gems, jade, amphibole jade, nephrite, glyptic, Italy, Roman, engraved gems, Alexander the Great

This contribution arises from the intent to expand and deepen the recent publication, in the proceedings of the conference Il fulgore delle gemme: Aquileia e la glittica ellenistica e romana, of a nephrite jade gem found in Martigny (Canton of Valais) in 1976, which depicts the profile of Alexander the Great wearing the lion skin (leonté). In particular, it was deemed necessary to enrich the references to the find context and to further develop, in comparison with other glyptic examples examined, the analysis of the variants. The gem in question belongs to a significant group of Hellenistic and Roman intaglios characterized by the head of the youthful Heracles with the skin of the Nemean lion—an image with which Alexander, who liked to identify with the hero, associated his own likeness. This latter aspect, in fact, prompted the need to investigate the origin of the type and the complex implications connected to it, in relation to the multifaceted iconography of the Macedonian sovereign—a topic widely addressed in an extensive body of literature, in which the identification with Heracles certainly holds a prominent place for its implications regarding Alexander’s heroic and divine nature, the influence it exerted on the portraiture of Hellenistic rulers, and its considerable popularity even during the Roman Republican and Imperial periods.