Two-layered Agate Roman Cameo Silver Ring depicting the Goddess Nike

This sterling silver ring has been set with a post classical Roman cameo carved in two-layer agate (black and white) depicting a winged Nike ( Victory ) with a swan and a rising sun. The post-classical period begins with Constantine in 312 AD; the final date is Justinian's death in 565. Already in some Greek coins of the 6th century BC. (Litra of Kamarina, Sicily) we can see the winged goddess Nike with a swan, a sacred animal for Greeks and Romans. The solar disc is closely linked to the swan, as can be seen depicted, for example, in prehistoric works or on situlae and on Atestine and Villanovan belts (VIII-VII century BC), on an Italic belt from Poggio Bustone (Rieti) continuing under the dress of myth in Greek representations (eg British Museum red-figure krater, 400-380 BC depicting the god of light Apollo astride the swan). The swan that pulls the Sun or the boat of the Sun, ideally, is not too dissimilar from the very famous Trundholm solar chariot depicting a horse pulling a large solar disk, dating back to the Bronze Age.