Engraved Scarab with Seated Lion

Onesimos

about 500 B.C.

Pale green serpentine

J. Paul Getty Museum

This scarab gem is engraved with a lion seated left on a short ground line, its mouth open and tongue lolling. Its mane and chest are marked with thick zigzagging curls. Greek gem carving changed dramatically in form, materials, and technique in the-mid 500s B.C. One of these changes was the introduction of the scarab, with its back carved like a beetle and its flat surface an intaglio. They were usually pierced and worn either as a pendant or attached to a metal hoop and worn as a ring, with the beetle side facing out and the intaglio surface resting against the finger. When serving as a seal, the ring was removed, the scarab swive