Ancient Roman Jewellery

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Research Background: Ancient Roman Jewellery Ancient Roman Jewellery was produced during 500 BC to 400 AD and which was influenced by the wealth and the power of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire continued their expansion across the Mediterranean area, North Africa, Egypt and Europe. (Ancient Roman Jewelry. n.d.) Through the expansion, it brought to the Romans Empire not only lands and taxes but also the contact of different cultures. This led to the incorporation of different designs of the above mentioned cultures in the art of ancient Roman jewellery. Because of the cultural exchange, new motifs were developed or derived from other cultures and remained well-established throughout Roman times. (Early Roman Jewelry. 2007.) Undeniably, the ancient Romans used a diverse range of materials in their jewellery due to the accessibility of a wide variety of natural resources found across the continents which were under their dominion. Their immense wealth enabled the Romans to produce highly pretentious jewellery incorporating the precious and semi-precious stones obtained from the different areas of their Empire. (Ancient Roman Jewelry. n.d.) They also had an extensive network of trade, which gave them access to exotic materials and precious gemstones that travelled along the ancient Silk Road from Persia, the Indus Valley, India and the Far East. (Ancient Roman Jewelry. 2010.) It made the Roman citizens became so rich that jewellery was not just restricted to the upper class but the lower classes could also afford the jewellery. Early Roman jewellery resembled the Greek and Etruscan jewellery, but later on the influence of Egyptian culture on the ancient Roman jewellery was apparent. As the Roman Empire revealed in its wealth and power, jewellery was less worn for decoration and more for attaching pieces of clothing and
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