In some narrative versions, only Helen hatches from the egg. The depiction on this gem seems to refer to this. It is apparently the Kyprian version, according to which Nemesis - pregnant by Zeus - laid the egg in the marshes of Rhamnous. Leda found it there and hatched the egg on an ash altar. A comparable motif can be found on a mural in the Aula Isiaca on the Palatine in Rome. (AVS)
Former August Kestner Collection, Rome
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