Heliotrope gem: Ouroboros enclosing uterus and deities (A) uterus (B)

PP-ID:

PP-1697

Classification:

gem, magical

Collection ID:

DE_Kassel-HKH_Ge 173

Collection:

Kassel, Antikensammlung, Hessen Kassel Heritage

Collection Inventory:

Ge 173

Reference Numbers:

Capello 1702, no. 172; AGD III, no. Kassel 173; Michel 2001, no. 77; Michel, DMG, no. 54.4.c_3

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:

32.8 × 25 × 4.5 mm

Iconography:

Ouroboros; Isis; unspecified long dress; crown, unspecified; greeting gesture; Anubis as mummy; mummy wrappings; Chnoubis, lion-headed; rays (4); Osiris; solar disk; uterus, in the form of a cupping vessel; key (6-bitted); uterus, octopus-like

Divine Names & Voces:

vocales, αεηιουω; ορωριουθ

Logoi:

σοροορ-logos

Red, green and yellow jasper (heliotrope). Both faces upright oval and flat, trapezoid section. (Shape 8–9). Chipped at the top of side A.

Side A: Enclosed within an Ouroboros with head at top to left, four figures standing on a basline placed above a uterus in the shape of a cupping vessel (ligaments and Fallopian tubes visible) and a six-bitted key below it. The figures from from left to right are: Isis in a long robe, crowned, left hand raised in greeting; jackal-headed Anubis in profile to right, wrapped as a mummy; lion-headed Chnoubis with four rays on the head; a schematic Osiris-mummy crowned with the solar disk. Two lines of Greek inscription above the figures: αεηι|ουν → the Greek vowel series (ν was mistakenly engraved instead of the usual ω). Inscription around the edge, encircling the Ouroboros and starting clockwise at the top: οορμερφεργαρβαρμαρφριουριγει → variant of σοροορ-logos.
Side B: Octopus-like uterus, with Greek inscription around: ορωριουθ.

Selected bibliography
• Capello 1702 >>, pl. 28, no. 172 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Montfaucon 1719 >>, vol. 2,2, 376, no. 173I (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Zazoff, AGD III >>, 240–241, no. 173.
• Michel 2001 >>, 75, no. 77; click here for the full-text excerpt.
• Michel, DMG >>, no. 54.4.c_3.