DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0184
i45
The ' Ring of Nestor'.
But the most suggestive of all these pictorial examples is that supplied The
by the ' Ring of Nestor'x (Fig. 94), already referred to in connexion with the Ne'stfr°.
'sacral ivy' spray, and as illustrating the two little handmaidens of the
Goddess. The ring itself, as I have ventured to interpret it, affords the solitary
glimpse that we possess of the Minoan Underworld, and of the admission of
the departed into the realms of bliss. The multiplicity of figures, human or
divine—fourteen in number, in addition to the animal forms—is unique
among ancient intaglios, and, considering the size of the field, required
microscopic work. It may be compared, even in the exact number of its
figures, with the vintage scene and Bacchanalian throng engraved on the
cornelian bezel of the signet-ring said traditionally to have belonged to
Michelangelo, and,—as the rebus of a fisher-boy below shows,—certainly a
tour de force of his friend G. M. da Pescia,2 the celebrated gem-engraver
of Leo X's time.
The ring itself is so remarkable that it deserves a special consideration circum-
here. It was found in a large beehive tomb at ' Nestor's Pylos ' by a peasant s0^s
in quest of building material there, somewhat previous to the investigation of finding
its remains by the German explorers in 1907.3 The discovery, however, covery.
was kept dark, and on the death of the original finder the ring passed into
the possession of the owner of a neighbouring vineyard. Thanks to the
kindness of a friend, I saw an imperfect impression of the signet at Athens
which gave me, however, sufficient idea of the importance that it might
possess. I at once, therefore, undertook a journey to the West Coast of
the Morea, resulting in the acquisition of this remarkable object, which, from
the popular name given to the tholos since Dr. Doerpfeld's investigations,4
1 See especially A. E., Ring of Nestor, &°c, An engraving from an enlarged drawing by
J.H.S., xlv, 1925, and, separately, Mac- Madame le Hay, enhancing the pictorial cha-
millans, 1925. For an illustration of the design racter of the design in the spirit of the time,
on the ring see, too, J3, of M., ii, Pt. II, is given by Montfaucon, Antiquite expliquee,
p. 482, Fig. 289. vol. i (1719), PL 143, 1.
2 Once in the Cabinet du Roi and still in 5 Kurt Miiller, Ath. Mitth., xxxii, Suppl.,
the Paris Collection. It was first described pp. xi-xiv, and ibid., xxxiv (1909), p. 269 seqq.
by P. A. Rascas de Bagarris in his tract 4 Dr. Dorpfeld identified Kakovatos, where
entitled La ne'cessite de Pusage des me'dailles the tholos was found, with Nestor's Pylos, Ath.
dans les Monnaies (1608-n), p. 9. For the Mitth., xxxii (1907), Supplement, p. vi seqq.
history and description see M. Chabouillet, Strabo, viii, c. 3, 7—citing the 'O^piKwrtpoi—
Cat. Gen. des Came'es et pierres grave'es de la had placed it within the Triphylian borders, as
bibliotheque impe'riale, pp. 320-3, no. 2337. against the claims of the Messenian Pylos.
III. L
The ' Ring of Nestor'.
But the most suggestive of all these pictorial examples is that supplied The
by the ' Ring of Nestor'x (Fig. 94), already referred to in connexion with the Ne'stfr°.
'sacral ivy' spray, and as illustrating the two little handmaidens of the
Goddess. The ring itself, as I have ventured to interpret it, affords the solitary
glimpse that we possess of the Minoan Underworld, and of the admission of
the departed into the realms of bliss. The multiplicity of figures, human or
divine—fourteen in number, in addition to the animal forms—is unique
among ancient intaglios, and, considering the size of the field, required
microscopic work. It may be compared, even in the exact number of its
figures, with the vintage scene and Bacchanalian throng engraved on the
cornelian bezel of the signet-ring said traditionally to have belonged to
Michelangelo, and,—as the rebus of a fisher-boy below shows,—certainly a
tour de force of his friend G. M. da Pescia,2 the celebrated gem-engraver
of Leo X's time.
The ring itself is so remarkable that it deserves a special consideration circum-
here. It was found in a large beehive tomb at ' Nestor's Pylos ' by a peasant s0^s
in quest of building material there, somewhat previous to the investigation of finding
its remains by the German explorers in 1907.3 The discovery, however, covery.
was kept dark, and on the death of the original finder the ring passed into
the possession of the owner of a neighbouring vineyard. Thanks to the
kindness of a friend, I saw an imperfect impression of the signet at Athens
which gave me, however, sufficient idea of the importance that it might
possess. I at once, therefore, undertook a journey to the West Coast of
the Morea, resulting in the acquisition of this remarkable object, which, from
the popular name given to the tholos since Dr. Doerpfeld's investigations,4
1 See especially A. E., Ring of Nestor, &°c, An engraving from an enlarged drawing by
J.H.S., xlv, 1925, and, separately, Mac- Madame le Hay, enhancing the pictorial cha-
millans, 1925. For an illustration of the design racter of the design in the spirit of the time,
on the ring see, too, J3, of M., ii, Pt. II, is given by Montfaucon, Antiquite expliquee,
p. 482, Fig. 289. vol. i (1719), PL 143, 1.
2 Once in the Cabinet du Roi and still in 5 Kurt Miiller, Ath. Mitth., xxxii, Suppl.,
the Paris Collection. It was first described pp. xi-xiv, and ibid., xxxiv (1909), p. 269 seqq.
by P. A. Rascas de Bagarris in his tract 4 Dr. Dorpfeld identified Kakovatos, where
entitled La ne'cessite de Pusage des me'dailles the tholos was found, with Nestor's Pylos, Ath.
dans les Monnaies (1608-n), p. 9. For the Mitth., xxxii (1907), Supplement, p. vi seqq.
history and description see M. Chabouillet, Strabo, viii, c. 3, 7—citing the 'O^piKwrtpoi—
Cat. Gen. des Came'es et pierres grave'es de la had placed it within the Triphylian borders, as
bibliotheque impe'riale, pp. 320-3, no. 2337. against the claims of the Messenian Pylos.
III. L