ARCHAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 500 B.C.

The beetle is well-detailed with incised spirals on the thorax, winglets on the elytra and with hatching on the legs and surrounding the thorax. On the underside is an anguipede monster in the form of a facing bearded satyr-like figure with equine ears. He holds an enigmatic object in a threatening manner above his head in his raised hands. The serpent legs, dotted along their length cross below his genitalia and rise up on either side. The serpent heads turn outward, their fanged mouths open, the tongues lolling. The figure is enclosed within a pellet border.

The monster so far defies identification. For the pose, compare the anguipedes with human heads, one winged, probably depicting Typhon, pls. 18-57 and 113-14 in A. Furtwangler, Die antiken Gemmen. For the style of the monster’s head compare the satyrs, nos. 102, 110 and 230 in Boardman, Archaic Greek Gems.