Scarabs
strung on wire so as to be worn on the finger were found at Dahshur by
De Morgan. These belonged to the Twelfth Dynasty, to the time from
Usertasen III to Amenemhat III (ab. 2660-2578 b.c.).
Stronger wire was used at a later time, the ends being thrust into
perforations on the sides of the scarabs. In all these cases the scarab
and the circlet, more or less well formed, were separate parts loosely
put together. It was not until the Golden Age of the ancient Egyptian
civilization that complete metal rings were made, in which both
circlet and chaton formed one piece. Rings of the Egyptian type,
although strongly modified by Ionic or Phœnician art, were introduced
into Etruria at a very early period, and probably thence into Latium.2 At an even earlier date, at least 1200 b.c., scarab
rings were worn in Cyprus, several examples having been found in
sepulchres there, the scarab being made of porcelain strung on a
gold-wire hoop.
The ancient rings in the British Museum offer examples of nearly all the different types favored in early times.3
Some, from the Mycenœan period, exhibit a long shield-shaped bezel,
convex above and concave beneath, across the direction of the hoop;
others have a flat band decorated with plaited or twisted wire on which
is set a bezel holding a paste. Phœnician rings of the period from 700
to 500 b.c. present a
variety of forms, some being swivel rings, the extremities of the
rounded hoops passing into beads, in which are inserted the pivots
2 F.
H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Finger Rings Greek, Etruscan and Roman,
in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum, p. 50, Nos. 278-281
; pi. vii, No. 281.
3
See F. H. Marshall, " Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan,
and Roman, in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum," London,
1907, pp. xxxvii—xlix.
