Gold armband with Herakles knot, Greek, Hellenistic, 3rd–2nd century BCE. Gold inlaid with garnets, emeralds, and enamel; 8.9cm. Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Christos G. Bastis Gift, 1999.209. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

The Herakles knot on this sumptuous armband is enriched with floral decoration and inlaid with garnets, emeralds, and enamel. According to the Roman writer Pliny, the decorative device of the Herakles knot could cure wounds, and its popularity in Hellenistic jewelry suggests that it was thought to have the power to avert evil.