66 
A. Cunningham —Belies from Ancient Persia. 
[No. 1, 
of the times of Darius or Xerxes, while the other belongs to the later period 
shortly before the conquest of Alexander. The smaller figure also has some 
marks on the forehead, which in India would be distinctive symbols of the 
religious sect of the wearer, as a votary of Mahadeva and Par vat l. 
D is a gold seal with fine, deeply cut symbols, not unlike hieroglyphic 
characters. As I am not acquainted with these characters, I am unable to 
say whether the seal is a genuine one or not. Its weight is 178 grains. 
C is a thin gold ring of inferior workmanship, weighing only 35 
grains. It represents a lion couchant. 
D is a circular boss of 3f inches in diameter and convex on the upper 
surface. This curious ornament weighs 851 grains and is in my own 
possession. In the middle there is a slight rise or knob, pierced with 5 
holes, through which I suppose that pins were passed for fastening the 
plate to some back ground. Round the outer edge there is a continuous 
corded pattern, one quarter of an inch in breadth. The circle itself is 
filled with a hunting scene consisting of three horsemen, one of whom is 
pursuing two stags at which he is preparing to hurl a spear. The second 
is pursuing a pair of Ibex with upraised spear, and the third is shooting 
an arrow at a hare. The gold is thin, and the work has been beaten up 
from behind (repousse). Each horseman has a bow case on the left side of 
his horse. Their dress appears to be similar to that of the Satraps on the 
coins, the head dress being a soft cap with long lajjpets. The Kandys, or 
tunic, is striped and embroidered down the front. The trowsers of the 
horseman pursuing the hare are cross-barred, which probably represents 
the TroLKiXai ava^vpiSes or “ parti-coloured” trowsers of Xenophon. 
As to the use of this circular ornament I conjecture that it may have 
been a boss for the centre of a shield. In India it is usual to have five 
similar ornaments on a shield, one in the middle and the other four at 
equal distances around it. To strengthen it for such a purpose, it would of 
course have had a plate of iron or brass behind it. 
The three gold bracelets in Plate VII, are complete. All the others 
that I have seen previously have been cut in pieces by the finders. They 
are of three different kinds, plain, ribbed, and twisted, and are also of three 
different lengths of single, double and triple coils. 
No. 1 is a plain bracelet of one coil ending in two Antelope heads. 
It weighs 1310 grains or 10 Darics, and is of good workmanship, the 
animals’ heads being neatly and artistically wrought. The horns are made 
to lie back on the neck, so as not to present any points to catch in the 
dress of the wearer. 
No. 2 is a ribbed bracelet of two coils ending in two lions’ heads. It 
weighs 3555 grains, or about 26 Darics, and is 22 inches in length. 
No. 3 is a spirally twisted bracelet of three coils ending in two 
