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ON
THIS PAGE
Why
jewelry survived What
designs? Links
with the Bible
Canaanite
bracelet Queen
Puabi's Jewels Nimrud
Jewelry Jewelry
from Troy Luxury
objects
Extra Websites
Jewelry from 1st
century Egypt in the fascinating Fayum portraits
A
Bible story that mentions specific jewelry - Judith's tiara
The
jewelry given to Rebecca: nose ring and gold bracelets
Abraham
Adam
AncientReligions
Catacombs
Cities
Clothes
Crucifixion
David
Farming
Houses
Jesusalem
Jewelry
Palaces
Stone
Tablets
Tombs
War
Work
Ziggurats
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JEWELRY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
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Women have
always used jewelry to show their status and wealth, and enhance
their beauty |
Jewelry
is portable wealth.
It is also an in-your-face status symbol,
letting everyone know just how rich you are.
On both counts it was
important in the ancient world - even the Cro-Magnons had
primitive necklaces and bracelets.
Jewelry
on this page is from Troy, Egypt, Sumeria, Assyria, Greece and Rome.
Why
some jewelry survived
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A
treasure-trove of ancient jewels from the tomb at Nimrud (see
information below) |
One way or another, almost all the jewelry from ancient times has been destroyed. A few pieces survived
in hiding places, put there long ago for safe-keeping
during wars and invasions. These precious pieces were left untouched for millennia
because the people who knew where the treasure was hidden were slaughtered or taken
captive, never to return. The secret of the jewelry's
location died with them.
What
style of jewelry was worn?
We have very
little to go on, but we know that the Jewish people
borrowed craftsmen from surrounding countries like Phoenicia. These men
produced designs similar to the ones they made in their native
countries, so it is fair to assume that Jewish women wore jewelry
similar in design to Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Assyrian pieces.
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Egyptian, 22nd dynasty. During this dynasty, Shoshenq I
invaded the kingdom of Judah and Israel, and overran Jerusalem and
nearby cities in about 925 BCE. He took the Temple and palace treasures,
including the golden shields of Solomon, back to Egypt.
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Gold diadem embellished with blue, green, red, and white enameled flowers;
from a tomb at
Canossa, 3rd century
BC |
During
the later Greek and Roman periods, admiration among the upper classes
for foreign fashions and design was strong, and Jewish women wore
jewelry similar to pieces worn in ancient Greece and Rome.
Links
with the Bible
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During the reign of Solomon's son Rehoboam, Judah was overrun by
the Egyptian ruler Shoshank I. Rehoboam was forced to pay a huge ransom to
get rid of him, including not only the Temple treasures,
but the jewelry belonging to the royal women of Judah. This jewelry was
probably taken back to Egypt to be melted down and re-used, and then
after that, who knows?
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Ancient
Egyptian bracelet or gold and semi-precious stones
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Ancient
Persian bracelets/clasps
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Gold bracelet and earrings from Pompeii
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'The Assyrian
came down like a wolf on the fold, and his cohorts were gleaming with
purple and gold....'. King Sargon II of Assyria (721–705BC)
is famous for his conquest of Israel. He took the ten tribes of Israel,
the Lost Tribes, into captivity (2 Kings 17:6). See Nimrud
Jewelry.
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The woman on this ivory plaque wears an
Egyptian-style wig and an elaborate ornament with pendants in her
hair. The image fits the description of Jezebel in 2 Kings 9:30-37.
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A simple
bracelet and necklace from Mesopotamia,
original home of Sarah and
Abraham |
Canaanite
bracelet
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Rare
bronze 3,500 year old bracelet.
Photo: Clara Amit, courtesy of the
Israel Antiquities Authority
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A
bronze bracelet dating to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550–1200 BC)
has been found during an excavation at Ramat Razim in the vicinity
of Zefat (Tsefat, Safad). Karen Covello-Paran, director of the
excavation, says,
“We
discovered a wide rare bracelet made of bronze. The ancient
bracelet, which is extraordinarily well preserved, is decorated
with engravings and the top of it is adorned with a horned
structure. At that time horns were the symbol of the storm-god and
they represented power, fertility and law. The person who could
afford such a bracelet was apparently very well off financially,
and it probably belonged to the village ruler. It is interesting
to note that in the artwork of neighboring lands gods and rulers
were depicted wearing horned crowns; however, such a bracelet, and
from an archaeological excavation at that, has never been found
here.”
Large
Canaanite cities, such as Megiddo and
Hazor, have been excavated, but
this is the first time a village of the Late Bronze Age has been
excavated in the north of Israel. This site, Ramat Razim, is located
southeast of Zefat, and is thought to have “constituted part of the
periphery of Tel Hazor,” according to Covello-Paran
Jewelry of Queen Puabi
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The flattened skull and jewelry of Queen Puabi just as it was found in her tomb at Ur in Sumeria -
where Sarah and
Abraham were born. Notice, too, her perfect teeth...
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Jewelry taken from Queen Puabi's tomb at Ur in ancient Sumeria, 3rd
millennium BC.
The various pieces could be arranged in several
different ways, as necklace or crown
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Polished beads found in
the tomb of Queen Puabi
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The
Nimrud Jewelry
'Last year, exploring an inner room of the palace, a team of laborers (headed
by Muzahim Mahmoud Hussein, leader of the Iraqi team at Nimrud) stumbled
across a tomb that contained a small collection of necklaces, earrings
and gilded pins. In April, Muzahim found what looked like a piece of
pavement. When he and his workers cleared off the dirt, they uncovered a
small ceramic pipe resembling an air vent. The "pavement"
turned out to be the arched roof of a small rectangular tomb. Inside: a
dusty sarcophagus. "I pried the top off with an iron bar,"
says Muzahim. "There was more dust inside, but when I held up the
light, it was reflected back into my eyes by the gold."
Much of that gold
turned out to be priceless jewelry draped around the skeleton of a young
princess named Yabahya, tentatively identified as the daughter of one of
Assyria's most renowned and feared kings, Sargon II. Nearby, still more
jewelry and gold ornaments were piled. Mingled with the dried bones were
dozens of delicately sculpted gold rosettes, scattered like flowers over
the body of the dead princess.' (Quoted from Time magazine
article, Philip Elmer-Dewitt, October 13 1989)
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Necklace from
a tomb at the ancient city of Nimrud, in Iraq.
Nimrud was the capital of Ashurnasirpal II, an Assyrian king of the 9th
century BC
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Nimrud: ugal or headdress worn by the Queen
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Nimrud: gold bracelets
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Jewelry
from Troy
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Gold jewelry from Troy II, 3rd millennium BC
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Gold
pin with filigree work, from 'Priam's Treasure', Troy
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Luxury
Objects
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Mycenaean gold pendant, 17thcentury BC
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Gold hairnet
fragment
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Jewels
of a tribal princess like Sarah, circa 1500BC
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An
early piece of Egyptian jewelry from the 5th dynasty: collar and bracelet
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Necklace circa 14-13th
century BC, found at Mari, a flourishing city west of the
Euphrates
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Necklace beads, 13th
century BC
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Gold
necklace, 5th century BC
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This
Roman bust of Antonia Minor shows her wearing a diadem, probably
of beaten gold |
See other fascinating links between
Archaeology and the Bible
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