Minoan and Mycenaean GemsAuthor(s): E. J. ForsdykeSource: The British Museum Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Dec., 1934), p. 48Published by: British MuseumStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4421692 .

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The last, 12542 (P1. XIV, no. 3. Height 51 inches), is a purely Anatolian figure. His body and arms have been stylized to abstrac- tion, his head alone being executed in full. This is probably an Anatolian adaptation of the Mesopotamian foundation figures in the rough shape of a nail, which were in use at the time of the dynasty of Isin and Larsa from about 2180o to 1920 B.C. The pointed top of the cap inclines forward and suggests that we have here the proto- type of the so-called Phrygian cap of the god Attis in later times. It is labelled as having come from Cyprus, but if so, that was quite certainly not its original source, and probably the attribution is simply a mistake. R. D. BARNETT.

36. MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN GEMS.

AMONG a series of Middle Minoan sealstones recently bought

out of the J. R. Vallentin Fund are two of the hieroglyphic class: a very small, finely cut quadrangular prism in green jasper, and a rougher triangular prism in black steatite (P1. XV a, I and 2). A conical seal in green jasper, with ring handle, has a conventional bull's head on its base, and a green steatite seal of similar type, but pierced at top and sides for suspension, has a browsing sheep (3, 4). An agate and a sard amygdaloid belong to the later amuletic class (Middle Minoan III-Late Minoan I): they bear designs derived apparently from fishes (5, 6). The finest pictorial gem is a red and yellow agate lentoid engraved with two goats, which have two small shields beneath their bodies (7): this is Late Minoan I (fifteenth century B.C.). Three other lentoids are of rougher style and probably later date: a rampant lion and goat with a human head in the field (8, green jasper); a calf with its feet tied together, lying apparently on a bed of branches (9, black haematite); and two long-legged birds beside a pillar ( o, black slate). E. J. FORSDYKE.

37. A GREEK IMPRECATION.

THE leaden diploma illustrated in Pl. XV b has been presented to the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities by Mrs

L. M. C. Walker. The two leaves measure 5 inches by 21 inches and one of the bronze rings joining them is still preserved. On the inner side is scratched a Greek inscription of a familiar type, devoting to

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XV. (a) MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN GEMS

(b) A GREEK IMPRECATION

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