Heliotrope gem: Anguipes (A) Isis-Tyche (B)
Green jasper with yellow and red flecks (heliotrope). Upright oval, both sides very lightly convex. (Shape 8–9). Chipped along the upper edge.
Purchased from the Art Market (Drouot-Richelieu) in 1999.
Side A: Cock-headed Anguipes in armour, to front, head turned to the right. There is a whip in the figure's raised right hand, the left hand is hidden behind an oval shield, which is inscribed vertically with the letters ιαω → Ἰάω. Greek inscriptions around the figure in the free field. Above the Anguipes: αβρασαξ → Ἄβρασαξ; below him, in two lines: ερεσχιγαλ|ιαω → Ἐρεσχιγάλ, Ἰάω. There are characteres scattered between the arms and the legs, and three stars below the feet.
Side B: Standing figure of a goddess (Isis-Tyche), to front, head turned in profile to the right. Crowned with a modius, she wears a long dress, and holds a cornucopia in her right hand, and a steering oar in her left. There is an unidentified object below the cornucopia. Five lines of Greek inscription to the left and right of the figure: ελαφιη|ουρανιη|γυρασια|ουλληθ|νεβουθω → unidentified voces; οὐρανίη 'heavenly'; νεβουθω ουλληθ (variant of νεβουτο σουαλη/σουαληθ) and ερεσχιγαλ are parts of the ακτιωφι-logos.
Description based on close observation of the gem by Á. M. Nagy in 2017.
Unpublished.
Further resources on PP-3071
• Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris
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