Jewelry In Mesopotamia, Greece

Jewelry has been worn by people in almost every civilization around the globe in every century. These accessories can often tell a lot about a civilization. One can especially compare the jewelry of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome to get an accurate idea of the time period and how people's customs evolved within that area and that time. Jewelry in ancient times were very similar in that they were often made of identical materials, showed status of the people living within a society and the sophistication of the civilization itself; however, the way the jewelry was produced and complexity of the design changed with time. The first common feature that most notice in the sample of jewelry is that five of the six pieces have gold incorporated

The oldest two pieces of jewelry were from Mesopotamia. The oldest, the headdress was made around 2500 BC and the second oldest, a head of a female wearing a necklace was made in the 9th- 8th century BC. Even within these two pieces of jewelry, one can tell that people began to make their jewelry more intricately with time because there are more beads shown in the necklace than in the headdress. The miniature broad collar found in Egypt made around 300 BC is much more elaborate than the two prior pieces. The pair of gold earrings found in Greece made around 300 BC do not include gemstones like the prior three examples of jewelry, but used much more complex details in the way the gold is shaped. The fifth oldest piece of jewelry, the gold armband is also quite intricate by using both gemstones and transforming the shape of the gold. The final piece of jewelry, the brooch, is the most different of all the jewelry in the set. It was made in Rome from around 100-300 AD. This piece is much different, because it is not made of gold, like all the others, but is made of copper. Even though it is not made of gold, it is much more innovative and complex than all the other jewelry because it was made by using a new process called the niello process to create a cat, the most complex figure on a piece of jewelry in the whole set (MMA). Overall, the six pieces of jewelry in this set shows that Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome took a lot of pride and effort in their jewelry. The jewelry was continuously changing to become more complex as time went by. All of the jewelry was made by using the most innovative techniques of their own time period and by using metals and gemstones valued in each