Grand camée de France

The setting is divided into two parts. In the lower register, Parthian and Germanic captives. In the second register, the emperor Augustus, his head veiled and wearing a radial crown, is surrounded by Germanicus, mounted on a winged horse, and Tiberius' son, Drusus the younger. The floating figure dressed in oriental style, carrying a globe in his hands, could be Aeneas. The centre of the gem is reserved for Tiberius enthroned with his mother Livia; he is presiding over a solemn ceremony presumed to be the designation of Nero (standing in arms before him) as Prince of Youth in AD 23.



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