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The Crucifixion on a Greek Gem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Extract

The gem of which an engraving (in twice the actual size) is here given is a carnelian intaglio, which I found in a private collection in London in 1895. The owner, a Greek lady, resident in London, brought it to me with a bagful of similar gems, all of which had been in her possession from childhood. It appears that as a child she lived with her family at Constanza (Kustendje), and that the children playing on the beach there used frequently to find and make collections of Greek gems washed up by the sea or lying among the sand and pebbles. Her collection comprised some thirty or forty, all of which undoubtedly date from the first to the third century A.D.; but this was the only one of real importance; it was bought on my representation by Sir A. W. Franks and presented to the British Museum, where it is now exhibited among the Christian antiquities.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1897

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References

page 202 note * The apex of one limb of the I is visible on the gem, but is not shown in the engraving.

page 202 note † Dobbert, Zur Entstehungsgesch. d. Crucif, p. 2.

page 203 note * See Kraus, Real-Encycl. s.v. “Kreuzigung.”

page 204 note * The same form of cross occurs also in the Alexamenos graffito of the Palatine: it is noticeable that there also the arms of the figure are drawn under the lateral arms of the cross, and the feet of the figure rest on the ground, as in our gem.

page 204 note † Arch. Journal, xxvi., p. 137, No. 26.