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Chalcedonius, Calcedony

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CHALCEDONIUS.
85
a large stone of this sort is engraved the finest Greek intaglio that is possessed by our National Collection : the subject is Victory crowning a trophy, in design identical with the same type upon the medallion of Agathocles, to whose date it indubitably belongs, and, in truth, may on very good grounds claim the honour of having been the royal signet. In form it is a scarabeoid, a modification of the scarabeus much in favour with the Asiatic Greeks. This magnificent historical gem was lately found at Syracuse. The Girasol is sometimes improperly called the Opaline, so that antique works in it are often described as executed in real Opal, a stone in which (with perhaps a solitary exception) they never occur.
Busts and heads, in full and in bas-relief, and of con­siderable volume, were executed by the Romans in Calce-dony. Under the Empire, these carvings constituted the phalerae so often mentioned as military distinctions. They had replaced at an early period the original gold bosses forming that decoration—Virgil's
" Phaleras Rhanmetis et aurea bullis—Cingula ; "—
for M. Ccelius, who perished with Quintilius Varus, is sculptured on his cenotaph (Mayence) with all the rewards earned during a long military career, decorating his effigy ; torques, armillas, and on his breastplate the phalerœ—a Gorgoneion and several Bacchic masks evidently akin to those about to be described. Most of the existing speci­mens will be found perforated with holes placed diagonally for the reception of the rods framing the several pieces together. The head of Horus is, under the Lower Empire, a special favourite. These large sculptured heads in Calcedony may indeed have also been female ornaments, and employed in a manner one would not have expected, to decorate the hair. This discovery was suggested to me by
Chalcedonius, Calcedony Page of 384 Chalcedonius, Calcedony
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