Hellenistic gems and finger rings from the Diomedes sanctuary on Cape Plo？a

Sa？etak Hellenistic-era gems found during archaeological research at the Cape Plo？a site (Pliny’s promunturium Diomedis, Nat. hist. 3,141) in the period from 1996 through 1998 are published in this text. Research into the gems from this period is still scant. Up to the present, only a few catalogues on them have been compiled. Most of these gems are held in museums and private collections, and the sites and context of their discovery are often unknown. Individual examples of Hellenistic gems have been published in catalogues of materials from archaeological research, generally graves, but unaccompanied by any broader analysis or commentary. Eight gems were found on Cape Plo？a, of which six have images depicted on them, while two do not. Two gems feature royal portraits, of which one has been identified as Alexander the Great, two have animal motifs, one has a plant motif, and one has a mythological motif. Besides the actual gems, several pieces of iron finger rings have been found, which should be considered together with the gems because they are functionally linked items. Due to the scant knowledge of Hellenistic glyptic art from unambiguous archaeological contexts in the international scholarship, the publication of the Hellenistic gems and finger rings found during archaeological research at Cape Plo？a, from the well-documented context of a maritime sanctuary, therefore has particular research and scholarly value