Greek Jewellery
Jewellery in the Prehistoric Aegean
| As time passed the last was used with increasing frequency, not only because it was a cheaper material, but also because it is easier and quicker to make beads by casting in stone moulds (Fig. 16). Gold beads and gold ornaments (Figs 12-14) were made by hammering thin gold sheet in moulds and completed with granulation, filigree and cloisonne technique inlaid with semi-precious stones or glass. A very large variety of beads of gold or semi-precious stones, faience and glass is known - over 100 types of floral, marine and geometric shapes - enhanced with grooves, ribs and granulation. Sometimes the beads of glass or faience were invested with very fine old leaf. There are also several small steatite cones that were most probably used as buttons. |
| Fig 15 Necklaces with beads of agate, sard and amethyst in assorted shapes. From Chamber Tombs 518 and 519 at Mycenae. (Athens, National Archaeological Museum, 6521, 6435). 14th - 13th century BC. |
 |
The rings were usually simple gold hoops with elliptical bezels, sometimes plain or, more often, with engraved designs comparable to those on sealstones, for which reason
these rings have been characterized as signets belonging to officials Sometimes the ring bezels were embellished with granulation or inlaid with enamel, semi-precious stones or glass (Fig. 11). Most of the rings are hammered; very few are cast. |
| Fig. 16 Cast of papyrus lily pendant from a stone mould found at Mycenae. (Athens, National Archaeological Museum, 1019). 14th - 13th century BC. The pendant is similar to that on the terracotta figure of a goddess from Tiryns (Fig. 17). |
| Among the jewellery of the closing years of the Mycenaean period are the bronze fibulae. These first appeared in the thirteenth century BC and are considered to be of Italian origin. Primarily used for fastening garments - like the bronze pins of this period - fibulae are of two types, the fiddlebow appearing earlier and the arched later. Ephor of Antiquities Curator of the Prehistoric Collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens |
| Fig 17 Terracotta figurine of a goddess adorned with painted necklaces with a papyrus lily pendant. From the shrine in the Lower Acropolis at Tiryns (Nauplion, Archaeological Museum, 26171). 12th century BC. |