<P> Many archaeologists and art historians attribute the Tazza to the Hellenistic Period, asserting that its blending of Greek and Egyptian cultural symbols, as well as the funds necessary to commission such a large gemstone cameo, tie it to the Ptolemaic court . Though not a widely held view, more recent analyses of the piece have assigned it a later date in the Augustan Period . </P> <P> After Octavian's conquest of Egypt in 31 BC, the Farnese Cup was possibly acquired by the Treasury of Rome; according to some, it was only made after the Romans took Egypt . It seems it was later taken to Byzantium, then back west after this city was sacked in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade . By 1239 it was in the court of Frederick II, from which it then reached the Persian court of Herat or possibly Samarkand, where a contemporary drawing documents it; thence it found its way to the court of Alfonso of Aragon in Naples, where Angelo Poliziano saw it in 1458 . Lorenzo the Magnificent finally purchased the famous "scutella di calcedonio" in Rome, in 1471 . From there it came into the possession of the Farnese family through Margaret of Austria and thus into the Naples National Archaeological Museum </P> <P> Though some analyses of the iconography of the Tazza Farnese build upon and expand previous analyses, each scholarly writing on the piece leads to a slightly different theory about its inherent meaning . </P> <P> In his analysis of the Tazza Farnese, Dwyer builds upon previous analyses by experts in the field, including Ennio Quirino Visconti, Frederic Louis Bastet, and Reinhold Merkelbach, among others . Dwyer's two major assertions are that the iconography found in the interior and exterior carvings is a sophisticated mix of Greek and Egyptian philosophic and religious concepts and that the composition of the carved figures correspond to specific constellations which, in their orientation, resemble a map of the night sky during the time of year in which the flooding of the Nile would have occurred . In assigning the piece a multi-faceted religious and philosophic meaning, Dwyer repeatedly references the Corpus Hermeticum . More specifically, he points to the Poimandres and how the figures of the interior carving closely match the elements it presents in its discussion of the creation of life . He uses this reference to assign each figure a corresponding Greek and / or Egyptian god . In this sense, Dwyer sets up the piece as a direct illustration of the creation of life that would have been easily understood by both Greeks and Egyptians living at the time the Tazza was created . Though he credits Merkelbach with first coming up with the theory, Dwyer also discusses the figures' and their placement on the piece as corresponding to specific constellations in an astronomical map . In particular, Dwyer assigns each figure to constellations that would be seen together in the sky during the time of year when the flooding of the Nile took place . He argues that through this apparent map of the night sky, the creator of the Tazza was directly referencing the time of the Nile flooding in order to present more fully the concept of divine creation of life . </P>

What is depicted on the reverse of the tazza farnese