Getty Museum

Engraved Scarab with Head of a Gorgon

Date

about 500 B.C.

Medium

Cornelian

Culture

Greek

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

Gorgoneia were popular devices on engraved gems used as amulets, where their fearsome appearance was thought to protect the wearer by frightening away evil spirits. The gorgoneion on this scarab has large, staring eyes, heavy jowls, and small human ears, with five snakes radiating from the crown of her head and two from beneath her chin. However, her mouth is unusually small, and she lacks the tusks, grimace, and pendant tongue typical of most Archaic representations (compare, for example [96.AC.109](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/29543/unknown-maker-hand-mirror-decorated-with-the-head-of-medusa-greek-south-italian-500-480-bc/)). Greek gem carving changed dramatically in form, materials, and technique in the-mid 500s B.C. One of these changes was the introduction of the scarab, with its back carved like a beetle and its flat surface an intaglio. They were usually pierced and worn either as a pendant or attached to a metal hoop and worn as a ring, with the beetle side facing out and the intaglio surface resting against the finger. When serving as a seal, the ring was removed, the scarab swiveled, and the intaglio design was pressed into soft clay or wax to identify and secure property. The scarab form originally derived from Egypt, where it had been used for seals and amulets for centuries. Certain features of Greek scarabs, however, such as the form of the beetle and the hatching around the intaglio motif, show the influence of Phoenician models, which the Greeks probably saw on Cyprus.

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