Preliminary Report on the 1996 Swiss-Liechtenstein excavations at ez Zantur
by Bernhard Kolb (with contributions by Daniel Keller and Regine Fellmann Brogli)
IX. Ez Zantur IV: An engraved gem depicting Athena as Palladion from ez Zantur
Gems are rare finds within the town area of Petra Horsfield 1942: pl. 17, 117; Wenning 1987: 301. . The find of a small garnet gem, which came to light during the excavation of room 1 on EZ IV, is therefore all the more important (fig. 18).
Fig. 18: Garnet depicting Athena as Palladion (scales: 4:1; 4:1; 1:1) (photo: D. U. Schild; drawing: I. Haussener)
Petra 96 EZ IV. PQ 90–91/AO. Abs. 7. FK 3027. EF 3027.
Material : garnet, rich in almadin, deep red, slightly translucent.
State of preservation: a number of small nicks at the rim. Obverse slightly porous due to wear.
Description: Athena is shown walking, facing to the left. She wears a chiton and a crested helmet, carrying a spear across her shoulder and a shield on the other arm. As no groundline is indicated she appears to be floating.
Cutting: The figure is well proportioned and engraved with fine rounded drills of varying sizes.
Dating: End of 2nd. century BC – early 1st century AD.
For the motif and design compare e. g.: H. B. Walters, Catalogue of the engraved gems and cameos, Greek, Etruscan and Roman in the British Museum (London, 1926) nr. 1144; Brandt 1968: nr. 352. 494. 610–612; Henig and Whiting 1987: nr. 149–150; Sena Chiesa 1966: nr. 141–148; U. Pannuti, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Catalogo della collezione glittica I (Rome, 1983) 14f. nr. 14–19; Spier 1992: nr. 340; M. Henig, Classical gems. Ancient and modern intaglios in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1994) nr. 273 and references; Maaskant-Kleibrink 1978: nr. 906. 976. 1038.
Dating
The gem is well placed within the stratigraphical context under the massive destruction layer, in the levelling fill under the plaster floor of room 1. According to the finds it seems possible that the room was constructed after 20 AD (cf. Kolb supra).
Garnet was a rather rare material in glyptic art and was considered especially valuable. It came into a more regular use only during the Hellenistic period For the friendly help I received in determing the material I should like to thank I. Diethelm, Basel and H. A. Hänni, Basel. and was again only rarely used by the time of the early Roman Empire cf. Zazoff 1983: 270f. note 50 and p. 344. . Typical for Hellenistic ringstones in general and for garnets in particular is their more or less heavily convex obverse. This shape was particularly suitable for sealing, especially when set in a simple Hellenistic ring type cf. Zazoff 1983: 213 with fig. 54; Alessio 1984: 261ff.; Brandt 1968: nr. 381. 393. 425; Deppert-Lippitz 1985: nr. 88. 93. 96. 97. 101. 130. 136. . The group of these simple ring types is known up until the Augustean period. Apart from the typical examples with a relatively large convex ringstone a further group of specimens with small, only semi-convex gems is known. According to A. Alessio the change from large rings mostly with convex ringstone to the types with smaller gems with increasingly flat engraved sides takes place at the end of the 2nd. century BC and becomes increasingly apparent in the 1st century BC Alessio 1984: 265f. . Considering the shape of the gemstone from EZ IV one could imagine that it was intended to fit the setting of the simple ring type e. g. Alessio 1984: 264ff. Type 19 nr. 232–246 esp. nr. 238. 243–244; Deppert-Lippitz 1985: nr. 93. 96. 101. 130. 136; Spier 1992: nr. 216–217. .
The cutting technique with its well placed rounded drills is particularly impressive considering the small size and the heavily convex face of the gem. The figure is well proportioned and carefully executed. For these reasons our specimen may be reckoned among the large group of gems in the so-called rounded drill style, whose earliest examples date to the end of the 2nd. and the 1st century BC cf. Zwierlein-Diehl 1991: 8ff.; M. Maaskant-Kleibrink 1978: 99ff. .
The gem’s material and form, cutting technique and style suggest a dating in the period from the end of the 2nd. century BC up till the early 1st century AD.
Motif and meaning
The figure type of the walking or floating Athena/Minerva is already present in the late Hellenistic period and becomes popular during the time of the Roman Empire, mainly from the 1st through the 3rd century AD examples cf. supra).
In the glyptic art the type can be divided into three sub-types. Most common ist the one represented on the Petra gem showing Athena carrying her spear over her shoulder and her shield on the other arm.To the same type belong the pictures showing Athena/Minerva with the shield held completely in front of her e. g. Spier 1992: nr. 340. , or holding the spear downwards and keeping the shield protectively in front of her e. g. Zwierlein-Diehl 1973: nr. 182. .
The three sub-types are related because they are most probably all intended to represent the Palladion. What at first sight may seem amazing, becomes more plausible after consideration of the provenance and the development of the sub-types. Athena/Minerva with the shield held in front of her body is certainly connected with a representation of the Palladion with which we are familiar firstly from a Denar struck under Caesar in the year 47/46 BC Crawford 1974: nr. 458; cf. also Schürmann 1985: 33ff. and secondly from gems portraying Diomedes’ theft of the Palladion Vollenweider 1966: pls. 39, 1. 41, 1–3; cf. also Schürmann 1985: 26ff. . The sub-type with sunken spear and the shield held protectively is reminiscent of Athena Promachos. The difference lies mainly in the more closed position of the legs and the less aggressive character. The third variant corresponds to the gem from EZ IV and can only be compared with a Dupondius of C. Clovius from 45 BC Crawford 1974: nr. 476/1a and with a representation on the foot of an Augustean marble candelabrum Cain 1985: kat. 29, pl. 65. .
In his study of the iconography and typology of the Roman Minerva cult statues W. Schürmann has established that actually only the closed position of the legs can be considered characteristic for the portrayal of the Palladion cf. Schürmann 1985: 17ff. . All other elements, such as the archaic conture or clothing as well as its bellicose character can appear in varying combinations. It is only the combination of several of these traits which makes the interpretation as Palladion clear. The variability of the glyptic type becomes comprehensible given these premises and it is thus, in my opinion, clear that all three sub-types can be interpreted as Athena as Palladion.
The emergence of this type in the glyptic art may also be explained by means of the provenance of the prototypes. The eclectic character of the type, the archaistic traits of the figure as well as the stilted rendering of the garment indicate that it is taken from the late Hellenistic, the so-called neo-Attic repertoire of motifs Cf. Zazoff 1983: 209; Spier 1992: 5. An increased appearance of garnet as material for gems in the Levant can not be proved for the gems of the period of the roman empire, which are anyway known mostly from collections. Cf. A. Hamburger, Gems from Caesarea Maritima. Atiqot 8, 1968, 2ff.; Henig and Whiting 1987: 1ff.; F. Manns, Gemmes de l’époque gréco-romaine provenant de Palestine. Studii bilici Franciscani. Liber Annuus 28, 1978, 147ff. Somewhat confusing in this respect is the title suggesting a regional preference for this material in Spier 1992: 90ff. nr. 213–217. . It is possible that in this context it was mingled with the iconography of Nike/Victoria, which explains why the type appears to hover on some specimens. As the figure type is definitely represented earlier in glyptic than in numismatic art, it is possible that the glyptic representations served as typological models for the minters. This connection does not, however, allow us to draw any conclusions about the meaning of the early glyptic representations. The only clue towards an interpretation in this early phase is the mixing with the type Nike/Victoria, which may have lent the Palladion nuances of a new significance.
However the situation changed in the second phase. In the course of the 1st century AD the type became increasingly common in glyptic art, which may reflect its dependence on Roman coinage, although the glyptic figure type did not belong to the types programmatically employed during the Augustean period. In numismatic art the Palladion, after its first appearance in the Caesarean period, reappears under Galba and is from then on mostly used as a programmatically employed symbol – standing for the power and the aeternitas of Rome cf. Schürmann 1985: 33ff. .
Concerning the interpretation of the motif on our garnet also in relation with its place of discovery at Petra the following may be concluded: The generally Hellenistic character of the gem – expressed by the figure type, the shape of the gem as well as the material – and its findspot indicate in my opinion that the garnet belongs to the earlier group of gems depicting Athena as Palladion. There is no direct implication of a primarily programmatic meaning, as is later common on Roman coins. This assumption however cannot be definitely proved because the gem cannot be dated precisely enough and because too little is known at the moment about glyptic production centres as well as trade routes For a review of the eclectic character of glyptic types resp. its adaption from the late hellenistic repertoire of motifs see: Fellmann Brogli 1996: 86ff. 102f; cf. also Schürmann 1985: 28ff. For the types see Cain 1985: 104f. Unconvincing is the direct link between the glyptic types and the fragmented relief of an Athena in Basel, as postulated by R. Thomas in Die ‚schwebende‘ Athena in Basel. JdI 97, 1982, 59ff. . For these reasons and because the garnet is still an isolated find at Petra, our present knowledge cannot elucidate the relation of the gem to the Nabataean culture On the state of research on the production centres and their organisation mainly of the 1st century BC – 1st century AD see Sena Chiesa 1966: 69ff.; Zazoff 1983: 261ff.; G. Sena Chiesa, Gemme romane di cultura ellenistica ad Aquileia. Antichità altoadriatiche 12, 1977, 197ff. Contacts of the Romans with the Nabateans are known through literary sources at least since the years around 60 BC. See U. Hackl, Geschichte der Nabatäer, in: Petra und die Weihrauchstrasse. Ausstellung Zürich u. Basel 1993 (Zurich, 1993) 5ff. .
Regine Fellmann Brogli Schweizerisch-Liechtensteinische Ausgrabungen in Petra der Universität Basel Schönbeinstrasse 20 4056 Basel
