How Did The Ancient Romans Use Jewelry?

Jewelry has been a symbol of status and beauty it seems since civilization started. Jewelry can serve a number of purposes such as relgious or ornamental. As a matter of fact, jewelry and roman artifacts largely assisted modern historians to trace back the kind of lives people lived during ancient civilizations. Ancient Rome was among many civilizations to use jewelry.

Among ancient Romans, jewelry was considered a sign of status and power rather than beauty. Romans fell within carious calsses and jewlery gave a sense of which class a citizen fell into. Women decorated stolas with precious metal and the men did the same with their togas.

Gold was one of the most value precious items to Romans. Gold was refined from ore to make a variety of artifacts and adornments. The items were then sold to people of the higher class since gold was considered to be a precious metal sent by God from the sun. Other materials that made jewelry include the Roman glass, bronze, gemstones, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds and bones. Some of these precious materials were brought from as far as the Far East, Persia, Israel and Mesopotamia (currently Iraq), among other far off places.

Jewelry became more and more popular as Rome flourished. Over time the middle class had more access to jewelry where as the originally it was mostly only available to the higher classes. When it reached the middle class it was worn primarily for its beauty. Jewelry in Rome was influenced by many other cultures. Rome had interation with many other cultures as part of their trade and conquests. The Heracles knot, for example, was used by the Egyptians but was than used by the Romans to guard agains evil spirits.

When the Roman Empire grew to include the Mediterranean region, jewelry designs, especially the glass jewelry became quite popular among the communities living in northern Africa, southern Europe, Middle East and Egypt, among other places. The art of jewelry was also adapted by people in the regions.

Armlets, necklaces, rings, and bracelets were some popular types of jewelry. Glass rings with previous metal and gems were oftern worn by senators and other individuals of power. During the reign of Justian I not many were allowed to were rings with gold. But there we not restrictions on bracelets with gold so those were often wore by women with a lot of money; these bracelets were worn for decoration.

Often times Jewelry was used on clothing. Gemstones were often found on dresses and shoes. Valuable artifacts were also common in households and furniture for decorative purposes. Some jewelry also holds special meaning. However, just like culture keeps evolving, so does ancient Roman jewelry.

If you’re interested in ancient roman jewelry check out…ancient roman beads.

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