GEMMA AUGUSTEA.
Photo-engraving from a sardonyx cameo in the Royal Museum at Vienna.
This is one of the two greatest antique cameos extant. It measures nine by eight inches. The upper part represents the Emperor Augustus and Livia, his wife (the latter personifying the city of Rome), receiving the young princes, Drusus and Tiberius, on their return from a triumphant campaign in Gaul among the Vindelicians and Rhætians. The eagle suggests that to the Roman Emperor are yielded the divine attributes of Jupiter. In the lower division soldiers are seen carrying off male and female captives and setting up a trophy of victory. This magnificent example of gem-cutting has been attributed to the famous Dioscurides, or to one of his school at Rome. Dioscurides is known to have engraved many portraits of the Emperor Augustus, who patronized him, and wore habitually a signet ring made by the artist.
