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Ch. 9: Gem Engraving

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152
PRECIOUS STONES.
repeated. A large proportion represent classical scenes ; the
remainder comprise portraits, representations of animals, the
eagle being the favorite, certain implements denoting occupations or social customs, masks, chimeras, and other whimsical fancies. The heathen divinities afforded an attractive
subject for art with the early engravers, but later, the portraits
of royal persons were substituted for those of the gods, a
practice adopted about the period of Alexander the Great.
Engraving portraits on gems was not in vogue before the
Macedonian princes, who set the example by placing their own
heads upon coins instead of that of the tutelar divinity, as had
been the custom. The Greeks represented their gods in
human form, which was not the case with most other pagan
nations, whose personifications embraced some of the most
grotesque figures the fertile imagination of the oriental mind
could invent. The Greeks never used the beetle, so commonly
represented by other nations, but either single divinities and
heroes or groups illustrating some scene in Homer or the
tragic poets.
The ancient Romans generally selected their subjects from
the scenes of ordinary life — war, hunting, agriculture, or some
religious ceremony, but never from the poets. Portraits of
the emperors appear in the earlier imperial times, but rarely at
a later date, and then generally in the character of Mercury
with the caduceus. The signs of the zodiac, designating the
horoscope of the possessor, were favorite subjects for engraved gems ; Capricorn, often seen with the portrait of Augustus, was believed to designate high dignity and power. At
a later period, this kind of engraving was worn as amulets for
protection against disease and accident. A favorite subject
with the Egyptians and Etruscans was the beetle, and the
gems engraved with this insect were called scarabei, or beetle-
Ch. 9: Gem Engraving Page of 401 Ch. 9: Gem Engraving
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