Zellmann ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018) 292–298 2018 Michael Zellmann-Rohrer Notes on Greek Jewelry-inscriptions Michael Zellmann-Rohrer 1. Not even a cent A ring recently auctioned at London joins another auctioned at Munich and recently published in SEG (LXIII 1740) as a witness to an enigmatic Greek inscription. There are reasons for adding both to a series of taunting texts belonging to an amatory context, discussed below. The London ring, unprovenanced, is said to be of silver,1 with a ribbed hoop and nearly square bezel,2 inscribed in four lines lengthwise in a seemingly late Hellenistic or early Imperial hand with horseshoe-shaped Ω and four- barred sigma that might be assigned to the first centuries BCE- CE ( fig. 1). ἐγὼ δέ γε οὐ δίδωµ- ί σοι οὐδὲ κόλλυβον. But as for me, I won’t give you so much as a cent. Figure 1: Silver ring auctioned at London. ©TimeLine Auctions Ltd 1 Described in the online catalogue for TimeLine Auctions (London), Antiquities & Coins sale, 1–4 December 2015, lot 272 (last ac- cessed 12 February 2018), with dating to the 2nd or 3rd cent. CE, partial and inaccurate majuscule transcription, and color photograph, from which the text is read here. The catalogue compares the ring catalogued by L. Ruseva- Slokoska, Roman Jewellery (Sofia 1991) 171 no. 197, which is however anepi- graphic. 2 For the form cf. F. H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum (London 1907) 35 no. 208 with plate V. MICHAEL ZELLMANN-ROHRER 293 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018) 292–298 The Munich ring, again unprovenanced, is of a simple type, with plain hoop and large oval bezel, inscribed in three lines length- wise across the bezel, to which the same date has been assigned ( fig. 2).3 The text is reprinted for convenience: ἐγὼ δέ γε οὐ δ- ίδωµί σοι οὐδ- ὲ κόλλυβον Figure 2: Bronze ring auctioned at Munich. ©Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung GmbH Rolf Tybout, who provided commentary to the edition in SEG, found no precise, published parallels. He could however adduce Eupolis fr.233 for a κόλλυβος as a cheap price for sex, and compare the taunting texts on silver spoons of the sixth or seventh centuries CE from Lampsakos, ἀκέρµις οὐκ εἶ εὔµορφος (“With no money you have no allure”),4 τρῶγε ἐροτόκρουστε (“Eat, you love-stricken man!”),5 and ἣν φιλῖς µισῖ σε (“She whom you love hates you”) on another of unknown prov- enance,6 concluding that “[s]uch objects probably played a role in sympotic discourse, e.g. with the objects being exchanged and the inscriptions being read aloud and serving as food for con- 3 SEG LXIII 1740, read by R. A. Tybout from a photograph published in Gorny & Mosch, Giessener Münzhandlung GmbH, Munich, auction cata- logue no. 214, Auktion Kunst der Antike, 19. Juni 2013 (Munich 2013) 99 no. 166. For the genre see SEG XLI 1867, and for more affectionate sentiments on rings see recently M. Zellmann-Rohrer, “Notes on Two Inscribed Gems and an Affectionate Address,” GRBS 56 (2016) 709–713. 4 SEG XLII 1096 B 6 (cf. LSJ Suppl. s.v. ἄκερµος). 5 SEG XLII 1096 B 7; for the novel compound ἐρωτόκρουστος cf. LSJ s.v. ἐρωτόληπτος and LBG s.vv. ἐρωτοκέντητος and ἐρωτοκράτητος. 6 SEG XXXVIII 1927 with XLII 1096 app.cr. (l. φιλεῖς, µισεῖ). 294 NOTES ON GREEK JEWELRY-INSCRIPTIONS ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018) 292–298 versation.”7 Another apposite comparandum among inscribed rings is οὐ φιλῶ σε, µὴ πλανῶ· νοῶ δὲ καὶ γελῶ (“I don’t love you, don’t fool yourself, but I’m aware [of it] and laugh”) and its variants,8 and perhaps a Latin instance, parum te amo (“I love you too little” [to register, i.e., not at all]).9 On the theory of a sympotic dis- course, the present formula could offer an answer to a plea such as εἰ φιλεῖς κολάκευε καὶ µὴ παράγων [µε?] πλάτυνε (loosely rendered, “If you love me, flatter me, and don’t boast mis- leadingly”).10 The sequence δέ γε particularly suggests a riposte. It may be added that, consistent with other texts in this genre,11 the phrase is metrical, nearly an iambic trimeter, needing only κόλλυβον to be treated as κόλυ-. It must be admitted, however, that there is nothing explicitly sexual about the Greek text itself. The phrase δίδωµι κόλλυβον need connote only general payment. Though the amatory con- 7 The spoons can only have preserved a reminiscence of any such original sympotic context since, as noted by Tybout already in the apparatus to SEG XLII 1096, further inscriptions show that they were made for a Christian bishop. 8 E.g. SEG LVI 2054 (5); A. van den Hoek, D. Feissel, and J. H. Herrmann, “Lucky Wearers: A Ring in Boston and a Greek Epigraphic Tradition of Late Roman and Byzantine Times,” Journal of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 6 (1994) 41–62, at 60 no. J.2.a-b [SEG XLIV 1561]; G. Bevilacqua, “Osservazioni su alcune formule affettuose e galanti di età imperiale,” MGR 16 (1991) 225– 237 [SEG XLI 1867]. 9 Marshall, Catalogue 109 no. 652 (Franks Bequest, said to be from Amiens); for parum as essentially the simple negative adverb cf. OLD 1304a s.v. 3a. Marshall, however, translates simply “I love thee too little” and takes the object as a token of betrothal (p. xxii). 10 H. B. Walters, Catalogue of Engraved Gems and Cameos Greek, Etruscan and Roman in the British Museum (London 1926) 348 no. 3702, with G. Bevilacqua, Antiche iscrizioni augurali e magiche dai codici di Girolamo Amati (Rome 1991) 13–14 no. 1b [SEG XLII 933], rendering “Se ami, adula (mi), e, senza ingannarmi, apriti (confidati).” See also Bevilacqua, MGR 16 (1991) 225–237. 11 See C. Gallavotti, “Revisione di testi epigrafici,” BollClass 9 (1988) 23– 28 no. 24 [SEG XXXVIII 1925]; Zellmann-Rohrer, GRBS 56 (2016) 709– 713. MICHAEL ZELLMANN-ROHRER 295 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018) 292–298 text remains in this writer’s opinion the most plausible, alter- native explanations must be allowed, such as a personal motto advertising the bearer as thrifty or a driver of hard bargains. 2. Relief for them that yearn The opportunity may also be taken to call attention to a neglected ring inscription that addresses, as will be argued here, the affect of those who have succumbed to the passions refused, perhaps, by the speaker of the formula in text 1. The object is a gold ring with simple hoop and square bezel. The bezel features an engraving of a larger than life, diademed female figure seated on a throne, apparently Aphrodite, men- acing two small, embracing human figures with a torch in her right hand. Above the human figures is an inscription filled with niello. The ring was said to have come from Arados before entering the collection of Napoléon-Antoine Péretié (French consul at Beirut), then that of Louis De Clerq (1836–1901), where it was first published by André De Ridder.12 After the ring passed through the hands of De Clercq’s nephew and heir Henri de Boisgelin13 to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the text was re-edited as if unpublished and of uncertain provenance, and interpreted in a less satisfactory fashion.14 The fullest edition thus far after this transfer has attributed the ring to Byzantium 12 Collection De Clercq. Catalogue VII.2 (Paris 1911) 781 no. 3474. 13 G. Le Rider and H. Seyrig, “Objets de la collection Louis De Clercq,” RN 9 (1967) 7–8; A. Parrot, “La donation L. De Clercq - H. de Boisgelin,” La revue du Louvre 18 (1968) 299–300. For another ring acquired by the Vir- ginia Museum from the same source see SEG XXX 1795. 14 Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, accession 67.52.10, described by M. C. Ross, “Jewels of Byzantium,” Arts in Virginia 9.1 (1968) 13 no. 3, with a poor black and white photograph, no text, and a translation attributed to Glanville Downey, “the end [or cessation] of those who are fearful [or timid]” or “the repose of those who are timid,” dated to the “Late Antique period, probably the 4th century.” A fuller edition was given by E. Buono in S. Heuck Allen, Survival of the Gods: Classical Mythology in Medieval Art (Providence 1987) 116–117 no. 36, with a superior black and white photograph, text in un- articulated majuscules, and similar translation, “the end (or cessation) of those who are fearful.” 296 NOTES ON GREEK JEWELRY-INSCRIPTIONS ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018) 292–298 of the fourth century CE, which remains possible as the place of manufacture, albeit less likely in view of the findspot at Arados, as opposed to a Syrian center such as Antioch, Apamea, or Emesa. Good color photographs furnished by the VMFA con- firm the text of the first edition ( figs. 4–5). παῦσε το͂ν πο- θούν- των Leave off (tormenting) them that yearn. Figure 3: Gold ring with imprecation, impression after De Ridder, digitally mirrored Figure 4: Gold ring with imprecation, front. Figure 5: Gold ring with imprecation, back. Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts accession 67.52.10, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, images courtesy of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC The tentative interpretation of the first editor, André De Ridder, can be confirmed on the basis of more recently pub- lished texts and recognition of the Greek conception of erotic MICHAEL ZELLMANN-ROHRER 297 ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018) 292–298 desire as pathological affliction,15 and is reprised with adjust- ments here: the figures were identified as “Aphrodite, nue, assise … la main appuyée à gauche sur un sceptre (?), la main gauche baisée et tenant une bandelette ou une palme … devant, et en bas, symplegma (d’Eros et de Psyché ??).” The identification of a torch seems likelier in the presence of an erotic torment from which relief is sought (παῦσε), while nothing in the appearance of the embracing couple particularly favors Eros and Psyche against a generic pair of mortal lovers. A facsimile of an im- pression was given ( fig. 3), accompanied by an accurate text, but without translation. De Ridder classed the text among magical gems, though it lacks the characteristic textual and iconographic features of that genre, such as non-Greek logoi and apotropaic divinities. On the basis of De Ridder’s publication, René Mou- terde identified “une réflexion piquante” instead of a magical inscription, and made use of a drawing by Raphaël de Berno- ville, taken when the ring was still in the possession of Péretié, to propose a new reading in line 1, not supported by the new photograph.16 Mouterde also recognized a mirror in the hand of the goddess, iconographically possible but blunting the urgency of the plea in παῦσε. Attilio Mastrocinque accepted the text of De Ridder and considered the object a votive gem bearing “una preghiera che certamente sarebbe stata più appropriata in un tempio della dea, piuttosto che sulla mano di uno dei due interessati.”17 While a prayer certainly provides the substance of 15 For a representation on a gem of Eros bound and chastised, acclaimed as “justly so” (δικαίως), including a menacing torch, see SEG LV 2084 and LX 1886 with further references; for another scene possibly representing Eros punished by Aphrodite, SEG LV 1890 (8). For the torments of ἔρως in general see C. A. Faraone, Ancient Greek Love Magic (Cambridge, [Mass.] 1999), esp. 43–55. 16 “Le glaive de Dardanos. Objets et inscriptions magiques de Syrie,” MUSJ 15 (1930) 58 with 131 [SEG VII 77]; the drawing was commissioned “pour le P. Bourquenoud et conservé par P. Ronzevalle.” 17 “Le gemme votive,” in J.-P. Brun (ed.), Artisanats antiques d’Italie et de Gaule. Mélanges offerts à Maria-Francesca Buonaiuto (Naples 2009) 56–57 [SEG LIX 1994 (2)]. 298 NOTES ON GREEK JEWELRY-INSCRIPTIONS ————— Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018) 292–298 the text, the most attractive context for its inscription, given the large number of rings inscribed with comparable amatory mes- sages but no discernible imprecation, is the exchange of gifts, as is the case with text 1. 1 παῦσε: so De Ridder; ΝΑΥΣΣ Buono; ΗΔΥϹϹ Mouterde, who articulated ἡδὺς [ὁ] and supposed an ellipse of ἀσπασµός. The color photograph shows that the final letter, taller and rounder than the lunate Ϲ preceding it, is simply an ε in which the niello has worn off the center crossbar, or was never applied. The form παῦσε is to be read as the middle imperative παῦσαι, addressed to the goddess; for the sense see LSJ s.v. I 3. De Ridder’s correction to παῦσον is unnecessary. 2 το͂ν: l. τῶν. 4 ΤΩΛΝ Buono, mistaking as Λ the flame of the torch in the hand of the goddess.18 February, 2018 Lexicon of Greek Personal Names University of Oxford St Cross College michael.zellmann-rohrer@classics.ox.ac.uk 18 I am grateful to the editorial board and an anonymous reader of GRBS for helpful criticisms of this article; all remaining errors are my own.