Ancient Greek Jewelry

Executive Summary about Greek Jewelry By Christopher Schwebius

Ancient Greek jewelry commonly consisted of gold beads beautifully shaped like shells, flowers and even beetles. The fascination for jewelry in ancient Greece is quite evident from the excavations of beautiful necklaces and earrings from various sites, especially in the northern part of Greece.

The Greeks were great enthusiasts of jewelry and wore both simple as well as complex pieces. For making their jewelry items exclusive, the Greeks mostly used gemstones, the common ones being - emeralds, garnets, pearls and amethysts. The Greek craftsmen also created colored glass stones and enamel stones.

Complemented wonderfully well with images of the Greek Gods like - Eros, Nike, Artemis, and Aphrodite, all pieces of ancient Greek jewelry were explicitly unique. Some excellent jewelry pieces, made of beads, were in the shape of animals too. Pendant earrings bejeweled with Nike, Eros or dove figurines became an accepted fashion statement of those times.

Ornamental pendants, shaped like the classic Greek two-handled vase, were decorated with enamel or gemstones; these wonderful pendants were hung by a rosette. Spherical or wide chains of gold were worn as necklaces, with clasps of animal heads or dolphins. The superbly crafted Greek gold rings were set with gemstones.

The Greeks liked wearing gold wreaths as decorative headdresses, ornately adorned with flowers, acorns, foliage or images. With jewelry designs and techniques becoming advanced, the Greeks made a laurel headdress to be worn as a crown of honor. It represented Apollo, the god of divination and intelligence.

From its wide popularity in adorning ancient Greek jewelry to the modern times, the purple richness of amethyst has made it the most loved gemstone for decorating unique jewelry pieces. The ideas of designing ancient Greek were countless. Studding with gemstones, outlining with borders, creating rippled designs, and other such innovations definitely added a creative touch to the Greek jewelry. The unique Greek cross jewelry has gained a lot of appreciation and admiration by people all over the world. Jewelry lovers like flaunting the Greek cross on anklets, charm bracelets, or as earrings. Ancient Greek jewelry pieces are often imitated to meet the needs of the present day, making fashionable jewelry items for everyday as well as occasional use. You can wear the Greek cross as a pendant, as earrings, or as a bracelet. The next time around you go in to buy special jewelry, look for ancient Greek jewelry designs, which are simple yet elegant enough to blend according to the minimal jewelry look of the modern times!

An Introduction to Greco-Roman Jewelry Design

Executive Summary about Greek Jewelry By Yachika Verma

The inhabitants of the Greco-Roman region or the Mediterranean region were modest in their jewelry needs. It was fabled that only the rich women in the area used to spend lavishly on their jewelry needs. However, this is purely a misconception as the latest research has proven. These days jewelry crafters are looking at various Greco-Roman jewelries to design ingenious jewelry products. If you are interested in this niche of products then this article is going to be an interesting read. The fibula served two purposes - as a jewel and as a cloth fastener. The fibula used to be designed in various shapes and sizes during the initial days. The trend can be seen even in these days, as fibula is one of the most sough-after Greek jewelry. One has to consider the fact that the clothing worn by women during that era was not sewn. Women used fibula to fasten their clothing to themselves and hence one will be able to find unique models in this niche.

The bracelets which were used during the Greco-roman era are also worthy of mentioning in here. Women liked to adorn their hands and legs with bracelets made from gold. Instead of sticking with the traditional designs, many women choose designs of snakes and other reptiles on their bracelets. Keep in mind that these models cost a fortune and always choose the most appropriate design best suited for your hands/legs.

Hollow jewelry was a favorite of men and women of that era. Contrary to the popular beliefs (mainly propagated by the Greek jewelry vendors of this age), silver jewelry was avoided by them. Silverware was used for other purposes and pearls used to dominate the jewelry field for a brief period. Pearls are still being preferred and are a lot more expensive than those days.

An addition to this niche, which has still found favor in the minds of many people are the gemstones. The people were superstitious and thought that the appropriate gemstone could bring them luck and ward of bad omens. Most of their jewelry was studded with gemstones like these and this deterred theft of jewelry during the era. Men could wear only limited jewelry, and they were primarily used for designing newer and innovative designs. Their tombs also have been found to the riddled with expensive jewelry and some of the unique designs can be found embedded in these tombs.