Jewelers Of Phoenicia And Greece

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

1. Phoenician Traders And Craftsmen

The Phoenicians were the most adventurous sailors of their time. Acting chiefly as middlemen, their merchants not only traveled through the Mediterranean but also sought ports never reached by Egyptian ships.

Meanwhile, because of his contacts with Egypt and Assyria, where the fine glass and metal work for export trade was produced, the Phoenician developed more than a tradesman’s interest in these crafts. He wished to make as well as sell merchandise—it was good business to produce at home the goods sold abroad. So presently the artisans of Phoenicia were turning their energies to absorbing from their powerful neighbors technical knowledge concerning the minor arts. From the Egyptians they learned to make glassware and glass beads (so valuable as an article of barter), also to cast bronze, to solder gold to gold, and to shape the precious metal into jewelry. From the Babylonians they learned the at of engraving gemstones.

The Phoenicians were apt pupils, but their work continued to be a composite of the designs and methods originated by other nations. And when, after a time, Phoenician ships sailed from home ports laden with fine metal work, glass vessels and beads, jewelry, little carved amulet-scarabs, cylinders and seals—all ‘made in Phonencia’—these articles, be it noted, were excellent examples of Egyptian and Assyro-Babylonian techniques, patterns and traditions.

It was in the wearing, rather than in the making of jewelry that the Phoenicians seem to have achieved a touch of originality, particularly in the matter of earrings. A lady of fashion had her ears pierced along the rim as well as at the lobe, thus she could decorate the edges of her ears with gold rings, each carrying a drop-shaped pendant. A sound like the tinkling of tiny bells must have marked her every turn of the head.

The people of southeastern Europe still lagged far behind the high point of development reached in the Orient. They could not make for themselves the marvelous things brought to their shores by the black-bearded Phoenician traders, but when opportunity came they were as eager to purchase ornaments by barter as were the North American Indians when they exchanged furs for glass beads.

Now and again a merchant galley would land at one of the towns that bordered the sea and the inhabitants would crowd wide-eyed about her to gaze up at the strange vessel with her high stern, great sails and many oarsmen. Then under the practised hands of the sailor-merchants the ship would become such a sumptuous example of window-dressing as might fill a modern merchant with envy. Draped textiles of deep purple, gorgeous, barbaric embroideries, and fine raiment made a telling background for other luxuries. There would be platters of bronze richly engraved with the fabulous bearded sphinx, the winged bull, or perhaps a hunting scene on the Nile. There would be perfume bottles of carved alabaster, graceful vases of deep-toned, patterned glass, fans of ostrich plumes or peacock feathers and, most prized of all, the heaped jewels—necklaces, bracelets, earrings, amulet-pendants, and head-ornaments of pale gold set with precious stones or enriched with many colored enamels. And for backdrop to such a scene there was always the splendor of sea and sky.

The people who came to buy offered in exchange for foreign luxuries the products of their own countries. The Greeks, still ignorant of the mysterious processes by which raw metals and colored stones were fashioned into ornate form, were, as their later development proved, especially sensitive to beauty, therefore they were willing customers. Their own land produced olives and grapes in great abundance; and when a Phoenician galley came to display her wares, men and women thronged the shore carrying oil and sweet wine, fragrant and strong, which they offered in exchange for products made by Oriental craftsmen.

Jewelers Of Phoenicia And Greece (continued)