HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
 
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SALAMIS

SALAMIS IN THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS.
BY ALEXANDER PALMA DI CESNOLÀ, F.S.A.,
page 80

long. Jasper. (See Plate xv, fig. 72.)
21. Oval. On a line, Cupid wrestling with a faun; before them, on a term or column, a figure of Priapus with a palm-branch. Fine Greek work. Half-inch long. I have had this set in a modern gold chased finger-ring. Hyacinth.
22. Oval intaglio. On a line, two Erotes, winged and helmeted, wrestling. 3-8ths inch long. Jasper. (See Plate xv, fig. 75.)
23. Circular and convex intaglio. The chubby head of an infant, Eros, three-quarter face to the left. The field inscribed ΕΡΩΤΟC. Greek style. 3-8ths inch. Burnt cornelian.
24. Oval intaglio in archaic style (fig. 163). Leda reclining on a bank receiving the blandishments of the Swan. In this elegant gem we may indeed behold—

" olorinis Ledam recubare sub alis".2

The treatment of the subject indicates that the artist was well acquainted with the myth which he had undertaken to illustrate. 5-8ths inch long, set in a silver finger-ring.
25. Small engraved oval of the style of the second century of our era. The subject is a Fortune, to the left, draped, and holding in the right hand a rudder, an emblem of the government or direction of the. affairs of the world; in the left, a cornucopǽ, or Nike. 3-8ths inch long. Cornelian. (See Plate xv, fig. 86.)
26. Oval intaglio. A full-length figure of a goddess, to

1 Glass. Diet., 196.   2 Ov. Metam., vi.

the right, perhaps Fortune, with a cornucopiǽ, and other uncertain emblems. Half-inch long. Cornelian.
27. Convex oval. A full-length figure of the goddess Fortune, with a cornucopias, to the right. 3-8ths inch, set in a bezel in a flat gold ring of ancient workmanship. Cornelian.
28. A fine convex oval gem, cut in intaglio with a full-length figure of Fortune. Of the Roman period. 7-8ths inch long, set in silver finger-ring. Sardonyx.
29. Oval. In the archaic style. Fortune, seated to the right on a tripod, and holding a Nike Apteros, or Wingless Victory, in the right hand. In her left hand, a branch of fruit, which the goddess is placing on an altar. 5-8ths inch long, set in a gold finger-ring. Yellow jasper.
30. Oval intaglio. Victory, winged, with a palm-branch over the shoulder, and holding a wreath in the right hand extended before her (fig. 164). The flowing drapery here shewn resembles that sometimes seen on figures of Iris in the best Greek gems. 5 -8ths inch long, set in an ancient plain gold finger-ring of small proportions.
31. Long oval, chipped at the lower part. The style is of the second century A.D. A winged Victory, turned to the right, draped and crown, holding a rudder palm, or laurel branch, and a chaplet. 5-8ths inch long. Zoned sardonyx. (See Plate xv, fig. 71.)
32. Oval convex intaglio. A full-length figure of a winged Nike, or Victory, holding a crown and palm-branch. 3-8ths inch long, set in a fine gold ring. Garnet.
33. Convex oval intaglio. A figure of Nike, or Victory, winged, and holding a palm-branch, full-length, to the left. 3-8ths inch long. Cornelian.
34. Small oval. A winged figure of Nike, or Victory, to the left, the drapery flowing in elegant folds. In the field before her a cornucopiǽ. Good workmanship. 7-16ths inch long. Cornelian. (See Plate xv, fig. 79.)
35. Oval intaglio. A female sphinx with human face, sejant to the left, with the wings extended, elevating the right foot; on the base line in front of the sphinx a skull is engraved. Half-inch long. Amethystine coloured paste. This curious device closely resembles the subject of a gem ring found about the year 1817 near the ruins of Evesham Abbey, and figured and described in the Journal of the British Archǽological Association, vol. xxxii, pp. 115-117. In this example, the gem is a dark red cornelian or sard, 7-16ths inch diameter, engraved with the sphinx (fig. 165) sejant, the head bound with a vitta, and the tail elevated and coiled. Immediately in front of the fore feet of the sphinx is a human skull; and beneath the ground line a headless skeleton is extended, the remains of one of those who had unfortunately failed to guess the riddle of the sphinx, and so fallen a victim to his temerity.1 The Norman-French inscription on this seal ring is reversed. It reads LI COCATRIX. The engraver probably mistook the subject for a cockatrice, which would be to him, in the thirteenth century, a familiar denizen of the manuscript bestiaries or natural history books.

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