He wears tunic and himation, an end of the latter apparently twisted round his waist and hanging over l. elbow. Modius on head.
Rev. Plain.
Lapis lazuli. Almost circular, 16 X 15.5 X 5.
17
Obv. Ouroboros enclosing Sarapis seated to l., r. hand extended downwards towards Cerberus at his feet, l. hand resting on tall scepter. Sarapis wears tunic and himation, which has fallen about his hips. Flying scarab overhead.
Rev. Inscription in eight lines, ιαωαvαραβαραvαωαι (a palindrome) σθoμβαoλη βαoλ σθoμβαλακαμ oθoμβαλη; the last two letters are on the beveled edge at bottom. The formula after the palindrome seems to occur most frequently in connection with solar gods (
p. 206).
Green jasper. Upright oval, 23 Χ 19 Χ 3.
18
Obv. Ouroboros enclosing Sarapis seated to l., r. hand extended over head of Cerberus (?) at his feet, l. resting on tall scepter. Disk (?) on head. Poor work.
Rev. Plain.
Green jasper. Upright oval, 18 X 16 X 3.
19
Ruthven 18
Obv. Sarapis as Hades, seated in three-quarter front view, head to l., r. hand extended over head of Cerberus at his feet, l. holding tall scepter. He is clothed in a tunic and himation, one end of the latter falling over his l. arm, the rest draped round his waist and legs. At l., facing him, stands a goddess, fully dressed, with an elaborate but indistinct ornament or crown over her forehead, her r. hand holding a tall torch, her l. lowered to touch the head of Cerberus. She is probably Persephone. Behind the throne of Sarapis at r. stands another goddess (Demeter) holding a tall scepter. Flaking of the right side of the surface has broken away her head, the top of Sarapis' head, and his left forearm and hand with the top of the scepter.
Rev. vεικᾷ ἐπήκooς ὁ (see
p. 176).
Blue glass paste. Horizontal oval, 43 X 37 X 7.
20
Obv. Lower left-hand corner of a design similar to the preceding, Sarapis seated to l. with Cerberus (very crudely indicated) at his feet, a goddess standing facing him, holding a tall torch in r. hand, l. held downward, like the r. hand of Sarapis, over the head of Cerberus. The break has taken away the head, shoulders, and l. arm of the goddess, part of the head of Sarapis and his l. arm, and a figure at r. corresponding to the goddess at l. Below, αθθαβαθ, a formula found elsewhere with representations of Isis with the infant Horus.
Rev. Lower right-hand corner of a design that cannot be certainly reconstructed. What is left shows a draped figure seated, half reclining, on the back of a sphinx which faces r. The head of the human figure is damaged, but seems to look backward to r. over its l. shoulder. It wears a tunic girt at the waist and an overgarment. It is probably Harpocrates, who is shown in a like design on a jasper in the Cairo Museum, published by Barry (
Ann. du Serv. 7
Christie's, NY 2002, 246, No. 4, and Pl. I, 4). There, however, Harpocrates sits upright. On several coins a nude Harpocrates sits on a sphinx, sometimes to r., sometimes to l. (Dattari 893, 1726, 3464; Poole,
B. M. Cat. Alex. 460). Under this group, ]αβαιμ, i.e. αλδαβαιμ or ιαλδαβαιμ, a magical name of the Highest God in the invocation (apparently Gnostic) in
PGM XIII, 153 and 462; see Dieterich (
Abraxas, p. 46), who connects it with the Ophite demon Ialdabaoth. On the bevel, ]χωβωχ, the end of the Chabrach formula, which has the numerical value 9999 (see
p. 141 f.).
Lapis lazuli. Fragment of rectangular stone; present measurements, 21 X 17 X 3.