JEWELRY. 391 Rings were carried even more generally than bracelets. They had them at all prices and of all materials, from rings of amber or glass to those with* an engraved stone, a scarab or scarabseoid, turning on a pivot. They were of all forms, some, as in Egypt, being shaped like a snake rolled back on itself, others modelled into a chain or cable. Many were nothing more than cylindrical or prismatic rods of metal bent into circles and beaten out at one part of their circumference into a flat table, on which an image was sometimes engraved with the burin. Rings are continually met with in the Phoenician graveyards. The explorers of the Sar- dinian tombs tell us they were found at Tharros in thousands ; all the women in the villages round about wear ancient Phoenician rings. 1 FIG. 328. Gold bracelet. From Tharros. British Museum. 2 By the side of these rings we encounter seals, which may be distinguished by their size ; they were carried hung round the neck or wrist by a cord. We have already reproduced one which was found on the Syrian coast (Vol. I. Fig. 146) ; here is another, from Curium (Fig. 329) ; this seal bears a pseudo- Egyptian type and is mounted in silver. On some seals the rings by which they were suspended may still be seen. 3 A large number of gold and silver buttons have been found in 1 Some of them are figured in SPANO'S Anelli antichi Sardi (Bulkttino archeo- logico Sardo, vol. v. pp. 16-20, 54-59 73'7 6 )- 2 This is one of a pair, both in the Museum. 8 CESNOLA, Cyprus, plate xxvii.
