Getty Museum

Engraved Gem

Date

about 1800

Medium

Chalcedony

Culture

Modern

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

The naked youth crouching awkwardly on an altar is Diomedes, one of the Greek heroes of the Trojan War. On the night the Greeks conquered Troy, Diomedes stole the Trojans' ancient sacred image of Athena, called the Palladion. Diomedes holds the doll-like Palladion in one hand, and in the other he clutches a dagger. His garment, draped over his shoulder, conceals the hand in which he holds the Palladion; another part of his garment rests on the altar, and from its folds a leafy bough inexplicably emerges. Diomedes stealing the Palladion was a popular subject on Classical gems, and among the examples known today are several signed by two Roman gem-cutters, Gnaios and Dioskourides, who worked in the era of the emperor Augustus (r. 31 B.C.-14 A.D.). Their depictions are very similar, but the post-antique engraver of this gem appears to have copied the version by Gnaios.

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