Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/543

Rh among the ruins near the old church there; and to have been purchased shortly afterwards on the spot by the present possessor. The stone which forms the signet is of a deep red colour, and apparently a species of agate. In the centre are engraved two right hands joined together, with the following letters above and below, Judging from the workmanship of the signet, it is believed to have been executed in the period between the reign of Severus and that of Constantine, or, in other words, about the middle of the third century. The interpretation of these letters must be left to conjecture, since they probably refer to the individual for whom the stone was sculptured. It would appear, however, to have been regarded as an object of value or interest at a later period, when it was set in gold for the person whose name appears round the stone in capital letters, which are to be thus read—

On the outer side of the hoop of the ring are two other inscriptions, also in capital letters. The first reads —

And the second—

The workmanship of these inscriptions is exceedingly good, and the letters well formed and sharply cut. It will be remarked, that in the first legend on the hoop the letter in the word  is omitted for want of space; and in the second, for the same reason, not only the final  (as usual) is twice suppressed, but the word  is given in the abbreviated form of ; several letters are joined together; the aspirate is omitted in ; and the letter  is made to serve for the final of  and the initial of.

As to the date of this ring, it may very probably be ascribed to the thirteenth century. There can be no doubt that the owner, Thomasius de Rogeriis, must have been a member of the Neapolitan family of Roggieri, some account of whom may be found in Aldemari, "Memorie historiche di diverse famiglie nobili, cosi Napoletane, come forastieri," folio, Nap. 1691, p. 440. The earliest persons of note in this family mentioned by him lived in the reign of Charles I. of Naples (1265—1284). namely, Matteo and Giovanni, both of whom were Cavalieri, and held high civil appointments. Matteo was a member of the Consiglio Reale in 1269, and subsequently Proveditore of the Terra di Lavoro, (in which the city of Sessa is situated.) and Viceroy of Calabria. But an earlier personage of this family occurs in a document printed by Muratori in his Antiquitates Italicæ Medii Ævi, vol. i., p. 704, being a sale of territory to the Pope, executed in the year 1236 at Anagni, in the States of the Church, and within a reasonable distance of Sessa. His name appears as Dominus Thomasius Rogerius; and it would seem highly probable that this is the very individual to whom the ring belonged, which has occasioned these remarks. Indeed, it may be strongly suspected that the reading in Muratori is erroneous, and that, instead of Rogerius (an unusual form), we ought to have de Rogeriis;