CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.

The beetle with diagonal vertical hatching on the edges of the plinth. On the underside stands the naked figure of bearded Promethues, a chlamys draped around his arms and shoulder. He holds a fork like object, perhaps representing fire in his lowered hand and in the other he holds a miniature male figure wearing a cap, with one arm raised and a stick in the other, two objects in the field below, possibly a snake and insect. The scene is surrounded with a hatched border. The subject was popular on Etruscan and Italic gems, usually showing however, Prometheus in the process of making man out of clay with a half completed or skeletal figure, rather than this more unusual scene with a completed, full-bodied figure. For related examples see the ringstones, nos. 80-85 in "Prometheus," LIMC, vol. VII.