For a nearly identical example with the same obverse and reverse see no. 511 in Henig, Classical Gems, Ancient and Modern Intaglios and Cameos in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Henig informs that the origin of this iconography is complex and obscure. It seems likely that the original source for the horseman was the Thracian rider-god who was later assimilated in Egypt as the cavalier Heron. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the rider becomes the magician, King Solomon (and identified as such by inscriptions on the gems), who wields authority over demons, in this case taking the form of a woman, probably the evil Lilith.