Ring with engraved bezel (Profile)

This heavy gold ring displays a boar on the engraved bezel, surrounded by a thick rim. A tang attaches the bezel to the ring. Boars were a popular motif on Greek gems and rings of the late 500s and early 400s B.C., but the shape of the ring and the style of engraving are unusual and share similarities with Phoenician techniques. The cross‑hatched exergue, the area under the decorative motif, may also show Phoenician influence. Gold rings of identical shape but with clearly Phoenician motifs are known to have come from Phoenician colonies such as Carthage, in the western Mediterranean, which suggests that this ring is probably from such an area.

On the interior surface of the ring is an inscription of uncertain, but probably modern, date which reads MARIETTA.