Engraved magnetite gem with an anguipede

An image of Engraved gems. Magical amulet. Obverse: The solar deity known as Abrasax, with its body placed frontally and head turned right. The deity has the head of a cock, the body of a Roman soldier dressed in cuirass and tunic, and legs formed from two-upward-curling snakes. In its left hand the anguipede holds a round shield and its right a whip. Seven stars are distributed throughout the field; two are placed above the anguipede, one to its right and four below on its left side. Surrounding is a legend. Reverse: a standing full-frontal, male figure with the head turned to the left, most probably the youthful Harpocrates. The god is wrapped in a himation: he carries a flail in his left hand and raises his right to his head, which is crowned with an over-large rendering of the opening lotus bud. Separated in the field are letters which spell the Gnostic magical name. Intaglio cutting, magnetite, 18* mm x 15 mm, circa 200-circa 400 AD. Roman Imperial.

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

Engraved gems. Magical amulet. Obverse: The solar deity known as Abrasax, with its body placed frontally and head turned right. The deity has the head of a cock, the body of a Roman soldier dressed in cuirass and tunic, and legs formed from two-upward-curling snakes. In its left hand the anguipede holds a round shield and its right a whip. Seven stars are distributed throughout the field; two are placed above the anguipede, one to its right and four below on its left side. Surrounding is a legend. Reverse: a standing full-frontal, male figure with the head turned to the left, most probably the youthful Harpocrates. The god is wrapped in a himation: he carries a flail in his left hand and raises his right to his head, which is crowned with an over-large rendering of the opening lotus bud. Separated in the field are letters which spell the Gnostic magical name. Intaglio cutting, magnetite, 18* mm x 15 mm, circa 200-circa 400 AD. Roman Imperial.

Image data

Accession Number: CG 508
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/32.0
Focal length: 105
Camera: NIKON D800
Photographer name: Jaymes Sinclair
Image height: 1025 pixels
Image width: 684 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
Filesize: 380.32kB
Exposure time: 1/15
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 32/1
Captured: 2014:04:24 16:37:16

Key words

3rd Century 4th Century AD amulet anguiped anguipede antiquity armour cock cockerell creature cuirass cult divine divinity engraved gem figure Fitz_ANT gemstones intaglio intaglio cutting magical amulet magnetite male ritual Roman Roman Imperial rooster serpent shield snake stars whips

Citation for print

This page can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:


            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024)
            "Engraved magnetite gem with an anguipede"
            Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-201402 Accessed: 2024-12-19 05:48:26

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this page on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:


            {{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-201402
            |title=Engraved magnetite gem with an anguipede
            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-19 05:48:26|publisher=The
            University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/images/media-201400

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant46/CG_20508_1_201404_jas244_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Magical amulet"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Engraved magnetite gem with an anguipede</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>