This volume, an adaptation of S.’s 2015 Ph.D. dissertation, is divided into seven thematic units. After a short introduction, an overview is given of ancient glyptics, much in the manner of a reference book (‘Engraved Gems: a Survey’), which is followed by the principal chapter of the book: ‘Animal Images and their Meaning’. Two more chapters follow, which interpret the material presented in the previous one: ‘Interactions between Animal Depictions in Various Media and their Depictions on Gems’ and ‘Associations between Animal Depictions and the Type of Gemstone and its Believed Qualities’. The book ends with a summary, followed by an extensive bibliography.
Defining the genre of this work is difficult. Its title implies a comprehensive analysis of the subject, but the book actually ‘focuses on a group of about 70 gems … kept in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and which has not yet been published’ (p. 4). But the book is not a catalogue of the pieces under discussion either. It does not discuss the shape of the gems, and the iconographic descriptions are not accurate enough (some attributes are omitted, such as the shield leaning against the altar and the vessel on top of it on the Penthesilea gem, p. 73, fig. 23). The rings that belong to the gems are not mentioned, let alone described, even though – based on the photos – the majority of them seem to be ancient. Attempts at dating the gems generally lack argumentation, and S. tends to rely on oral communication by M. Henig (e.g. pp. 45, 72, 144), whose research constitutes the chief reference point for the book (Henig is listed 26 times in the bibliography).
For the survey on gems, the principal source is G. Richter 1956, which is complemented with further secondary literature in English, generally from the 1950s to the 1980s. The latest synthesis of ancient glyptics, the 2007 monograph by E. Zwierlein-Diehl, is not cited. The adherence to scholarly paradigms deemed valid half a century ago sometimes leads to problematic assertions. An example: ‘At their best, they [the Etruscan scarabs] are as good as any Greek scarabs’ (p. 26), or ‘During the Geometric period in Greece, representations of the horse in art were schematic and in the Archaic period the horse is stylised and expressionless’ (p. 64). Fortunately, such normative evaluations of Etruscan and Greek art are rare in contemporary scholarship. S. chiefly relies on Richter's 1956 monograph when identifying the ancient names of precious stones, neglecting important results that have been achieved since then (for a starting point, see L. Thoresen, in S. Greiff et al. [edd.], Gemstones in the First Millennium ad. Mines, Trade, Workshops and Symbolism [2017]). It is surprising that the discussion of the use of gems as amulets includes multiple references to the 1896 study of E. Babelon, even though the uncritical application of the religious historical framework advocated in that book is largely problematic today. This again leads to assertions such as, ‘It was believed that an invisible demon dwelt within each gem, and that a secret relationship existed between the gems and the stars because of their similar sparkle’ (p. 11). Babelon drew a sharp distinction between religion and magic, but this view is untenable following the paradigm shift that characterised the subject at the turn of the millennium.
The principal chapter is divided according to animals. S. embarks on the enormous task of surveying the ancient cultural historical tradition in relation to each animal, and interprets the gems that represent the given animal within this light. She strives to discuss both the archaeological-iconographical and textual sources, but this is a nearly impossible task. The ancient textual tradition regarding animals is compiled in the relevant entries of the Realencyclopädie, and some of these are referenced. But the authors of the Pauly–Wissowa lexicon were accomplished philologists, who compiled their sources mostly by perusing ancient literature in its entirety; such an endeavour would be unimaginable today. The Greek and Latin sources discussed in the book appear in their English translations in the bibliography; no annotated text editions are referenced. The brief summaries inevitably lead to imprecise phrasings. For instance, ‘Athena came in a dream to Bellerophon … and gave him golden reins’ (p. 135); this is not from Pausanias, as is claimed, but from Pindar (Ol. 13.63–90). The historical perspective is by and large neglected. To give one example: in the paragraph on the ‘horse as having a moral sense’ (p. 64), ancient authors are listed in the following order: Aelian, Homer, Pliny, Suetonius, Homer, Plato. The cultural historical overview can thus barely penetrate below the surface. When interpreting the gem representing the charioteer Nike, S. lists a number of meanings attributed to the scheme (pp. 68–70). This can hardly lead to a result other than the one S. cites from J. Boardman: ‘her [Nike/Victory] image has become so trite in many works of art, and thus not every Nike/Victory can depict a specific victory’ (p. 70). Listing the many ancient meanings of an iconographical scheme can only yield generalisations in the interpretation of a specific gem.
The naive use of ancient sources is quite striking. An example: ‘It is known … that Cleopatra's palace walls were decorated with precious stones (Lucan, Pharsalia X:119–122)’ (p. 15). There is no recognition on S.’s part that this is poetry, and the infinite richness of the palace is meant to indicate the distance between Egypt and Rome, as Lucan would himself say: ‘Cleopatra displayed her magnificence – magnificence which Roman society had not yet adopted’ (ibid. ll. 109–10, transl. J.D. Duff). This naive approach is also present in other aspects of the book. One gem shows a man ploughing with two oxen; its owner ‘was apparently a settler of a newly built colony, perhaps the founder himself’ (p. 50), because the foundation rites of colonies included ploughing along the boundaries of the city with a cow and an ox. It would be equally hard to support the argument that the date of an ancient ring would define the date of the gem mounted in it (pp. 92, 139) – it was a common practice to set earlier stones in later rings and even to have rings and stones of different age paired in post-antique times.
It is to S.’s credit that her analysis includes both real and imaginary (mythical) animals since the two were not clearly divided in the ancient tradition (see p. 97). It also speaks favourably for the book that it contains gems deemed as post-antique (figs 10, 22) in addition to the ancient objects. As regards the former, however, the question naturally arises: is it a valid approach to introduce the ancient tradition interpreting the engraved representations without mentioning the context of the period of their manufacture (the eighteenth century)? Based on a photograph of the impression, I am uncertain whether the Achilles-Penthesilea gem (pp. 72–5) is really ancient and not one of the classicising pieces of the eighteenth century. I know of no ancient representations that show the Amazon queen unclad (on the example cited in the book, a Campana relief, see LIMC I, s.v. Amazones 223a; Penthesilea is not nude, pace p. 74, her mantle is clearly visible).
The photographs are of a mixed quality (e.g. figs 2b, 10a, 23a vs 20, 30). It is baffling why they are given in a size that does not make full use of the possibilities offered by the book's format. The majority of the gems can also be studied through their casts and drawings, while some of them are solely represented through a photo of their casts (e.g. figs 3, 12–13). Most of the notes are given in brackets within the running text, but there are also 34 footnotes. Typos are not very numerous. One section appears twice, in two versions (pp. 144–5, 150–1). A number of abbreviations lack their full references. The volume has no index.
The chief problem of the book lies in its chosen methodology. Even if the desire to interpret ancient gems that represent animals in light of the entire ancient tradition regarding these animals is respectable, this is not the way to accomplish the task.
