Inscribed finger rings from late antique and Byzantine Asia Minor

Abstract

In this short paper we present thirteen metal rings from the museums of Izmir (nos. 3-4 and 9-10), Afyonkarahisar (no. 5), Bergama (nos. 6 and 8), Ödemiş (no. 7), Trabzon (no. 11), and Balıkesir (no. 13), dating mainly from the late antique and middle Byzantine periods. Two of these rings (nos. 2 and 12) belong to the private collection of Mr Koray Selçik and one (no. 1) belongs to the private collection of Ms Berna Oğuz, both of whom reside in Kemalpaşa near Izmir. Only no. 3 was previously published. Most of these rings bear Christian inscriptions, and belong to the late antique period; nos. 12 and 13 seem to date from the middle Byzantine age. Nos. 3, 6 and 7 contain an appeal to God for the salvation or cure. No. 9 is particularly interesting because it expresses one’s devotion to Longinos, a popular late antique and Byzantine saint. Other rings, nos. 2, 4 (with a monogram), 5, and 8 (with a monogram), bear personal names of their owners. No. 1 may be a gift to a girl, called ‘beautiful’.

Keywords

• finger rings
• inscribed gemstones
• inscribed bezels
• invocations of god
• personal names
• sigillography
• late antiquity
• early byzantine period
• middle byzantine period
• izmir
• asia minor
• turkey