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JEWELRY WORN IN ANCIENT ROME
The upper classes spent large sums of money were expended on precious stones and on shoes and other garments embroidered with pearls. Heavy gold jewelry was fashionable among Roman aristocrats in the A.D. first century. Around the same time women wore gold earring with pearls and necklaces made from small gold beads, diadems of gold laurels and parures with emeralds set in gold. Rings were made with small bits of stone, glass or amethyst with tin pictures scratched on their surfaces.
Almost all the precious stones that are known to us were familiar to the Romans and were to be found in the jewel-casket of the wealthy lady. The pearl, however, seems to have been in all times the favorite. No adequate description of these articles can be given here; no illustrations can do them justice. It will have to suffice that Suetonius says that Caesar paid six million sesterces (nearly $300,000) for a single pearl, which he gave to Servilia, the mother of Marcus Brutus, and that Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor Caligula, possessed a single set of pearls and emeralds which is said by Pliny the Elder to have been valued at forty million sesterces (nearly $2,000,000). [Source: “Daily Life in Ancient Rome: the People and the City at the Height the Empire” by Jerome Carcopino, Director of the Ecole Franchise De Rome Member of the Institute of France, Routledge 1936]
Armbands seem to have been in fashion around the time Pompeii was destroyed. Gold ones shaped like snakes with a head at each of their body were excavated there. At Pompeii earrings have been found set with pearls, gold balls and uncut emeralds clustered like grapes, “I see they do not stop at attracting a single large pearl to each ear," the Roman philosopher Seneca observed during the A.D. 1st century. “Female folly had not crushed men enough unless two or three patrimonies hung from their ears."
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Jewelry Worn by Women in Ancient Rome
The Roman woman was passionately fond of jewelry, and incalculable sums were spent upon it for the adornment of her person. Rings, brooches, pins, jeweled buttons, and coronets have been mentioned; and, besides these, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings or pendants were worn from the earliest times by all who could afford them. Not only were they made of costly materials, their value was also enhanced by the artistic workmanship that was lavished upon them. [Source: “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932) |+|]
The upper class Roman woman wore a diadem on her hair, and ear-rings in her ears; a collar (monile) or trinkets (catettae) round her neck; a pendant on her breast; bracelets (armillae) on her wrists; rings on her fingers, and circlets on her ankles (periscelides) like what Arab and Indian women. Next her chamberwomen (a veste) hastened to the rescue and helped to dress her. They slipped over her head her long upper tunic (the stola), sign of her exalted rank, round the hem of which was stitched a braid (instita) embroidered in gold. They tied her belt (zona), and finally enveloped her either in a long shawl which covered her shoulders and reached down to her feet (the supparum), or in the palla the woman's counterpart of the man's pallium a big square cloak with rhythmic folds and of some dazzling color. [Source: “Daily Life in Ancient Rome: the People and the City at the Height the Empire” by Jerome Carcopino, Director of the Ecole Franchise De Rome Member of the Institute of France, Routledge 1936]
Rings in Ancient Rome

snake ring
The ring was the only article of jewelry worn by a Roman citizen after he reached the age of manhood, and good taste limited him to a single ring. It was originally of iron, and, though it was often set with a precious stone and made still more valuable by the artistic cutting of the stone, it was always worn more for use than for ornament. The ring was in fact in almost all cases a seal ring, having some device upon it which the wearer imprinted in melted wax when he wished to acknowledge some document as his own, or to secure cabinets and coffers against prying curiosity. The iron ring was worn generally until late in the Empire, even after the gold ring had ceased to be the special privilege of the knights and had become merely the badge of freedom. Even the engagement ring was usually of iron; the jewel gave it its material value, although, we are told, this particular ring was often the first article of gold that a young girl possessed. [Source: “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932) |+|]
“Of course there were not wanting men as ready to violate the canons of taste in the matter of rings as in the choice of their garments or the style of wearing the hair and beard. We need not be surprised, then, to read of one having sixteen rings, or of another having six for each finger. One of Martial’s acquaintances had a ring so large that the poet advised him to wear it on his leg. It is a more surprising fact that the ring was often worn on the joint of the finger, perhaps for convenience in using the seal. |+|
Jarrett A. Lobell wrote in Archaeology magazine: From the iron bands that signified citizenship to those bearing a state seal and worn by the emperor, rings were the most common piece of jewelry for both men and women in the ancient Roman world. A metal detectorist in Tangley, Hampshire, in southern England, has uncovered a late Roman example dating to the fourth century A.D., fashioned of gold and an unusual type of onyx called nicolo. The ring depicts the god Cupid, his left arm resting on a column and his right arm holding a torch, which he will use to test Psyche (in the guise of a butterfly), in an allegory of love overcoming death. In the absence of the context that comes with a complete archaeological site, it is unknown who might have worn the relatively traditional design. [Source: Jarrett A. Lobell, Archaeology magazine, March-April 2016]
Jewels Found in Bath Drains
Tom Metcalfe wrote in National Geographic: Dozens of carved gemstones depicting Roman gods and animals were discovered at Carlisle in the north of England, amid the ruins of an ancient drainage system that carried water away from public baths in the third and fourth centuries. Archaeologists announced the finds in June; it’s thought the gemstones were worn in jewelry by wealthy bathers, but that they fell into the drains when their settings loosened from the humidity and heat of the baths. [Source:Tom Metcalfe, National Geographic, December 6, 2023]
These gems include semiprecious stones of agate, jasper, amethyst, and carnelian; some are carved with images of Roman gods, such as Apollo, Venus, and Mars, while others show animals, such as rabbits and birds. Carved gemstones like this, called intaglios, were used by the Romans as a type of signature, often pressing a ring into clay or wax to create a seal. The ancient drains were found beneath a pavilion belonging to the Carlisle Cricket Club; the city was a regional center in Roman Britain, when it was known as Luguvalium.
Frank Giecco, the archaeologist who led the excavation, described the intaglios as "minuscule": The smallest measured about 0.2 inch in diameter (5 millimeters) while the largest topped out at about 0.6 inch (16 mm). "The craftsmanship to engrave such tiny things is incredible," he said. One piece of amethyst depicted the Roman goddess Venus holding either a flower or a mirror; a piece of jasper was engraved with a satyr lounging languidly on a bed of rocks, according to The Guardian.
According to Live Science Giecco thinks the bathers most likely had no clue that they lost their precious adornments until after they dried off and headed home, and even then, he wouldn't be surprised if they thought the disappearance was the result of petty theft rather than accidental loss. Bathhouse theft was so rampant that Roman baths elsewhere in England displayed "curse tablets" that "wished revenge on the perpetrators of such crimes," according to The Guardian. One such tablet read, "So long as someone, whether slave or free, keeps silent or knows anything about it, he may be accursed in blood, and eyes and every limb and even have all intestines quite eaten away if he has stolen the ring." [Source: Jennifer Nalewicki, Live Science, February 2, 2023]
Amber and Emeralds in Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome, a single piece of amber was worth more than a slave and Pliny the Elder described it as medicine for ailments of the neck and head. Nero reportedly made contact with Germanic people in northern Europe because he was upset over the high middleman charges for amber and wanted to get closer to the source of the material. His emissaries returned with 13,000 pounds of amber, including one piece that weighed 10 pounds.
According to Pliny emeralds were the most prized of all gems after diamonds and pearls. Often called “Egyptian” or “Ethiopian” stones, they were mined near the Red Sea in eastern deserts of Egypt in a place called the Emerald City. According to Pliny Lollia Pualina, the consort of Caligula, was “covered with emeralds and pearl interlaced and alternately shining all over her head, hair, ears, neck and fingers, the sum total amounting to 40,000,000 sesterces.” The annual salary of a soldier was around, 1,200 sesterces.
Wadi Sikait in Egypt is the home of the Emerald City, the source of all of the emeralds in ancient Rome. Described by Pliny the Elder and rediscovered in 1816, it contains the ruins and foundations of temples, graves and mine shafts where “Egyptian” and “Ethiopian” stones were mined. The ruins spread out over a large area. Particularly interesting is a large temple with a Doric facade cut into a mountain and buildings with subterranean rooms and tunnels. Some of the shafts go directly into Emerald Mountain. Other spiral downward into the earth.
Pearls in Ancient Rome
Roman women adorned furniture and gowns with pearls and liked to sleep with pearls so "their dreams would be filled with lustrous gems.” Caligula wore slippers covered with pearls and draped a pearl necklace around the neck of his favorite horse Incitatus; Nero decorated his scepter and Constantine his helmet with pearls; and one of reasons why Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 B.C. was to get his hand on freshwater pearls from Scotland. The Roman general Vitellus paid for an entire military campaigns by selling one of his mothers pearls.
The Romans thought pearls were tears of the gods frozen inside of oysters. Cleopatra once bet Marc Anthony she could give the world's most expensive dinner party. To win the bet she crushed one of her pearl earrings and drank it in a goblet of wine. That one earring was said to worth 100,000 pounds of silver.
Lucía Avial-Chicharro wrote in National Geographic History: Satirical Roman writer Martial, remarking upon imperial Rome’s captivation with pearls, described a woman named Gellia who “swears, not by . . . our gods or goddesses, but by her pearls. These she embraces; these she covers with kisses; these she calls her brothers and sisters; these she loves more ardently than her two children. If she should chance to lose these, she declares she could not live even an hour.” [Source Lucía Avial-Chicharro, National Geographic History, April 2, 2019]
The Romans referred to pearls by the Greek name margarita, and differentiated between various kinds. The largest and most beautiful were called unios; pear-shaped pearls were called elenchi; and when clustered together so that they gently jingled with movement—attracting attention with the noise—they were called crotalia, or castanets.
History of Pearls in Rome
Pearl diving is believed to have been practiced in the Persian Gulf for 4,000 years. The first reference to pearling there is a an Assyrian inscription from 200 B.C. that described "a parcel of fish eyes from Dilmun." In 100 A.D. the Roman chronicler Pliny described Tylos as being "famous for its vast numbers of pearls." Tylos and Dilmun were ancient names for Bahrain.
Lucía Avial-Chicharro wrote in National Geographic History: In the beginning of the first century B.C. pearls became the ultimate symbol of wealth, power, and prestige in Rome. The Roman pearl craze began after Pompey the Great’s military campaigns in Asia Minor and Armenia (66-63 B.C.). During Pompey’s triumphal return to Rome in 61 B.C., his procession included 33 crowns encrusted with pearls, a pearl-decorated shrine, and a portrait of the general made entirely of pearls. [Source Lucía Avial-Chicharro, National Geographic History, April 2, 2019]
Recollecting the latter treasure, writer and philosopher Pliny the Elder scoffed: “To think that it is of pearls, Great Pompey, those wasteful things meant only for women . . . which you yourself cannot and must not wear, that your portrait is made!” The extravagant display of this precious stone of the East proved the success of Pompey’s conquering armies and helped elevate his profile as a strong commander. The pearls themselves—“the richest merchandise of all,” as Pliny wrote—filled the coffers of Rome’s treasury, their abundance strengthening its economy. Rome’s elite fell in love with the gemstones, and a fashion trend was born. [Source Lucía Avial-Chicharro, National Geographic History, April 2, 2019]
Pearl Trade in Ancient Rome
Lucía Avial-Chicharro wrote in National Geographic History: This unprecedented interest in pearls gave rise to a rich trade with the four pearl-producing regions known in antiquity: the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, India and Sri Lanka, and some areas of China. The pearl trade in Rome began around the end of the first century B.C. and the beginning of the first century A.D., when the trade route with the East through Egypt was established. Trade brought pearls of varying qualities, sizes, and colors to Rome: small reddish pearls from the Black Sea, large marble-shaded pearls from Greece, and golden ones from Britain. But the most highly prized pearls, which were a brilliant, shiny white, came from the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. [Source Lucía Avial-Chicharro, National Geographic History, April 2, 2019]
Under the emperors Claudius and Nero, the pearl trade focused on a few ports on the Arabian coast, which became intermediaries between India and the West. Goods were shipped from the Arabian ports to Egypt’s capital of Alexandria, where they were kept in warehouses and then redistributed throughout the Mediterranean. The pearl trade also benefited from the Roman Empire’s extensive network of well-kept roads.
Merchants who specialized in pearls were known in Rome as margaritarii, although this word also may have been used to describe anyone connected with the gem, from exporters, jewelers, and pearl-setters to pearl fishermen and guards who protected the precious stones. The margaritarii joined together to protect their interests in guilds or associations.
Eighteen inscriptions found in Rome mention the profession of margaritarius. Most of these historical markings have been discovered around the Via Sacra in the Roman Forum, the center of day-to-day life in ancient Rome. Such inscriptions suggest that a select group of margaritarii operated from one of Rome’s best known and busiest streets, which served as the city’s commerce nucleus for the luxury trade.
In Rome people interested in buying pearls, jewelry, and other adornments would take a trip to a place called Porticus Margaritaria. Although scholars are unsure of its exact location in the city, they believe that jewelers both manufactured and sold their wares there. Historian Suetonius wrote that Vitellius, a first-century Roman general (and later one of the short-lived successors of Nero), financed an entire military campaign by selling just one of his mother’s pearl earrings. A luxury known to only a few, pearls occupied the “very highest position among valuables.” This jewel of the sea—matching Pliny’s description of Caligula’s pearl-bedecked third wife, Lollia Paulina—“glittered and shone like the sun” at the height of the Roman Empire.
High Fashion Women, Power and Pearls in Ancient Rome
Lucía Avial-Chicharro wrote in National Geographic History: Pearls were so rare and expensive that they were reserved almost exclusively for the noble and affluent. Julius Caesar ruled that women beneath a certain rank could not wear them, specifying that they were meant for “those of a designated position and age.” [Source Lucía Avial-Chicharro, National Geographic History, April 2, 2019]
Women from the imperial aristocracy wore them in a variety of ways: as earrings, in necklaces of up to three strands, on crowns, and on hair combs. Pearls were sewn onto dresses and even onto the straps of their sandals. Pliny penned his admonishment that pearls had surpassed mere adornment: “It is not sufficient for them to wear pearls, but they must trample and walk over them . . . the women wore pearls even in the still hours of the night, so that in their sleep they might be conscious of possessing the beautiful gems.”
Roman philosopher Seneca echoed Pliny’s criticism of such pretension when describing the new earring style: “[T]he lobes of our ladies have attained a special capacity for supporting a great number. Two pearls alongside of each other, with a third suspended above, now form a single earring! The crazy fools seem to think that their husbands are not sufficiently tormented unless they wear the value of an inheritance in each ear!” Indeed, earrings of this period were often so large and heavy that the purpose of a female hairdresser, known as an auricula ornatrix, was to treat earlobes injured or infected by the earrings. Even the statues of the time reflected the Romans’ fondness for bejeweled earlobes. The “Venus de’ Medici,” a sculpture from the first century B.C. of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, has pierced ears.
Pearls became a symbol of imperial power and were lavishly displayed on bed covers, couches, and crowns. A pearl-setter was among the many permanent staff who worked for Emperor Augustus, an indication of the jewel’s importance in the ruler’s household. The pearl featured prominently in accounts of Emperors Caligula and Nero, both infamous for their extraordinary excesses. Caligula is said to have not only bestowed the rank of consul upon his favorite horse but also decorated Incitatus with a pearl necklace. Echoing the tale told of Cleopatra, Caligula’s libations were even said to include the prized gem, as he drank “pearls of great price dissolved in vinegar.” Nero, with his pearl-encrusted scepter and throne, adorned the actors in his theater with similarly decorated masks and scepters for his viewing pleasure.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons and “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston
Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.
Last updated November 2024