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Detail of the glass intaglio, framed by a gold bezel.
Diomedes Gem Ring Price: $2,000. This beautiful glass intaglio is cast from a famous gem signed by Dioscurides, who was the gem engraver for Augustus. The subject of the gem is Diomedes, shown nude leaping over a wall with a soldier dead below him, holding in one hand a sword, the other bears the Palladion, and before Diomedes is a statue of a nude man from the rear on a column, next to which is the signature of Dioscurides. In the Trojan War, it was said that Troy could not fall so long as the Palladion remained within its walls. The Palladion was a wooden statue of Pallas , another name for Athena, that was said to have fallen from the heavens at the founding of the city and was of enormous antiquity and very simple in design. The myth had importance to the Romans because they believed that the Trojan Palladion had made it to Rome, carried there by Aeneas, and it was kept in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum, as one of the central sacred objects of Rome. The gem from which this cast is taken is one of the most famous gems to survive, and is in the Chatworth House collection. This cast may well be ancient, it is thin, has bubbles and does not appear like the casts from the 18th Century, done by Tassie and others. I love this gem so set it in a silver ring with a gold bezel so that I could wear it from time to time. I hope another person will treasure and enjoy it as I have 
View at an angle to show the whole ring.
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