A beautiful ancient Roman intaglio of a gryllos. Gryllos composite of human and animal parts, depicting the upper head of a satyr merged with the head of a wild boar.

Apotropaic subject.

Grylloi, derived from the Italic word grillo (“freak”) and the Latin gryllus (“caricature”), were popular subjects for the ancient Romans. Artists reportedly enjoyed creating these fantastic creatures with all combinations of parts, although certain combinations seemed to be more popular than others. While undoubtedly extremely amusing to the Romans, grylloi served a more serious purpose as well; they were thought to be talismans that acted as protection against the evil eye. Their strangeness was said to “attract the evil eye and thus lessens its force against its victims.”

CONDITION: Slight wear marks. The items is described to the best of our knowledge. Please refer to the pictures and email us with any questions.