Hades, the ruler of the underworld, abducted Persephone, the daughter of the goddess Demeter. Persephone spent half the year with him and half on earth.
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Title:Chalcedony scaraboid in silver ring
Period:Classical
Date:mid-5th century BCE
Culture:Greek
Medium:Chalcedony, silver
Dimensions:1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm) gem: 1/4 × 9/16 × 13/16 in. (0.6 × 1.5 × 2 cm)
Classifications:Gems, Gold and Silver
Credit Line:The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76
Object Number:74.51.4199
Said to be from Cyrpus
Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 4199, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1917. Handbook of the Classical Collection. p. 111, fig. 71, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1920. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style. no. 32, pp. 28–29, pls. 8, 11, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 130–31, fig. 87, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Alexander, Christine. 1928. Jewelry: The Art of the Goldsmith in Classical Times as Illustrated in the Museum Collection. p. 51, fig. 108, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 130–31, fig. 87, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. p. 286, pl. 126a, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1956. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. no. 68, pp. 18–19, pl. 11, Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 1988. Vol. 4: Eros-Herakles. "Hades," p. 381, no. 78, pl. 214, Zürich: Artemis Verlag.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 2006[1956]. Catalogue of Engraved Gems of the Classical Style: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, 2nd edn. no. 68, pp. 18–19, pl. 11, color p. 4, Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Zwierlein-Diehl, Erika. 2007. Antike Gemmen und ihr Nachleben. p. 358, fig. 132, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.