3 B.C.

[114] Menant. _Les Pierres Gravees de la Haute-Asie_, p. 211 _et seq._

[115] Crespi, _Catalogo_, p. 138, No. 1.

X.

ETRUSCAN SCARABS. ORIGIN OF AND WHERE FOUND. COPIED FROM
EGYPTIAN BUT WITH CHANGES IN SUBJECTS, SIZE AND ORNAMENTATION.
THE ENGRAVING OF. WHERE USUALLY FOUND. USES BY THE ETRUSCANS.
GREEK AND ROMAN SCARABS. GNOSTIC, OF THE BASILIDIANS.

The archaic people of ancient Etruria did not make cameos, their gems
were intaglios and were incised on the under side, on forms shaped in
the model of the scarabaeus or beetle. The use of the form therefore
was most likely derived from those used in the valley of the Nile. The
Etruscan scarabs were however not correct representations; they were
conventional and exaggerated resemblances of the insect.

The Etruscan scarabaeus is found in different parts of Italy, quite
frequently at Chiusi, in Tuscany, which was formerly ancient Etruria;
from whence, the name Etruscan for those found in this part of Italy,
has been derived.

They were usually manufactured of common red sard, such as is now
often met with in the beds of Italian torrents, but Etruscan scarabs
have also been found made of sardonyx, cornelian, onyx and agate,
also, but rarely, of chalcedony.

The ancient inhabitants of Italy followed the Egyptian form in making
the representation except, that the back and the wing cases of the
scarab are set much higher than the Egyptian, and there is usually a
raised ridge running along the junction, also the legs are cut out on
the side, and a slight difference exists in the ornamentation and
engraving of the wing cases. The stones have been rubbed into shape
apparently by corundum. Few exceed an inch, and most are not over half
an inch in length, whereas the Egyptian were from the size of our
ordinary house fly to those a number of feet across. The material of
the Etruscan is also always semi-transparent, except those burned
which has made the sard opaque. The flat side or base was engraved
with intaglio. This engraving though in early examples rude and done
with the drill, was in later times, improved by the use of the wheel,
diamond dust and the diamond point, and by the polishing of both the
surface and the incised parts, and also, by the addition, both at the
sides and around the engraved base, of an ornamental border of small
strokes following each other closely, resembling in some specimens,
the milling of a coin; in others,