For Customers outside of USA
Size 7 Genuine Ancient Engraved "Legionary Eagle" Intaglio Roman Bronze Ring with Handcarved Ancient Orange Carnelian Semi-Precious Gemstone 100 A.D.!!!
CLASSIFICATION: Ancient Roman Bronze Ring with Engraved Orange Carnelian Gemstone.
ATTRIBUTION: Eastern Roman Empire (Thracia), First or Second Century A.D.
SIZE/MEASUREMENTS: Fits ring size 7 (U.S.).
Bezel: 15 1/2mm wide * 10mm tall * 3 1/2mm thick.
Intaglio: 9 1/2mm wide * 7 1/2mm tall * 2 1/2mm thick.
Tapered Width Band: 8mm at bezel * 6 1/2mm at sides * 3mm at back.
Overall Dimensions: 21mm * 20 1/2mm (outer "diameter"); 18mm * 16mm (inner diameter).
Weight: 4.39 grams.
CONDITION: Good. Original carved carnelian intaglio in excellent condition. Moderate porosity (surface pitting caused by contact with earth while buried) to bronze metal bands. Professionally conserved.
DETAIL: A fairly well preserved, genuine Roman bronze ring with the original handcarved carnelian intaglio gemstone intact. As you can clearly see, the carnelian intaglio gemstone clearly depicts a Roman legionary eagle, wings outstretched. Overall it is in very good condition, with a raised bezel forming a land into which is set the carved carnelian gemstone. Around the raised land bezel is a series of finely engraved accent lines. All of this elaborate metal work, very handsome and detailed, is a bit beyond the ordinary. The fact that it was so intricately constructed and as well bore a carved gemstone are pretty good indications that it was probably owned by a person of wealth or noble birth. The ring is of one-piece construction, much like a contemporary ring, although the style is characteristically archaic. The most archaic styles of rings produced by Roman artisans were characteristically made in two pieces; an incomplete ring (a "shank") with a separately crafted bezel attached to complete the ring.
An intaglio ring was used to press the wearer's "seal" (most often a carved stone or gemstone) into lead, clay, or wax, leaving an impression created by the ring's bezel. Carnelian gemstones and jewelry were very popular throughout the Roman Empire, and carnelian was widely used to carve cameos and signet/intaglio rings. Aside from being quite beautiful, carnelian seals and signets had the practical advantage of not sticking to wax. Carnelian is an orange-colored form of quartz which was enormously popular with the Romans, as well as other ancient Mediterranean cultures. There are a few shortcomings to the ring. After being buried for almost two thousand years one cannot expect a perfect specimen. The soil conditions in which this specimen came to rest were less than optimal. So there is a moderate degree of porosity present in the bronze ring, fine surface pitting (oxidation) caused by prolonged burial in caustic soil. However the porosity is not to the point where the integrity of the artifact is impaired. So often archaeologists uncover metal artifacts which have been oxidized to the point that they are no more than crumbly stains in the soil.
Nonetheless this ring is absolutely intact, and could be worn on a regular basis without endangering the integrity of the artifact. However clearly there is mute but unmistakable evidence of the ring's struggle to survive burial for several millennia in challenging soil conditions. This is not to say that the ring cannot be worn and enjoyed, it most assuredly can be worn and enjoyed on a regular basis. But one cannot expect perfection in a ring almost two thousand years old. The Romans were of course very fond of ornate personal jewelry including bracelets worn both on the forearm and upper arm, brooches, pendants, hair pins, earrings intricate fibulae and belt buckles, and of course, rings. The bronze is the tone of ancient gold, it is truly a beautiful ring, and will make a wonderful gift for oneself or a loved one. When worn it shall surely draw curiosity, questions, and even envy. This is an exceptional and striking piece of Roman jewelry, a very handsome artifact, and eminently wearable. Aside from being significant to the history of ancient jewelry, it is also an evocative relic of one of the world's greatest civilizations and the ancient world's most significant military machines; the glory, might and light which was the "Roman Empire".
HISTORY: The Romans acquired their taste for carnelian, a beautifully colored reddish-orange semi-precious gemstone from the Phoenicians, who traded extensively in carnelian. Since before recorded history evidence suggests that carnelian was one of the most favored gemstones for at least the past 10,000 years. Two of the richest archaeological treasures, the tombs of both the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen and Sumerian Queen Pu-abi's tomb at Ur contained many splendid examples of carnelian jewelry. The red variety of carnelian was most popular in the ancient world. Carnelian was widely favored by the Sumerian/Mesopotamian cultures and then their successors the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans for its use in jewelry. However it was just as popular for use in carved intaglio seals which originated in Mesopotamia (Sumeria) sometime in the 5th millennium B.C. The production of such incised carnelian seals was a highly developed art form by the 4th millennium B.C. There are many splendid examples of intaglio carnelian rings and signets produced by ancient Roman and Greek craftsmen still in existence today. A particularly noteworthy collection is housed at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The eagle was the principal standard of the Roman legion, and continued to be used as such so long as that body existed. In the early Republic a number of "mascots" had been used by the legionary forces, including the eagle, the wolf, the minotaur, the horse, and the boar. However during the second consulship of Gaius Marius in 104 B.C., the eagle became the exclusive standard for the Roman Legions. These legionary eagles, not great in size, were affixed to spears, the lower ends of which were sharp-pointed for the purpose of their being more easily planted in the ground. They are exhibited on coins as holding in their talons a thunderbolt. Oftentimes in bronze, silver was preferred for the material of the eagle itself, and the reason, according to Pliny, a historian writing at that time, was that it is a metal which is seen at the greatest distance.
Perhaps one of the most prolific uses of the image of the legionary eagle was on the legionary coins of Mark Antony. In that depiction which was produced on literally hundreds of millions of silver coins, the eagle is placed between two standards, distinguished with three circular appendages, and terminating above in a spear-point. You can see an especially fine example of one of these silver denarii here. Eagles between simple ensigns, of a similar form and the same number, appear on denarii of Clodius Macer and of Septimius Severus; also on the well known coins which record the recovery of the ensigns from the Parthians (by whom they had been captured in battle).
Depictions of legionary eagles may also be found amongst the colonial mintages, such as in Acci, Caesar-Augusta, Patrae, Emerita, etc. On coins of Octavius Augustus commemorating the restitution of the standards, Mars Ultor appears, with a legionary eagle in his right hand, and in his left an ensign (or standard, if you prefer). The legionary eagle appears fixed to a ship's prow, and held by two right hands, on a brass coin of the Emperor Nerva, and also appears in the hands of a number of Roman emperors on the coinage of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Severus Alexander, Philip II, Probus, etc. As can be seen on this ring, an engraved Roman Legionary Eagle was also a popular depiction on jewelry, especially rings and intaglios.
Bronze is the name given to a wide range of alloys of copper, typically mixed in ancient times with zinc or tin. The Bronze Age followed the Neolithic, and as the name implies, saw the production of bronze tools, weapons and armor which were either hard or more durable than their stone predecessors. Traditionally archaeology has maintained that the earlier bronze was produced by the Maikop, a proto-Indo-European, proto-Celtic culture of Caucasus prehistory around 3500 B.C. Recent evidence however suggests that the smelting of bronze might be as much as several thousand years older. Shortly after the emergence of bronze technology in the Caucasus region, bronze technology emerged in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean), Anatolia (Turkey) and the Iranian Plateau.
By the late fourth to early third millennium B.C. many Bronze Age Cultures had emerged. Some of the more notable were the Celtic cultures of Middle Europe stretching from Hungary to Poland and Germany, including the Urnfield, Lusatian, and (Iron Age Transitional) Hallstatt Cultures. The Shang in ancient China also developed a significant Bronze Age culture, noted for large bronze burial urns. Britain's Bronze Age cultures included the Beaker, Wessex, Deverl, and Rimbury. Cornwall was the principle source of tin not only for Britain but exported throughout the Mediterranean, and copper was produced from the Great Orme mine in North Wales. Though much of the raw minerals may have come from Britain (and to a lesser extent Spain), it was the Aegean world which controlled the trade in bronze. The great seafaring Minoan Empire appears to have controlled, coordinated, and defended the Bronze Age trade.
Tin and charcoal were imported into Cyprus, where locally mined copper was mined and alloyed with the tin from Britain. It appears that the Bronze Age collapsed with the Minoan Empire, to be replaced by a Dark Age and the eventual rise of the Iron Age Myceneans. Evidence suggests that the precipitating event might have been the eruption of Thera and the ensuing tsunami, which was only about 40 miles north of Crete, the capital of the Minoan Empire. It is known that the bread-basket of the Minoan empire, the area north of the Black Sea lost population, and thereafter many Minoan colony/client-states lost large populations to extreme famines or pestilence. Thus with the end to the shipping of tin throughout the Mediterranean the Bronze Age trade network is believed to have failed, and the end of the Bronze Age and the rise of the Iron age is normally associated with the disturbances created by large population movements in the 12th century B.C.
The end of the Bronze Age saw the emergency of new technologies and civilizations which heralded the new Iron Age. Although iron was in many respects much inferior to bronze (steel was still thousands of years away), iron had the advantage that it could be produced using local resources during the dark ages that followed the Minoan collapse. Bronze also resists corrosion and metal fatigue better than iron. Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, but for many purposes the weaker iron was sufficiently strong to serve in its place. As an example, Roman officers were equipped with bronze swords while foot soldiers had to make do with iron blades.
One of the greatest civilizations of recorded history was the ancient Roman Empire. In exchange for a very modest amount of contemporary currency, you can possess a small part of that great civilization in the form of a 2,000 year old piece of jewelry. The Roman civilization, in relative terms the greatest military power in the history of the world, was founded in the 8th century (B.C.). In the 4th Century (B.C.) the Romans were the dominant power on the Italian Peninsula, having defeated the Etruscans and Celts. In the 3rd Century (B.C.) the Romans conquered Sicily, and in the following century defeated Carthage, and controlled the Greece. Throughout the remainder of the 2nd Century (B.C.) the Roman Empire continued its gradual conquest of the Hellenistic (Greek Colonial) World by conquering Syria and Macedonia; and finally came to control Egypt in the 1st Century (B.C.)
The pinnacle of Roman power was achieved in the 1st Century (A.D.) as Rome conquered much of Britain and Western Europe. For a brief time, the era of "Pax Romana", a time of peace and consolidation reigned. Civilian emperors were the rule, and the culture flourished with a great deal of liberty enjoyed by the average Roman Citizen. However within 200 years the Roman Empire was in a state of steady decay, attacked by Germans, Goths, and Persians. In the 4th Century (A.D.) the Roman Empire was split between East and West. The Great Emperor Constantine temporarily arrested the decay of the Empire, but within a hundred years after his death the Persians captured Mesopotamia, Vandals infiltrated Gaul and Spain, and the Goths even sacked Rome itself. Most historians date the end of the Western Roman Empire to 476 (A.D.) when Emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed. However the Eastern Roman Empire (The Byzantine Empire) survived until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D.
At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain in the West, throughout most of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, and into Asia Minor. Valuables such as coins and jewelry were commonly buried for safekeeping, and inevitably these ancient citizens would succumb to one of the many perils of the ancient world. Oftentimes the survivors of these individuals did not know where the valuables had been buried, and today, two thousands years later caches of coins and rings are still commonly uncovered throughout Europe and Asia Minor. Roman Soldiers oftentimes came to possess large quantities of "booty" from their plunderous conquests, and routinely buried their treasure for safekeeping before they went into battle. If they met their end in battle, most often the whereabouts of their treasure was likewise, unknown. Throughout history these treasures have been inadvertently discovered by farmers in their fields, uncovered by erosion, and the target of unsystematic searches by treasure seekers. With the introduction of metal detectors and other modern technologies to Eastern Europe in the past three or four decades, an amazing number of new finds are seeing the light of day 2,000 years or more after they were originally hidden by their past owners. And with the liberalization of post-Soviet Eastern Europe, new markets have opened eager to share in these treasures of the Roman Empire.
SHIPPING: These antiquities come from a number of collections which by and large originated here in Eastern Europe. As well, additional specimens are occasionally acquired from other institutions and dealers, principally in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. All of these artifacts are now in the United States and are available for immediate delivery via U.S. Mail. All purchases are backed by an unlimited guarantee of satisfaction and authenticity. If for any reason you are not entirely satisfied with your purchase, you may return it for a complete and immediate refund of your entire purchase price. A certificate of authenticity (COA) is available upon request.
Our order fulfillment center near Seattle, Washington will ship your purchase within one business day of receipt of your personal check or money order. If you wish to pay electronically, we accept both PayPal and BidPay. However we ask that you PLEASE WAIT before remitting until we have mutually agreed upon method of shipment and shipping charges and you understand our PayPal limitations and policies (stated here). We will ship within one business day of our receipt of your electronic remittance.
A certificate of authenticity (COA) is available upon request. We prefer your personal check or money order over any other form of payment - and we will ship immediately upon receipt of your check (no "holds"). Please see our "ADDITIONAL TERMS OF SALE."
