Roman Gold Earrings (Mediterranean)

The Roman gold earrings you see are from the 1st and 3rd centuries CE which provides an important comparison to the Silk Road traditions of jewelry.

While the Roman Empire was not a direct part of the Silk Road,it was connected through Eurasian trade networks by their involvement near the east.

The Romans ability to acquire goods such as gems and silk involved networks which extended further than their territorial limits. Such items would have had to go through several stages to make it to the Mediterranean world.

Indirect Global Connections

In Roman society, jewelry was used as a key marker of wealth and social status. We see that gold earrings were widely worn by elite women and they served as a visible factor that had economic power or status.

Some Roman merchants imported luxury things and goods like silk and gemstones from the East.

The display of one’s wealth through the use of accessories was an important part of social culture. One’s gold earrings were considered a symbol of upper class prestige and wealth. Another factor that could be reflected in the use of earrings was the taste of the individual or society at large.

Historical Significance

These Roman earrings show how similar patterns of luxury consumption existed outside of the Silk Road.

I think that by comparing these objects, it becomes more clear that different regions followed these interconnected systems of cultural exchange and trade. A comparison between objects like these from the Roman society and the regions of the Silk Roads reveals similarities and differences.

Examples of Roman earrings provide proof that global connections were not restricted to a single network, like Silk Road networks. Rather than several networks which operated together to show global connections and exchanges.

Twisted Gold Earrings

The image to the right is golden hoop roman earrings. They are “in the form of rings of twisted gold.”

These earrings stood out to me because they aren’t symmetrical showing how these objects were hand made and took time.

Looking at many objects from the Roman Empire, it allowed me to see why these were seen as a status symbol. Examining these earrings showed that even small simple objects like this show elite status even if they don’t have all the same materials.

Bibliography

• Boardman, John. The Oxford History of Classical Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993
• Mattingly, David. Imperialism, Power, and Identity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011.