gems, glyptic, engraved gems, agate, cameo, intaglio, shell, ancient gems, Rome, Greece, ancient jewelry, rings

M. Champollion-Figeac, one of the curators of the Royal Library, having learned from me that I was engaged in research on the seal-stones of Roman oculists, was kind enough to place at my disposal an ancient seal from his collection. This stone is not an oculist’s seal. Its form and the material from which it is made are sufficient at first glance to demonstrate this. Roman oculists’ seal-stones are quadrangular and are most often cut from serpentine or green steatite, and sometimes from a similar brownish stone. The seal in question, on the contrary, is of burnt chalcedonic flint, yellowish in color, with most of its surface exhibiting a whitish-yellow tint produced by the action of fire. It represents one half of an ovoid, the convexity of which, on the engraved side, is perceptible only at the edge, while on the opposite side it is extremely pronounced, giving the seal a thickness of nearly 15 millimeters. On its flattened face, of which we provide an exact copy, it measures about 35 millimeters in length and 23 millimeters in width. Around the border of this face may be read, engraved in reversed letters approximately 2.5 millimeters high: PVBLIVS SEPVLLIVS MACER, undoubtedly the name of the owner, intended to appear correctly when impressed. The lower half of the face is occupied by an altar engraved in intaglio, within which the word PIATIA is arranged lengthwise. This word, like all the others on the stone, is engraved in sunk letters, though smaller and upright, so as to produce a reversed impression. On the right side of the altar, to the observer’s left, appears the word AENEAS; on its left side, IVLIVS. Beneath the base of the altar, extending across the entire width of the stone, are the words VEN. GENI. All the characters of these inscriptions are executed with great skill and are remarkably clear and legible. Above the altar, at some distance from it, is a star. Leaning against the upper left corner of the altar is the astronomical symbol of the Earth, or the Asiatic ansate cross, slightly inclined to the left; against the corresponding right corner is a lituus (the curved augural staff).