148 Description of some Ancient Gems and Seals, fyc. [No. 110. 



naked, his head diademed, leaning his left hand on his club, and holding 

 out in his right hand a little figure of victory, which is extending a 

 wreath towards the hero ; to the right are two Sanscrit letters, one above 

 the other, in the same position, and apparently of the same age, as those 

 we see on the coins of the Guptas, forming the word Aja ; which is pro- 

 bably only a monogramatic contraction for Ajaya, the invincible, a very 

 appropriate epithet for the ever victorious Hercules. 



I have no doubt that many other notices of ancient gems procured in 

 India may be found with a little search ; but I have neither the time to 

 look for them, nor the ability to elucidate them, should my search be 

 successful ; and I therefore trust that the brief remarks, which I am 

 about to make, may be received with indulgence. 



No. 1. Brown translucent agate, procured at Benares. Bare and 

 bearded head of Hercules to the left, his hair short and curling ; his great 

 strength shown by his short brawny neck; and his club placed behind 

 his head. This seal is of beautiful workmanship, and in exceedingly 

 bold relief and the engraved parts are highly polished. 



No. 2. In Colonel Stacy's collection, purchased, I believe, at Delhi. It 

 represents Omphale standing, inclined to the left, and bearing the club 

 and lion's skin belonging to Hercules ; she having given him her distaff 

 and bright colored robe in exchange for them. The engraving of this 

 gem is well-done, but it is not in my opinion at all equal to the other — 

 and yet her air of fancied strength assumed w T ith the spoils of the Ne- 

 mean lion, and the hero's club, is capital ; and the making her grasp 

 the club with both hands, displays at once both the woman's weakness, 

 and the nice observation of the artist. 



As these gems represent mythological persons of ancient Greece, they 

 must have been brought into India from the North West, and as many 

 gems are yearly discovered in ancient Bactria, I have little doubt that these, 

 and indeed all gems purchased in India which bear Grecian subjects, 

 must have come originally from ancient Bactria, the seat of the nearest 

 Grecian colony, and where we know, from the beauty of the earlier Bac- 

 trian coins, that the arts must have flourished in the greatest perfection. 



If these gems then owe their origin to Bactria, it is not improbable that 

 the two just described may have been engraved during the long and pros- 

 perous reign of Euthedymus, all of whose gold and silver coins, yet dis- 

 covered, bear the figure of Hercules ; for it is but natural to suppose, that 

 a Prince, who for so long a time exhibited this deified hero upon his coins, 

 would likewise have had the head, the figure, and even the history of the 



