G E 
anv-T by the beys of Egypt. Yet tlie art of engraving 
gems amongfi' the eattera nations was at firii: cultivated, 
not I'o much to gratify an oftenratioiis pride, as from tlie' 
necefTity which compelled tliofe people to have recoiirfe 
to feals or ftampis ; for no writingwas lield to be autlien- 
tic, tinlefs accompanied with tlie fignet of the perfon 
who dictated it. Jezebel, writing a letter in the name 
of Ahab, carefully imprelfes it v/ith the feal of that 
prince, that her orders might be executed without he¬ 
ll ration. The Perfian and Parthian monarchs pradlifed 
tlie fame cuflom; and Ahafuerus prelented his ring to 
Either, as the ufual mark of confidence and efteem. 
Alexandei', the conqueror of Darius, always ufed the 
feal of that unfortunate monarch when he fent his man¬ 
dates into Afia ; and at Babylon, every great man had his 
particular fignet ; a manifefi: proof of the higli antiquity 
of private feals, whicli are fo much the tafte in our own 
times. 
It would be fuperfluous for us to enumerate the va¬ 
rious kinds and ufes of '.he ornamental rings of the an¬ 
cients, enriched with tlie molt curious devices of the 
dcligner and engraver.—“ They loaded dieir fingers 
uitii princely fortunes,”—fays Pliny, xxxiti. i. and 
fome of the greatcit and molt renov :-ed waniors had lb 
high a regard for their rings and ■ ngraved gems, that 
tliey bequeathed them to the commonwealth, to pre¬ 
vent diiapidation. Pompey placed in the capitol of 
Rome tiie rings, gems, and jewels, which lie had col- 
>ifted among tiie I'poils of Mithridates. Ca:far gave to 
- temple of Venus Genetrix his cabinet of daByliotheca, 
’.I he had colletted at an immenfe expence. Mar- 
...is dedicated his invaluable Itore to the temple of 
Apollo P.iirvinus. And lb infatuating was this rage for 
ornamenral rings, that the inferior dalles,—^jult the fame 
as in our own days,—were lb anxious of imitating their 
fuperiors, that gilt, and brafs, and even iron, rings, 
were coveted a’lil worn, from the fafeinating principle 
of tiifliion alone, among ihe very loweff orders of the 
people. Pliny xxxiii. i. 
Among the Egyptian gems, the greater part have the 
form of tlie confecrated fcarabeus or beetle, and the fi¬ 
gures are engraven on its furface. They afterwards 
ground or cut away the lower part of the fcarabeus, 
preferving the upper furface, cut into an oval form, to 
be more r ommodioufly let into a ring or feal. Such 
was the origin of the oval engraved. Itones, which are 
fiill called fcarabs, although the figure of the inletl no 
longer appears. The fcarabeus was.confidered by the 
Egyptians as a fymbol of the fun, the fource of genera¬ 
tion, probably becaufe tliey imagined that the fcarab 
polfelTed the faculty of felf-produtlion ; it was alfo re¬ 
garded as an emblem of courage, for they imagined that 
all thefe infecls were males, and confequently belield 
them witli a kind of veneration. The Etrufean fcarabs, 
which are numerous, rarely exceed the natural fize.of 
the infects they reprefent; but tliofe of the Egyptians 
are frequently of an extraordinary thicknefs, and fome 
of them are four inches in length. Engraved liones of 
this kind were«elteemed as amulets or prefervutives from 
unlucky accidents, or from the malice of enemies. 
With thefe the forms of divinities and the veftments of 
the priefls were decorated, and they were diftributed as 
honourable difiinftioiis to perfons who had become emi¬ 
nent either in military employments, or in the offices of 
civil adminillration. That thefe fiones were^ generally 
•attached to the drefs or to the perfon, appears by their 
being perforated, lb as to admit a firing, by which they 
were either fufpended from the neck or fafiened on the 
arm. 
It has excited furprife among antiquarians, that the 
Etrufeans, a nation fo difiant from Egypt, fiioiild have 
liad the fame fingular kind of engraved ftones; but the 
circumftance merely lliews that the Etrufeans copied 
the Egyptians, and probably, in adopting the fcarabs of 
Egypt, they likewife adopted the fuperltitious practices 
M. 
then prevailing in that country. But from thefe Ejg^p- 
tian and Etrul'can gems, which are to be clafied among 
the earlielt productions of the glyphic art, we may con¬ 
clude, that although they carried the mechanic opera, 
tion to a confidei'able lieiglit, they made little or no pro. 
grefs in the poetical or more refined part. We mult 
however diftinguifli the real Egyptian ftyle from the 
Egyptio-Grccian, which took place when Egyptian 
gems were afterwards executed by Greek artifts. 
We difeover on tliofe gems the divinities of the conn- 
try, and all tlie hieroglyphics of their fymbolical w riting. 
Among thefe divinities we find their Ifis, Ofiris, Horns, 
Anubis, Harpocrates, &c. fometimes fingle, and fome- 
times united. The flower of the lotus or perfea often 
ornaments their forehead, or its fialk is held like a 
feeptre in the hand of the divinity, wlio is fometimes re- 
prefented as failing in a bark of the papyrus. The fifirum 
or rattle, the fitula or ewer, and the whip or fcourge, 
are occafionally reprefented.—See tlie engravings which 
illufiratc the article Egypt in our fixth volume. 
The Greeks, when once in pofielTion of the art of en. 
graving gems, were not long in bringing it, like other 
arts of fancy and delineation, to the higeft imaginable 
perfection. Rafpe, the editor of Taiiie’s catalogue, 
jufily obferves, that their improvements were not im¬ 
provements of the mechanical parts of the art, or of the 
tools or method of engi'aving, for thefe, on account of 
their great fimplicity, could have undergone but little 
variation from their beginning. The improvements of 
the Greeks arofe from a more extenfive ufe of the tool 
—a better choice, and happier treatment of their fub- 
jetts—from their confummate knowledge and imitation 
of nature, and finally, from a fublimer tafie, in which 
Homer was their mafier, and nature their guide. 
Tlie Egyptian fculpture has one remarkable deficiency; 
the Egyptian fiatues hang their limbs in idlenefs and in- 
adfivity; their legs and their arms adhere to the body 
in one dead mafs. Grecian art firfi made the marble 
dudtile, and the fione fufceptible of delicate forms. It 
breathed life into a fiatue, and touched into motion the 
fairy group contained in a ring. The commercial inter- 
'courfe of tlie Greeks with other nations—their confiant 
emulation, arifing from their own fmall independent 
ftates—their encouragement from afpiring individuals, 
who purchafed fame with the talents of the artifi—their 
athletic exercifes, and the natural beauty of their forms, 
and the genial influence of their country and climate— 
ail confpired to give the mofi powerful impulfe to their 
genius; and not the leafi of thefe caufes was the varied 
enchantment of their fabled heroes, gods, and goddeffes. 
Was it wonderful that they, who fo early felt the merits 
of Homer, (lioiild exprefs his beauties by the efforts of 
the glyphic art ? beauties fo dift'ereiit from the infan¬ 
tine inventions of Africa and Afia, ever cramped and 
confined by the fuperftition of their mythology. From 
the ftudy of nature and her laws, the Greeks formed 
their immortal works; flie alone was tlieir Ihuidard, the 
tefi of art and fcience, of genius and tafte. 
The,Romans before they were acquainted with the 
Greeks, from the earliefi period of the republic, were in 
the habit of weafing rings. Tliofe of their fenators were 
originally made of iron, and veftiges of this primseval 
fimplicity were perceivable in their marriage ceremonies 
and in their triumphs. In the former, the bridegroom 
prefented an unadorned ring of iron to liis bride ; and in 
tlie latter, the triumpher, while the flave placed on his 
head a crown of gold, wore, like tliat flave, a liiiiple 
iron ring on his finger. Sucli was the plain ornament 
with which Marius triumphed o”er Jvigurtha. In pro- 
cefsof time, only their ambalfadors enjoyed the privilege 
of publicly wearing a gold ring. The nobility were at 
length dilfinguifiied by this mark from the plebeians; 
thefe latter were only allowed rings of filver; and when 
a ring of gold was beftowed on one of them by a diitator 
Of a queltor, he was admitted into the equefirian order. 
On 
