Heliotrope gem: Helios driving his chariot

PP-ID:

PP-1681

Classification:

gem, non-specified

Collection ID:

DE_Kassel-HKH_Ge 158

Collection:

Kassel, Antikensammlung, Hessen Kassel Heritage

Collection Inventory:

Ge 158

Reference Numbers:

Capello 1702, no. 71; AGD III, no. Kassel 158; Michel 2001, no. 47; Michel, DMG, no. 22.4.b_2

Former Collections:

Patin, Charles (Paris, 1633 – Padua, 1693); Capello, Antonio (Venice, 1652–1729); Karl, Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel (Kassel, 1654–1730)

Material:

jasper, green and red

Dimensions:

15 × 10.7 × 2.4 mm

Iconography:

Helios; rays; mantle; whip; quadriga

Dark green jasper with red spots (heliotrope). Transverse oval, both faces flat, trapezoid section. (Shape 8). Intact, save for a small chip at the edge.

Side A: Helios driving his quadriga, in profile to left. The head of Helios is adorned with a crown of rays, he holds a whip in his right hand and the reins in his left, his mantle floats behind him. Above the quadriga, the Greek letters αι. (Michel suggests the letters could stand for Ἰάω in mirror writing, but the space seems hardly enough.)
Side B: Plain.

Selected bibliography
• Capello 1702 >>, pl. 12, no. 71 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Montfaucon 1719 >>, vol. 2,2, 367, pl. 162C (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Zazoff, AGD III >>, 236, no. 158.
• Michel 2001 >>, 53, no. 47; click here for the full-text excerpt.
• Michel, DMG >>, no. 22.4.b_2.