EROTIE E1MEO8 IND PEREONIL OBJEETE

Mythological stories and erotic scenes were favorite subjects on small carved gemstones, precious cameos set in gold finger rings. These incredibly detailed miniature reliefs, owned by both men and women in antiquity, were tiny personal adornments that could be enjoyed privately and shared with friends. We are used to viewing Greek and Roman art as dominated by painted vases and sarcophagi and marble and bronze sculpture. This lesser-known genre of ancient art was much more private and intimate than vases, paintings, and large-scale statues.

Gems and other objets d’art featuring partially nude and nude Amazons were made in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. They also appear on antique neoclassical cameos in early modern European collections, illustrating mythic stories in imitation of ancient examples. The later ancient and antique gems frequently show Greek heroes brutally victorious over Amazons, grabbing them by the hair, pulling them from their horses, and delivering death blows. A small silver box (230 BC) with a gold-relief lid from Sicily, for example, has a violent scene of Achilles pulling Penthesilea’s head back to cut her throat; her clothing has fallen away. A Roman gem (ca. 27 BC-AD 14) shows a naked Greek male warrior dragging a naked Amazon from her horse by her hair. A more humane scene appears on a sardonyx cameo of the first century BC/AD. An Amazon supports the nude body of her dying companion, whose dress has slipped down to her thigh (Fig. 7.4).11

An exquisite naked Amazon appears on a much earlier gemstone of about 500 BC. The beautiful deep-coral carnelian illustrates a romantic climax in the Trojan War. In the myth, Achilles kills the Amazon queen, Penthesilea. As she dies, Achilles is overcome and falls in love, too late (Chapter 18). Less than an inch across, the remarkable miniature scene shows the heroically nude Achilles piercing her side with his spear. The dying Penthesilea’s eyes are wide open, and she still holds her spear and bow. She wears a pointed cap, a necklace, a bracelet, and an earring. As she swoons, her short tunic hikes up, revealing her pubic area. Achilles’s curly hair and sideburns and the Amazon’s hair under her helmet are indicated by tiny pellets. The same technique is used to render their pubic hair. Greek women depilated their “uncouth” body hair by

FiG. 7.4. Amazon supporting dying nude companion still holding her bow, with sympathetic horse. Carved red and white sardonyx gem, first century BC/AD. Marlborough Gems, Beazley no. 507, formerly at Blenheim Palace, 2009. Photo by John Boardman. Bottom: antique engraving of the gem.

FiG. 7.5. Achilles spearing partially nude Penthesilea. Carnelian gem, Greek, early fifth century BC, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912, 27.682. Photograph © 2014 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Right, cast of gem, photo by John Boardman.

Singeing or plucking.12 This titillating glimpse of Penthesilea’s pubic hair signals that she is a wild barbarian woman (Fig. 7.5).

The carnelian, displayed in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, is one of nine intaglios carved by the Semon Master, thought to be a Greek engraver who worked in Anatolia, known for his intricate anatomical details. This graphic illustration of Achilles’s erotic attraction to Pen-thesilea adorned the hand of a man or woman who lived in Cyprus twenty-five hundred years ago.