Earrings with a pair of pendent sphinxes modelled in the round, and discs set with garnets. The sphinxes step on a thin rectangular base. The earrings are made from several tiny metal sheets and were worn dangling from a fine wire loop which held the hook in place and was passed through the earlobe. Earrings with pendent figures (Nike, Siren, Eros, etc.) and discs with semiprecious stones were common in the 3rd and 2nd c. BC throughout the Hellenistic world. Because the figures represent invariably winged beings, it is possible that these earrings reflect beliefs about the transition of the soul to the Nether World, and that the figures were perceived as psychopompoi (conductors of souls) who bore the soul as they winged their way over land and sea.