'Gems of heaven': Recent Research on Engraved Gemstones in Late Antiquity, AD 200-600

by Chris Entwistle (Editor), Chris Entwistle (Editor)

This is the companion volume to one devoted to recent research on Byzantine jewellery published in 2010 and forms part of a series organised under the auspices of the British Museum Byzantine Seminar Series. The conference brought together leading scholars from Europe, the USA and the Middle East to discuss Late Antique gems and cameos. This is the first time that so many diverse papers, interdisciplinary in nature, have been assembled in a single volume and includes scientific papers addressing issues such as typology and sourcing of gemstones.

Table of Contents

1. Non-destructive Gemmological Tests for the Identification of Ancient Gems ( Cigdem Lule )
2. A Case Study on Gemstone Chrysothrix, a Group of Roman Magical Gems ( Lisbet Thoresen )
3. Archaeologies of Magical Gems ( Richard Gordon )
4. Text, Image and the Evolution of Graeco-Roman Magical Gemstones ( Chris Faraone )
5. The Colours of Magical Gems ( Attilio Mastrocinque )
6. Magic and Gems and the Power of Seals ( Véronique Dasen )
7. Magical Gems and Classical Archaeology ( Árpád M. Nagy )
8. Studies on Magical Gems in the British Museum ( Simone Michel )
9. Grylloi ( Ken Lapatin )
10. Intaglios in Military Contexts in 2nd-4th Century AD the Case of Legio and Aelia Capitolina ( Orit Pelegand and Yotam Tepper )
11. Selected Antique Gems from Israel ( Shua Amorai-Stark and Malka Hershkovitz )
12. The Christian Gems from Portugal in Context ( Graça Cravinho )
13. Intaglios and cameos from Gaul in the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD ( Hélène Guiraud )
14. Late Roman Gems from Tilurium in Croatia ( Bruna Nardelli )
15. Three Degrees of Detail Reworking, Type Updating and Identity Transformation in Roman Imperial Glyptic Portraits in the Round ( Elisabetta Gagetti )
16.Gem Portraits of Soldier Emperors ( Erika Zwierlein-Diehl )
17. Gods or mortals? – Images on Imperial Portrait Gems, Medallions and Coins in the 3rd century AD ( Adrian Marsden )
18. Love and Personal Cameos in Late Antiquity ( Helen Molesworth and Martin Henig )
19. The Belgrade Cameo ( Antje Krug )
20. Late Antique some Unpublished Examples ( Jeffrey Spier )
21. The Argument from Silence – Iconographical Statements of 1981 on Faked Gems Reconsidered ( Josef Engemann )
22. The Constanza Cornelianand the Development of Crucifixion Iconography in Late Antiquity ( Felicity Harley McGowan )
23. Seals in their Change of Function and Value in Late Antiquity ( Gertrud Platz-Horster )
24. Myth Revisited. The Re-use of Mythological Cameos and Intaglios in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages ( Gemma Sena Chiesa )
25. Inscriptions on Portrait Gems in Late Antiquity (4th – 6th centuries) ( Sébastien Aubry )
26. Some Engraved Gemstones from Late Antiquity in Atlanta ( Jasper Gaunt )
27. Can Ringstones and Cloisonné Tell Us Anything About Gem Sources and Trade? ( Noël Adams )
28. Roman Intaglios Oddly the Transformative Power of the Metalwork Mount ( Genevra Kornbluth )
29. The Re-use and Re-interpretation of Gemstones in Medieval Hungary ( Tamás Gesztelyi )
30. The Fight of Athena and Poseidon and its Depiction on Glyptics Across the Centuries ( Hadrien Rambach )

250 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2011

About the author

Curator of Late Roman and Byzantine Collections

Chris Entwistle is responsible for the Early Christian and Byzantine collections from the eastern Mediterranean from the late third to the mid fifteenth century AD. The collections include, inter alia, metalwork (gold, silver and bronze), silver treasures (Esquiline, Carthage, Lampsacus and Cyprus), glass, textiles, ivories and pottery. In addition he curates the collections of Late Antique magical gems and Byzantine, Greek and Russian icons. His research interests are primarily concerned with metalwork, in particular jewellery.