Part 2

The place of these Babylonian cylinders in the history of art cannot be classed as decorative, for as they were originally used only as seals, and mostly business or official signets, they were not at that time used to decorate the person, though they were worn on necklaces and bracelets by the ancient Greeks.

No. 499 in my collection is one of the most interesting because the great and lamented François Lenormant examined it with me, wrote his opinion, and expressed his admiration of it.

It is a Babylonian cylinder, 29 millimetres broad by 3 millimetres in length. On it is represented a seated god with a two-horned head-dress in a long flounced dress; before him an altar with four spreading legs, an antelope, a small walking figure, a scorpion, two birds facing one another; other human figures.

Lenormant wrote while attending a seance of l’Institut de France.

SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.

IMPRESSIONS OF BABYLONIAN CYLINDERS.

SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.

IMPRESSIONS OF ASSYRIAN, PERSIAN, HITTITE, PHŒNICIAN, AND CYPRIAN CYLINDERS.

“This cylinder which appears to be of serpentine belongs incontestably to the most antique epoch of Chaldean art of the first years of the ancient empire. It is at least contemporaneous with those cylinders bearing the names of the oldest kings of d’Ous and like those of the Dungi.”

Persia and Assyria furnish us also a beautiful series of seals; the earlier conical, then a series of spherical seals, with one side flattened, on which is the design and inscription, and then the later Sassanian, also spherical, yet more flattened on the sides, which are pierced, and whose circumferences are beautifully ornamented.

There exist a large series of subjects adopted by their owners on account of their superstitious belief in their talismanic virtues; and quite a series of rudely-drawn animals emblematic of vigilance, fidelity, courage, strength, etc. Sometimes on seals as well as on cylinders a full-length figure is given in whose costume there is a marked peculiarity of drapery, the folds crossing the form diagonally, like a Burmese Sarong.

They are on a great variety of chalcedonies, sards, jaspers, and other beautiful stones of color.

Those of the Assyrians, dating as far back as 1110 B. C., resemble in form the bells herdsmen hang upon their grazing cattle that they may hear them when they have strayed.

The location of the ancient Persians in proximity to India, whose river-beds were rich in varieties of hard water-worn pebbles, enabled them to procure from thence suitable stones for decoration and for inscriptions. Thousands of these decorated and inscribed stones have been unearthed and are to-day in our possession; glyptologists can and have read them. Many examples of these cylinders, seals, and their imprints are before you.

It is proven that the Assyrians knew of and practiced the art of engraving on stone; we are not fully convinced that they were the first to practice the art.

We are frequently able to corroborate glyptic inscriptions by statements in Holy Writ, though we certainly find on ancient cylinders, incisions many centuries anterior to the records to which we have here alluded.

We know little of the Assyrian divinities through ancient manuscripts, yet we have volumes about their deities written on the cylinders of Babylon and Nineveh. They were seldom in metallic mountings, but, being pierced with holes, were strung on cords and worn on the wrist and neck.

There is a host of occupants of the Assyrian heaven, with Asshur the supreme god, Beltis Mylitta the great mother, etc.; and on the seals in sard and chalcedony we have sacred doves, lions, horses, etc., and a winged bull, Nin, the god of hunting, etc.

These intaglio seals were often used as locks; the doors of wine-cellars were secured by placing a seal upon them. Cylinders have also been made by several races of South American Indians, and are still to be seen in Brazil.

We have a most interesting and instructive illustration of the value of modern research among the relics of antiquity in the fact that in 1854, Sir Henry Rawlinson, in deciphering the inscriptions on some cylinders found in the ruins of Um-Kir (the ancient Ur of the Chaldees), made historical discoveries in regard to the last King of Babylon that confirmed the truth of the book of Daniel, and harmonized discrepancies between Holy Scripture and profane history which up to that time had been hopelessly irreconcilable.

Among the bequests from Persia many gems are engraved on the hardest and most precious stones; they present us with portraits of their monarchs, deities, legends, religious creeds, and seals of office. Though rude, they are exceedingly interesting from their antiquity and as being the achievements of a people so remote from the European centre of civilization.

THE ETRUSCANS--ETRURIA.

The country of the ancient Etruscans was north from the Tiber to the Ciminian Forest and the Tolfa Mountains.

They have bequeathed us a mass of gems, a large proportion in the form of Scarabei, and many really fine intaglios, which were not only used as seals, but served as decorations, both in finger-rings and as brooches for women. The Etruscan tombs have yielded many Scarabei in mountings of virgin gold, sometimes the precious metal twisted, again corrugated; also some ornamental gold work as brooches. The sard and chalcedony beetles usually had an engraved beaded margin, and were revolvable, being set on a pivot which was attached to a frame generally oval in form.

The Etruscans, unlike their predecessors, have left us few examples other than the very gems and Scarabei by which to study their glyptic work. We have the decorations of their sepulchral homes; we know of their costumes by their mural paintings in those subterranean chambers.

Their glyptic style is unique; a series of deeply-drilled cavities, afterward joined to one another, forming designs frequently contorted by the artist in his endeavor to bring his subject into the very limited space of the under face of the Scarabeus.

The Etruscans probably borrowed the idea of the Scarabeus form of gem from the Egyptians; they certainly shaped it more beautifully. They seem to have adopted only the symbol.

There was a difference in the quality of their Scarabei corresponding with the classes or stations in the life of the people; those cut for royalty, nobility, or the wealthy naturally received more attention in forming and finishing.

Those for the tradespeople, the well-to-do, we find quite a distinctive order. In this group they are less graceful in shape, the beetles are rounder, thicker, and shorter, not so carefully finished, as also the simpler borders formed of two lines just within the edge, either crossed with regular, straight, or oblique lines forming bars, with some little variety of pattern.

The Etruscans called themselves the Rasenna; the early Italians knew them as the Tusci or Etrusci. The Greeks denominated the race as Turrhenoi or Tursenoi, and the ancient Latin name was Tursci.

The engraved records of the Etruscans have hitherto successfully defied all attempts at interpretation. Now that the Assyrian and Egyptian records have been read, these Etruscan inscriptions present the only considerable philological problem that still remains unsolved. But that it remains unsolved has not been for want of effort. A vast amount of ingenuity and of erudition has been wasted in attempts to explain the inscriptions by the aid of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Phœnician, Arabic, Ethiopic, Chinese, Coptic, and Basque have all been tried in vain.

It may be safely affirmed that few of these attempts have been regarded as satisfactory by any person except their authors.

A comparison of the Etruscan inscriptions with the characters of the Finno-Turkic language, a form of speech employed by those inhabiting the region lying between the Ural and the Altai Mountains, has, I believe, resulted with the first and only success that has ever attended such investigations.

SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.

PHŒNICIAN SCARABEI AND INTAGLIOS.

PHŒNICIA.

Alas, we have to dig deep and toil to learn all we want to know so much about these people who 2500 years ago inhabited that narrow mountain-guarded strip of land looking westward on the same emerald sea that to-day breaks on the shore of what is now Syria.

They have consigned us no books, no pamphlets, no journals, not a page--only here and there do we unearth a graven stone, an inscribed cylinder and Scarabeus; and with these stone fragments of that nation’s literary bequests we will hope to obtain some idea of the history of Phœnicia--Phœnicia, whose people, not content with mounting five thousand feet to the temple of the Casian Jupiter, to see the sun upon the morning horizon, floated away on their frail barks on the deep waters, seeking light, knowledge, and gain. Mythology was their religion, which, like the subjects and styles of their engraved stones and gems of iridescent antique paste, was borrowed from Assyria, Greece, and even somewhat from the myths of the people among whom many of them settled.

Herodotus speaks of the Phœnicians as a branch of the Semitic or Aramæan nations; they originally dwelt on the shores of the Erythrean Sea. They also occupied islands in the Persian Gulf, among others Aradus and Tylus, where temples in Phœnician architecture were found; and it is known that the Phœnicians left these islands and colonized in the Ægean and Mediterranean Seas before the time of Joshua, 1444 B. C.

Of the Romans and the Grecians, we have their history through the writings of their own historians; and of the Egyptians, by their monuments teeming with hieroglyphics, history, and theology. Of the Phœnicians little is extant in writings from their own people; we are dependent on what other nations have recorded--in fact, what we know of them may be called tradition. The Phœnicians were termed “the merchants of many isles.” We can hardly say they cultivated the arts at home, for wherever they went, there they made their home; on every island inhabited by them are found evidences of their industry as gem-cutters--intaglios, scarabei, and seals. I remember how I was impressed on going ashore at Syra and walking through its beautiful amphitheatral city of to-day, whose site had once known those very Phœnicians, examples of whose gems may be seen in my collection.

They emigrated as far west as Sardinia. Sardinia was originally called Sandaleotis, from its form, which resembles a human foot or its imprint, where during centuries a moderate harvest has been reaped of gems emanating from their handiwork.

SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.

PHŒNICIA.

To a practised eye their work is distinguishable from that of other nations; the touch, drawing, execution, and the distinctive character of their subjects render them readily recognizable. Yet the symbolic characters are not entirely distinctive, for they often clearly indicate imitation of Assyrian and Egyptian work and design. For that reason it is often difficult to decide or classify gem-objects found in many of the islands once colonized by them, from the very fact that in design they at times lack originality.

They were a migratory people, and in this brief glance at the whole range of our subject we shall be satisfied with mention of their colony at Tharros, on the island at Sardinia, where the most unquestionably authentic Phœnician Scarabei have been found in excavations made during the last sixty years. They are principally cut on green jasper, and in character resemble Persian designs.

In these times we write our history every day on millions of great pages of white paper. In almost no contingency will future generations have any difficulty of learning who we were, where we came from, how we have formed the master metal--iron--into thousands of implements and instruments, or how they have been employed; being supplied with our ready inscribed history, they can begin where we have left off and profit by our experience.

GREECE.

The earliest specimens of Greek gems bore traces of Egyptian style; they represented objects rather symbolically than by artistic delineation of the beautiful in the human form or in nature. On the box of Cypselus death was represented with crooked legs, beauty and youth by long tresses of hair, power by long hands, swiftness and agility by long feet. Many of the oldest Greek statues were accompanied with the names of the subjects represented, which seems to imply that the artist was conscious of his deficiency, both in character and expression. Yet in time they created single figures and groups in fair marble, whose symmetry and exquisite modelling of the human form command the admiration of all. They are either at rest or displaying the muscles, sinews, and even the passions of athletic men and adorable women.

Greece was the source of the finest and richest glyptic art-treasures in a decorative sense. Grecian intaglios are of superb execution, of exquisite fineness and finish. This superiority can in a measure be accounted for by the encouragement the profession received from the nation, both from rulers and from the people.

In proportion to the extended cultivation of taste and the increased demand, the ranks of the incisori were repleted. Among so many contestants rivalry and emulation had a very happy effect in forming and creating artists who were indeed eminent, and whose works even to-day sparkle as jewel-gems in the diadem which crowns the history of their place in art.

The perfect finish, polish, and detail of their choicest examples render them superior to the gems of any other people, even to many that come from Roman sources.

It is often almost impossible intelligently to explain the difference between the gems of the Greeks and the Romans; such power of distinguishing one from the other is only to be gained by long observation and close study of the subject.

Many of them, however, seem to say to us whenever we meet them in exile, “We are of Ancient Greece, Grecians of the epoch and home of Pericles the patron, and Phidias the practitioner.” We are reminded of these classic, silent monuments when we meet and recognize the strictly glyptic work of the incisori of the land of the Parthenon. It is by comparison and contrast that we study and classify their gems. Beautiful stones have recently been discovered at Mycenæ, among which are engraved gems bearing effigies of animals curiously and artistically drawn, and which, by their Oriental style, prove that the ancient Greeks, who bequeathed so much to their successors, also inherited art-models from a people 1000 years B. C.

At first the colonists incised what was known as the Hellenic style, and then, as they fraternized with the Romans, and as the Romans made incisions under the Greek teaching, their glyptic works showed the Greek influence, and such works constituted the gems of the Græco-Romano. Many of the intaglios by Romans, of this school, were signed in Greek characters, and can be seen in my collection. This act of a Roman signing his name in characters other than the Latin letters peculiar to his own country shows how Grecian art was appreciated in the Græco-Roman epoch.

ROMAN.

The classic multitudinous gems of the Roman period: their emperors, statesmen, warriors, and poets--in fact, some of their gems have given to us the only perfect portraits in miniature that have been preserved from ancient time; incidents of their conflicts, their sports, games, and apparel--with the mass of chimeras and at times mysteries. The endless grand historical cameos, some of which in my collection represent nineteen and even twenty-two figures in good relief carefully engraved on a single stone. We know that gem-engraving in Rome in the prolific period was celebrated for the greatest diversity of subjects both in cameos and intaglios. Rome, the patroness of the ancient world.

Rome did not achieve this phenomenal position unaided, though in its palmiest days it was the art shrine of the nations. To attain this position it drew from comparatively distant sources, and borrowed talent wherever it was available.

When Rome’s reputation as the glyptic school was heralded and established throughout the nations as the art centre of the world, it became as we have inferred, the vortex into which hosts of artisans were attracted, and who, when once there, established themselves.

They were well received; were elated with plenty of occupation, emolument, and good prices; in their new life they identified themselves with their fellow incisori, and became Romans, or, at least, Græco-Romans.

In fact, the variety in styles and designs produced by all the ancient peoples of Italy was due to emigration. Profiting by the culture and art experience of Etruria, Rome learned from the Etruscan architects, potters, die-sinkers, and gem-engravers.

They learned from these more ancient incisori many useful lessons which enabled them to accomplish wonders. Within the limited space available on those little gem stones, they depicted with complicated minuteness details of events in actual history, and displayed remarkable tact and astonishing powers of composition in their rendering of groups of figures and mythological deities in scenes of quasi historical events.

Though we have seen the work of the Græco-Romans bearing evidence of combined influence and instruction, there was even at that very epoch a school, or powerful class of artists, in Rome, who retained their own individuality, who were Romans of Rome, and from whose hands, and from their successors, we have inherited grand cameos and intaglios, portraying their emperors, statesmen, philosophers, mythological subjects, and occasionally groups recording important events in Roman history.

Considering we find Roman glyptic work of merit until nearly the close of the second century A. D., there was in all a period of good gem-engraving covering about eight hundred years.

Throughout all this time the glyptic art flourished under the protection of kings and emperors, who for the general encouragement of the civilizing arts, served their own interests and gratified their tastes for luxury and the beautiful by their constant patronage of gem-engraving.

ABRAXAS.

The unique mystic gems of the Gnostics, known as the Abraxas, are a series by themselves; they had no prototype.

Their strangely decorated and inscribed stone tokens are so characteristic of the sect that they also are easily recognized. The task of explaining the meaning of these incisions is the more difficult, as the veil is almost impenetrable which obscures the history of everything that pertains to these little stone fetiches of the Gnostics.

The very disciples who carried those amuletic gems did so without understanding the meaning of the marks and symbols engraved upon them. They evidently were sacred types of their superstitious creed, invented and placed there by their mentors or priests.

They were Pagans, Jews, and nominal Christians, and we find in their inexhaustible inscriptions a series of emblems, Hebrew and Syriac, which dimly show forth Christ the Son, and Sun of Righteousness with ΑΔΟΝΑΙ, and the seven Greek vowels symbolic of the seven heavens. These Greek vowels have often amused me when I have shown an Abraxas talisman with long inscription to some Greek scholar not acquainted with their gems, who would stumble when he reached the other characters.

SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.

ABRAXAS OR GNOSTIC GEMS.

The religion of Jesus Christ was by no means established peaceably and immediately in the days following his crucifixion and resurrection. By a close reading of several of the Epistles of the New Testament you will see that during the first and second centuries many were the beliefs and even schisms among those who thought that they believed in Christ. In the second Epistle to the Corinthians there is evidence that the learned doctors raised altar in opposition to altar. None of them were avowedly reared by the Gnostics, yet the Apostle Paul recognized their opposition to the orthodox growing faith and combated them, knowing that Christianity at that critical moment was constantly losing adherents who, through the sophistries of the Abraxas, were daily relinquishing their ardent hold on the new hope in Christ.

Undoubtedly this Abraxas sect, who made so many cabalistic talismans, which were so blindly accepted and worn by their disciples, had among them many who knew of our Saviour. It appears from history, and from their mystic characters, that they had a clearer appreciation of Christ than a just or reasonable fear of the prince of the region of darkness, as Zoroaster termed the chief of inferno. They derived their idea of Satan, the arch tempter, from the appellation given him by certain sects in Central Asia, where, to better deceive their victims, they spoke of him as an angel of light. In modern times the lives of many men have proved that they had no desire to repulse Satan, but rather lived harmoniously in fellowship with him as their guide.

St. Paul besought the Christians to guard well the precious truths revealed and confided to them, and to fear and fly from the profane novelties that were threatening the welfare of their souls (I. Timothy, vi).

In a word, these great pagan monuments were the forerunners and the models of many of the small and portable talismans that were freely disseminated by the priests of the Abraxas to their disciples and their followers.

One important fact must be understood. The signs, symbols, the unintelligible hieroglyphs of the Gnostics, the Basilidians, which we find on the Abraxas gems--almost all talismans--are the mystic representations of a sect thus made up of people of several nations, all of whom in their aspirations sought for knowledge of the invisible power, that unquestionably had created and who governed all things, whom, though unseen, they served and feared.

SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION.

ABRAXAS OR GNOSTIC GEMS.

EARLY CHRISTIANS.

The events narrated in the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ resulted in the drawing together of his followers, who daily sought to worship their risen Redeemer, notwithstanding the terrible opposition of the heathen autocrats of Rome.

Very naturally in proportion to the imperial opposition the faithful became more fervent. As they could not publicly meet for worship and prayer, they were compelled to do so clandestinely.