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Ancient Greek Jewelry

Bracelets do not appear to have been worn among the Greeks by the male sex, but Greek ladies had bracelets of various materials, shapes, and styles of ornament.

The bracelet derived its name from its keeping its place by compressing the arm of the wearer. Bracelets seem to have been frequently made without having their ends joined; they were then curved, so as to require, when put on, to be slightly expanded by having their ends drawn apart from one another; and, according to their length, they went once, twice, or thrice round the arm, or even a greater number of times.

As they frequently exhibited the form of serpents, they were in such cases called snakes by the Athenians. Twisted bracelets of the kind described above often occur on Greek painted vases.

Origins of Greek Coinage

Coinage was invented in Lydia, on the eastern shore of the Aegean in the late 7th century BCE and spread quickly across the Greek islands, then across the Greek mainland and to the Greek colonies in South Italy, Sicily, Africa, Spain and the Black Sea.

The arrival of coinage greatly facilitated trade and the bonds between scattered city-states and caused many a Greek to mutter, "Why didn't we think of this before?" No longer did you have to drag cows or grain bushels around to make purchases. And now it was possible to become wealthy without necessarily having to risk your life accumulating or plundering land, stock, slaves or other large material goods.

The first images on coins were sacred or totem animals, such as lions and bulls. They were engraved in a bronze die set in an anvil (the "anvil die"). The annealed (fire-softened) flan was set on the die and struck with a "hammer die." The anvil die became the obverse and is often convex from taking the blow of the hammer die (the reverse). Early on, the hammer die struck a square or rectangle image, but soon images were placed on the reverse. They did not use collars to center coins, so many ancients are endearingly off-center, which detracts from their value to collectors.

Author: Barry & Darling Ancient Coins