Articles
The Fibula Prenestina and the Art of Ancient Forgery
The Fibula Prenestina and the Art of Ancient Forgery
The story of the Fibula Prenestina (Figure 1) is one of the gr...
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“Classical Art in Miniature”: Gemstone Carving in Greco-Roman Antiquity
In Greco-Roman antiquity, gemstones were more than precious materials.Carved in miniature, they became objects of identity, protection, power, and art.
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The Gorgoneion: Fear, Beauty, and the History of the Gaze
The face of Medusa has never been stable.Across antiquity and modernity, the gorgoneion shifts between terror and beauty, protection and seduction — an image that both attracts the gaze and warns against it.
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Helen: On Beauty and the Limits of Form
Helen of Troy was never simply beautiful. In the ancient imagination, beauty could seduce, destabilize, and destroy. This essay follows Helen as a figure through whom the classical world imagined the power — and danger — of ideal form.
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To His Ancilla
A gold snake bracelet from Pompeii reveals not romance, but a complex web of power, ownership, and intimacy within Roman domestic slavery.
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Greece Was Rewritten by the East
Greek jewellery did not simply expand across the world—it was reshaped by the symbols, techniques, and craftsmen it encountered.
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Gold Changed Everything
When gold became more available, jewelry changed.It grew larger, richer, more colorful, and more ambitious.
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Gemstones Paved the Way
A necklace, but also a map—its stones tracing routes that stretched far beyond the Mediterranean.
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The Knot of Herakles
A simple knot, repeated across centuries—carrying with it strength, protection, and belief.From ritual to ornament, the Herakles knot binds together function and meaning.
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Granulation: The Most Refined Language of Ancient Jewelry
Granulation is easy to recognize, but difficult to explain.Across centuries, it persists as one of the most refined ways of shaping a surface in gold.
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The Snake in Ancient Jewelry
Since antiquity, the snake has been repeatedly embraced in jewelry, returning across cultures and centuries.Even today, it endures as a form that suggests protection, renewal, and a quiet, controlled power.
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Smuggled Out: The Unexpected Journey of the “Jewels of Helen”
Some jewels are never merely adornment. They are given names, stories, and myths—continually rewritten through misreading and contest across history. The “Jewels of Helen” are one such case: beneath their radiance lies not a tale of love, but the imprint of power and time.
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