Engraved Ring with Aphrodite Weighing Two Erotes (Profile)

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, sits on a stool, holding a balance in which she weighs two tiny winged Erotes. Engraved gold rings such as this were often used as seals, but were also decorative items of jewelry. As such, their devices often referenced or enhanced the attractiveness of the wearer, and both Aphrodite and Eros appear frequently on engraved rings made in the 300s B.C. Depictions of this specific scene – known as the Erotostasia (weighing of love) – occur on at least three other gold rings of similar date (including 81.AN.76.79), and also appear on fourth-century B.C. Attic and South Italian vases and silverware. While the precise meaning of the motif is unclear, it may refer to some aspect of love related to the Homeric weighing of souls (psychostasia), a divine method of determining fate that in this case may accord with our own notion of “he loves me, he loves me not.” The form of this ring, with a large, flat, oval bezel and stirrup-shaped hoop is standard for the period.