Cup of the Ptolemies

[5] The cup is covered in Dionysiac vignettes that feature masks, vases, holy animals, and garland: symbols of the cult itself.

On the left side of the table stands a small female figure, whose lit torches represent the festivities and the orgies associated with the cult's rites.

[4][5][9][10] Later, the scholar E. Babelon proposed the more general idea that the cup had been carved during "the time of the Ptolemies"—a wide range stretching from 305 to 30 BC.

[10] However, there is no particular evidence for this, and other scholars, such as John Henry Middleton or Martin Conway, suggest that the cup was carved later, during the first or second centuries AD by Romans.

[3][6] Determining the exact date of the cup has been problematic largely because similar pieces are rare, making any possible comparison difficult.

[11] Sometime during the Carolingian period, a base "in the shape of a truncated cone" was constructed to make the vessel appear more like a traditional chalice, and the cup's knob was "partially covered with cloisonné goldsmith work".

[4][5] Suger also added a two-line Latin inscription on the chalice mount, known only from the engraving made by Félibien, which reads: hoc vas Xpe tibi [devota] mente dicavit tertius in Francos [sublimis] regmine Karlus.

In English, this legend means: "The [exalted] Charles, third on the French throne, consecrated this vessel for you, Christ, with a [faithful] mind.

"[5][nb 2] Most scholars agree that this inscription links it to Charles the Bald, who ruled Western Francia from AD 840–77.