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Greek Ring. quently been melted by the discoverers. Many of the gems bearing designs which have been found, no doubt had been set as rings. They are generally intaglios, but cameos also occur, the former having been employed as seals, the latter intended for ornament alone. Ancient writers mention both modes of engraving. Some of the inscriptions are reversed, as this, within a wreath, on a solid gold signet: “Be eminent in virtue, chastity, and wisdom;” but they are more commonly not reversed, thus simply conveying the wishes of the giver, not expressing the feelings of the wearer.
These inscriptions are very commonplace, such as, “A Gift,” “Remember,” and “Good luck.” The modern “Ever,” AEI, supposed, we believe, to mean “An Engaged Individual,” we do not find justified in antiquity. Probably the engaged individuals of old Greece, with their fragile jewellery, were less given to strong promises, than those who buy their gages d’amour of the solid work of Hancock, or Garrard. The subjects are very various, and are generally taken from Greek mythology or poetry, portraits being uncommon. The best test of the truth of a gem supposed to be Greek is the fineness of the drawing, which often greatly excels the execution; whereas in modern gems, the execution always surpasses the drawing. The similarity of the designs of the rings and unset gems to those of the coins must strike every one. Probably this was owing to the great pains bestowed upon coin-dies, which raised a class of artists who would have found congenial occupation in gem-engraving. We believe that the designs of the gems are taken from the coins, as their style is generally later, and the subjects are more suitable to coins than to gems. The common stones are the carnelion, sard, chalcedony, agate, onyx, jasper, and heliotrope. Anciently great prices were given for rings, and Ælian says that the Tarentines, famous for their luxury, wore them of the value of ten minæ, or pounds, each, or about forty pounds of our money. Demosthenes, as we learn from history, was fond of rings, and wore so many that he was reproached for extravagance when the state was in difficulties.
The belief in the magical powers of certain rings is at least as old as the Greeks. Plato in his Republic[1] relates how by the discovery of one of these Gyges came to the throne of Lydia. The story is curious, as showing the antiquity of much of the machinery of Arab fictions; and therefore we record it here.
Gyges was (at first) a shepherd in the service of the Lydian king. Where he pastured his flock there chanced a heavy rain, and an earthquake, and a chasm opened in the land. He descended into this chasm marvelling, and beheld, with other wonderful things, a horse of brass which was hollow, with doors, looking through which he saw a corpse which seemed of a human form, having nothing but a gold ring on the finger, which he drew off, and took away. He soon discovered that when he turned the bezel towards him, he became invisible, but turning it from him, was at once seen as before. By the use of this ring, and the aid of the wicked queen, Gyges supplanted his sovereign, and seized upon the throne.
The combination of the horse of brass and the ring is suggestive, when we remember how much the Arabs have read, and still read, Plato. The magicians of Greece made a trade of charmed rings, which, as they were sold, sometimes at least, for a drachm, or less than a shilling, can scarcely have been as useful as this of Gyges.
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Etruscan Ring. Etruscan rings are not easily distinguished from the early Greek of Phœnician work: the style is very similar, though the Italian designs are somewhat grotesque, whereas the others are merely conventional. The technical workmanship is the best guide, and the Etruscan rings are generally to be known by the greater distinctness of their designs, a peculiarity followed in Signor Castellani’s admirable work in the same style in the Roman section of the Exhibition. Some are full of quaint beauty, as one in the British Museum, of which the hoop is formed by two lions grasping the bezel with their paws.
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Roman Ring of the Imperial Age. The Romans at first were content with iron rings, and long after the introduction of gold rings those who affected the simplicity of the good old times kept up the custom of their forefathers, as is told of Marius, in his triumph over Jugurtha. For long the right to wear a gold ring was limited to senators, magistrates, and knights; but the great officers of the Republic gave this right, though not without causing serious offence to the knights; and afterwards the Emperors did the like, and the right was at last extended to all Roman soldiers, and then to all citizens. The apostle’s mention of the rich man with the gold ring (James ii. 2), may refer to this ring; but it is probable that only a hoop of gold was used as the distinctive sign of rank, and that persons without the right might wear rings of this metal in other forms. We all remember reading of Hannibal’s boastfully sending to Carthage a bushel (or three bushels) of rings, taken from the knights (and senatorial persons), slain at Cannæ.
- ↑ Herodotus (Book i.) gives a different version of the story.
