbling at the 
 grain. 
 
 27. Red jasper, in collection of Dr. Raley H. Bell, New York. 
 
 A crane carrying a cornu or nearly circular trumpet and 
 a spear. 
 
 28. Carnelian. 
 
 A kalathos with a lamb capering on it and holding a 
 wheat ear in its mouth. On one side is a cornucopia, on the 
 other, a dolphin. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 29. Glass paste in imitation of a carnelian, from Campania. 
 
 A dwarf or gnome, in a pointed cap and a cloak, mounted 
 on a goatfish, perhaps one of the Daktyloi. This gem may 
 date much earlier and be work of republican times under 
 Hellenistic influence. 
 
 30. Nicolo, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 A ram, sacred to Hermes as the protector of flocks, with 
 two wheat stalks before it and carrying in its mouth the 
 caduceus of the god. A talisman or amulet. 
 
374 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 PLATE XXVII 
 
 Graeco-Roman Gems of the Early Empire ( concluded ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones,) 
 
 1. Black jasper. 
 
 A thunderbolt. 
 
 2. Slightly convex yellow chalcedony, in collection of Prof. 
 
 Hersehel Parker, New York. 
 
 The forepart of a stag issuing from a shell. Inscription, 
 LPF, the owner’s initials. 
 
 3. Carnelian, with whitish variations, in collection of W. Gedney 
 
 Beatty, New York. 
 
 A peculiarly complicated gryllus; the body, a ram’s head 
 with a Seilenos mask for the breast, the head, that of a goat, 
 the legs, a bird’s, and the tail, which issues from the ram’s 
 mouth, made up of a wheat ear, a dolphin’s tail, a peacock’s 
 head, and two flowers. The cutting shows the meplat style, 
 where the whole design is sunk in the stone. A talisman or 
 amulet. 
 
 4. Red jasper, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New Y T ork. 
 
 Gryllus made up of a Seilenos mask and ram’s head 
 body, bird’s legs, a horse’s head, and a wheat ear for a tail. 
 It carries a cornucopia and a palm-branch. A talisman or 
 amulet. 
 
 5. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Gatal. No. 8348). 
 
 Forepart of an elephant carrying a torch in his trunk 
 and issuing from a shell. A talisman or amulet. 
 
 6. Red jasper, in collection of H. L. Pangborn, New York. 
 
 An eagle, with a wreath in its bill, between two legionary 
 standards. Evidently the signet of some legionary officer. 
 Certain scratches on the surface of the gem that look like 
 numerals and seem to have been made by a later hand may 
 have been an attempt by the owner to add the number of his 
 legion. Probably second century work. 
 
 7. Convex sardonyx. 
 
 A crab with a star between its claws. Inscription, 
 BPETTIQN (Brettion). The crab is an emblem on the 
 coins of Bruttium, and the gem is evidently a signet of some 
 one of the gens, Brettia, who, doubtless, drew their origin 
 from that part of Italy. (See A. Sanbon’s essay in Corolla 
 Numismatiea, published in honor of Barclay V. Head, citing 
 a gem inscribed, E N N A!LUN.) 
 
GRAECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 375 
 
 8. Mixed red and yellow jasper. 
 
 Scorpio holding Libra in its claws. Astrological device 
 aimed to gain for the wearer the influence of both signs. 
 
 9. Nicolo, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 A very crude figure, perhaps Cupid, perhaps a mouse, 
 driving a chariot to which a cock is hitched. Probably 
 second century work and may belong to the later 
 Empire. 
 
 10. Dark red carnelian. 
 
 A man and woman, fully draped, with clasped hands and 
 holding a stalk of wheat. A marriage ring-stone, emblematic 
 of the ceremony of the confarreatio. 
 
 Roman Gems of the Latter Half of the Second Century 
 
 (These, vyith the exception of the last on the plate, are all ring- 
 
 stones.) 
 
 11. Convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7572). 
 
 Hercules, unbearded and with crude suggestions of float¬ 
 ing drapery, carrying the Erymanthian Boar on his shoulder. 
 Before him is the jar in which Eurystheus hid himself in 
 fright. The work is characteristic of the second half of the 
 second century. 
 
 12. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7588). 
 
 Two pigmies, with spears and shields, in battle with two 
 cranes. Characteristic w T ork of second half of the second 
 century. 
 
 13. Carnelian (slightly calcined), from near Damascus. 
 
 A horse with a palm-branch in its mouth, symbolic of 
 victory. Inscription, ATP, probably an abbreviation of the 
 horse’s name, Arpvrcbvr} (The Unwearied), a title of Athena. 
 Mrpza'%ro?(Unconquered)/l4r/3f(>To? (Fearless), and ArpevS 
 are also possible names. 
 
 14. Heliotrope, in collection of Thos. E. H. Curtis, Plainfield, N. J. 
 
 Helios, with crown of rays, driving his four-horse chariot. 
 Characteristic work of latter part of the second century. The 
 subject is common and the stone also characteristic. 
 
 15. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7575). 
 
 Bellerophon, mounted on Pegasos, hovering over the 
 Chimaira, at which he aims his spear. This gem is much 
 better work than the four preceding and may date from the 
 early part of the second or, even, from the first century. The 
 
376 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 subject was probably the device on the signet of Pallas, the 
 freedman of Claudius. (See Chap. Ill of Part III, above.) 
 
 16. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7675). 
 
 A muse, with drapery around her hips and legs, seated in 
 a chair before an ithyphallic Priapos who stands on a low 
 column, and holds a horned mask in his hand. Character¬ 
 istic work of latter part of the second century. 
 
 17. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 6855). 
 
 Hercules, bearded, with floating lion’s skin and club over 
 his shoulder, leading Cerberus. Before him is a warrior in 
 corselet, with sword and spear and wearing a crown, doubt¬ 
 less one of the later emperors, dragging by the hair a bar¬ 
 barian captive with a Phrygian cap. In the middle is an 
 eagle with a wreath in its beak and, above, a star and a half¬ 
 moon. Characteristic subject and style of the later Empire. 
 
 18. Convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 3033). 
 
 Eros binding the wounded foot of a lion. Behind the lat¬ 
 ter is a tree. Crude work but possibly even as early as the 
 first century A. D. 
 
 19. Nicolo, in Bibliothbque Nationale, Paris (Coll. Chabouillet, No. 
 
 2096). Too large for a ring-stone. 
 
 One of the later emperors (Commodus or, perhaps, Mar¬ 
 cus Aurelius), wearing a tunic and mounted on a horse with 
 a panther-skin saddle-cloth, is casting his javelin at a tiger. 
 The work is good for the period; such as might be looked for 
 on a large, ornamental piece worn by some immediate attend¬ 
 ant of the Emperor. 
 
 PLATE XXVIII 
 
 Gems of the Later Empire (contiwued) 
 
 (These are ring-stones except when otherwise stated.) 
 
 1. Carnelian (upper part restored in gold), in Berlin Museum 
 
 (Catal. No. 2340). 
 
 Portrait-head. Work of the second century. 
 
 2. Chalcedony, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 2342). 
 
 Portrait-busts of a man and woman. Work of the third 
 century. 
 
 3. Nicolo, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7011). 
 
 Bust-portrait of Elagabalus crowned with a laurel 
 wreath. 
 
GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 377 
 
 4. Banded sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 7012). 
 
 Bust-portrait of an emperor of the third century, crowned 
 with a laurel wreath; probably Balbinus. 
 
 5. Carnelian, rather large for a ring-stone; unknown owner. 
 
 Portrait-bust of Philippus the elder, his wife, Otacilia, 
 and their son, the younger Philippus. Third century work. 
 
 6. Lapis lazuli; unknown owner. 
 
 Bust-portrait of one of the later emperors; perhaps Con- 
 stantius II, Gratianus, or Honorius. Typical example of the 
 last efforts of the glyptic art in the fourth century. 
 
 7. Carnelian, rather large for a ring-stone; unknown owner. 
 
 Bust-portrait of Decius. Third century work. 
 
 8. Lapis lazuli; unknown owner. 
 
 Portrait-head of one of the later emperors crowned with 
 a laurel wreath. An example of the expiring efforts of 
 glyptic art. 
 
 9. Beryl, formerly among the Marlborough gems. 
 
 Bust-portrait of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. 
 Work of about 200 A. D. 
 
 10. “Onyx” (probably chalcedony), rather large for a ring-stone; 
 
 presented in 1825 by the Emperor Francis I to Pope Leo XII. 
 
 Portrait-busts of a Christian family of the latter part of 
 the third century, father, mother, and daughter. Inscription, 
 1C OEOC {eh Seo?), ZOH [ 8 , 001 )), and EVTVXI nANXAPI META 
 THE KVPIAC BACIAICEHC KAI HAYAIN AC {Evtv X i ndv X api 
 peToc rr}S HvpiaS BaffiXiaffp? uai Tlavkiva ?: at once a family 
 portrait gallery, a confession of faith, and a talismanic invo¬ 
 cation of good luck. 
 
 11. Carnelian (chipped). 
 
 Portrait-bust of a youth crowned with a laurel wreath 
 and with an indistinguishable object over his shoulder. Third 
 century work. 
 
 12. Carnelian, with whitish striations, from Cattaro. 
 
 Portrait-bust of a woman. Third century work. 
 
 13. Yellowish carnelian. 
 
 Two masks, back to back. Probably the Janus head. 
 Second or third century work. 
 
 14. Carnelian. 
 
 A dog running. Inscription, ATTICA (Attisa) ; doubt¬ 
 less the animal’s name. Probably second century work. 
 
 15. Carnelian. 
 
 An eagle on an altar from which a stalk of wheat rises. 
 
378 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 16. Carnelian. 
 
 Clasped hands holding a eaduceus and two stalks of 
 wheat. Inscription, KF; the initials of the two parties to 
 the confarreatio. 
 
 17. Brownish-red sard. 
 
 Bacchus, beardless and nude, one hand resting on his 
 thyrsus, the other holding a pitcher. Inscription, TPO<MMI- 
 UUNO, the owner’s name in the genitive with the final sigma 
 left out for lack of space. 
 
 18. Carnelian (slightly calcined). 
 
 Athena, one hand resting on her shield beside which 
 stands her spear, the other bearing a winged Victory. 
 
 19. Carnelian. 
 
 Diana, in short tunic and floating scarf, advancing, hav¬ 
 ing just loosed the arrow from her bow. Over her shoulder is 
 what may be meant for a spear, and at her feet runs a hound. 
 The whole is an example of the crudest kind of late work,— 
 merely a few gougings with the wheel. 
 
 20. Yellow carnelian. 
 
 Roma or some “ City,” draped and with helmet and spear, 
 writing on a shield which rests on a low column. 
 
 21. Brownish-red sard, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New 
 
 York. 
 
 Three deities in a row; in the middle, the Olympian 
 Jupiter enthroned, with garment about his legs, his eagle at 
 his feet, one hand holding a winged Victory, the other resting 
 on his sceptre. Before him stands an unidentified female 
 deity, draped and holding a patera over an altar; behind is 
 Spes holding out her tunic with one hand, the other raised 
 and holding a bud. Crude work of the late second or third 
 century. 
 
 PLATE XXIX 
 
 Gems of the Later Empire ( concluded ) 
 
 (These are all ring-stones except when otherwise stated.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, in the collection of Prof. Herschel Parker, New 
 
 York. 
 
 Castor and Pollux, each resting on his spear, and nude 
 save for a mantle thrown over his arm. A crude representa¬ 
 tion of a star is on the forehead of each. Late work of the 
 cheapest character, probably of astronomical purport. 
 
 2. Carnelian. 
 
GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 379 
 
 A peasant, with a sheep’s or goat’s skin cloak, reaping 
 grain. Very crude, late work. 
 
 3. Carnelian. 
 
 A dog pursuing a rabbit. A few crude gougings of the 
 wheel. 
 
 4. Banded agate (calcined). 
 
 A goat-fish (Capricornus) with a cornucopia over its 
 back and a dolphin beneath. Astronomical and luck-bringing 
 symbols. Probably late second century work but possibly 
 dating from Augustan times. 
 
 5. Carnelian. 
 
 A hand holding symbols; the caduceus of Mercury, the 
 wreath of Victory, the cornucopia of Fortuna, an augur’s 
 lituus, and what seems to be a flower. Crude work but an 
 excellent example of the desire to combine the luck-bringing 
 attributes of many deities. 
 
 6. Carnelian. 
 
 Early Christian. The Good Shepherd with a lamb in his 
 arms and two standing at his feet. At the left is a crudely 
 designed object which I am unable to identify. Inscription, 
 XP, the abbreviation of Christos. 
 
 7. Carnelian (chipped). 
 
 Victory, winged, offering a wreath to Fortuna, who car¬ 
 ries her cornucopia and rudder. Very crude late work. 
 
 8. Carnelian. 
 
 Cupid hanging a sword on a trophy. May be poorer work 
 of earlier imperial times. 
 
 9. Red jasper. 
 
 Cupid singeing a butterfly (Psyche) with his torch. May 
 be poorer work of earlier imperial times. 
 
 10. Green jasper, in collection of H. L. Pangborn, New York. 
 
 Capricornus with a cornucopia on its back and Scorpio. 
 Astronomical signet combining the two signs. 
 
 11. Dark green jasper. 
 
 A lion (for the sign Leo) with a star above him and a 
 crescent beneath. On the back of this gem is a palm-branch 
 and the letters, I ALU (Iao), the ineffable name of the Jews, 
 an epithet of the supreme god of the Gnostics. The owner 
 was, doubtless, a member of one of their sects. He seems 
 to have been disposed to consider astronomical influences and, 
 perhaps, not averse to what aid he might obtain through the 
 lion of Mithras. 
 
380 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 12. Carnelian, in the Museum of Gotha. 
 
 Early Christian. The sacrifice of Isaac, who kneels be¬ 
 fore an altar beside which stands Abraham, unbearded, hold¬ 
 ing the victim by the head and raising the sacrificial knife. 
 Behind him a descending angel stays the blow. Beneath him 
 a ram stands under a tree. Above, and reversed so as to be 
 viewed on turning the stone about, are the attendants of the 
 patriarch, one of whom holds a saddled horse by the rein. 
 
 13. Heliotrope, in collection of Thos. E. H. Curtis, Plainfield, N. J. 
 
 Mithraic. A lion, emblematic of the Sun, pulling down a 
 bull, emblematic of the Earth, the whole signifying the 
 power of Mithras. Inscription, NIKH (victory). 
 
 14. Deep red carnelian (chipped), in collection of W. Gedney 
 
 Beatty, New York. 
 
 Mithraic. A lion carrying in its jaws a bull’s head, 
 with the same significance as No. 13 above. 
 
 15. Carnelian (chipped). 
 
 An Egyptian asp crowned with a lotos flower. Inscrip¬ 
 tion, El C Z — C CAPAfUC (Eh ZevS 2apa7iis), with the 
 last two letters below and reversed. A signet attributable to 
 one of the Egyptian Gnostic sects. 
 
 16. Yellow jasper (chipped). 
 
 Hekate, a triple figure, each of the three heads crowned 
 with a modius. Four of the six hands seem to hold torches, 
 the other two, swords (?). Inscription, I ALU, and, around 
 the beveled edge of the stone, —BP AC AX CABAU) AIAUJ 
 The first part of the latter is clear, viz.: Abrasax, the Gnostic 
 Pantheos, and Sabao, for Sabaoth, another title of the same 
 divinity. The balance of the letters are of doubtful import. 
 The device itself is a strange one for a Gnostic gem. On the 
 back (not figured) is a worshipper kneeling before an altar 
 upon which rises a serpent. This, it has been suggested, is 
 modern, but I am inclined to believe it also genuine ancient 
 work. 
 
 17. Blackish jasper, in collection of Prof. Herschel Parker, New 
 
 York. 
 
 Bust of Helios crowned with rays. On one side stands 
 a winged Victory offering a wreath, on the other, Fortuna 
 with cornucopia and rudder. Inscription, EYTYXHC POY— 
 OC (?), evidently an invocation of good fortune to some one, 
 but the letters are too badly worn to make a rendering of 
 the name possible. 
 
GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
 381 
 
 18. Green jasper. 
 
 Cupid bound to a column which is surmounted by a 
 griffin, sacred to the Sun-god, with its paw on a wheel. In¬ 
 scription, AIKAIWC (Sinai &??). In the Mithraic Broth¬ 
 erhood the symbol of a captive bound to a column sur¬ 
 mounted by a griffin, was one of the signs given “ To him 
 that overcometh ” and signified that the neophyte had passed 
 through the trials preceding initiation. The inscription, 
 “ Justly ” or “ I have deserved it,” often accompanies the de¬ 
 vice. In the present case the substitution of a Cupid is inter¬ 
 esting and suggests the signet of some love-lorn member of 
 the cult with a sense of humor. 
 
 19. Brownish agate sprinkled with red, perhaps the coralloachates 
 
 (coraline agate) or the pontica (Pontic gem) of Pliny. 
 
 Nude female figure holding two torches, one raised and 
 one lowered, symbolizing the rising and setting of some 
 Heavenly body, usually the Sun. In the Mithraic cult 
 the female element of Mithras was Mitra, a development of 
 the Phoenician Mylitta. She was the “ Morning Star,” a 
 genius presiding over love and directing the harmonious 
 movement of the other planets. It seems plausible that this 
 gem embodies that idea. Very crude late work. 
 
 20. Green and brown-red jasper. 
 
 (a) The Abraxas god with human body in a corselet, a 
 cock’s head, and serpent’s legs, a shield on one arm, and a 
 dart in the other hand. Inscription, IAUJ, the ineffable 
 name of the Jews. Other seeming characters appear scat¬ 
 tered in the field. 
 
 (b) The child, Horus, the Harpokrates of the Greeks, 
 seated on a lotos flower, a scourge in one hand and the other 
 raised with finger at his lips. On his head are what may be 
 meant for the two upright plumes worn by many of the 
 Egyptian deities. 
 
 21. Red jasper, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., 
 
 Catal. No. 158). 
 
 A Gorgon’s head, in full face, with wings and surrounded 
 by serpents. Inscription, A PH TUU PUJPOMANAAPH (I defend 
 Roromandares). A good example of the later talisman or 
 amulet. 
 
 22. Convex plasma or green chalcedony. 
 
 The Agathodaimon; a serpent with a lion’s head (it looks 
 somewhat like a man’s) crowned with ten rays. Before it are 
 
382 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 the three S curves transfixed by a bar, probably a Gnostic 
 conventionalization of the serpent-twined staff of ASsculapius. 
 Inscription, A El DC (awe or reverence). On the back of 
 the stone (not figured) is the inscription, XNOVMIC (the 
 name of the Agathodaimon). 
 
 23. Yellow jasper. 
 
 The Mithraic lion. Inscription, ATT l<t>, in two lines, 
 perhaps part of a name, perhaps of some charm. 
 
 24. Green jasper. 
 
 A Gnostic “ Power ” or astral genius, with four wings 
 and a tail, bearing sceptres and, on its head, the sacramental 
 table. It also seems to be phallic but the crudeness of the 
 work leaves this doubtful. Around the back are letters or 
 numerals of uncertain meaning. 
 
 25. Green jasper with two or three reddish spots. 
 
 A beetle, symbolizing eternity, encircled by a serpent with 
 his tail in his mouth, symbolizing the Sun. On the back is 
 inscribed I AW (Iao), the ineffable name. 
 
 26. Green jasper with reddish brown shadings, in collection of W. 
 
 Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 Horus (Harpokrates), with scourge and finger at lips, 
 seated on a lotos flower. For a border, the Sun-serpent with 
 its tail in its mouth. Inscription, IAUU and, apparently, 
 the seven vowels. On the back is, also, a long inscription 
 but so battered as to be undecipherable. 
 
 27. Brownish red sard. 
 
 The Agathodaimon, or lion-headed serpent, with a crown 
 of twelve rays. Inscription, a circle of letters, some of them 
 vaguely cut and the whole untranslatable. 
 
 28. Green jasper, in collection of Prof. Herschel Parker, New 
 
 York. 
 
 (a) A lion bearing on its back a swathed mummy above 
 which rises the upper part of the jackal-headed Anubis, con¬ 
 ductor of the dead. On either side stand draped deities with 
 plume head-dresses and hands raised as if in adoration. Here 
 we have the dead Gnostic borne to his reward by the Mithraic 
 lion under the conduct of Anubis. 
 
 (b) Inscription, BIBIOYC (uncertain meaning), the 
 seven vowels, and I ALU, the ineffable name. 
 
MEDIAEVAL AND BYZANTINE GEMS 
 
 383 
 
 PLATE XXX 
 
 Sassanian, Byzantine, Medieval, and Renaissance Gems 
 (These are ring-stones except when otherwise stated.) 
 
 Sassanian Gems 
 
 1. Carnelian, from Armenia. 
 
 A deer cropping herbage and giving suck to a fawn. In¬ 
 scription in Syriac, for the translation of which I am in¬ 
 debted to Professor A. Y. W. Jackson of Columbia Uni¬ 
 versity. It is descriptive and reads, Pliata b e -rabuwa 
 (young one at nursing). The gem seems to be contemporary 
 with the early Sassanian stones. 
 
 2. Lapis lazuli (chipped), in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New 
 
 York. 
 
 A Sassanian king, in a long tunic and with the typical 
 triangular arrangement of his braided hair rudely suggested, 
 holding a sword with which he menaces a lion standing on 
 its hind legs before him. Beneath the lion are what seem 
 to be two Pehlevi letters. 
 
 3. Slightly convex carnelian. 
 
 A woman seated, fully clothed and with hair in two 
 long braids, holding in her lap a child, closely swaddled. 
 Probably some queen with an infant prince. In¬ 
 scription in Pehlevi letters which has, thus far, proved 
 untranslatable. 
 
 4. Convex carnelian, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 A lion’s head with stag’s antlers. 
 
 5. Strongly convex garnet, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, 
 
 New York. 
 
 Representation of what may be meant for a standard, a 
 monogram or, possibly, a fire-altar. A very common type of 
 Sassanian seal which has never been satisfactorily explained. 
 
 6. Strongly convex garnet, from Cyprus, in Metropolitan Museum, 
 
 New York (Cesnola Coll., No. 241). 
 
 Portrait-bust of a bearded Sassanian king wearing an 
 ornamented tiara and with the back hair in six braids spread 
 out in triangular form. Inscription, in fine Pehlevi letters, 
 read by Professor Jackson of Columbia University, SartTk; 
 apparently the name of the owner, a Persian official who 
 used the king’s portrait as his seal. 
 
384 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 7. Somewhat cloudy chalcedony, cut down through the boring from 
 
 a hemisphere or cone, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 6). 
 
 Bust-portrait of a bearded Sassanian king in full front, 
 wearing a tiara set around with gems, a necklace and a gar¬ 
 ment elaborately ornamented with stars. The hair bunches 
 out at both sides, suggesting two triangular arrangements of 
 braids. Inscription, in fine Pehlevi letters, part of which 
 has been translated by Professor Jackson, Shah-i Airan 
 (King of Persia). The name has, thus far, proved a puzzle, 
 but Dr. King catalogues the portrait, on the strength of coin 
 resemblances, as that of Chosroes II; “ Nushirwan the Just.” 
 
 Medieval and Byzantine Gems 
 
 8. Yellowish chalcedony, in Metropolitan Museum, New York 
 
 (King Coll., Catal. No. 64). 
 
 An old man, bearded, wearing a long robe, a cloak, and 
 a sort of turban, and leaning on a staff before a nude boy 
 seated on a rock (?) with his arm raised as if declaiming. 
 Above the boy’s head is a cloud, perhaps the shec-hinah of 
 Divinity. The picture is explained by Dr. King as Christ dis¬ 
 puting before the doctors. The style suggests the cameo; 
 “ Noah under his vine,” in the Bibliothbque Nationale, Paris, 
 which was held by Chabouillet to be early mediaeval work. 
 Also it is not unlike the religious Byzantine coinage of John 
 Zimisees. 
 
 9. Sapphire, formerly in the Waterton Collection and now, I be¬ 
 
 lieve, in the British Museum. 
 
 Head of the Madonna, wearing a veil thrown back. 
 Probably late Mediaeval work dating shortly before the be¬ 
 ginning of the Renaissance. The stone, set in a large ring, 
 was found at Hereford, England, and, from the motto cut in 
 Lombard letters around the bezel, “ Tecta lege lecta tege,” 
 it was held to have belonged to Matthew Paris; a quite un¬ 
 warrantable assumption. It seems surely of later date than 
 the thirteenth century and the motto was a not uncommon 
 one on mediieval seals. 
 
 10. Rock crystal (chipped), from Sicily, in collection of H. L. Pang- 
 born, New York. 
 
 Christ with hand raised in blessing over a small figure 
 before him who bends his or her knees slightly. Behind him 
 
RENAISSANCE GEMS 
 
 385 
 
 part of another small figure shows and, above it, in the field, a 
 cross potence. Before the last figure is what appears to be 
 a letter, The work is very crude. I venture, as a guess, 
 that it is Norman Sicilian under Byzantine influence. It is 
 more than doubtful if this or the following gem was used as 
 a ring-stone. 
 
 11. Rock crystal (chipped), from Sicily, in collection of H. L. Pang- 
 
 born, New York. 
 
 The Madonna seated with the infant, Jesus, on her lap. 
 Before her stands St. Joseph, bearded. Around the head of 
 each is a halo and above them a cross potence. Probably 
 Norman Sicilian work under Byzantine influence. 
 
 12. Red jasper, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., 
 
 Catal. No. 221). 
 
 Hercules strangling the Nemean Lion. On the back of 
 the stone is the inscription AAA hhh, the subject 
 being the charm prescribed by Alexander of Tralles as a 
 protection against colic. The gem is probably Mediaeval 
 work. 
 
 Renaissance Gems 
 
 13. Carnelian, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., 
 
 Catal. No. 218). 
 
 Omphale walking, nude, save for the lion-skin of Hercules 
 thrown about her, and bearing his club over her shoulder. 
 Inscription, 6AAHN, which Dr. King suggests may be, if 
 genuine, a signature of Alexander Cesati, known as “ II 
 Greco.” M. Babelon endorses similar signatures as of that 
 artist. The work is characteristic of the Renaissance or later 
 treatment of classical subjects. 
 
 14. Unknown stone, too large for a ring. Owner unknown. 
 
 A hero, in tunic and cloak, wearing a helmet with a crest 
 and plume. He is ploughing with tw’o oxen with garlands 
 about their necks, and gazing, with raised arm, toward twelve 
 birds flying above them. A Renaissance picture of Romulus 
 seeing the twelve vultures and also marking out with a fur¬ 
 row the bounds of the city he is to build. Inscription, 
 M . ARVNTINI . TAV, perhaps the signature of some member of 
 the Taverna family of Milan, though seemingly of neither 
 Tortorino nor Giuliano. 
 
 15. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8867). 
 
386 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 Athena, in a helmet and a long tunic slit up the thigh in 
 the Renaissance style, standing before a low column, one 
 hand resting on her shield, the other holding a nude, winged 
 Nike who is offering her a wreath. The whole would be 
 quite impossible in ancient work. 
 
 16. Slightly convex carnelian, too large for a ring-stone, in Biblio- 
 
 thbque Nationale, Paris (Coll. Chabouillet, No. 2404). 
 
 A number of Roman soldiers, armed in both Greek and 
 Roman style and bearing three standards, bringing Jugurtha 
 as a prisoner before Sulla, who, dressed in his toga, is seated 
 in a curule chair set on a square platform. Behind him 
 stands another officer with one hand on his shoulder. Beyond 
 the group is a colonnade. A characteristic Renaissance com¬ 
 position. 
 
 17. Carnelian, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., 
 
 Catal. No. 109). 
 
 Head of Medousa, three-quarter face, with wings and 
 serpent locks clustering beneath the chin. Characteristic 
 work of the Renaissance. 
 
 18. Carnelian, veined with crimson, popularly known as a blood- 
 
 agate, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King Coll., Catal. 
 No. 225). 
 
 Hercules, with lion-skin over his head and fluttering about 
 him, his club thrown behind, and one foot resting on a half 
 nude female figure with wild hair personifying Mother Earth, 
 strangles above her in his arms, her son, the giant, Antaeus. 
 The design is full of the violent action characteristic of non- 
 classical work. 
 
 19. Slightly convex yellowish carnelian, in Metropolitan Museum, 
 
 New York (King Coll., Catal. No. 172). 
 
 A woman, fully draped, embracing a man with mantle 
 over one shoulder and falling about his hips and thighs. Dr. 
 King thinks the picture is of the parting of Coriolanus and 
 Volumnia. Characteristic Renaissance treatment. 
 
 20. Black jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8874). 
 
 Sisyphus, nude and bearded, rolling his great rock up 
 the hillside. Dr. King figures this gem (PI. XLI, 11, of his 
 Antique Gems and Rings) and describes it as of Roman 
 date, but everything about it bespeaks the Renaissance. 
 
RENAISSANCE GEMS 
 
 387 
 
 PLATE XXXI 
 
 Renaissance Gems ( concluded ) 
 
 (These are ring-stones with the exception of the large plaque, No. 12.) 
 
 1. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8838). 
 
 The judgment of Paris, who, seated under a tree, with 
 cloak about his hips and shepherd’s crook, gives the apple to 
 Aphrodite, whose garment falls over one arm and about her 
 hips. Eros stands before her, and, beside, Hera, nude, reaches 
 out in vain for the prize. Her peacock, with spread tail, 
 stands near, and, behind them, Athena, her helmet, spear, 
 and shield on the ground, is casting aside her garment. 
 
 2. Carnelian, in BibliothGpie Nationale, Paris (Coll. Chabouillet, 
 
 No. 2337). 
 
 A Bacchic feast with many minute figures of satyrs and 
 nymphs. Above them two flying Cupids hold a canopy. In 
 the exergue is a man fishing; supposed to be the rebus sig¬ 
 nature of Piero Maria da Pescia, the intimate friend of 
 Michael Angelo, whose signet this ring is thought to have 
 been. 
 
 3. Agate of two shades, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King 
 
 Coll., Catal. No. 85). 
 
 A male and female Tritdn swimming together, the former 
 with a steering oar over his shoulder. The figures are cut 
 in the dark part of the stone, the water in the more trans¬ 
 parent light shade. Dr. King describes it as “ A cinque cento 
 copy of a well-known gem in Florence.” If it be a direct 
 copy, the Florentine gem must be also cinque cento, as 
 no ancient artist would have treated the subject in this 
 way. 
 
 4. Convex pale brownish chalcedony, in Bibliothbque Nationale, 
 
 Paris (Coll. Chabouillet, No. 2319). 
 
 A female head, with laurel crown and necklace. Furt- 
 wangler considers it to be Hellenistic; the portrait of a 
 Ptolemaic queen, probably Arsinoe III, but the authorities 
 at Paris hold it a Renaissance work, a judgment which the 
 character and treatment of the head lead me to concur in 
 most emphatically. 
 
 5. Carnelian, in Boston Museum (No. 99.118). 
 
 A beardless youth seated on a stone decorated with a 
 ram’s head, and a bearded man with wild hair standing before 
 him. Both are playing on the single pipe. Between them 
 
388 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 runs a Cupid and above, in the background, is a Herm statue 
 of Pan. All the figures are nude. 
 
 6. Convex amethyst, in Bibliothbque Nationale, Paris (Coll. Cha- 
 
 bouillet, No. 2077). 
 
 Portrait-bust of a beardless, bald-headed Roman, the toga 
 showing about his shoulders. It has been called a portrait 
 of Cicero. Inscription, AIOCKOYPIAOY. Both head and 
 signature are Renaissance work, probably of the seventeenth 
 century; a copy, Furtwiingler thinks, though I can hardly 
 believe a very accurate one, of a genuine ancient gem. 
 
 7. Heliotrope, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8844). 
 
 Apollo, with cloak about his neck and around his legs, 
 seated with his lyre on a low, garlanded column. Before, 
 leaning on a staff, stands a fully draped woman, doubtless a 
 Renaissance conception of a Muse. 
 
 8. Convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8937). 
 
 Head of an emperor, perhaps Augustus in his later years, 
 wearing a laurel crown with fillets. 
 
 9. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8837). 
 
 Hephaestus snaring in his net Ares and Aphrodite, who 
 lie in each other’s arms. Cupid lies asleep before them. 
 
 10. Brownish yellow jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8835). 
 
 Silenus, nude and drunken, carrying a lyre and riding on 
 an ass in the midst of a procession of Bacchanals. 
 
 11. Light convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8836). 
 
 Four women making offerings of a ram, fruit, and incense 
 at an altar. One of them is blowing a long horn and, behind 
 her, a child is playing on the double pipes. A tree curves 
 over the group. 
 
 12. Large plaque. Unknown stone and owner. 
 
 Five riders on prancing horses, attacking with long 
 truncheons a lion and lioness which three dogs pursue. In¬ 
 scription, VALERIVS . VICENTINVS . F. . This is not the cus¬ 
 tomary signature of Valerio dei Belli (il Vicentino), but 
 the large size of the gem may have rendered his usual ab¬ 
 breviation unnecessary. 
 
 13. Convex sardonyx, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8866). 
 
 Fully draped woman carrying a jar. 
 
 14. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 8841). 
 
 A bearded man, with mantle falling from his neck, try¬ 
 ing to draw toward him a woman, nude save for a floating 
 scarf. 
 
MODERN GEMS 
 
 389 
 
 PLATE XXXII 
 
 Modern Gems 
 
 1. Green jasper, property of H. G. Dwight. 
 
 Modern Turkish signet. Name of the owner, Omar ben 
 Kassim, with decorative flower motive. On the back is the 
 name of a former owner which has been partly erased. 
 
 2. Carnelian, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 Mask. Beneath it are a thyrsos decorated with fillets 
 and a torch crossed. Before, is what appears to be an imita¬ 
 tion of old Roman ligatured letters. Work of Mariano Mac- 
 ceroni. 
 
 3. Lapis lazuli, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 Hercules contending with the Nemean Lion. Work of 
 Mariano Macceroni. 
 
 4. Brownish chalcedony, formerly in the possession of the late 
 
 Prof. George N. Olcott, New York. 
 
 Jupiter, nude, with sceptre and thunderbolt, standing be¬ 
 fore an altar upon which perches an eagle. Work, probably, 
 of one of the Lanzis. 
 
 5. Carnelian, formerly in the possession of the late Prof. Geo. N. 
 
 Olcott, New York. 
 
 Victory, winged and draped, laying a palm-branch on 
 an altar upon which is also an ear of wheat. Work, prob¬ 
 ably, of one of the Lanzis. 
 
 6. Convex stone which seems to be artificially colored. 
 
 Cupid running and playing on the double pipes. 
 
 7. Carnelian, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, New York. 
 
 Crudely cut head with a palm-branch before it. Typical 
 cheap forgery. 
 
 8. Bloodstone, in collection of Prof. Herschel Parker, New 
 
 Y’ork. 
 
 Ajax, nude and beardless, with helmet and shield, seizing 
 Kassandra, who, fully draped, is seated on the pedestal of the 
 Palladium which she embraces. Above is a star. Cable 
 border. A modern Asia Minor forgery. 
 
 9. Convex moonstone, owned by the subject of the portrait. 
 
 Modern portrait-head, work of Ottavio Negri. 
 
 10. Brownish chalcedony. 
 
 Orthryades, nude, with helmet and shield, seated and 
 writing on one of three shields that are before him. Modern 
 
390 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES 
 
 imitation of the well known ancient subject. (See PI. 
 XVII, 5.) 
 
 11. Slightly convex topaz, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 9395). 
 
 Head of horned satyr crowned with a vine bearing grapes. 
 Work of Luigi Pic-hler, signed, €AAH NOY, and probably in¬ 
 tended as a forgery of the work of Alexander Cesati (II 
 Greco). 
 
 12. Red jasper, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 9334). 
 
 Kneeling warrior in full panoply, with sword. Modern 
 imitation of the well known early Roman subject. (See PI. 
 XVII, 8.) 
 
 13. Stone and owner unknown. 
 
 Venus seated on a rock, with a mantle about her legs, 
 and fishing for Cupids. She is drawing one up with her line 
 and another, already caught, is in a basket behind her. In¬ 
 scription, <f>P. IIPAHTOZ; the signature of Francesco 
 Sirletti. 
 
 14. Convex variegated carnelian, in collection of W. Gedney Beatty, 
 
 New York. 
 
 A youth, wearing a petasos and with a cloak hanging 
 from his shoulders, carrying a spear and holding a horse by 
 the bridle. Said to be the work of Antonio Lanzi. 
 
 15. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 9235). 
 
 Female bust with hair elaborately dressed. Inscription, 
 fllAIOC ; an attempted forgery of an ancient artist’s sig¬ 
 nature. 
 
 16. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 9393). 
 
 Venus, nude, standing on a shell drawn by a team of 
 dolphins which she is driving. Inscription, DIXAGP; the 
 signature of Johann Pichler. 
 
 17. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 9401). 
 
 Bust of Euripides, with the signature of Marchant. 
 
 18. Convex aqua marine, in Metropolitan Museum, New York (King 
 
 Coll., Catal. No. 100). 
 
 Head of Athena in an Attic helmet decorated with a sea- 
 dragon. Inscription, P€TA; the signature of Rega. 
 
 19. Carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 9233). 
 
 Head of a Roman matron with elaborately dressed hair 
 and jeweled hair-band. Inscription, AYAOY; a forgery of 
 the signature of Aulus. Work of Calandrelli. 
 
 20. Stone and owner unknown. 
 
 Venus, nude and holding out a mantle over a Cupid rid- 
 
MODERN GEMS 
 
 391 
 
 ing on a dolphin. Inscription, KAAEI; the signature of 
 Cades. 
 
 21. Chalcedony, now or late in the possession of the New York Char¬ 
 
 ities Organization Society. 
 
 Kapaneus, with helmet, shoes, shield, sword, and floating 
 mantle, falling before the wall of Thebes. The thunder¬ 
 bolt which has slain him lies at his feet. Inscription, 
 nVPrOTEAHI; (Pyrgoteles). A typical example of the 
 Poniatowski forgeries. 
 
 22. Slightly convex carnelian, in Berlin Museum (Catal. No. 9396). 
 
 Eros, nude, and Psyche, with butterfly wings and a 
 mantle about her hips, embracing each other. Inscription, 
 A TTIXAGP; the signature of Luigi Pichler. 
 
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ATTRIBUTES, ASPECTS, AND 
 SACRED OR SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS, TREES 
 AND FLOWERS 
 
 Many of these below noted have not yet been found on gems, and, 
 of course, it must be borne in mind that still others, recording 
 special cults of which little is known, may turn up at any time. 
 This list should prove helpful to students in identifying the gems 
 that come into their hands. 
 
 Altar, strewing incense on; Pietas 244. 
 Altar flame, thrusting hand into; 
 
 Mucius Scaevola 268. 
 
 Amazon, supporting; Achilleus 262. 
 Amphora; Seilenos 225, Satyrs 226, 
 Daktyl (?) 233, Methe 237, Herakles 
 
 255, Tantalos 260, Kadmos 260. 
 Animals, fighting with or holding up; 
 
 Besa 249; in fragments, Aias 265. 
 Ant; Demeter 206. 
 
 Apple; Aphrodite 221, Atalante( ?) 259, 
 Paris 266. 
 
 Apples, of the Hesperides; Herakles 
 
 256. 
 
 Arm bent; Nemesis 216. 
 
 Arms or armor; Achilleus 262, Thetis 
 262, Odysseus 264, Aias 265, Patrok- 
 los 265. 
 
 Arrow; ApollS 208, Artemis 212, Eros 
 222, (pierced by, Tityos 261), (fixed 
 in foot, Achilleus 262, Diomedes 264), 
 Philoktetes 263, Paris 266. 
 
 Arrows, bunch of; Veiovis 241. 
 
 Ass; Hestia 207, Dionysos 224, Seilenos 
 225. 
 
 Ass-headed; Typhon 247, Abraxas 248. 
 Ax, double; Jupiter Dolichenus 202, 
 Penthesileia 263, Amazons 268. 
 
 Baboon; Thoth 247. 
 
 Balance; Juno Moneta 203. 
 
 Ball; Tyehe 230. 
 
 Basket (kalathos) ; Hades 205, Deme¬ 
 ter 206, Apollo 209, Aphrodite 220, 
 Annona 242. 
 
 Bear; Artemis 211. 
 
 Bees; Ephesian Artemis (?) 213. 
 
 Bird; Pan 226, (of augury, Providentia 
 Deorum 244). 
 
 Bird, water, holding; Artemis 211. 
 Bird combined with woman (Harpy) 
 251, (Seiren) 251; with latter, Hera 
 203. 
 
 Birds; Ephesian Artemis (?) 213, (Stym- 
 phalian, Herakles 255). 
 
 Boar; Artemis 211, Herakles 255. 
 
 Boar’s head; Meleagros 258, Ata- 
 lante ( ?) 259. 
 
 Bonus Eventus, small figure of; Spes 
 245. 
 
 Bough; Poseidon 204, Arician Diana 
 
 212, Hebe 236, Herakles 256. Apt to 
 be given to many deities for merely 
 art or decorative reasons. 
 
 Bow; Apollo 208, 209, Artemis 212, 
 Aphrodite 221, Eros 222, Rhea 232, 
 Herakles 254, Philoktetes 263, Paris 
 266. 
 
 Breasts, rows of; Ephesian Artemis 
 
 213. 
 
 Bridle; Nemesis 216. 
 
 Bull; (in guise of, Zeus 199), Jupiter 
 Dolichenus 202, Poseidon 204, (riding 
 on, Artemis 212), (sacrificing or 
 killing, Nike 218, Mithras 248), 
 Aphrodite 221, Dionysos 224, Europe 
 199, 234, Themis 234, (Marathon, 
 Herakles 256), Pasiphae 261. 
 
 Bull-headed man (Minotaur) 258; con¬ 
 tending with, Theseus 258. 
 
 Bull, man-headed (Okeanos) 234, (Riv¬ 
 er god) 251, (Acheloos) 251; with 
 last, Herakles 256. 
 
 Butterfly; Aphrodite 221, Psyche 223, 
 Hermes 228. 
 
 Caduceus; Nike 218, Psyche 223, 
 Hermes 229, Iris 237, Eirene 239, 
 Felicitas 243. 
 
 Candelabra; Nike 218. 
 
 Cap or helmet, oval; Hephaistos 229, 
 Dioskoroi 257, Odysseus 264. 
 
 Cap, Phrygian; Ganymedes 237, Liber- 
 tas 243, Mithras 248. 
 
 Casket, mystic; Demeter 206, Perse¬ 
 phone 206. 
 
 393 
 
394 
 
 LIST OP ATTRIBUTES 
 
 Cattle; Demeter 206, Gaia 234. 
 
 Chariot; Zeus 199, (drawn by horses or 
 hippokamps, Poseidon 204), (winged 
 or drawn by serpents, Triptolemos 
 207), (drawn by swans, Apollo 209), 
 Helios 210, (drawn by hinds, Artemis 
 212), (drawn by horses or cows, 
 Selene 214), (drawn by griffins, 
 Nemesis 216), Nike 218, (drawn by 
 panthers, Dionysos 224), (drawn _by 
 lions, Seilenos 225, Cybele 232), Eos 
 237, (with body of Hektor trailing 
 behind, Achilleus 262), (being 
 dragged behind, Hektor 263). 
 
 Children; Gaia 234, Hilaritas 243, Me- 
 deia 260. 
 
 Club; Melpomene 211, Priapos 238, 
 Herakles 254, Omphale 256, Theseus 
 257. 
 
 Cock; Persephone 206, Athena 217, 
 Seilenos 225, Hermes 229, Asklepios 
 231. 
 
 Cock’s head, having; Abraxas 248. 
 
 Column; Apollo (?) 208, Venus Vic- 
 trix 221, Hermes 228, Securitas 244. 
 
 Conch shell; Tritons 204. 
 
 Cord; Hekate 216. 
 
 Cornucopia; Hades 205, Demeter 205, 
 Persephone 206, Triptolemos 207, 
 Athena 218, Aphrodite 220, Dionysos 
 224, Tyche 230, Themis 234, Euthenia 
 236, Eirene 239, Annona 242, Feli- 
 citas 243, Hilaritas 243, Honos 243, 
 most Roman personifications 245, 
 Genii 246, Harpokrates 247, Isis 247, 
 Herakles 255. 
 
 Corpse, with arrow in heel, carrying; 
 Aias 265. 
 
 Corpse, naked; Patroklos 265, (carry¬ 
 ing, Menelaos 265). 
 
 Corselet; Abraxas 248. 
 
 Cow; Aventine Diana 212, Pasiphag 
 261. 
 
 Cow-headed; Isis 247. 
 
 Crab’s claws; Okeanos 234. 
 
 Crescent; Artemis 212, Selene 214, 
 Aphrodite 220, Cybele-Artemis 232. 
 
 Crescent and Sun; iEternitas 242. 
 
 Crescent-shaped boat, seated in; Ho- 
 rus 247. 
 
 Orescent-like shield; Penthesileia 263, 
 Amazons 268. 
 
 Crow; Juno Sospita 202, Apollo 208. 
 
 Cuckoo; Hera 202. 
 
 Cup; Persephone 206, Dionysos 224, 
 Seilenos 225, Satyrs 226, (rhyton, 
 Kabeiroi 233), Hygeia 231, (goblet, 
 Euthenia 236), Hebe 236, Gany¬ 
 
 medes 237, Methe 237, Salus ( ?) 244, 
 Herakles 255, Odysseus 264. 
 
 Cymbals; Satyrs 226, Bacchantes 227. 
 
 Cypress; Hades 205. 
 
 Dagger; Hekate 216, Libertas 243. 
 
 Dancing; Penates 245. 
 
 Dart; Abraxas 248. 
 
 Deer; Artemis 211, 212, 213, Aphrodite 
 221, Virbius 268. 
 
 Diadem (stephanos); Hera 202, Deme¬ 
 ter 205, Persephone 206, Selene 214, 
 Genius Romanorum 246. 
 
 Dice; Nike 218. 
 
 Discus; Hyakinthos 259. 
 
 Dish (patera), sacrificial; Zeus 199, H§- 
 ra 202, Triptolemos 207, Hestia 207, 
 Arician Diana 212, Athena 217, Spes 
 245. 
 
 Distaff or spindle; Ephesian Arte¬ 
 mis ( ?) 213, Athena 217, Klotho 238, 
 Herakles 256. 
 
 Dog; Artemis 212, Ganymedes 237, Ak- 
 taion 258, Meleagros 258, Odysseus 
 264. 
 
 Dog or wolf muzzle head-dress; Hades 
 
 205. 
 
 Dog Sirius, riding on; Isis 248. 
 
 Dog, three-headed, (Kerberos) 252; 
 with, Hades 205, Herakles 256. 
 
 Dolphin; Poseidon 203, Demeter (?) 
 
 206, Apollo 208, 209, Aphrodite 220, 
 Dionysos 224, Sea-nymphs 227, Meli- 
 kertes 234. 
 
 Dove; Demeter (?) 206, Aphrodite 221, 
 Fides 243. 
 
 Drum (tympanum); Rhea 232, Cybele 
 232. 
 
 Eagle; Zeus 199, Hades (?) 205, Nike 
 218, Ganymedes 237, Prometheus 
 261. 
 
 Ears pointed, having; Seilenos 225, 
 Satyrs 226, Besa 249. 
 
 Egg; Aphrodite 221, an Orphic symbol 
 146. 
 
 Elephant skin head-dress; Libya 242. 
 
 Fan, bird’s wing; Philoktetes 263. 
 
 Fawn; Dionysos 224. 
 
 Fawn skin; Dionysos 224, Bacchantes 
 227. 
 
 Fillets hanging from hands (?) ; Ephe¬ 
 sian Artemis 213. 
 
 Finger to lips; Harpokrates 247, Horus 
 247. 
 
 Fir-apple; Artemis 212. 
 
LIST OF ATTRIBUTES 
 
 395 
 
 Fish; Syria Dea 233. 
 
 Fish’s tail, having; Tritons 204, Glau- 
 kos 235. 
 
 Flower; Juno Lucina 202, Apollo 209, 
 Artemis 212, Aphrodite 220, (bud, 
 Spes 245). 
 
 Flowers; Hera ( ?) 202, Nymphs 227, 
 Rhea 232, Chloris 239. 
 
 Flute; Euterpe 211, Satyrs 226, Mar- 
 syas 226. 
 
 Foot; Jupiter Serapis 201, (held out to 
 be treated, Philoktetes 263), (treat¬ 
 ing, Machaon 263). 
 
 Four-armed; Astral genii 249. 
 
 Four-handed; Apollo 209. 
 
 Fruits; Zeus 200, Hades 205, Arician 
 Diana 212, Rhea 232, Vertumnus 240, 
 Pomona 240, Fides 243. 
 
 Garment raised; Spes 245; held out 
 to catch shower of gold, Danae 259. 
 
 Gate, carrying; Kapaneus 266. 
 
 Girdle, of Hippolyte; Herakles 255. 
 
 Globe; Urania 211, (ball, Tyche 230), 
 Lachesis 238. 
 
 Goat; Zeus 199, Juno Caprotina 202, 
 Apollo 208, 209, Aphrodite 220, Di¬ 
 onysos 224, Seilenos 225, Satyrs 
 226, Veiovis 241. 
 
 Goats; Ephesian Artemis (?) 213. 
 
 Goat’s legs, having; Pan 226. 
 
 Goat’s skin; Juno Sospita 203. 
 
 Goose; Juno Regina 202, Dionysos 224, 
 Aphrodite 224. 
 
 Grapes, bunch of; Poseidon 204, Di¬ 
 onysos 224, Methe 237. 
 
 Grape-vine; Dionysos 223, 224, Methe 
 237. 
 
 Griffin; Apollo 208, 210, Nemesis 216, 
 Aphrodite 221. 
 
 Hair long; Honos 243, Virtus 243. 
 
 Hammer; Hephaistos 229, Kouretes 233, 
 Kabeiroi 233, Daktyloi 233. 
 
 Hand outstretched; Fides 242; con¬ 
 cealed in garment, Pudicitia 244; to 
 head, Securitas 244. 
 
 Hands clasped; Fides 242; the confar- 
 reatio 243. 
 
 Hare; Artemis 211, Seilenos 225. 
 
 Hat, broad-brimmed, (petasos) ; Hermes 
 229, Theseus 257. 
 
 Hawk; Apollo 208, (-headed, Abraxas 
 248). 
 
 Heads back to back; Janus 240. 
 
 Helmet; Apollo 209, Athena 217, Ares 
 219, (in hand, Athena-Nike 218, 
 Venus Victrix 221), Rhea 232, Dea 
 
 Roma 241, Virtus 243, (winged, Per¬ 
 seus 258). 
 
 Hind, Kyryneian; Herakles 255. 
 
 Hippokamp; Poseidon 204, Aphro¬ 
 dite ( ?) 220, Amphitrite 220, Dak- 
 tyl (?) 233. 
 
 Hoop; Hermes 229. 
 
 Horn; Hypnos 235, Morpheus 236, 
 (drinking, Penates 245), (having 
 ram’s, Jupiter Ammon, 202). 
 
 Homs, having; Dionysos-Zagreus (?) 
 224, Seilenos 225, Satyrs 226, Pan 
 226, Okeanos 234, Isis 247, (stag’s, 
 Aktaion 258). 
 
 Horse; Poseidon 204, Aphrodite (?) 
 220, Amphitrite 220, (falling from, 
 Marcus Curtius 268). 
 
 Horse combined with man (centaur) 
 250, Cheiron 250, Nessos 250. 
 
 Horse combined with fish (hippo¬ 
 kamp) 250. 
 
 Horse-headed; Demeter (?) 206. 
 
 Horse, winged, (Pegasos) 251; mounted 
 on, Bellerophon 258. 
 
 Horses; Dioskoroi 257. 
 
 Horses; man-eating of Diomedes, 
 Herakles 256, Diomedes, 264. 
 
 Ibis; Thoth 247. 
 
 Infant; (Ploutos, in arms, Eirene 239), 
 (parting from [Astyanax and An¬ 
 dromache], Hektor 263), (holding 
 and bidding farewell to Hektor, An¬ 
 dromache 263). 
 
 Ivy; Dionysos 224. 
 
 Ivy wreath; Thalia 211. 
 
 lynx ( ?) ; Aphrodite 221. 
 
 Jackal-headed; Anubis 247. 
 
 Jar; Hermes 228, Glaukos, son of Mi¬ 
 nds, 235, Polyeidos 235. 
 
 Key; Hades 205, Persephone 206, 
 Hekate 215, 216; Janus 240. 
 
 Kid, dismembered; Bacchantes 227. 
 
 Ladder, falling from; Kapaneus 266. 
 
 Lamp; Athena 217. 
 
 Laurel; Dionysos 224. 
 
 Laurel wreath or branch; Apollo 208, 
 209; Honos 243, Libertas 243. 
 
 Legs, bandy; Besa 249. 
 
 Legs crossed; Tlianatos 235. 
 
 Lion; Juno Coelestis 203, Dionysos 224, 
 Rhea 232, Cybele 232, Herakles 255. 
 
 Lion, holding; Artemis 211. 
 
396 
 
 LIST OF ATTRIBUTES 
 
 Lion with goat’s head springing from 
 back and serpent’s tail (Chimaira) 
 251; attacking, Bellerophon 258. 
 
 Lion with woman’s head or head and 
 breasts (sphinx) 250; killing or 
 standing before, Oidipous 261. 
 
 Lion with wings and head of eagle 
 (griffin) 250, Apollo 208. 
 
 Lions; Ephesian Artemis ( ?) 213, Cy- 
 bele 232, Syria Dea 233, Medousa 239. 
 
 Lion-skin; Herakles 254, Omphale 256, 
 Theseus 257. 
 
 Lot, drawing; Atropos 238. 
 
 Lotos flower; Harpokrates 247, (seated 
 on, Horus 247), Isis 247. 
 
 Lynx; Dionysos 224. 
 
 Lyre; Apollo 208, Terpsichore 211, 
 Erato 211, Ephesian Artemis (?) 
 213, Seilenos 225, Hermes 229, 
 Herakles 255, Orpheus 258, Aehilleus 
 262. 
 
 Mace; Abraxas 248. 
 
 Manikin, at work on; Prometheus 261. 
 
 Mask; Melpomene 211, Thalia 211, 
 Athena 218, Dionysos 224. 
 
 Measure, corn, (modius), on head; Ju¬ 
 piter Serapis 201. 
 
 Measuring rod; Nemesis 216. 
 
 Medousa head; Athena 217, Perseus 
 258. 
 
 Mirror; Aphrodite 221. 
 
 Moon and Sun; ^Eternitas 242. 
 
 Mouse; Apollo 208. 
 
 Mussel-shell; Aphrodite 220. 
 
 Myrtle; Aphrodite 221. 
 
 Narcissus; Hades 205. 
 
 Oak; Cybele 232. 
 
 Oak wreath; Zeus 200. 
 
 Olive; Herakles 255. 
 
 Olive branch; Athena 217, Eirene 239, 
 Pax 239. 
 
 Olive wreath; Zeus 199, Honos 243, 
 Kassandra(?) 266. 
 
 Omphalos, Delphic; Apollo 209. 
 
 Orb of moon between horns; Isis 247. 
 
 Owl; Athena 217. 
 
 Ox; Zeus (?) 201, Rhea 232. 
 
 Palladium; Hestia 207, Odysseus 264, 
 Diomedes 264. 
 
 Palm; Apollo 208, Hermes 229. 
 
 Palm branch; Nike 218, Ares 219, 
 Hilaritas 243. 
 
 Palm branches; Ephesian Artemis 213. 
 
 Panther; Dionysos 224. 
 
 Peacock; Juno 202. 
 
 Phallus; Dionysos 224, Seilenos 225, 
 Satyrs 226, Hermes 228, Priapos 238. 
 
 Piek-ax; Hades 205. 
 
 Pig on bundle of myrtle; Persepho¬ 
 ne (?) 206. 
 
 Pine; Cybele 232. 
 
 Pine wreath; Poseidon 204, Pan 226. 
 
 Pipes, shepherd’s; Pan 226, Hermes 
 229. 
 
 Ploughshare; Poseidon 204, Odysseus 
 264. 
 
 Polypus, slaying; Apollo 210. 
 
 Pomegranate; Hera 202, Demeter 206. 
 Persephone 206, Apollo 209. 
 
 Poplar; Herakles 255. 
 
 Poppy; Demeter 206, Triptolemos 207, 
 Aphrodite 219, Hypnos 235, Euthenia 
 236. 
 
 Pruning-knife; Vertumnus 240, Po¬ 
 mona 240. 
 
 Purse; Hermes 229. 
 
 Quail; Artemis 211. 
 
 Quiver; Artemis 212, Aphrodite 221, 
 Er5s 222, Paris 266. 
 
 Raft, supported by amphoras or wine¬ 
 skins; Seilenos 225, Herakles 255. 
 
 Ram; Ares 219, Hermes 228, Odysseus 
 264. 
 
 Ram’s horn; Jupiter Ammon 202. 
 
 Raven; Apollo 208. 
 
 Rays, crown of; Jupiter Serapis 201, 
 Helios 210, Hekate 215, Chnumis 
 248. 
 
 Rock; Theseus 257, (bound to, Pro¬ 
 metheus 261). 
 
 Rocks, throwing; Earth-giants 252. 
 
 Roll or scroll; Kalliope 211, Kleio 211. 
 
 Roma, small figure of; Annona 242. 
 
 Rose; Aphrodite 221, Dionysos 224. 
 
 Rudder; Aphrodite 220, Tyche 230. 
 
 Sack, of Aiolos; Odysseus 264. 
 
 Sacramental table on head; Astral 
 genii 249. 
 
 Sail; Isis Pharia 248. 
 
 Satyr, appearing as; Zeus (?) 199. 
 
 Scales; Themis 234, Atropos 238, 
 Astraia 239, ASquitas 240. 
 
 Sceptre; Zeus 199, Hera 202, Hades 
 205, Persephone 206, Hestia 207, 
 Eirene 239, Honos 243, Genius Ro- 
 manorum 246, Astral genii 249. 
 
 Scourge; Hekate 216, Nemesis 216, 
 Eumenides 238, Horus 247, Abraxas 
 248. 
 
LIST OF ATTRIBUTES 
 
 397 
 
 Scroll or roll; Kalliope 211, Kleio 211. 
 
 Sea-monster; Aphrodite (?) 220, Am- 
 phitrite 220, Sea nymphs 227, 
 (Hydra, Herakles 255), Thetis 262. 
 
 Serpent; Zeus 200, Demeter 206, 
 Apollo 208, Hekate 216, Athena 217, 
 Dionysos 224, Sabazios 224, Bac¬ 
 chante 227, Hygeia 231, Rhea 232, 
 Eos(?) 237, Salus ( ?) 244, Genii 
 246, Isis 247, (with lion’s head, 
 Chnumis 248), Herakles 256, Kadmos 
 260, Philoktetes 263, Kassandra (?) 
 266. 
 
 Serpent-drawn chariot, riding in; Trip- 
 tolemos 207. 
 
 Serpent hair, having; Eumenides 238, 
 Medousa 239. 
 
 Serpent legs, having; Abraxas 248, 
 Earth-giants 252. 
 
 Serpent-twined staff; Asklepios 231. 
 
 Serpents; Demeter (?) 206, (riding on, 
 Artemis of Kholkis 212), Hekate 215, 
 Eumenides 238, Medousa 239, (child 
 strangling, Herakles 255), (attacked 
 by, Laokoon 266), in guise of, genii 
 of places 246). 
 
 Shears; Atropos 238. 
 
 Sheep; Hades 205, Hermes 228, (lambs, 
 Gaia 254). 
 
 Shells; Tritons 204, Aphrodite 220, Sea- 
 nymphs 227, Glaukos 235. 
 
 Shepherd’s crook( pedum); Thalia 211; 
 Satyrs 226, Pan 226, Ganymedes 237. 
 
 Shield; Hera( ?) 203, Juno Sospita 203, 
 Athena 217, (writing on, Nike 218, 
 Orthryades 262), Ares 219, Aphro¬ 
 dite, especially Venus Victrix 221, 
 Kouretes(?) 233, Dea Roma 241, 
 Abraxas 248. 
 
 Ship, or prow of; Poseidon 203, Apollo 
 209, Mars Navalis 219, Aphrodite 
 220, Annona 242, Jason 259, Argos 
 260. 
 
 Sickle; Priapos 238, Eumenides 238, 
 Saturn 240. 
 
 Sickle-shaped sword; Perseus 258. 
 
 Sparrow; Aphrodite 221. 
 
 Spear; Hera(?) 203, Juno Curites 
 203, Juno Sospita 203, (serpent- 
 twined, Hades 205), Apollo 209, 
 Artemis 212, Hekate 216, Athena 217, 
 Ares 219, Venus Victrix 221, Rhea 
 232, Kouretes (?) 233, Dea Roma 
 241, Fama 242, Dioskoroi 257. 
 
 Sphinx; Seilenos 225, Euthenia 236, 
 Oidipous 261. 
 
 Spindle or distaff; Ephesian Arte¬ 
 
 mis! ?) 213, Athena 217, Klotho 238, 
 Herakles 256. 
 
 Staff; Janus 240, Philoktetes 263, 
 Odysseus 264. 
 
 Stag’s horns, having; Aktaion 258. 
 
 Stars; Dioskoroi 257. 
 
 Stars, crown of; Astraia 239. 
 
 Statue of Athena, clinging to; Kas¬ 
 sandra 265; tearing her from, Aias 
 265. 
 
 Stork; Pietas 244. 
 
 Strigil; Hermes 229. 
 
 Stylus; Kalliope 211. 
 
 Sun and moon; iEternitas 242. 
 
 Sun-dial (polos) ; Artemis 212, Atro¬ 
 pos 238. 
 
 Supports for hands ( ?) ; Ephesian Ar¬ 
 temis 213. 
 
 Swallow; Aphrodite 221. 
 
 Swan; (in guise of, Zeus 199), 
 Apollo 208, 209, Aphrodite 221, 
 
 (with man’s head, Hermes 228), 
 Leda 261. 
 
 Swimming; Galene 227. 
 
 Swine; Demeter 206. 
 
 Sword; Zeus (?) 201, Melpomene 211, 
 Nemesis 216, Bacchantes 227, 
 Abraxas 248, Theseus 257, (sickle 
 shaped, Perseus 258). 
 
 Systrum; Isis 247. 
 
 Table, sacramental, on head; Astral 
 genii 249. 
 
 Tablet; Kalliope 211. 
 
 Tail, having; Seilenos 225, Satyrs 226, 
 (bird’s, Astral genii 249). 
 
 Throne; Zeus 199, Hera 202, Hades 205, 
 Demeter 205, Persephone 206, Athena 
 217, Dionysos 224, Tyche of Antioch 
 230. 
 
 Throne, lion; Cybele 232, Syria Dea 
 233. 
 
 Thunderbolt; Zeus 199, Athena 218, 
 Nike 218, Veiovis 241, (stricken by, 
 Kapaneus 266). 
 
 Thyrsos; Dionysos 224, Satyrs 226, 
 Bacchantes 227, Methe 237, Priapos 
 238. 
 
 Tiara or barbaric head-dress; Ephesian 
 Artemis 213. 
 
 Tiger; Dionysos 224. 
 
 Tongs; Hephaistos 229. 
 
 Tongue protruding; Medousa 239. 
 
 Torch; Persephone 206, Hestia 207, 
 Artemis Eileithyia 214, Hekate 216, 
 Ares 219, Aphrodite 221, Eros 222, 
 Psyche 223, (reversed, Thanatos 235, 
 wearied Amor (?) 235), Eos 237. 
 
398 
 
 LIST OF ATTRIBUTES 
 
 Torches; Demeter 205, Artemis, 212, 
 Hekate 215, Eumenides 238. 
 
 Torches, raised and lowered; Selene 
 214, Mithras 248. 
 
 Tortoise; Aphrodite 219, 221, Pan 226, 
 Hermes 229. 
 
 Tree; (bound to, Marsyas 226), (tak¬ 
 ing golden fleece from, Jason 260). 
 
 Trident; Poseidon 203, Tritons 204, 
 Apollo 209. 
 
 Tripod; Apollo 208. 
 
 Triple figure, having; Hekate 215. 
 
 Trophy; Nike 218, Mars 219. 
 
 Trumpet; Fama 242. 
 
 Tunny fish; Poseidon 204, Apollo 209. 
 
 Turret crown; Tauric Artemis 212, 
 Aphrodite 220, Tyche of Antioch 230, 
 Cybele 232, Dea Roma, 241. 
 
 Urn; Aphrodite 221, Naiads 227, 
 Thanatos (?) 235. 
 
 Vase; Ephesian Artemis(?) 213, Aphro¬ 
 dite 221, Seilenos 225, Satyrs 226, 
 Na : ads 227, Hermes 228, Daktyl (?) 
 233, Thanatos ( ?) 235, Hebe 236, Iris 
 237, Eos 237, Methe 237, Isis 247, 
 Herakles 255, Tantalos 260, Kadmos 
 260. 
 
 Veil; Hera 202, Hestia 207, Polymnia 
 211, (draped like an arch, Selene 
 214), Concordia 242, Fides 243. 
 
 Victoriola; Zeus 199, 218, Apollo 209, 
 Athena 218, Mars 218, 219, Fortuna 
 218. 
 
 Vultures, preyed on by; Tityos 261. 
 
 Wheat-ears; Zeus ( ?) 200, Hera (?) 202, 
 Demeter 205, Persephone 206, Trip- 
 tolemos 207, Tyche of Antioch 230, 
 Euthenia 236, Eirene 239, Annona 
 242, Fides 243, Spes 245, Isis 247. 
 
 Wheel; Nemesis 216, Tyche 230, Ixion 
 260. 
 
 Whip; Helios 210. 
 
 Winged chariot; Triptolemos 207. 
 
 Winged hat or shoes; Hermes 229, (or 
 helmet, Perseus 258). 
 
 Wings, having; Artemis 212, Selene 
 214, Nemesis 216, Athena 217, Nike 
 218, Eros 222, (butterfly’s, Psyche 
 223), Thanatos 235, (Eagle’s or but¬ 
 terfly^, Hypnos 235), Hebe 236, Iris 
 
 237, Eos 237, Moirai 238, Eumenides 
 
 238, Medousa 239, Eirene 239, Genii 
 246, 249, Earth-giants 252, Ikaros 
 and Daidalos 260. 
 
 Wine-skin; Seilenos 225, Satyrs 226. 
 
 Wolf; Zeus (?) 200, Apollo 208, Ar¬ 
 temis 211, Ares 219, (being suckled 
 by, Romulus and Remus 267), 
 (standing near, Faustulus 267, 
 Roma 267, Mars 267). 
 
 Woodpecker; Ares 219. 
 
 Wreath; (olive, Zeus 199, Honos 243, 
 Kassandra(?) 266), (oak, Zeus 
 200), (pine, Poseidon 204, Pan 226), 
 (laurel, Apollo 209, Honos 243, 
 Libertas 243),(ivy, Thalia 211), Nike 
 218, Ares 219, (vine, Dionysos 224, 
 Bacchantes 227), Satyrs 226, 
 Nymphs 227, (flowers, Chloris 239). 
 
 Wrestling; Herakles 256, Antaios 257. 
 
 Yoke; Nemesis 216. 
 
INDEX 
 
 References to the plates will be found on the pages below referred to. 
 
 Abba Macarius, story of, told by Pal- 
 ladius, 147. 
 
 Abbot Samson and the monks of St. Ed- 
 mondsbury, story of, 158. 
 Abraxas or Abrasax, on Gnostic gems, 
 137. 
 
 derivation of name, 137. 
 
 name added on earlier gems, 146. 
 
 how pictured, 137, 248. 
 
 Abundantia (see Euthenia). 
 
 Acheloos, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 73, 74. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97. 
 how pictured, 251. 
 pictured with Herakles, 256. 
 Achilleus, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89, 90. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113, 122. 
 how pictured, 262. 
 
 Adamas, gems engraved by use of dia¬ 
 mond point, 14, 271. 
 
 Adonai, title of Abraxas god, 138. 
 
 as a planetary genius, 142. 
 
 Adoni (Renaissance gem engraver),179. 
 Adrasteia, associated with Artemis, Cy- 
 bele and the Idaian Daktyloi, 
 214. 
 
 Adrastos, on Etruscan scarabs, to be 
 identified only by name, 267. 
 Aegean, meaning of term, 23. 
 
 ASneas (see Aineias). 
 
 ASquitas, attributes, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 240. 
 
 Aesculapius (see Asklepios). 
 ASternitas, attributes and how pictured, 
 242. 
 
 Agamemnon, doubtful on gems, 264. 
 Agate or onyx, 281. 
 
 Minoan Period, 26. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Archaie Greek Period, 37. 
 Greek-Persian gems, 48. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 64. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman Period, 86, 101. 
 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Agathangelos (Graeco-Roman gems en¬ 
 graver), 121, PI. XX, 6. 
 Agathe-Tyche, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 Agathemeros (Graeco-Roman gem en¬ 
 graver), 122. 
 
 Agathodaimon, on Gnostic gems, 138. 
 how represented, 138. 
 derivation of, 138. 
 power of as amulet, 139. 
 Agathopous (Hellenistic gem engra¬ 
 ver), 82. 
 
 Aias (Ajax), on Archaic Greek gems, 
 40. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 how pictured, 265. 
 
 Aineias (ASneas), on early Roman 
 gems, 97. 
 
 how pictured, 266. 
 
 Ajax (see Aias). 
 
 Aktaion, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 how pictured, 258. 
 
 Alaric, signet of, 294. 
 
 Alexander the Great, portrait to be cut 
 only by Pyrgoteles, 57, 62. 
 signet of, 287. 
 
 Alexander of Tralles, subject recom¬ 
 mended by, 159, 162. 
 
 Allat, identified with Aphrodite, 219. 
 Alphabet, Etruscan, 65. 
 
 Pehlevi, 151. 
 
 Amastini (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Amazons, on Graeco-Roman gems, 112, 
 122 . 
 
 how pictured, 268. 
 shield of, 268. 
 
 Ambrogio (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 177. 
 
 methyst, 283. 
 
 Minoan Period, 25. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman Period, 96. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 399 
 
400 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Ammon, identified with Zeus, attribute, 
 
 202 . 
 
 Amor (see Eros). 
 
 Amphiarios, on Etruscan scarabs, to be 
 identified only by name, 267. 
 
 Amphitryon, signet of, 286. 
 
 Amulets, Gnostic, 136, 137. 
 
 Ancient gems regarded as in 
 Mediaeval Europe, 155, 162. 
 opinion of Hippokrates as to, 162. 
 Mediaeval, 162-169. 
 
 Anaitis, identified with Artemis, 214; 
 with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Anchises, on early Roman gems, 97. 
 how pictured, 266. 
 
 Anchor, on early Christian gems, 
 127. 
 
 Andromache, on early Roman gems, 
 89, 90. 
 
 how pictured, 263. 
 
 Angels, name of Jewish, on Gnostic 
 gems, 142. 
 
 Jewish, as Gnostic genii of con¬ 
 stellations, 143. 
 
 Anichini, Luigi (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 176. 
 
 Animals, on Minoan gems, 25, 27. 
 Mycenaean gems, 29, 31. 
 gems of the Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 47. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 69, 74. 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 95, 96, 100, 
 103. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109, 114, 117. 
 gems of Later Empire, 125, 126. 
 Sassanian gems, 150. 
 
 “ Annibal ” (Renaissance gem engra¬ 
 
 ver), 179. 
 
 Annona, attributes and how pictured, 
 242. 
 
 Amtaios, on early Roman gems, 97. 
 
 pictured wrestling with Herakles, 
 256, 257. 
 
 Anteros (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 122, PI. XX, 7. 
 
 Anteros, on early Roman gems, 98. 
 
 Anubis, on Graeco-Roman gems, 119. 
 on Gnostic gems, 140. 
 with attributes of Hermes on Ro¬ 
 man and Gnostic gems, 140. 
 
 represented as “ Good Shepherd ” 
 on Gnostic gems, 140. 
 identified with Hermes, 228. 
 how pictured, 247. 
 
 Aoide (one of the three early Muses), 
 
 211 . 
 
 Aphrodite, on Mycenaean gems?, 32. 
 gems of Best Period, 55. 
 
 (Turan), on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 98, 102. 
 (Venus), on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 111, 114, 122. 
 
 on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 219. 
 relations with Syria Dea, 233. 
 Apollo, on Archaic Greek gems, 39. 
 gems of Best Period, 55. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 66, 71, 74. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 101. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109. (Saurok- 
 tonos, 112), 121. 
 
 later identified with Mithras, 132. 
 confused with Zeus, 200. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 207. 
 identified with Veiovis, 241. 
 Apollonios (gem engraver of Best Pe¬ 
 riod), 83. 
 
 Apollonios (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 121. 
 
 Apollonios of Tyana, seven rings of, 
 117. 
 
 Aquamarine, 283. 
 
 in Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 unique example among early Ro¬ 
 man gems, 86. 
 in Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 Archaeology, advanced by the study of 
 gems, 3. 
 
 Areios, signet of, 288. 
 
 Ares, on Mycenaean gems, 32. 
 
 (Mars), on early Roman gems, 94, 
 
 102 . 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 113, 
 114. 
 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 218. 
 
 Argos (dog), on early Roman gems, 
 89. 
 
 Argos, on early Roman gems, 92. 
 
 how pictured, 260. 
 
 Ariadne, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 perhaps identified with Artemis, 
 213; with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
INDEX 
 
 401 
 
 sometimes pictured with Dionysos, 
 224. 
 
 Armor, Greek, pictured on Etruscan 
 scarabs, 70. 
 
 both Greek and Italian style on 
 early Roman gems, 90, 91. 
 
 Arms or armor, pictured on Minoan 
 gems, 28. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 100, 104. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114, 117. 
 
 Artemis, on Minoan gems?, 28, PI. I, 5. 
 Mycenaean gems?, 32. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 39. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 (Diana) on Early Roman gems, 98, 
 
 101 . 
 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 111, (of 
 Ephesos, 112), 114, 121. 
 on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 211. 
 of Ephesos, 213. 
 relations with Syria Dea, 233. 
 
 Artificers, on early Roman gems, 91. 
 
 Artists, of Archaic Period, 43. 
 
 Best Period, 59. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 81. 
 Graeco-Roman, 120, (disputes as to 
 genuineness of names, 123). 
 
 Abba Macarius, 147. 
 of the Renaissance, 173-180. 
 of modern times, 183-196. 
 
 Artists’ signatures, 18. 
 
 in nominative or genitive case, 
 61. 
 
 Aschari, M. (modem gem engraver), 
 183. 
 
 Askanios, how pictured, 266. 
 
 Asklepios (iEsculapius), attributes, 
 cults, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 231. 
 
 Asp, on Gnostic gems, 141. 
 
 Aspasios (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 121, PI. XX, 9, 13. 
 
 Astaphai, as a planetary genius, 143. 
 
 Astarte, identified with Artemis, 214; 
 with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Astraia (Dike) (one of the Horai), at¬ 
 tributes and how pictured, 239. 
 
 Astral Powers (see Genii). 
 
 Astronomical picture on gem of Best 
 Period, 58. 
 
 Astronomical or astrological signs, on 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 115, 117. 
 on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 
 relations between special deities 
 and the Zodiac, 117. 
 on Mithraic gems, 133. 
 cyphers on imitations of Gnostic 
 gems, 137. 
 
 on Sassanian gems, 150. 
 on Mediaeval gems, 168. 
 
 Atalante, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 identified with Artemis, 214. 
 how pictured, 259. 
 
 Atargatis, identified with Artemis, 214; 
 with Aphrodite, 219; with Syria 
 Dea, 233. 
 
 Athena, on Archaic Greek gems, 39, 40. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 66, 67, 69, 70. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 (Minerva) on early Roman gems, 
 98. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109, 111, 
 (Parthenos, Promachos and 
 of Lemnos, 112), 114, 121. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 216. 
 perhaps related in some cults 
 with Aphrodite, 219. 
 relations with Syria Dea, 233. 
 
 Atheneon (Hellenistic gem engraver), 
 83. 
 
 Athenion, signet of, 288. 
 
 Athletes, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113, 122. 
 
 Athor, as Venus on Gnostic gems, 141. 
 
 Atropos (one of the Fates), how pic¬ 
 tured, 238. 
 
 Attar, identified with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Augustus, signets of, 291. 
 
 Aulus (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 122, PL XX, 10; XXI, 2. 
 
 Aurora (see Eos). 
 
 Avanzi, Nicolo (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 174. 
 
 Baal of Doliche, identified with Zeus, 
 attributes, 202. 
 
 Baboon, sacred to Thoth, on Gnostic 
 gems, 140, 247. 
 
 Bacchantes (see Mainads). 
 
 Bacchus (see Dionysos). 
 
 Band (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Banquet scenes, on Hellenistic gems, 
 81. 
 
 Barbatus, Lucius Scipio, signet of, 6, 
 289. 
 
402 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Barier, F. J. (modern gem engraver), 
 184. 
 
 Barnett, W. (modern gem engraver), 
 188. 
 
 Base ornamentation, on Etruscan scar¬ 
 abs, 63. 
 
 Basileides, Gnostic philosopher, 135, 
 138. 
 
 Bassi (modern gem engraver), 193. 
 
 Battle of Fontenoy, by Guay, 184. 
 
 Battos, King of Kyrene, signet of, 287. 
 
 Becker (modern gem engraver), 184. 
 
 Beetle, on Gnostic gems, 140. 
 
 Bel (Bel Khamon), on Phoenician and 
 Carthaginian scarabs, 45. 
 
 Belit, identified with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Bellerophon, on early Roman gems, 89. 
 
 how pictured, 258. 
 
 Belli, Valerio dei (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 175, PI. XXXI, 12. 
 
 Belus mounted on a lion, on Gnostic 
 gems, 141. 
 
 Bemfleet (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Benedetti, Matteo dei (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 175. 
 
 Bendis, identified with Artemis, 213. 
 
 Berry (modem gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Beryl, 283. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Besa, on Phoenician and Carthaginian 
 scarabs. 46. 
 
 how pictured, 249. 
 
 Bible, subjects taken from, on early 
 Christian gems, 129. 
 
 Byzantine gems, 148. 
 
 Sassanian Christian gems, 152. 
 
 Mediaeval gems, 159. 
 
 Birago, Clement (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 177. 
 
 Bloodstone (Heliotrope), 281. 
 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 125. 
 
 used for Mithraie gems, 132. 
 
 used for Gnostic gems, 136. 
 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Boethos (Hellenistic gem engraver), 
 83. 
 
 Bonus Eventus, on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 113. 
 
 (See Triptolemos.) 
 
 Border, cartouch groove on Minoan 
 gems, 24, 25. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, a line, 45. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 64. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 79. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 86, 96, 101. 
 
 serpent with tail in mouth, on 
 Gnostic gems, 141. 
 
 Borghigiani, Francesco (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 184. 
 
 Bragg (modem gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Brett (modern gem engraver), 193. 
 
 “ Briosco Crispo ” (modern gem en¬ 
 
 graver), 184. 
 
 Britomartis, identified with Artemis, 
 213. 
 
 Brown, C. and W. (modern gem en¬ 
 gravers), 186. 
 
 Bull, or bull’s head in lion’s jaws, on 
 Mithraie gems, 133. 
 
 Burch, R. A. and E. B. F. (modern 
 gem engravers), 188. 
 
 Burgognone (Renaissance gem engra¬ 
 ver), 179. 
 
 Bust, first pictured in Hellenistic Pe¬ 
 riod instead of merely the head 
 and neck, 79. 
 
 Butterfly, on Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 98, 102, 103. 
 
 Psyche pictured as, 223. 
 
 Button-shaped gems, Minoan, 26. 
 
 Cades, Tomaso (modern gem engraver), 
 191, PI. XXXII, 20. 
 
 Cades casts, 195. 
 
 Caesar, Julius, signet of, 6, 291. 
 
 Calabresi, D. (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 179. 
 
 Calandrelli (modern gem engraver), 
 191, PI. XXXII, 19. 
 
 Callings and occupations, gems il¬ 
 lustrating, early Roman, 97. 
 
 Graeco-Roman, 114. 
 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Cameos, 2. 
 
 popular in Renaissance, 2, 171. 
 
 Camillo di Leonardo, lapidaria pub¬ 
 lished by, 162. 
 
 on trines, 168. 
 
 on artists of 15th Centusy, 175. 
 
 Campagni, Dominico dei Camei (Re¬ 
 naissance gem engraver), 174. 
 
 Cancer, on Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 Canopic vase, on Gnostic gems, 139. 
 
 Capperoni (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Capricornus, on early Roman gems, 95, 
 99, 101. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 birth sign of Augustus, 118. 
 
 Caradosso, Foppa (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 175. 
 
INDEX 
 
 403 
 
 Caraglio, Giovanni Giacomo (Renais¬ 
 sance gem engraver), 177. 
 Carnelian, 278. 
 
 Minoan Period, 25. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 64. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 86, 96. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 125, 137. 
 used rarely for Gnostic gems, 137. 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 used for Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 used in Mediaeval times, 161. 
 used in Renaissance, 174, 176. 
 Carniole, Giovanni delle (Renaissance 
 gem engraver), 174. 
 
 Prospero delle (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 174. 
 
 Carrioni (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Castel Bolognese, Giovanni del (Renais¬ 
 sance gem engraver), 175. 
 Castrucci (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Casts, the Cades, 195. 
 
 Cave, Joseph (modem gem engraver) ,188. 
 Cavini, Giovanni (modern gem engra¬ 
 ver), 184. 
 
 Cellini, Benvenuto, perhaps engraved 
 gems, 174. 
 
 Centaur, on Melian stones, 35. 
 Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 how pictured, 250. 
 
 Cerbara (modern gem engraver), 191. 
 Cerberus (see Kerberos). 
 
 Ceres (see Demeter). 
 
 Cesati, Alessandro (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 176. 
 
 Chael, reputed author of lapidaria, 162. 
 Chalcedony, 279. 
 
 Minoan Period, 25. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 48. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 64. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 86, 96. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 125. 
 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Chariots, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 41, 42. 
 gems of Best Period, 55, 57. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97, 101. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113, 116, 122. 
 
 Charities, the, how represented, 221. 
 
 Charms (luck-bringing or fate-com¬ 
 pelling inscriptions) on early 
 Christian gems, 130; on Gnostic 
 gems, 136, 142-146. 
 
 Cheiron, on early Roman gems, 89. 
 as tutor of Achilleus, &c., 250. 
 
 Chiavanni (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Children, on gems of Best Period, 57. 
 on Sassanian gems, 150. 
 
 Chimaira, on Melian stones, 35. 
 on gems of Best Period, 57. 
 on Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 how pictured, 251. 
 with Bellerophon, 258. 
 
 Chloris (Flora) (one of the Horai), at¬ 
 tributes and how pictured, 239. 
 
 Chnubis or Chnumis, on Gnostic gems, 
 138. 
 
 how pictured, 138, 248. 
 derivation of, 138. 
 power of as amulet, 139. 
 
 Chrisma, on early Christian gems, 128. 
 
 Christ, shown as “ Good Shepherd ” on 
 early Christian gems, 129. 
 pictured on early Christian gems, 
 129, 131. 
 
 on Byzantine gems, 129, 148. 
 portrait of, on Sassanian Christian 
 gems, 152. 
 
 pictured on Mediaeval gems, PI. 
 XXX 8?, 10, 11. 
 
 Chrysoprase, 280. 
 
 Church plate and shrines ornamented 
 with ancient gems, 156. 
 
 Ciapponi, Francesco (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 195. 
 
 Cicada engaged in human acts, on early 
 Roman gems, 104. 
 
 Cicada-seiren, on gems of Best Period, 
 57. 
 
 Circus, pictures from, on Graeco-Roman 
 gems, 116. 
 
 on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Clasped hands, “ fedi,” cut in Renais¬ 
 sance, 179. 
 
404 
 
 INDEX 
 
 attribute of Fides, 243. 
 holding a wheat-ear, symbol of 
 Conf arreatio, 118. 
 
 Classical pictures, popular on Renais¬ 
 sance gems, 172, 175, 176, 177, 
 179, 180, PI. XXX, XXXI. 
 on modern gems, 183, 185, 186, 187, 
 189, 191, 194, PI. XXXII. 
 
 Claus (modern gem engraver), 183. 
 
 Clothing, bell-shaped skirts on Minoan 
 gems, 28. 
 
 on Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 how indicated on Archaic Greek 
 gems, 38. 
 
 on Phoenician and Carthaginian 
 scarabs, 45. 
 
 costumes characteristically Persian 
 on Greek-Persian gems, 50. 
 gems of Best Period, 55, 56. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 69, 71, 72. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 87. 
 floating or transparent drapery 
 well rendered on Graeco-Roman 
 gems, 110. 
 
 floating drapery on Sassanian 
 gems, 149. 
 
 Cneph, Chnuphis, Chnumis and Chnu- 
 bis, names of the Agathodaimon, 
 138. 
 
 Cock on ship, on early Christian gems, 
 128. 
 
 Coldore, Olivier (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 178. 
 
 Collecting, romance of, 5. 
 
 revived in the Renaissance, 171. 
 became a mania in 18th Century, 
 181. 
 
 Collections and collectors, V, 4, 105, 
 171, 173, 181, 183. 
 
 Baron Stoseh, 181. 
 
 Prince Poniatowski, 191. 
 
 Combined types of deities, on early 
 Roman gems, 99, 102, 103. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 112, 119. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 Oriental-Roman, 246. 
 
 Commodus, signet of, 292. 
 
 Comnenus, signet of, 293. 
 
 Concordia, attributes, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 242. 
 
 Exercitium, 245. 
 
 Conf arreatio, symbol of, 118. 
 
 Conical seals, Asiatic, 2. 
 
 Minoan, 26. 
 
 Mycenaean, 30. 
 
 in Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Greek of Best Period, 52. 
 Hellenistic, 77. 
 
 Constantius II, signet of, 6, 127, 293. 
 Costanzi, Carlo and Giovanni (modern 
 gem engravers), 185. 
 
 Crane (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Cross, on Minoan gems, 28. 
 
 Hellenistic scarabs, 77. 
 
 Early Christian gems, 127, 128. 
 Sassanian Christian gems, 152. 
 Cult scenes, on Minoan gems, 28. 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 92, 104. 
 
 Cupid (see Eros). 
 
 Curtius, Marcus, on Early Roman 
 gems, 97. 
 how pictured, 268. 
 
 Cybele (see Rhea and Kubele). 
 Cyclopes, on Early Roman gems?, 91. 
 Cylinders, Asiatic, 1. 
 
 origin of the form, 2. 
 
 Egyptian, 2. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Greek-Persian, 48. 
 
 Greek of Best Period, 52. 
 Cynocephalus baboon, on Gnostic gems, 
 140. 
 
 Dagon, on Phoenician and Carthaginian 
 scarabs?, 47. 
 
 Daidalos, on Early Roman gems, 91. 
 how pictured, 260. 
 
 Daidalos (Hellenistic gem engraver), 
 82. 
 
 Daktyloi, attributes, cults, affiliations 
 and how pictured, 233. 
 on Early Roman gems, 91. 
 
 Dalion (Grseco-Roman gem engraver), 
 122 
 
 Danae, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 how pictured, 259. 
 
 Dea Roma, attributes, cults, affiliations 
 and how pictured, 241. 
 
 Deane (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Death’s-heads, on Early Roman gems, 
 103. 
 
 Decani, planetary genii representing?, 
 140. 
 
 Decorative designs, on Minoan gems, 
 25, 28. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 gems of the Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 Melian stones, 35, PI. Ill, 173. 
 Delphic E, a Gnostic sacred numeral 
 standing for five, 142, 145. 
 
INDEX 
 
 405 
 
 Demeter, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 (Ceres), on Grseco-Roman gems, 
 109. 
 
 on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 205. 
 
 Demons (see Monsters). 
 
 Demophoon (see Triptolemos). 
 
 Deries (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Derketo, identified with Artemis, 214; 
 with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Descriptive inscriptions, on Archaic 
 Greek gems, 43. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 58. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 65, 70, 71, 72. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 95. 
 
 Grseco-Roman gems, 120. 
 
 gems of Later Empire, 127. 
 
 Early Christian gems, 130. 
 
 Designs, on ancient gems, 16. 
 
 Dexamenos (gem engraver of Best 
 Period), 59, PI. VII, 1. 
 
 Dia (see Hebe). 
 
 Diadumenos, on Grseco-Roman gems, 
 
 112 . 
 
 Diamond, first engraved by Jacopo da 
 Trezzo or Clement Birago, 177; 
 engraved by Jacobus Thronius, 
 177. 
 
 Diamond-point, Ancient gems engraved 
 by, 14, 271, 272. 
 
 engraving as evidence of antiquity, 
 272. 
 
 used in modern forgeries, 272. 
 
 preliminary sketch made with, 274. 
 
 Diana (see Artemis). 
 
 Diana Nemorensis, on early Roman 
 gems, 92. 
 
 Dianus (see Virbius). 
 
 Dictymia, identified with Artemis, 213. 
 
 Dies (modern gem engraver), 191. 
 
 Dike (see Astraia). 
 
 Diodotos (Grseco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 123. 
 
 Diomedes (adversary of Herakles), on 
 Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 
 how pictured, 264. 
 
 Diomedes (Trojan War Cycle), on gems 
 of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89, 97. 
 
 Grseco-Roman gems, 113, 120, 121, 
 
 122 . 
 
 how pictured, 264. 
 
 Dione, mother of Aphrodite, 220. 
 
 Dionysos, on Etruscan scarabs, 66, 
 69. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 (Bacchus, Liber), on early Roman 
 gems, 98, 101, 102. 
 Grseco-Roman gems, 111, 121. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 confused with Zeus, 200. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 223. 
 
 Dioskoroi, on Archaic Greek gems, 40, 
 43. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Grseco-Roman gems, 114. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 257. 
 
 Dioskourides (Grseco-Roman gem en¬ 
 graver), 121, PL XX, 2, 5. 
 
 Dis (see Hades). 
 
 Discobolos, on Grseco-Roman gems, 113. 
 
 Disc-shaped gems, Greek Middle Ages, 
 33. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 
 Dius Fidius, relations with Herakles, 
 255. 
 
 Dog, on Mithraic gems, 133. 
 
 Dolon, on early Roman gems, 89. 
 
 Dordoni, Antonio (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 178. 
 
 Dorseh, Johann Christopher (modern 
 gem engraver), 184; daughters 
 of, also engraved gems, 184. 
 
 Doryphoros, on Grseco-Roman gems, 
 
 112 . 
 
 Dove, on early Christian gems, 128. 
 
 Dragons, on Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Drill, used in gem engraving, 272, 
 273. 
 
 Dwarf, on early Roman gems, 99. 
 
 Eagle between standards, on Grseco-Ro¬ 
 man gems, 114. 
 
 Earth-giants, on Etruscan scarabs, 67, 
 68, 70. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 
 how pictured, 252. 
 
 Egg of the World, Orphic, on Gnostic 
 gems, 146. 
 
 Egyptian, motives, on Minoan gems, 25, 
 26, 28. 
 
 deities, on Grseco-Roman gems, 119. 
 on imitations of Gnostic gems, 
 137. 
 
 on Gnostic gems, 140. 
 
 Eileithyia, identified with Artemis, 214. 
 
 Eirene (Pax) (one of the Horai), at¬ 
 tributes and how pictured, 239. 
 
 Elektra, on early Roman gems, 89. 
 
 how pictured, 259. 
 
 Eloi, as a planetary genius, 142. 
 
 Emerald, in Grseco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
406 
 
 INDEX 
 
 rarely used in Ancient times, 277. 
 ancient name of, 278. 
 
 Engelhart, Heinrich (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 175. 
 
 Engraving of gems, by sharp point of 
 harder substance, 271. 
 diamond-point used for, 272, 273, 
 274. 
 
 drill used for, 272, 273. 
 by the wheel, 273. 
 
 Naxian powder used for, 273. 
 turning mechanism used in, 274. 
 lens used in, 275. 
 polishing, 276. 
 
 Eos (Aurora), attributes and how pic¬ 
 tured, 237. 
 
 Ephesian Artemis, 213. 
 
 Epic cycles, characters and pictures 
 from, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68, 70, 74. 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 88, 90, 97. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113, 120, 121, 
 122 . 
 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 Epicureanism, voiced on early Roman 
 gems, 103. 
 
 Epimenes (Archaic Greek gem en¬ 
 graver), 44. 
 
 Epitynchanos (Graeco-Roman gem en¬ 
 graver), 123. 
 
 EratS (Muse), how pictured, 211. 
 Erinyes (see Eumenides). 
 
 Eros, on Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs?, 47. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 55. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 
 (Cupid), on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 Early Roman gems, 98, 99, 101, 
 102 . 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 113, 
 114, 122. 
 
 believed to be the figure of an 
 angel in Mediaeval times, 159. 
 common subject in Renaissance, 
 172. 
 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 222. 
 
 Eteokles, how pictured, 267. 
 Ethiopians, gems of, how engraved, 271. 
 
 arrow-heads of, 271. 
 
 Etruscan, alphabet, 66. 
 deities, 67. 
 
 spelling of Greek hero names, 254. 
 Eumenides (Erinyes), some association 
 with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 238. 
 
 Eunomia (one of the Horai), 239. 
 
 Europe, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, see PI. XXVI, 
 17. 
 
 perhaps identified with Artemis, 
 213; with Aphrodite, 219; with 
 Gaia, 234. 
 
 Euterpe (Muse), how pictured, 211. 
 
 Euthenia (Abundantia), attributes, 
 cults and how pictured, 236. 
 
 Eutyches (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 121. 
 
 Evodos (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 123, PI. XX, 11. 
 
 portrait of Julia by, preserved in 
 the Tresor de St. Denys, 156. 
 
 Exergue, Archaic Greek Period, 38. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs. 64. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 86. 
 
 Eye, characteristically rendered on Hel¬ 
 lenistic gems, 78. 
 
 Fabii, F. M. (modern gem engraver), 
 184. 
 
 Fama, attributes and how pictured, 
 
 242. 
 
 Fatalists, great names according to, 
 143. 
 
 Fates (seeMoirai). 
 
 Faunus (see Pan), 226. 
 
 Faustulus, on early Roman gems, 94. 
 
 how pictured, 267. 
 
 Felieitas, attributes and how pictured, 
 
 243. 
 
 Felix (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 
 122 . 
 
 Female figures, with bell skirts, on 
 Minoan gems, 28; on Mycenaean 
 gems, 31. 
 
 costumes of, on Greek-Persian gems, 
 50. 
 
 on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Fides, attributes and how pictured, 242. 
 
 Cohortium, 245. 
 
 Fights, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68, 74. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 90. 
 
 Fire altar, on Sassanian gems, 149, 
 150. 
 
 Fish, on early Christian gems, 128. 
 
 Sassanian Christian gems, 152. 
 
 Fisherman, on early Christian gems, 
 128. 
 
INDEX 
 
 407 
 
 Flora, Pistrucci’s, story of, 190. 
 
 (See Chloris.) 
 
 Flowers, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 150. 
 
 Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 
 Fontana, Annibale (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 177. 
 
 Fontenay, Julian de (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 178. 
 
 Foppa Caradosso (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 175. 
 
 Forgeries, lines of detection, 8. 
 
 Mycenaean and Archaic Greek 
 gems, 32. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 
 Romulus and Remus picture, 94. 
 historical scenes, 195. 
 
 Early Christian gems, 131. 
 
 Gnostic gems, 137, 145. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 152. 
 
 Renaissance, on lapis lazulis, 126, 
 180. 
 
 modern times, 181, 182, 183, 185, 
 187, 189-195. 
 
 Poniatowski, 191. 
 in the East, 194. 
 
 Forgeries of artists’ signatures, 177, 
 181, 192. 
 
 Fortuna (see Tyche). 
 
 Francia, the painter, probably a gem 
 engraver, 175. 
 
 Fraser (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Frewin (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Frog, on early Christian gems, 128. 
 Furies (see Eumenides). 
 
 Fumius di Bologna (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 175. 
 
 Gaia (Tellus), attributes, cults, affilia¬ 
 tions and how pictured, 234. 
 Gaius (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 121 . 
 
 Galba, signet of, 292. 
 
 Galene, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 how pictured, 227. 
 
 Gallic shield, on Etruscan scarabs, 
 74. 
 
 Ganymeda (see Hebe). 
 
 Ganymedes, on gems of Best Period, 58. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 attributes and how pictured, 237. 
 Garanus, relations with Herakles, 255. 
 Garnet, 284. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108, 109. 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Gasparini (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Gauls, on Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97. 
 
 Gelon (Hellenistic gem engraver), 82. 
 
 Gemini, on Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 Genii, on early Roman gems, 92, 103. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, see PI. XXIII, 
 9; XXIV, 16. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 246. 
 
 planetary, on Gnostic gems, 139; 
 explanation of, 140, 141; forms 
 of, 140, 249; names of, 140, 141, 
 142, 144. 
 
 Genre types, on Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97, 100. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 
 gems of Later Empire, 125, 126. 
 
 Genuineness, indications of, 11. 
 
 Geometrical figures, on gems of Greek 
 Middle Ages, 33. 
 
 on Gnostic gems, 146. 
 
 Georgio (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 177. 
 
 Ghingi, F. (modern gem engraver), 184. 
 
 Giaffiere (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Giants (see Earth-giants). 
 
 Ginganelli (modern gem engraver), 191. 
 
 Giovanni Maria da Mantova (Renais¬ 
 sance gem engraver), 174. 
 
 delle Carniole (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 174. 
 
 del Castel Bolognese (Renaissance 
 gem engraver), 175. 
 
 Girardet, Enrico (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 195. 
 
 Girometti (modern gem engraver), 191. 
 
 Glandular gems, Minoan, 26. 
 
 Mycenaean, 30. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Glass pastes, Mycenaean, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek, 37. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs in, 45. 
 
 Greek-Persian, 48. 
 
 in Best Period, 52. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs in, 64. 
 
 Hellenistic, 78. 
 
 Early Roman, 86, 96. 
 
 Graeco-Roman, 109. 
 
 Glaukos, on early Roman gems, 93. 
 
 how pictured, 235. 
 
 Gloria Exercitus, 245. 
 
 Romanorum, 245. 
 
 Saeculi, 245. 
 
 Gnaeus (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 122, PI. XX, 1, 4; XXI, 1. 
 
408 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Gnome, on early Roman gems, 99. 
 Gnostic gems, first appearance, 120. 
 
 ideas involved in, 136. 
 
 Gnostic, inscriptions, 136, 142, 146. 
 sects, 143. 
 genii (see Genii). 
 
 Gnosticism, character of, 134. 
 
 elements going to make up, 135. 
 principal leaders of, 135. 
 
 Gods (greater), on Minoan gems, 28. 
 Mycenaean gems, 32. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 39, 41. 
 Pythagoreans forbidden to wear, 
 *43. 
 
 on Phoenician and Carthaginian 
 scarabs, 45. 
 
 gems of the Best Period, 55. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 66, 68, 69, 71, 
 74. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 censure by Ateius Capito on wear¬ 
 ing, 88. 
 
 on early Roman gems, 88, 89, 92, 
 93, 98, 101, 102, 103. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109, 111. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Goethe, remarks about gems, VI. 
 
 Good wishes inscriptions, on gems of 
 the Best Period, 58. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 102. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 120. 
 
 Early Christian gems, 130. 
 
 Good Shepherd, on early Christian 
 gems, 129. 
 
 Anubis represented as, on Gnostic 
 gems, 140. 
 
 Gorgons, on Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 
 (See Medousa.) 
 
 Graaft, Gottfried (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 185. 
 
 Graces, how represented, 221. 
 Grasshopper (see Cicada). 
 
 “Greco II” (Renaissance gem engra¬ 
 ver), 176, PI. XXX, 13. 
 
 Grew (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Griffin, on Minoan gems?, 28. 
 Mycenaean gems, 32. 
 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 150. 
 how pictured, 250. 
 
 Grotesques, on early Roman gems, 99, 
 104. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 115. 
 
 Grylli, combinations similar to, on 
 Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 47. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 99, 104. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 118. 
 derivation of word, 118. 
 composition of, 119. 
 on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Guay, Jacques (modern gem engraver), 
 184. 
 
 Hades (Plouto), on gems of Best 
 Period, 56. 
 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 204. 
 
 Hadrian, signet of, 292. 
 
 Hair, freely rendered on Mycenaean 
 gems, 31; on Melian stones, 35. 
 how rendered on Archaic Greek 
 gems, 38; on Phoenician and 
 Carthaginian scarabs, 45; on 
 Etruscan scarabs, 70, 71, 72; on 
 Hellenistic gems, 78; on early 
 Roman gems, 87, 88, 102; on 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 110. 
 women’s, how arranged on Greek- 
 Persian gems. 50. 
 
 elaborately dressed in Sassanian 
 portraits, 150. 
 
 Handle signet shapes, Minoan, 26. 
 in Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 
 Harmonia, perhaps identified with 
 Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 mother of Aphrodite Urania, 220. 
 
 Harpies, how pictured, 251. 
 
 Harpokrates, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 119. 
 
 (Horus), attributes and how pic¬ 
 tured, 247. 
 
 Harris (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Head in hand of warrior, on Early Ro¬ 
 man gems, 90. 
 
 rising from ground, on Early Ro¬ 
 man gems, 93. 
 
 Heads, pictured on Archaic Greek gems, 
 42. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 47. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 69. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 99, 101, 105. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 
 Hebe (Juventas), attributes, cults, af¬ 
 filiations and how pictured, 236. 
 
 Hecker (modern gem engraver?), 184. 
 
INDEX 
 
 409 
 
 Hekate, on Gnostic gems, 141. 
 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 215. 
 
 Hektor, on early Roman gems, 89, 90. 
 
 how pictured, 263. 
 
 Helios, on Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 210. 
 
 Heliotrope (see Bloodstone). 
 
 Helmets, on Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 90, 104. 
 in hand of Venus Victrix, 221. 
 Hematite, 284. 
 
 Minoan Period, 25. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period and later, 37. 
 Later Roman Empire, 126. 
 used for Gnostic gems, 126, 136. 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 Hemispherical gems, Mycenaean Period?, 
 30. 
 
 Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 Greek-Persian, 48. 
 
 Greek of Best Period, 52. 
 modified forms of, in Sassanian 
 gems, 149. 
 
 Mohammedan, 154. 
 
 Hephaistos (Vulcan),on Etruscan scar¬ 
 abs, 67, 71. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 229. 
 Heptad, how represented on Gnostic 
 gems, 145. 
 
 Hera (Juno), on early Roman gems, 98. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 202. 
 relations with Syria Dea, 233. 
 Herakleidas (Hellenistic gem engra¬ 
 ver), 82. 
 
 Herakles, on Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 
 (Melkart) on Phoenician and Car¬ 
 thaginian scarabs, 46, 47. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68, 73. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89, 97. 
 (Hercules) on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 111, 112, 114, 121, 122. 
 recommended by Alexander of 
 Tralles, 162. 
 husband of Hebe, 236. 
 attributes, affiliations and how 
 represented, 254. 
 labors of, 255. 
 
 Heraldic groupings, on Minoan gems, 
 28. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 39, 41. 
 
 Hercules (see Herakles). 
 
 Hermaphrodite, idea foreshadowed on 
 Archaic Greek gems?, 39. 
 on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111. 
 attributes and how pictured, 241. 
 
 Hermes, of Praxiteles, 5. 
 
 on Archaic Greek gems, 39. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 67, 69, 71. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89 (Psycho- 
 pompos, 93), 99. 
 
 (Mercury), on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 112,‘ 114, 121. 
 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 Gnostic gems, 141. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 228. 
 
 Herms, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 Early Roman gems, 92, 98, 99, 102, 
 103. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114, 121. 
 
 Heroes, on Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 67, 70, 71, 74. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 88, 90, 97. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 112, 113, 
 114, 120, 121, 122. 
 rare on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 sometimes difficult to identify, 253. 
 Etruscan spelling of Greek names 
 of, 254. 
 
 Herophilos (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 121. 
 
 Hestia (Vesta), attributes and how pic¬ 
 tured, 207. 
 
 Hieroglyphics, on Minoan gems, 25, 26, 
 27. 
 
 Hilaritas, attributes and how pictured, 
 243. 
 
 Hill (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Hills, J. (modem gem engraver), 
 188. 
 
 Hippodameia, perhaps identified with 
 Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Hippokamps, on Archaic Greek gems, 
 41. 
 
 how pictured, 250. 
 
 Hippokrates, opinion as to amulets, 
 162. 
 
 Hippolectryon, in Graeco-Roman grylli, 
 119. 
 
410 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Historical scenes, on early Roman gems, 
 91, 94. 
 
 Renaissance gems, 176. 
 
 Holland (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Honos, attributes and how pictured, 
 243. 
 
 Horai, on Graeco-Roman gems, 111. 
 names of, how pictured, 239. 
 
 Horatii, on early Roman gems, 91. 
 how pictured, 268. 
 
 Horoscopes, influence of astronomical 
 signs on, 169. 
 
 Horsemen, on Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 90, 97. 
 
 Horus, on Graeco-Roman gems, 119. 
 Gnostic gems, 140. 
 in arms of Isis believed, in Me¬ 
 diaeval times, to be infant Christ 
 in arms of the Virgin, 159. 
 
 (See Harpokrates.) 
 
 Hours (see Horai). 
 
 Human figures, on Minoan gems, 24; 
 wasp-waisted, 27. 
 on Mycenaean gems, 29; how rep¬ 
 resented, 31; wasp-waisted, 31. 
 on gems of Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 on Melian stones, 35. 
 how represented in Archaic Greek 
 Period, 38, 39, 42. 
 on Phoenician and Carthaginian 
 scarabs, 47. 
 
 how represented in Best Period, 53, 
 57. 
 
 on Etruscan scarabs, 69, 70, 71, 
 72, 74. 
 
 in Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 on early Roman gems under 
 Etruscan influence, 87; under 
 Hellenistic influence, 96, 97; 
 under combining influences, 
 101 . 
 
 Human sacrifice, characteristic in most 
 old Italian cults, 91. 
 
 Humorous conceptions, on early Roman 
 gems, 99. 
 
 Hunting scenes, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 47. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 58. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 150. 
 
 Hyakinthos (Hyacinthus), on Etruscan 
 scarabs, 68. 
 how pictured, 259. 
 
 Hydaspes, King of Ethiopia, ring given 
 by, to Charikleia, 288. 
 
 Hygeia, attributes, affiliation and how 
 pictured, 231. 
 
 Hyllos (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 121, PI. XX, 3, 14. 
 
 Hypnos, on Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 102. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 113. 
 relations with Hermes, 228. 
 attributes and how pictured, 235. 
 
 Iacchos (see Dionysos). 
 
 Iao (the ineffable name of the Jews, 
 given to Abraxas), 138. 
 as a planetary genius, 142. 
 
 Ibis, sacred to Thoth, on Gnostic gems, 
 140, 247. 
 
 Ikaros, on early Roman gems, 91. 
 
 how pictured, 260. 
 
 Ikelos (one of the Oneiroi), 236. 
 Ildabaoth, as a planetary genius, 140, 
 143. 
 
 Implements, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 Inscriptions, on ancient gems, 18. 
 Minoan gems, 24-28. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 gems of Best Period, 58. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 65, 70, 71, 72. 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 95, 101, 102. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 120. 
 gems of Later Empire, 127, 130. 
 Early Christian gems, 130. 
 
 Mithraic gems, 134. 
 
 Gnostic gems, 136, 142-146. 
 Gnostic added on earlier gems, 146. 
 on Byzantine gems, 148. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 150, 151. 
 
 Greek on Persian gems under Par¬ 
 thian supremacy, 151. 
 
 Pehlevi, 151. 
 
 on Sassanian Christian gems, 152. 
 Mohammedan gems, 153, 154. 
 Rabbinical gems, 154. 
 Interpretations, of subjects on ancient 
 gems in Mediaeval times, 158. 
 Iphigeneia, on early Roman gems, 97. 
 
 identified with Artemis, 214. 
 
 Iris, attributes and how pictured, 237. 
 Ishtar, identified with Aphrodite, 219. 
 Isidore, story of, told by Palladius, 147. 
 Isis, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
INDEX 
 
 411 
 
 on early Roman gems, 98. 
 with Homs believed, in Mediaeval 
 times, to represent Virgin and 
 infant Christ, 159. 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 247. 
 
 Isler, Luigi (modem gem engraver), 
 193. 
 
 Ismenias the flute-player, story of, 54. 
 signet of, 287. 
 
 Ixion, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 how pictured, 260. 
 
 Janus, attributes and how pictured, 
 240. 
 
 Jason, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 how pictured, 259. 
 
 Jasper, 280. 
 
 Minoan Period, 25. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 48. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman Period, 101. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 125. 
 used for Mithraic gems, 132. 
 used for Gnostic gems, 136. 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 used for Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 in Mediaeval Europe, 108. 
 
 Jeuffroy (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Jugurtha, surrender of, pictured, 94. 
 Juno (see Hera). 
 
 Juno, on early Roman gems, 98. 
 
 Juno Sospita, cult of, 104. 
 
 Jupiter (see Zeus). 
 
 Jupiter Belus, 112. 
 
 Juventas (see Hebe). 
 
 Kabeiroi, on early Roman gems?, 91. 
 associated with Hekate in Samo- 
 thrac-e, 215. 
 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 233. 
 
 Kadmos, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 how pictured, 260. 
 
 Kallikratgs, signet of, 288. 
 
 Kalliope (Muse), how pictured, 211. 
 Kapaneus, on Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 how pictured, 266. 
 
 Kassandra, on early Roman gems, 97. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 how pictured, 265. 
 
 Kastor, on Archaic Greek gems, 40, 43. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 how pictured, 257. 
 
 Kentauri (see Centaurs). 
 
 Kerberos (Cerberus), pictured with 
 Herakles on Archaic Greek gems, 
 40; on Early Roman gems, 97. 
 pictured with Hades, 205. 
 how represented, 252. 
 
 Kirk (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Klearchos, signet of, 287. 
 
 Kleio (Muse), how pictured, 211. 
 
 Kleon? (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 
 122 . 
 
 Kleopatra, signet of, 237, 292. 
 
 Klotho (one of the Fates), how pic¬ 
 tured, 238. 
 
 Klytaimnestra, on early Roman gems, 
 89. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 how pictured, 259. 
 
 Koinos (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 123. 
 
 Kore (see Persephone). 
 
 Kouretes, attributes, cults, affiliations, 
 233. 
 
 Kubele (Cybele), on early Roman gems, 
 98. 
 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 232. 
 
 (See Rhea.) 
 
 Kyknos, pictured with Herakles, 256, 
 257. 
 
 Kyrene, gem engravers of, 54. 
 
 (nymph), identified with Artemis, 
 214. 
 
 Lachesis (one of the Fates), how pic¬ 
 tured, 238. 
 
 Landi, Domenico (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 183. 
 
 Lane (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Lanzi, Antonio and Virginio (modern 
 gem engravers), 195, PI. XXXII, 
 4, 5, 14. 
 
 Laokoon, on Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 Early Roman gems, 90. 
 how pictured, 266. 
 
 Lapidaria, Mediaeval, 162. 
 
 Lapis Lazuli, 284. 
 
 implied occurrence in Archaic 
 Greek Period, 37. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 may be looked for on general prin- 
 
412 
 
 INDEX 
 
 ciples in Graeco-Roman Period, 
 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 used in Renaissance, 126, 174, 
 180. 
 
 Law (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Lebas, Paul (modem gem engraver), 
 193. 
 
 “ L’Ebreo ” (modern gem engraver), 
 
 187. 
 
 Leehevrelle (modern gem engraver), 
 193. 
 
 Leda, on early Roman gems, 102. 
 
 with swan, supposed, in Mediaeval 
 times, to represent the Holy 
 Ghost descending on Mary in the 
 form of a dove, 159. 
 how pictured, 261. 
 
 Lefevre (modern gem engraver), 193. 
 
 Legionary cognizances, 114. 
 
 Lehmann (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Lens, how used in gem engraving, 275. 
 
 Lenticular gems, Minoan, 26. 
 Mycenaean, 30. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Lentulus, Publius Lentulus Sura, sig¬ 
 net of, 291. 
 
 Leo, on Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 Leonardo da Milano, perhaps Leonardo 
 da Vinci (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 174. 
 
 Leoni, Leone (Renaissance gem engra¬ 
 ver), 176. 
 
 Leto, on Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 how pictured, 216. 
 
 Liber (see Dionysos). 
 
 Libertas, attributes and how pictured, 
 243. 
 
 Libra, on Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 Libya, on early Roman gems, 99. 
 attributes and how pictured, 242. 
 
 Linear characters, on Minoan gems, 25, 
 27, 28. 
 
 Lion, on Mithraic gems,-132. 
 
 Loadstone, in Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 
 Locust (see Cicada). 
 
 Logan (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Longobards, use of ancient gems by, 
 156. 
 
 Lucina (see Selene). 
 
 Lucius (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 
 122 . 
 
 Luck-bringing devices, on Phoenician 
 and Carthaginian scarabs, 46, 47. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 66, 69. 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 95, 99, 103, 
 104. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 116, 118. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Lupus, Q. Cornelius, signet of, 94, 289. 
 
 Lykomedes (Hellenistic gem engraver), 
 81. 
 
 Lyre, on early Christian gem, 127. 
 
 Ma, identified with Artemis, 214. 
 
 Macceroni, Mariano (modem gem en¬ 
 graver), 195, PI. XXXII, 2, 3. 
 
 Machaon, on early Roman gems, 89. 
 how pictured, 263. 
 
 Madonna, on Mediseval gems, 161, PI. 
 XXX, 11. 
 
 Maecenas, Caius Cilnius, signet of, 291. 
 
 Magical virtues in precious stones, 137. 
 attributed to ancient gems in 
 Mediaeval Europe, 137, 155. 
 
 Magna Mater (see Rhea and Kubele). 
 
 Magus, Simon, early proponent of 
 Gnostic ideas, 135. 
 
 Mainads (Bacchantes), on gems of Best 
 Period, 56. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 98, 102. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111. 
 attributes, associations and how 
 pictured, 227. 
 
 Malachite, 284. 
 
 Manes or Manichseus, Gnostic philoso¬ 
 pher, 135. 
 
 Marble, 285. 
 
 Marbodus, subjects recommended by, 
 
 159. 
 
 Marcellus, signet of, 6, 84, 289. 
 
 Marcia, daughter of Stilicho, signet of, 
 293. 
 
 Marchant (modern gem engraver), 188, 
 PI. XXXII, 17. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius, portrait of, believed 
 in Mediaeval times to be portrait 
 of Christ, 157. 
 
 Marcus Curtius, on early Roman gems, 
 97. 
 
 how represented, 268. 
 
 Maria Feodorowna, Grand Duchess, en¬ 
 graved gems, 188. 
 
 Marmitas, the (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 gravers), 176. 
 
 Mars, on early Roman gems, 94. 
 
 (See Ares.) 
 
 Marsyas, on gems of Best Period, 55. 
 Early Roman gems, 97. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 how pictured, 226. 
 
 Masagno, Alessandro (Renaissance gem 
 
INDEX 
 
 413 
 
 engraver), 178. 
 
 Masini (modern gem engraver), 184, 
 188. 
 
 Masks, on Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 100. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109, (com¬ 
 binations of, 116). 
 and combined masks, on gems of 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 three combined supposed in Middle 
 Ages to typify the Trinity, 159. 
 
 Materials, of ancient gems, 11. 
 
 Minoan gems, 24, 25. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 29, 30. 
 
 gems of the Greek Middle Ages, 32. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 37. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 48. 
 
 Greek gems of Best Period, 52. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 64. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 78. 
 
 Early Roman gems under Etruscan 
 influence, 86. 
 
 under Hellenistic influence, 96. 
 under combining influences, 101. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 108. 
 
 Later Empire gems, 125. 
 
 Mithraic gems, 132. 
 
 Gnostic gems, 136. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 
 Mediaeval gems, 168. 
 
 Maurices, the (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 gravers), 179. 
 
 Mauritius, signet of, 293. 
 
 Medeia, on Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 how pictured, 260. 
 
 Medici, as collectors of gems, 173. 
 
 Medousa, or head of, on Melian stones, 
 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 mask on Phoenician and Cartha¬ 
 ginian scarabs, 46. 
 on Etruscan scarabs, 68, 74. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89, 97. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114, 120. 
 how pictured, 238. 
 
 Meleagros (Meleager), how pictured, 
 258. 
 
 Melete (one of the three early Muses), 
 
 210 . 
 
 Melikertes, cults and how pictured, 234. 
 
 Melkart, identified with Herakles, 47, 
 255. 
 
 Melpomene (Muse), on Graeco-Roman 
 gems, 122. 
 
 how pictured, 211. 
 
 Memnon possibly pictured with Eos, 
 237; with Thanatos, 235. 
 
 Menelaos, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 how pictured, 265. 
 
 Menes, seal of, 2. 
 
 Mercury (see Hermes). 
 
 Methe, on early Roman gems, 102. 
 attributes and how pictured, 237. 
 
 Michel (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Michelino (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 174. 
 
 Milton, J. (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Minerva, sign of the Flavian princes, 
 118. 
 
 (See Athena.) 
 
 Minoan, meaning of term, 23. 
 datings, 24. 
 
 Minotaur, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 122. 
 how pictured, 258. 
 
 Miseron (Renaissance gem engravers), 
 179. 
 
 Misuronis, the (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 gravers), 177. 
 
 Mithraic brotherhood, 132. 
 
 initiations, 132, (gems illustrating, 
 133), 134. 
 
 Mithras and Mithrasism, 131. 
 
 identified with other deities, 132. 
 resemblance of Mithrasism to 
 Christianity, 132. 
 how represented on gems, 133. 
 initiatory ceremonies suggested on 
 gems, 133. 
 
 adoption of Mithrasism in Gnostic 
 sects, 134. 
 
 identified with Helios, 210. 
 attributes and how pictured, 248. 
 
 Mitra, on Mithraic gems?, 133. 
 
 Mneme (one of the three early Muses), 
 
 211 . 
 
 Mnesarchos of Samos (Archaic Greek 
 gem engraver), 43. 
 
 Mochi, Stefano (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 179. 
 
 Mohammedan gems, 153. 
 
 Moirai (Parcae), associated with Arte¬ 
 mis, 214. 
 
 some association with Aphrodite, 
 219. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 238. 
 
 Mondella (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 174. 
 
 Monicca (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 179. 
 
 Monsters or demons, on Minoan gems, 
 25, 28. 
 
414 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 32. 
 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 40, 41. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 46, 47. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 66, 69, 74. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 as magic working figures, 249. 
 
 Moon, on Sassanian gems, 150. 
 
 Moonstone, 284. 
 
 Moretti, Marco Attio (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 175. 
 
 Morpheus, attributes, cults, affiliations 
 and how pictured, 236. 
 
 Mottoes, on gems of Best Period, 58. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 120. 
 
 Early Christian gems, 130. 
 
 Mucius Scsevola (see Scsevola). 
 
 Mummy encoiled by serpent, on Gnostic 
 gems, 141. 
 
 Muses, on early Roman gems, 99. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 122. 
 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 210. 
 
 Musicians, wearing of rings by, 54. 
 
 Mycenaean, meaning of term, 23. 
 
 Myk5n (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 123. 
 
 Mylitta, identified with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Naiads, attributes and how pictured, 
 227. 
 
 Names, of deities on Gnostic gems, 142- 
 146. 
 
 of Gnostic genii, powers, etc., 142- 
 146. 
 
 whether of artists or owners, 
 points in passing upon, 61, 124. 
 
 Names of owners, 18. 
 
 on Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 58. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 95, 101, 102. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 120 (or artists, 
 124). 
 
 Early Christian gems, 130. 
 
 Narkissos (Narcissus), on Graeco-Ro¬ 
 man gems, 114. 
 
 Nassaro, Matteo del (Renaissance gem 
 % engraver), 176. 
 
 Natalis, Flaminius (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 178. 
 
 Natter, Lorenz < modern gem engraver), 
 185. 
 
 Nature myths, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 Nausias (gem engraver of Best Period), 
 61. 
 
 Naxian powder, cutting medium used in 
 gem engraving, 273. 
 used to polish gems, 276. 
 
 Negri, Ottavio (modern gem engraver), 
 193, PI. XXXII, 9. 
 
 Negro slaves, on Archaic Greek gems, 
 42. 
 
 on gems of Best Period, 57. 
 Nemesis, on early Roman gems, 99, 101, 
 102. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 216. 
 
 some association with Aphrodite, 
 219; with Psyche, 223. 
 Neoptolemos, how pictured, 265. 
 Neptune (see Poseidon). 
 
 Nereids, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 114, 122. 
 attributes, associations and how 
 pictured, 227. 
 
 Nero, ring presented by Sporus to, 292. 
 Nessos, how pictured, 250. 
 
 Nestorian Christians in Persia, 152. 
 Nichini, Francesco (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 174. 
 
 Nicolo, 282. 
 
 Early Roman Period, 86, 101. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 125. 
 
 Nikandros (Hellenistic gem engraver), 
 82. 
 
 Nike, on Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 gems of Best Period, 55. 
 
 (Victory), on early Roman gems, 
 99, ‘ 101, 102. 
 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 113, 
 114, 123. 
 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Early Christian gems, 129. 
 Sassanian gems, 149. 
 believed, in Mediaeval times, to 
 be the figure of an angel, 129, 
 159. 
 
 attributes, affiliations and how 
 pictured, 218. 
 
 Nossop (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 Numerals, sacred and lucky, on Gnostic 
 gems, 145. 
 
 as expressed on Gnostic gems, 146. 
 Nymphs, on Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 102, 121, 122. 
 
INDEX 
 
 415 
 
 attributes, associations and how 
 pictured, 227. 
 
 Obscene pictures, on Hellenistic gems, 
 81. 
 
 on early Roman gems, 98. 
 
 Oceanus (see Okeanos). 
 
 Odelli (modern gem engraver), 191. 
 
 Odysseus, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89, 97. 
 (Ulysses) Grgeco-Roman gems, 113, 
 122 . 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 264. 
 signet of, 286. 
 
 Oidipous (GMipus), on early Roman 
 gems, 89. 
 
 pictured with Sphinx, 261. 
 
 Okeanids, associations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 227. 
 
 Okeanos (Oceanus),on Hellenistic gems, 
 80. 
 
 how pictured, 234. 
 
 Olympios (gem engraver of Best Pe¬ 
 riod), 60, 61, PI. IX, 4. 
 
 Omphale, on early Roman gems, 97. 
 how pictured, 256. 
 
 Onatas (gem engraver of Best Period), 
 60, PI. IX, 13. 
 
 Oneiroi (Dreams), names of and how 
 appearing, 236. 
 
 Onesas (Hellenistic gem engraver), 82, 
 PI. XIV, 14. 
 
 Onyx, 281. 
 
 Ophites, schema of, 142. 
 
 doctrine of, according to Hippoli- 
 tus, 143. 
 
 great names according to, 143. 
 
 Oracular divination scenes, on early 
 Roman gems, 92. 
 
 Orai, as a planetary genius, 142. 
 
 Orcus (see Hades). 
 
 Orestes, on early Roman gems, 89, 
 97. 
 
 Grgeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 how pictured, 259. 
 signet of, 286. 
 
 Orpheus, head of, on early Roman gems, 
 93. 
 
 how pictured, 258. 
 
 Orphic cult, voiced on early Roman 
 gems, 91, 93. 
 cosmogony, 118. 
 ideas on Gnostic gems, 146. 
 
 Orthryades, on early Roman gems, 91. 
 how pictured, 262. 
 
 Osiris, on later gems masquerading as 
 Gnostic, 137, 141. 
 
 Paintings, copied on ancient gems, 4. 
 
 on gems of Best Period, 51. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 71. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 79. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 103. 
 
 Grseco-Roman gems, 112, 113. 
 
 Palaimon, identified with Melikertes, 
 234. 
 
 Palamedes, on early Roman gems, 89. 
 
 Palladium, theft of, on early Roman 
 gems, 89. 
 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 113, 120, 
 
 122 . 
 
 Palladius, his story of Abba Macarius, 
 147. 
 
 Pallas, signet of, 292. 
 
 Palm branch, on early Christian gems, 
 128. 
 
 Pamphilos (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 122, PI. XX, 15. 
 
 Pan, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 (Faunus), on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 
 112 . 
 
 attributes, affiliations and how 
 pictured, 226. 
 
 Pantheistic figures, on early Roman 
 gems, 103. 
 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 112. 
 
 246. 
 
 Paradise of the Holy Fathers, story 
 from, 147. 
 
 Parcae (see Moirai). 
 
 Paris, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 how pictured, 266. 
 
 Parthenopaios, on Etruscan scarabs, to 
 be identified only by name, 267. 
 
 Pasiphae, probably identified with Aph¬ 
 rodite, 219. 
 
 how pictured, 261. 
 
 Passiglia (modern gem engraver), 187. 
 
 Patroklos, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 
 how pictured, 265. 
 
 Pax, on early Roman gems, 102. 
 
 (See Eirene.) 
 
 Payne Knight, Richard, and Pistrucci’s 
 “ Flora,” 190. 
 
 Peacock, as an Orphic symbol on early 
 Roman gems, 94. 
 
 Peart (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Pegasos, on Minoan gems?, 28. 
 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 
416 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Sassanian gems, 150. 
 how pictured, 251. 
 
 Pehlevi alphabet, 151. 
 inscriptions, 151. 
 
 Peleus, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Penates, attributes and how pictured, 
 245. 
 
 Penelope, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Pentad, how represented on Gnostic 
 gems, 145. 
 
 Penthesileia, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 how pictured, 263. 
 
 Peratai, great names according to the, 
 143. 
 
 Peridot, 283. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Peri-Lithon, Orphic book on the magical 
 properties of stones, 137. 
 
 Perriciuole (Renaissance gem engra¬ 
 ver), 179. 
 
 Persephone (Kore, Proserpina),on gems 
 of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 93. 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 206. 
 
 identified with Hekate, 215. 
 affiliated with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Perseus, on Melian stones, 35. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89, 97. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 attributes and how pictured, 258. 
 
 Peruzzi (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 173. 
 
 Pescia, Piero Maria da (Renaissance 
 gem engraver), 174, PI. XXX, 2. 
 
 Phaidra, possibly identified with Aph¬ 
 rodite, 219. 
 
 Phanakes, an Oriental deity identified 
 with Mithras, 132. 
 
 Phantasos (one of the Oneiroi), 236. 
 
 Pharnakes (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 123. 
 
 Phedias (Hellenistic gem engraver), 82, 
 PI. XV, 14. 
 
 Philemon (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 122. 
 
 Philoktetes, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 90. 
 how pictured, 263. 
 
 Philon (Hellenistic gem engraver), 82. 
 
 Philosophers, on Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 Early Roman gems, 97, 103. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 115. 
 
 Phocas, signet of, 293. 
 
 Phoibe (see Selene). 
 
 Phrygillos (gem engraver of Best Pe¬ 
 riod), 55, 60, 61, PI. VII, 4. 
 
 Pichler, Anton (modern gem engraver), 
 183. 
 
 Johann (modern gem engraver), 
 186, PI. XXXII, 16. 
 
 Luigi (modern gem engraver), 
 189, PI. XXXII, 11, 22. 
 
 Pictographs, on Minoan gems, 24, 25, 
 27. 
 
 Pierres d’Israel, 137, 158, 162. 
 
 Pietas, attributes and how pictured, 
 244. 
 
 Pingo (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Pippo Santo Croce (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 177. 
 
 Pisces, on Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 Pistis Sophia, sole remaining Gnostic 
 gospel, 135, 141, 142. 
 great names according to the, 143, 
 145. 
 
 interpretations of names according 
 to the, 145. 
 
 Pistrucci, Benedetto (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 189. 
 
 his story of the Payne Knight 
 “Flora,” 190. 
 wonderful eyesight of, 276. 
 
 Elina and Elisa (modern gem en¬ 
 gravers), 193. 
 
 Planetary genii, on Gnostic gems, 139. 
 explanation of, 140. 
 forms of, 140, 249. 
 names of, 140, 142-144. 
 
 Plasma, 279. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period and later, 37. 
 unique Etruscan scarab in, 64. 
 Early Roman Period?, 86. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 125. 
 used for Gnostic gems, 136. 
 
 Pliny the Younger, signet of, 292. 
 
 Plouto (see Hades). 
 
 Polish, of ancient gems, 13. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 38, 44. 
 
 Best Period, 53. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 65, 72. 
 Hellenistic Period, 79. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 14. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 14. 
 gems of Later Empire, 14. 
 reason for higher, on backs of an¬ 
 cient gems, 156. 
 gems of Renaissance, 172, 175. 
 modern gems, 187, 189. 
 means used to, 276. 
 
INDEX 
 
 417 
 
 Pollux (see Polydeukes). 
 
 Polo, Dominico di (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 176. 
 
 Polydeukes (Pollux), on Archaic Greek 
 gems, 40, 43. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 how pictured, 257. 
 
 Polyeidos, on early Roman gems, 93. 
 
 Polykleitos (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 122. 
 
 Polykrates of Samos, ring of, 43, 286. 
 
 Polymnia (Muse), how pictured, 211. 
 
 Polyneikes, how pictured, 267. 
 
 Polyxene, how pictured, 265. 
 
 Pomona, attributes and how pictured, 
 240. 
 
 Pompeius, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, 
 signet of, 290. 
 
 Poniatowski Collection, VI, 191, PI. 
 XXXII, 21. 
 
 Porphyry, 285. 
 
 in Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Portraits, in Best Period, 57. 
 
 of Alexander the Great, 57; edict 
 allowing only Pyrgoteles to cut 
 his likeness, 57. 
 
 in Hellenistic Period, busts, 79. 
 Early Roman, 100, 105. 
 in Graeco-Roman Period, 109, 115; 
 of rulers with divine attributes, 
 116, 119; of Augustus and De¬ 
 mosthenes by Dioskourides, 121; 
 Cameo of Tiberius by Herophilos, 
 121; of Sextus Pompey by Aga- 
 thangelos, 121; of Julia by 
 Evodos, 122. 
 
 under Later Empire, 125, 127, 130; 
 of Commodus and of Constantius 
 II, hunting, 127. 
 
 of Christ on early Christian gems, 
 129. 
 
 on Byzantine gems, 129, 148. 
 Sassanian gems, 150. 
 of Christ on Sassanian Christian 
 gems, 152. 
 
 of Marcus Aurelius, believed in Me¬ 
 diaeval times to be of Christ, 157. 
 of Caracalla, believed in Mediaeval 
 times to be of St. Peter, 159. 
 on Mediaeval gems, 160, 161. 
 Renaissance gems, 175, 176, 177, 
 178, 179, 180. 
 
 modern gems, 183, 184, 185, 186. 
 
 Portunus, identified with Melikertes, 
 234. 
 
 Poseidon, on Phoenician and Cartha¬ 
 ginian scarabs?, 47. 
 
 on Etruscan scarabs, 66, 71. 
 
 (Neptune), on early Roman gems, 
 101, 103. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 112. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 203. 
 
 Powers, Astral (see Genii). 
 
 Pownall, W. and T. (modern gem en¬ 
 gravers), 188. 
 
 Preissler (modern gem engraver), 184. 
 
 Priamos (Priam), on early Roman 
 gems, 89. 
 
 how pictured, 262. 
 
 Priapos, on gems of Best Period?, 56. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 102. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 238. 
 
 Prism shaped gems, Minoan, 24, 
 25. 
 
 Mycenaean, 29. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Greek-Persian, 48. 
 
 Greek of Best Period, 52. 
 
 Hellenistic, 77. 
 
 Graeco-Roman, 110. 
 
 Prometheus, on Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 91. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 
 how pictured, 261. 
 
 Proserpina (see Persephone). 
 
 Prospero delle Camiole (Renaissance 
 gem engraver), 174. 
 
 Protarchos (Hellenistic gem engraver), 
 83. 
 
 Providentia, Deorum, attributes and 
 how pictured, 244. 
 
 Augusti, 245. 
 
 Psyche, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 98, 102. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111. 
 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 222. 
 
 Ptolemaios VIII, signet given by, to 
 Lucullus, 288. 
 
 Pudicitia, how pictured, 244. 
 
 Pylades, how pictured, 259. 
 
 Pyrgoteles (gem engraver of Best Pe¬ 
 riod), 57, 62. 
 
 Pyrrhos, gem of, 288. 
 
 Pythagoreans, forbidden to wear por¬ 
 trait of a god, 43. 
 
 Quintus (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 
 122 . 
 
 Ragael, reputed author of lapidaria, 
 162. 
 
418 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Rectangular gems, in Greek Middle 
 Ages, 33. 
 
 Rega (modern gem engraver), 187, PI. 
 XXXII, 18. 
 
 Reisen, Christian (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 183. 
 
 Religious pictures, on early Christian 
 gems, 129. 
 
 Byzantine gems, 148. 
 
 Sassanian Christian gems, 152. 
 
 Mediaeval gems, 159, PI. XXX, 8, 
 
 10 , 11 . 
 
 Renaissance gems, 175, 176. 
 
 Remus, how pictured, 267. 
 
 Renton (modern gem engraver), 193. 
 
 Resurrection pictures, on early Roman 
 gems, 93. 
 
 Rex Nemorensis, on early Roman gems, 
 92. 
 
 Rey, Suzon (Renaissance gem engra¬ 
 ver), 179. 
 
 Rhea, on Minoan gems ?, PI. I, 5. 
 
 (Kubele, Cybele, Magna Mater), 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 231. 
 relations with Syria Dea, 233. 
 
 Ricci (modern gem engraver), 184. 
 
 Ring-stones, Archaic Greek, 37. 
 
 Greek of Best Period, 51. 
 
 Hellenistic, 77. 
 
 Early Roman, 85, 86. 
 
 Graeco-Roman, 109. 
 
 Later Empire, 123. 
 
 Sassanian, 149. 
 
 Mohammedan, 154. 
 
 Rings, early Roman, cut in metal, 
 84. 
 
 Ring wearing, great increase of, in 
 Grseco-Roman Period, 107. 
 
 River-gods, on Etruscan scarabs, 73. 
 
 on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 99. 
 
 how pictured, 251. 
 
 Rock-crystal, 283. 
 
 Minoan Period, 25. 
 
 Mycensean Period, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 48. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Grseco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 
 Mediaeval times, 159, 160. 
 
 Renaissance, 175, 176, 177, 179. 
 
 Roma, on early Roman gems, 94. 
 
 Romulus and Remus, on early Roman 
 gems, 94. 
 
 how pictured, 267. 
 
 Rossi, Giovanni Antonio dei (Renais¬ 
 sance gem engraver), 177. 
 Girolamo (modern gem engraver), 
 184. 
 
 Rubies, used rarely for Mohammedan 
 gems, 154. 
 
 used in Mediaeval times, 161. 
 used in Renaissance, 174, 178, 179. 
 rarely, if ever, used in ancient 
 times, 277. 
 
 Rufus (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 123. 
 
 Rural scenes and characters, on Minoan 
 gems, 25. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 47. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 95, 97. 
 Grseco-Roman gems, 114. 
 
 S, triple, transversed by bar, on Gnostic 
 gems, 139. 
 
 Saadi, Najib (modern gem engraver), 
 194. 
 
 Sabao, as a planetary genius, 142. 
 
 Sabaoth, title of Abraxas god, 138. 
 
 Sabazios, identified with Dionysos and 
 Zeus, 224. 
 
 relations with Rhea-Cybele and At- 
 tis, 224. 
 attribute, 224. 
 
 Sacerdotal scenes, on Mycensean gems, 
 31. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 66. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 92. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Sacramental table, on Gnostic gems, 
 140. 
 
 Salus, attributes and how pictured, 244. 
 
 Sancus, relations with Herakles, 255. 
 
 Santarilli (modern gem engraver), 188. 
 
 Santini, A. (modern gem engraver), 
 184. 
 
 Santo Croce, Philippo or Pippo (Renais¬ 
 sance gem engraver), 177. 
 
 Sapphire, Grseco-Roman Period, 108. 
 Later Empire, 127. 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 used in Mediaeval times, 161. 
 used in Renaissance, 178. 
 rarely used in ancient times, 277. 
 
 Sard, 278. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman Period, 86. 96, 101. 
 Grseco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 
INDEX 
 
 419 
 
 used for Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 Sardonyx, 282. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 
 Best Period, 52. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 64. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman Period, 86, 101. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Later Empire, 126. 
 
 used for Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Sate, as Juno, on Gnostic gems, 141. 
 Saturn, attributes, affiliations and how 
 pictured, 240. 
 
 Saturninus (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 123. 
 
 Satyrs, on gems of Best Period, 56. 
 Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 98, 102. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 122. 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 225. 
 
 Savonarola, portrait of, 174. 
 
 Scaevola, Mueius, on early Roman gems, 
 91. 
 
 how represented, 268. 
 
 Scaliger, comments on horoscopes, 169. 
 Scaraboids, Minoan suggestion of, 26. 
 in Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 
 Melian, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek, 36, 37. 
 Greek-Persian, 48. 
 
 Asiatic Greek of Best Period, 50. 
 Greek of Best Period, 50, 51. 
 Scarabs, Egyptian, 2. 
 
 motives from Egyptian, found on 
 Minoan gems, 25, 26, 28. 
 in Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 
 Melian, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek, 36, 37; carelessly 
 finished and base ornamentation 
 lacking, 37, 44. 
 
 Greek for Etruscans, 44. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian, 45. 
 Greek of Best Period, 51. 
 
 Etruscan, 63; elaborately finished 
 and base ornamented, 63; forms 
 of, 64; made as ornaments, 65, 
 72. 
 
 Hellenistic with Egyptian symbols, 
 77. 
 
 Early Roman, 85, 86. 
 
 Schwargen, Christopher (Renaissance 
 gem engraver), 178. 
 
 Scipio Africanus, signet of, 290. 
 
 Scipio, Gnseus, signet of, 290. 
 
 Scorpio, on Graeco-Roman, gems, 117. 
 birth sign of Tiberius, 118. 
 
 Sculpture (see Statues). 
 
 Seal, of Hospitallers of Venice, 157. 
 of monks of Durham, 157. 
 of Spartan government, 288. 
 
 Seals of the Florentines, 161. 
 
 Seasons (see Horai). 
 
 Seaton (modern gem engraver), 183. 
 
 Securitas, how pictured, 244. 
 
 Augusta, 245. 
 
 Seilenos, on Archaic Greek gems, 40, 41. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 46. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 73. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 98, 102. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111. 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 225. 
 
 Seilenos-Besa mask, in Graeco-Roman 
 grylli, 119, 225. 
 
 Seirens, on Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 47. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 how pictured, 251. 
 
 Selene (Phoibe, Lucina), attributes, af¬ 
 filiations and how pictured, 214. 
 
 Seleukos, signet of, 288. 
 
 Semon (Archaic Greek gem engraver?), 
 44, PI. IV, 19. 
 
 Serapis, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 114, 119. 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 confused with Christ by Gnostics 
 and others, 129. 
 on Gnostic gems, 141. 
 believed, in Mediaeval times, to be 
 the portrait of Christ, 157, 159. 
 identified with Zeus, 201; with 
 Hades, 205. 
 attributes of, 201. 
 
 Serpent, on Mithraie gems, 133. 
 
 with tail in mouth, on Gnostic 
 gems, 141. 
 
 Serpentine, 284. 
 
 Minoan Period, 25. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 30. 
 included under “ soft materials ” in 
 Greek Middle Ages, 32; and in 
 Melian revival, 34. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Severo da Ravenna (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 175. 
 
 Shales, 285. 
 
 Shapes or forms, of ancient gems, 12. 
 
420 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Minoan gems, 24, 25, 26. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 29, 30. 
 
 gems of Greek Middle Ages, 32. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 36, 37. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian gems, 
 45. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 48. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 51. 
 
 Etruscan gems, 63. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 77. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 86, 96, 101. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109. 
 
 Later Empire gems, 125. 
 
 Gnostic gems, 136. 
 
 Byzantine gems, 148. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 
 Renaissance gems, 172. 
 
 Shepherds with pedums believed, in 
 Mediaeval times, to be representa¬ 
 tions of abbots bearing their 
 crooks, 159. 
 
 Ships, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 104. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 Early Christian gems, 128. 
 
 Signatures of ancient gem engravers, 
 18. 
 
 (See Artists.) 
 
 points in determining whether 
 name is of artist or owner, 61, 
 124. 
 
 Signets of Julius Caesar, 6, 291; Con¬ 
 stantins II, 6, 127, 293; Lucius 
 Scipio Barbatus, 6, 289; Mareel- 
 lus, 6, 84, 289; Sulla, 94, 290; 
 Quintus Cornelius Lupus, 94, 
 289; Charlemagne, 157; Pepin le 
 Bref, 157; Pepin, due d’Aqui¬ 
 taine, 157; Carloman, 157; Louis 
 I, 157; Lothaire, 157, 160; Ead- 
 gar, 157; Seffrid, Bishop of Chi¬ 
 chester, 157; Archbishop of Sens, 
 157; Theobald of Canterbury, 
 158; Stephen Langton, 158; 
 King John of France and Me¬ 
 diaeval nobles, 160; Bitton, 
 Bishop of Exeter, 161; Charles 
 V of France, 161; Matthew 
 Paris?, 161; Jean sans Peur, 
 161; Michael Angelo, 172; Kleo¬ 
 patra, 237, 292; Polykrates, 43, 
 286; Orestes, 286; Odysseus, 
 286; Amphitryon, 286; Xerxes, 
 287; Battos of Kyrene, 287; Is- 
 
 menias, 54, 287; Klearchos, 287; 
 Alexander the Great, 287; Seleu- 
 kos, 288; Kallikrates, 288; 
 Areios, King of Sparta, 288; 
 Athenion, 288; P. Cornelius Sci¬ 
 pio Africanus, 290; Gnaeus Sci¬ 
 pio, 290; Gn. Pompeius Magnus, 
 290; P. Lentulus Sura, 291; 
 Augustus, 291; C. Cilnius Mae¬ 
 cenas, 291; Pallas, 292; Galba, 
 292; Hadrian, 292; Pliny the 
 Younger, 292; Commodus, 292; 
 Marcia, daughter of Stilicho, 
 293; Mauritius, 293; Phocas, 
 293; Comnenus, 293; Alaric, 
 294. 
 
 Signets, of soldiers, 114. 
 
 ancient gems used as, in Mediaeval 
 Europe, 157. 
 
 Silettis, the (Renaissance gem engra¬ 
 vers), 179. 
 
 Simon, Thomas (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 180. 
 
 great grandson of (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 187. 
 
 Simons, the (modern gem engravers), 
 189. 
 
 Siries, Louis (modem gem engraver), 
 186. 
 
 Sirius, the dog, head of, by Gaius, 122. 
 sometimes ridden by Isis, 248. 
 
 Sirletti, Flavio, Francesco and Raimon- 
 do (modern gem engravers), 183, 
 PI. XXX, 13. 
 
 Size of ancient gems, 11. 
 
 Skeletons, on early Roman gems, 103. 
 
 Skopas (Hellenistic gem engraver), 82, 
 PI. XIV, 7. 
 
 Skylax (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 
 122 . 
 
 Smith, J. and T. (modern gem en¬ 
 gravers), 189. 
 
 Solomon, reputed author of lapidaria, 
 162, 163. 
 
 Solon, law of, 36. 
 
 Solon (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 120, PI. XX, 8. 
 
 Sosis (Hellenistic gem engraver), 82. 
 
 Sosokles (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 120, PI. XXI, 3. 
 
 Sospolis, male associate deity with 
 Eileithyia, at Olympia, identified 
 with Zeus-Dionysos of Crete, 
 
 214. 
 
 Sostratos (Graeco-Roman gem engra¬ 
 ver), 123, PI. XX, 12. 
 
 Souls, on Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 
 Spes, on Graeco-Roman gems, 113. 
 
INDEX 
 
 421 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 244. 
 Augusta, 245. 
 
 Sphinx, on Minoan gems, 28. 
 
 Mycensean gems, 32. 
 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 Hellenistic gems, 77. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 Grseco-Roman gems, 114. 
 how pictured, 250. 
 
 Sports and games, on Minoan gems, 27, 
 29. 
 
 Standard, Persian, on Sassanian gems?, 
 150. 
 
 Standards, on Graeco-Roman gems, 114. 
 Star (Sun), on Mithraic gems, 133. 
 on Sassanian gems, 150. 
 on Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 Statues, ancient, copied on ancient 
 gems, 4. 
 
 copied on gems of Best Period, 51, 
 55. 
 
 on Hellenistic gems, 79. 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 112; an¬ 
 cient, copied by Sirletti, 183. 
 Steatite, 285. 
 
 Minoan Period, 24. 
 
 Mycenaean Period, 29. 
 
 Greek Middle Ages, 32. 
 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek Period, 37. 
 Greek-Persian gems, 48. 
 
 Stefano (Renaissance gem engraver), 
 177. 
 
 Stoseh, Baron (gem collector and fraud), 
 181. 
 
 Subjects of gem pictures, why chosen, 
 3. 
 
 knowledge to be gained from, 3. 
 on ancient gems, 16. 
 
 Minoan gems, 24, 27. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 29, 30. 
 gems of Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 Melian stones, 34. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 39. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 54. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 63, 66, 70, 73. 
 Hellenistic gems, 79. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 88, 97, 102. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 107, 111. 
 gems of Later Empire, 125, 126. 
 Early Christian, 127. 
 
 Mithraic, 132; objects, magic work¬ 
 
 ing and to identify the wearer, 
 134. 
 
 Gnostic, 137. 
 
 Sassanian, 149. 
 
 Sassanian Christian, 152. 
 Mohammedan, 153. 
 on ancient gems, how interpreted in 
 Mediaeval Europe, 158. 
 recommended by the lapidaria of 
 “ Thetel,” 162; of Solomon, 163. 
 on gems of the Renaissance, 171, 
 172, 175-180. 
 
 on modern gems, 182-196. 
 
 Sulla, signet of. 94, 290. 
 
 Sun, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 45. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 73. 
 rising and setting of, how sym¬ 
 bolized on Mithraic gems, 133. 
 on Sassanian gems, 150. 
 
 Surface appearance of ancient gems, 12. 
 
 Swastika, on Minoan gems, 28. 
 
 Sylvanus, relation to Herakles, 74. 
 
 Symbolic designs, on gems of Best 
 Period, 58. 
 
 Symbols, on Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 Early Roman gems, 99, 100. 103. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 109, 117, 118. 
 gems of the Later Empire, 125, 126. 
 Early Christian gems, 127. 
 
 Mithraic gems, 133. 
 
 Symplegmata, derivation of, 118. 
 
 (See Grylli.) 
 
 Syria Dea, on Graeco-Roman gems, 112. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 233. 
 
 Syries (Archaic Greek gem engraver), 
 44, PI. V, 2. 
 
 Systrum, on Hellenistic scarabs, 77. 
 
 Tagliacarne, Jacopo (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 174. 
 
 Talani, Signora (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 188. 
 
 Talismans, Gnostic, 136, 137. 
 
 ancient gems regarded as, in Me¬ 
 diaeval Europe, 137, 155, 162. 
 Mediaeval, 162-169. 
 
 Tanit, identified with Aphrodite, 219. 
 
 Tantalos, on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 how pictured, 260. 
 
 Tavernas, the (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 gravers), 177, PI. XXX, 14. 
 
 Technique, of ancient gem engraving, 
 14. 
 
 in Minoan Period, 25. 27. 
 
 Mycensean Period, 29, 30. 
 
422 
 
 INDEX 
 
 of Melian stones, 34. 
 in Archaic Greek Period, 36, 37, 38. 
 of Phoenician and Carthaginian 
 scarabs, 45. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 in Best Period, 50, 52. 
 of Etruscan scarabs, 64, 65, 69, 70, 
 71, 72. 
 
 in Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 
 Early Roman Period, 85, 87, 96, 
 
 101 . 
 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 109, 110. 
 Later Empire, 125. 
 of Gnostic gems, 137. 
 
 Sassanian gems, 149. 
 
 Mohammedan gems, 154. 
 in the Renaissance, 171, 175, 178. 
 in modern times, 182, 183, 186, 187, 
 188, 189, 193. 
 
 Telesphoros, how pictured, 231. 
 
 Tellus (see Gaia). 
 
 Terpsichore (Muse), how pictured, 211. 
 Teukros (Teucer), on early Roman 
 gems, 89. 
 
 Teukros (Graeco-Roman gem engraver), 
 
 122 . 
 
 Thalia (Muse), believed in Mediaeval 
 times to represent Herodias with 
 the head of John the Baptist, 
 159. 
 
 how pictured, 211. 
 
 Thanatos, on Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 on Graeco-Roman gems. See PI. 
 XXIV, 19. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 235. 
 Theatre types, on early Roman gems, 
 100 *. 
 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 116. 
 Themis, how pictured, 234. 
 
 Theodoros of Samos (Archaic Greek 
 gem engraver), 43. 
 
 Theseus, on Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 89. 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 112, 121, 122. 
 attributes and how pictured, 257. 
 Tlietel, reputed author of lapidaria, 
 162. 
 
 Thetis, on early Roman gems, 90. 
 how pictured, 262. 
 
 Thompson (modern gem engraver), 189. 
 Thoth, attributes of, 247. 
 
 Thronius, Jacobus (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 177. 
 
 Thunder-bird, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 Tipas, the (modern gem engravers), 
 191. 
 
 Titles, on Sassanian gems, 151. 
 
 Tityos, on Melian stones?, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 40. 
 how pictured, 261. 
 
 Topaz, 283. 
 
 Hellenistic Period, 78. 
 Graeco-Roman Period, 108. 
 
 Trabacchi, Gaetano (modern gem en¬ 
 graver), 195. 
 
 Tree of Life, on Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 on gems of Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 on Sassanian gems, 150. 
 
 Trees, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 on Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 on Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Trezzo, Jacopo da (Renaissance gem 
 engraver), 177. 
 
 Triad, how represented on Gnostic gems, 
 145. 
 
 Triangle on a pillar, symbol of the 
 moon, on Gnostic gems, 140. 
 
 Trines, doctrine of, 117; as expounded 
 by Camillo di Leonardo, 168. 
 
 Tripods, on gems of Best Period, 58. 
 
 Triptolemos (Demophoon, Bonus Even- 
 tus), on Etruscan scarabs, 68. 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 112. 
 pictured with Demeter, 206. 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 207. 
 
 Tritons, on Archaic Greek gems, 41. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs?, 47. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 74. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 111, 114. 
 attributes, affiliations and how pic¬ 
 tured, 204. 
 
 Trojan horse, on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 114. 
 
 Truth, how represented on Gnostic 
 gems, 141. 
 
 Tryphon (gem engraver to Polemon, 
 King of Pontos), 123. 
 
 Turning mechanism, for drill and wheel 
 in gem engraving, 274. 
 
 Turquoise, 284. 
 
 Tyche, on Hellenistic gems, 80. 
 
 (Fortuna), on early Roman gems, 
 99. 
 
 on Graeco-Roman gems, 109, 111. 
 on gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 230. 
 identified with Dea Roma, 241. 
 
 Tydeus, on Etruscan scarabs, 67. 
 
 to be identified only by name, 267. 
 
 Typhon, how pictured, 247. 
 
INDEX 
 
 423 
 
 Ulysses (see Odysseus). 
 
 Urania (Muse), how pictured, 211. 
 
 Aphrodite Urania (Venus Victrix), 
 
 220 . 
 
 Vaghi (Renaissance gem engraver), 179 
 
 Valentinus, Gnostic philosopher, 135, 
 140. 
 
 Valerio dei Belli (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 175, PI. XXXI, 12. 
 
 Vasari, on Renaissance gem engraving, 
 173, 174. 
 
 Vases or urns, on Minoan gems, 25, 
 27. 
 
 Mycenaean gems, 29, 31. 
 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 
 gems of Best Period, 56, 58. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68, 69, 73. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 104. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 Veiled female heads on ancient gems, 
 believed in Mediaeval times to he 
 Madonnas and Magdalenes, 159. 
 
 Veiovis, attributes, affiliations and how 
 pictured, 241. 
 
 Venus (see Aphrodite). 
 
 Venus Genatrix, 219. 
 
 Venus Mylitta, on Mithraic gems, 133. 
 
 Venus Victrix, signet of Julius Caesar, 
 6, 221, 291. 
 
 popular on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 111, 118, 221; on gems of Later 
 Empire, 126. 
 
 Vere (modern gem engraver), 189. 
 
 Vertumnus, attributes and how pic¬ 
 tured, 240. 
 
 Vesta (see Hestia). 
 
 “Vicentino, II” (Renaissance gem en¬ 
 graver), 175, PI. XXXI, 12. 
 
 Victory (see Nike). 
 
 Virbius, on early Roman gems, 93. 
 
 attributes and how pictured, 267. 
 
 Virgin, the, pictured on Byzantine 
 gems, 148. 
 
 Sassanian Christian gems, 152. 
 
 Virgo, on Graeco-Roman gems, 117. 
 
 (See Astraia.) 
 
 Virtus, attributes and how pictured, 
 243. 
 
 Vowels, seven, on Gnostic gems, 142. 
 
 combinations of, on Gnostic gems, 
 143, 144. 
 
 Vulcan (see Hephaistos). 
 
 Waldev (modem gem engraver), 184. 
 
 Warner (modern gem engraver), 189. 
 
 Warrior, holding head, 90. 
 
 writing on shield, 91. 
 
 Warriors, on Minoan gems, 27. 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Archaic Greek gems, 42. 
 Phoenician and Carthaginian scar¬ 
 abs, 47. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 49. 
 gems of Best Period, 57. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68, 70, 74. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 90, 97. 
 
 Weber, L. M. (modem gem engraver), 
 184. 
 
 Wheel, used in gem engraving, 273. 
 Whitley (modem gem engraver), 189. 
 Wickstead (modem gem engraver), 
 189. 
 
 Williams (modern gem engraver), 189. 
 Wings, types of, on Minoan gems, 
 28. 
 
 gems of Greek Middle Ages, 33. 
 Melian stones, 35. 
 often given to deities on Etruscan 
 scarabs, 66, 67. 
 
 Wise (modern gem engraver), 189. 
 Wolf, on early Roman gems, 94. 
 Women, on Minoan gems, 28. 
 Mycenaean gems, 31. 
 
 Greek-Persian gems, 50. 
 gems of Best Period, 56. 
 
 Etruscan scarabs, 68, 69, 70, 
 
 72. 
 
 Hellenistic gems, 81. 
 
 Early Roman gems, 97, 104. 
 Sassanian gems, often with chil¬ 
 dren, 150. 
 
 Woolf, Aaron (modern gem engraver), 
 187. 
 
 Wray (modern gem engraver), 186. 
 Wreath, on early Christian gems, 
 128. 
 
 Xerxes, signet of, 287. 
 
 Yeo (modern gem engraver), 189. 
 
 Zagreus, horned child of Zeus and Per¬ 
 sephone, identified with Dionysos 
 in Orphic cults, 224. 
 
 Zeus, on Etruscan scarabs, 67, 69. 
 
 (Jupiter), on Graeco-Roman gems, 
 112, 114. 
 
 gems of Later Empire, 126. 
 with his eagle, believed in Me¬ 
 diaeval times to be St. John the 
 Evangelist, 159. 
 
 attributes, cults, affiliations and 
 how pictured, 199. 
 
424 
 
 INDEX 
 
 identified with Veiovis, 241. 
 Zeus-Dionysos, of Crete, identified with 
 Sospolis, 214. 
 
 Zodiacal signs, on gems of Best Period, 
 58. 
 
 Graeco-Roman gems, 115, 117. 
 Sassanian gems, 150. 
 relations of certain deities to, ac¬ 
 cording to Manilius and Firmi- 
 cus, 117. 
 
Plate I 
 
 MINOAN GEMS 
 

Plate II 
 
 MYCEN.EAN GEMS 
 
Plate III 
 
 GEMS OF THE GREEK MIDDLE AGES AND ISLAND STONES 
 
Plate IV 
 
 ARCHAIC GREEK GEMS 
 
Plate V 
 
 ARCHAIC GREEK GEMS 
 
Plate VI 
 
 GRiECO-PHCENICIAN AND GREEK- PE RSIA N GEMS 
 
Plate VII 
 
 GEMS OF THE BEST PERIOD 
 
Plate VIII 
 
 GEMS OF THE BEST PERIOD 
 
Plate IX 
 
 GEMS OF THE FINISHED STYLES 
 
Plate X 
 
 GEMS OF THE FINISHED STYLES 
 

Plate XI 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
Plate XII 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
Plate XIII 
 
 ETRUSCAN SCARABS 
 
Plate XIV 
 
 HELLENISTIC GEMS 
 
Plate XV 
 
 HELLENISTIC GEMS 
 
Plate XVI 
 
 HELLENISTIC GEMS 
 
SK-ito* 
 
 Plate XVII 
 
 EARLY ROMAN GEMS (ETRUSCAN INFLUENCE) 
 
Plate XVIII 
 
 EARLY ROMAN GEMS (HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE) 
 
Plate XIX 
 
 EARLY ROMAN GEMS (COMBINATION PERIOD) 
 
Plate XX 
 
 GR.ECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXt 
 
 GRAECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXII 
 
 GR.ECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXIII 
 
 GR/ECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXIV 
 
 GRAECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXV 
 
 GR.ECO-ROMAX GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXVI 
 
 GRAECO-ROMAN GEMS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXVII 
 
 GR.ECO-ROMAN GEMS AND GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXVIII 
 
 GEMS OF THE LATER EMPIRE 
 
Plate XXIX 
 
 gems of the later empire, mithraic 
 
 AND GNOSTIC GEMS 
 
Plate XXX 
 
 SASSANIAN, BYZANTINE, MEDIAEVAL AND 
 RENAISSANCE GEMS 
 
 
Plate XXXI 
 
 RENAISSANCE GEMS 
 
Plate XXXII 
 
 MODERN GEMS 
 


 cr 
 
 K 
 
 o 
 
 % 
 
 
 8. Any person who refuses to pay fines, or who wilfully violates any of the foregoing 
 rules, or who abuses the privileges of the library by unbecoming conduct, forfeits thereby all 
 right to the use of the library. 
 
 9. Persons not resident in Allred, giving satisfactory reference, may at the discretion of 
 the Librarian, be allowed to take out books on such terms as the Directors may fix.