Getty Museum

Engraved Scaraboid with Athena

Date

about 500 B.C.

Medium

Rock crystal

Culture

Greek

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

This scaraboid is engraved with an image of Athena, standing left with her left hand on her hip and her right holding a spear, with its point down. She wears a crested helmet pushed back to expose her face, and a peplos marked with thick, vertical pleats. A scaraboid is a simplified scarab, with a plain curved back and an intaglio design decorating the flat underside. The form gradually replaced the scarab in Greece in the 400s B.C. Like scarabs, they were typically pierced and worn either as a ring or pendant. When attached to a metal hoop and worn as a ring, the curved side faced out and the intaglio surface rested against the finger. When needed as a seal, the ring was removed, the gem swiveled, and the intaglio design was pressed into soft clay or wax to identify and secure property.

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