Description
This scarab bears an image of a centaur facing the right with a raised arm holding a club carved in intaglio. On the right are one complete lion with its head turned back and the foreparts of a second lion. A line border surrounds the image. The parts of the scarab's back are carefully articulated. Most Archaic Greek gems were carved in the form of a scarab beetle. The type is ultimately of Egyptian origin and is thought to have passed to the Greeks via the Phoenicians probably on the island of Cyprus, which served as a crossroads for the eastern Mediterranean. The intaglio design and careful articulation of the beetle suggest a date in the early 6th century BCE.
Results