Jewelers Of Italy

(via 5000 Years of Gems and Jewelry) Frances Rogers and Alice Beard writes:

4. Rings And Seals

In the palmy days of the Roman Empire jewelry was increasingly burdened with many and varied responsibilities beyond that of personal adornment. Among the rings that were intended to serve a practical purpose was a curious one known as a ‘key ring’. This type is a ring combined with a key whose wards are at right angles to the hoop so that they lie lengthwise along the finger. It has been suggested that such rings were keys to some casket containing valuables belonging to a rich man, but as they were made only of bronze or iron and were ungainly in shape, it does not seem likely that they were actually worn by the owners of jewel caskets, but rather by some trusted servant.

Locks were still unreliable contrivances, all too easily opened by the ‘thievish slaves’ who would help themselves to provisions in the storerooms, or even to gems from their master’s jewel box. So it became the custom to seal up supplies and valuables with one signet and then lock that signet away in a cabinet which, in turn, was sealed by still another signet ring, the latter worn by the master.

Even this seemingly innocent practice did not escape the pointed pen of Pliny, who remarked that to wear but ‘a single ring upon the little finger was no more than an ostentatious advertisement that the owner has property of a more precious nature under seal at home.’ But, nevertheless, he sympathizes with the practice of locking possessions up with sealing wax:

How happy the times—how truly innocent—in which no seal was put to anything. At the present day, on the contrary, our very food even, and our drink, have to be preserved from theft through the agency of the ring; and so far is it from being sufficient to have the very keys sealed, that the signet ring is often taken off the owner’s finger while he is overpowered with sleep, or lying on his death bed....How many of the crimes stimulated by cupidity are committed through the instrumentality of rings!

Indeed, certain of the ring family became in themselves sinister instruments of death. The poison ring, although ornamental in appearance, was constructed for the special purpose of enabling its owner to commit suicide. It was made with a high, bezel, shaped like a pyramid, which was hollow and capable of holding enough poison to bring swift death to the wearer who might find himself trapped in a desperate situation and choose suicide as a way out. With one vigorous bite he could crush the soft gold, suck out the poison, and his quietus make with a mere finger ring. Hannibal made good his exit from this earth by means of a poison ring.

The method sounds quite simple and convenient in case of necessity, but it appears that one might have too much (or too many) of a good thing, as in the case of Heliogabalus, one of the later emperors of Rome. Considering his life, of ‘almost unparalleled debauchery,’ no great powers of prophecy were required to guess that he would come to a bad end, and it was foretold that he would die a violent death. Therefore he decided to choose his own manner of dying and have more than one alternative at that. He wore three rings: one set with rubies, one with sapphires, and one with emeralds. Each ring contained a different kind of poison. But when the crucial moment arrived Heliogabalus apparently became embarrassed by too many choices. Before he had time to decide which poison he would swallow, the soldiers were upon him. They dragged him all over Rome with a hook and finally threw his body into the Tiber. What became of the rings is not on record.

In its character as an amulet, a jewel might make a very wide appeal and serve many purposes. For a talisman denoting valor and zest in bloodshed, the Roman soldier wore a silver ring mounted with an engraved stone showing Mars, equipped with shield and spear. Or if he preferred a more realistic and detailed indication of his calling, he chose the design of a warrior standing on the body of his decapitated enemy and holding aloft in triumph the severed head.

Even many of the doctors still practiced their faith in magic. A string of amber beads was the accepted cure for goiter and the wearing of coral was prescribed for skin trouble by Dioscorides, Greek physician to the Romans. There seems to have been a gem remedy for all the ills of life; the list is endless.

Amulets were frequently enclosed in tiny golden vases or in cylindrical boxes and suspended from the neck. The necklace might be a simple chain, or a chain of beads with many pendants. Amber was particularly prized as a pendant, not only for its beauty but for its powers of protection against witchcraft. Sometimes a bit of amber would be found in which a small insect was enclosed, and this would bring an enormous price.

Jewelers Of Italy (continued)