Original scientific paper
Hellenistic gems and finger rings from the Diomedes sanctuary on Cape Ploča
Lucijana Šešelj
; Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Rijeka, CROATIA, 51000 Rijeka
Abstract
Hellenistic-era gems found during archaeological
research at the Cape Ploča site (Pliny’s promunturium
Diomedis, Nat. hist. 3,141) in the period from 1996
through 1998 are published in this text. Research into
the gems from this period is still scant. Up to the present,
only a few catalogues on them have been compiled.
Most of these gems are held in museums and
private collections, and the sites and context of their
discovery are often unknown. Individual examples of
Hellenistic gems have been published in catalogues
of materials from archaeological research, generally
graves, but unaccompanied by any broader analysis or
commentary. Eight gems were found on Cape Ploča,
of which six have images depicted on them, while two do not. Two gems feature royal portraits, of which one
has been identified as Alexander the Great, two have
animal motifs, one has a plant motif, and one has a
mythological motif. Besides the actual gems, several
pieces of iron finger rings have been found, which
should be considered together with the gems because
they are functionally linked items. Due to the scant
knowledge of Hellenistic glyptic art from unambiguous
archaeological contexts in the international scholarship,
the publication of the Hellenistic gems and
finger rings found during archaeological research at
Cape Ploča, from the well-documented context of a
maritime sanctuary, therefore has particular research
and scholarly value.
Keywords
Hellenistic and Italic gems; rings; Cape Ploča; Diomedes sanctuary
Hrčak ID:
193158
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2017.
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