A Post Describing the Different Types of Ancient Greek Jewelry

The story of Greek Jewelry stretches over a period from 2600 BC to 31 BC, which covers the four great civilizations named Minoan Age, Mycenaean Age, Classical Age, and Hellenistic Age. In every era, the Greek jewelry designers diversified the styles and techniques and brought something new. The only thing that was common in all was the beauty of Greece women.

What was the role of Greek Women in Jewelry Designing?

In ancient times, Greece women were very much concerned about their beauty even if the resources were less. They used to wear luxurious cotton, flax, and wool-woven clothes along with jewelry made up of gold, bronze, and gemstones. The surprising part is they used to take a bat from goat milk to make their complexion fair and used olive oil to massage their bodies. The primary reason for women to stay focused on their beauty is to get the title of the Greek Beauty Goddess. Due to this competitive spirit, the Greek women always came up with unique jewelry designs, which are still used by Modern Greek jewelry designers.

Types of Greek Jewelry 

The jewelry worn by the people of Greece had simple as well as complex designs. In most cases, these designs were different to differentiate between upper and lower-class families. It’s because status was everything for Greek people.

The common element of Greek Jewelry was gold beads which were shaped in beautiful shells, beetles, flowers, leaves, and other natural shapes. The makers in ancient times were very much inspired by natural beauty. They replicated the natural beauties found across Greece and ornamented the same.

Other than gold beads, the Greek jewelry designers choose gemstones like pearls, garnets, amethysts, and emeralds for exclusive designs. Makers also utilized glass stones and enamel stones which were colored.

For exclusive designs, jewelry makers used images of Greek Gods and animals. They printed Greek Gods such as Nike, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Eros. These exclusive designs were worn by higher class women to differentiate themselves from the lower classes.

Purple-colored amethyst- The most adored gemstone 

The Greek jewelry designers used various materials for designing but the one that was most adored by Greek People was the purple color amethyst. It was used for decorating different types of unique jewelry pieces and sets. Preferably, the purple-colored amethyst was used by people of ancient Greece who were in authoritative positions. Even today, it is widely used in Greek jewelry designing.

A few interesting facts about Greek Jewelry and Fashion 

• Most jewelry types such as earrings, pendants, necklaces, armbands, thing bands, rings, diadems, wreaths, and others were produced in the Hellenistic Period.
• In the Hellenistic Period, the jewelry was passed on to the generations.
• Greek women wore jewelry in sets or just a pair.
• The ideas and imaginations of the Greek jewelry designers were inspired by nature and their Gods.
• Many of the women and men were buried with jewelry to reserve for the upcoming generations.

It’s just a short post describing the fashion sense of the Greek people and how it influenced ancient and modern Greek jewelry designing. There are a lot more to know…… !!

About This Author

Kotinos https://www.kotinos.com.gr/ Famous Jewelry Brand Joined: October 21st, 2020