Elegant Roman Byzantine Faux Gemstone Bronze Ring AD800

CONDITION: Good, intact although the back of the band is fractured. Moderately light wear. Very light porosity (surface pitting caused by contact with earth while buried). Professionally conserved.

DETAIL: A nicely styled Roman-Byzantine bronze ring with very petite and elegant features. The ring sports a large integral bezel which bears what was a quite popular “faux gemstone” motif. This consisted of an oval shaped “faux gemstone” intended to give the impression of a center gemstone. The engraved “faux gemstone” would then be flanked by a perimeter composed of small “accent sized” gemstones. Then off to each side as the bezel transitions to the band, there are five more (and larger) accent gemstones, three of which are larger than the other two. The main, central gemstone in the array is raised. It’s a very elegant and well-crafted ring, designed to give the impression that there were gemstones set into the ring.

Even in less-than-perfect condition (and keep in mind it is well over 1,000 years old), this is a very beautiful and historically significant ring. Rather than the crudely attached separate bezel, the ring possesses an integral bezel, the bezel and bands fashioned from a single piece of bronze. This accentuates the ring’s timeless design and modern flavor. The ring’s size is a bit small for modern populations, and it was probably worn by a child in ancient Byzantium. We say “probably” based on the size of the ring and the light amount of wear evidenced. However it is not inconceivable that it might have been worn by an adult woman. Take into account that primitive populations were generally of slighter build than today’s robust populations. And in Byzantium the population also oftentimes wore rings on all ten fingers (including their thumbs), so “pinkie” rings would have been much more common than they are today.

And then, as even today, Eastern Europeans (the inheritors of the Byzantine culture) wore rings on both the first and second joint of their fingers, the second joint obviously thinner (even on you and I) than the first joint where most people wear rings today. So even a small ring like this could have conceivable been worn on the second joint of a pinky finger by an adult woman of ancient Byzantium. The ring could be worn by a child today. However the ring could also be worn as a very distinctive and uncommon pendant. We offer a gold tone chain (depicted above) at no additional charge, upon request. We also have available other chains as well, in gold and silver electroplate, solid sterling, and solid 14kt gold and 14kt gold fill, as well as a copper bronze-tone chain, in lengths ranging from 16 to 30 inches, as well as handcrafted Greek leather cords..

The ring is fractured in the back, probably the result of soil pressure once it was lost and buried in the earth. It could have been fractured and discarded in life. However given the fact that the bands don’t quite match up (they have been slightly misaligned by soil pressure), and that there’s a small piece missing, it seems likely that the ring was fractured once it was buried. We could repair the fracture for you if you like, but inasmuch as the fracture is already closed, it seemed best for us to leave it alone and allow you to decide whether to repair the fracture. Many Roman/Byzantine bands were originally open so as to accommodate a finger of variable size. “Adjustable” size rings were not at all uncommon. And it could be worn as a pendant on a chain as is, right now, and it would remain firmly on the chain.

The ring does show some evidence of having been worn, of course. Close examination will reveal that there used to be an engraved trailing design on the sides of the band. If you look closely, you can still see it, albeit dimly, especially on one side of the ring. However this flourish has been worn down a bit, and it takes a while to wear down a bronze ring. So it was clearly worn for a number of years in ancient Byzantium. Notwithstanding the wear, this ring is in a very good state of preservation and has been professionally conserved. You have to look very closely to see any of the telltale signs indicating the ring was buried for millennia. Most small artifacts such as this suffer extensive degradation from porosity, which is fine surface pitting caused by prolonged burial in caustic soil. This particular specimen even in these photo enlargements evidences very little porosity. This ring spent twelve centuries buried, yet by good fortune there is very little porosity; it happened to be in very gentle soil conditions.

The ring has a very nice patina, a medium, almost golden tone so characteristic of ancient bronze. The ring is quite sturdy and substantial, its integrity is undiminished by the passage of time, and it has been professionally conserved. There are no cracks, chips, or other impairments to its integrity notwithstanding the repaired fractured band described. The Romans and the Byzantine successors were of course very fond of ornate personal jewelry including bracelets worn both on the forearm and upper arm, brooches, pendants, hair pins, earrings intricate fibulae and belt buckles, and of course, rings. Despite the modest wear and the fact that the back of the band is fractured, this specimen is an exceptional piece of Roman-Byzantine jewelry. Aside from being significant to the history of ancient jewelry, it is also an evocative relic of one of the world’s greatest civilizations and the ancient world’s most significant military machines; the glory, might and light which was the Roman and Byzantine Empires.

HISTORY: The Byzantine Empire was the eastern remainder of the great Roman Empire, and stretched from its capital in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey) through much of Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, and small portions of North Africa and the Middle East. Prior to the fifth century collapse of the Western Roman Empire, one of Rome’s greatest emperors, Constantine the Great, established a second capital city for the Roman Empire in the East at Byzantium, present day Turkey. Constantine The Great sought to reunite the Roman Empire, centered upon Christian faith, by establishing a second "capital" for the Eastern Roman, away from the pagan influences of the city of Rome. Established as the new capital city for the Eastern Roman Empire in the fourth century, Constantine named the city in his own honor, “Constantinople”.

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, the “Byzantine Empire”, lasted for another thousand years as the cultural, religious and economic center of Eastern Europe. At the same time, as a consequence of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, most of the rest of Europe suffered through one thousand years of the "dark ages". As the center of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople was one of the most elaborate, civilized, and wealthy cities in all of history. The Christian Church eventually became the major political force in the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantine art, God rather than man stood at the center of the universe. Constantine the Great is also credited with being the first Christian Roman Emperor, and was eventually canonized by the Orthodox Church. Christianity had of course been generally outlawed prior to his reign.

Under the Byzantine Empire, Christianity became more than just a faith, it was the theme of the entire empire, its politics, and the very meaning of life. Christianity formed an all-encompassing way of life, and the influence of the Byzantine Empire reached far both in terms of time and geography, certainly a predominant influence in all of Europe up until the Protestant Reformation. In Byzantine art, God rather than man stood at the center of the universe. Representations of Christ, the Virgin, and various saints predominated the coinage of the era. The minting of the coins remained crude however, and collectors today prize Byzantine coins for their extravagant variations; ragged edges, "cupped" coins, etc. Other artifacts such as rings, pendants, and pottery are likewise prized for their characteristically intricate designs.

Bronze is the name given to a wide range of alloys of copper, typically mixed in ancient times with zinc or tin. The Bronze Age followed the Neolithic, and as the name implies, saw the production of bronze tools, weapons and armor which were either hard or more durable than their stone predecessors. Traditionally archaeology has maintained that the earlier bronze was produced by the Maikop, a proto-Indo-European, proto-Celtic culture of Caucasus prehistory around 3500 B.C. Recent evidence however suggests that the smelting of bronze might be as much as several thousand years older. Shortly after the emergence of bronze technology in the Caucasus region, bronze technology emerged in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean), Anatolia (Turkey) and the Iranian Plateau.

By the late fourth to early third millennium B.C. many Bronze Age Cultures had emerged. Some of the more notable were the Celtic cultures of Middle Europe stretching from Hungary to Poland and Germany, including the Urnfield, Lusatian, and (Iron Age Transitional) Hallstatt Cultures. The Shang in ancient China also developed a significant Bronze Age culture, noted for large bronze burial urns. Britain’s Bronze Age cultures included the Beaker, Wessex, Deverl, and Rimbury. Cornwall was the principle source of tin not only for Britain but exported throughout the Mediterranean, and copper was produced from the Great Orme mine in North Wales. Though much of the raw minerals may have come from Britain (and to a lesser extent Spain), it was the Aegean world which controlled the trade in bronze. The great seafaring Minoan Empire appears to have controlled, coordinated, and defended the Bronze Age trade.

Tin and charcoal were imported into Cyprus, where locally mined copper was mined and alloyed with the tin from Britain. It appears that the Bronze Age collapsed with the Minoan Empire, to be replaced by a Dark Age and the eventual rise of the Iron Age Myceneans. Evidence suggests that the precipitating event might have been the eruption of Thera and the ensuing tsunami, which was only about 40 miles north of Crete, the capital of the Minoan Empire. It is known that the bread-basket of the Minoan empire, the area north of the Black Sea lost population, and thereafter many Minoan colony/client-states lost large populations to extreme famines or pestilence. Thus with the end to the shipping of tin throughout the Mediterranean the Bronze Age trade network is believed to have failed, and the end of the Bronze Age and the rise of the Iron age is normally associated with the disturbances created by large population movements in the 12th century B.C.

The end of the Bronze Age saw the emergency of new technologies and civilizations which heralded the new Iron Age. Although iron was in many respects much inferior to bronze (steel was still thousands of years away), iron had the advantage that it could be produced using local resources during the dark ages that followed the Minoan collapse. Bronze also resists corrosion and metal fatigue better than iron. Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, but for many purposes the weaker iron was sufficiently strong to serve in its place. As an example, Roman officers were equipped with bronze swords while foot soldiers had to make do with iron blades.

Domestic shipping is $3.99 for first class mail or $6.99 for Priority Mail. Domestic rates include USPS Delivery Confirmation (you might be able to update the status of your shipment on-line at the USPS Web Site). Canadian shipments are $3.99 for Air Mail; International shipments are $4.99 for Air Mail (and generally are NOT tracked; trackable shipments are EXTRA). I can add most other items I sell to the shipment for only $0.99 each. Your purchase will ordinarily be shipped within 48 hours of payment. We package as well as anyone in the business, with lots of protective padding and containers. Trackable and insured shipments are required by PayPal for all eBay purchases utilizing PayPal as a payment method. Therefore shipping costs for this item includes the fee for postal insurance ($2 for domestic shipments; $3 for international shipments); and is required for whenever PayPal is used as the payment method.

We do NOT recommend uninsured shipments, and expressly disclaim any responsibility for the loss of an uninsured shipment. Unfortunately the contents of parcels are easily “lost” or misdelivered by postal employees – even in the USA. We do offer U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Registered Mail, and Express Mail for both international and domestic shipments, as well United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (Fed-Ex). Please ask for a rate quotation. We will accept whatever payment method you are most comfortable with. If upon receipt of the item you are disappointed for any reason whatever, I offer a no questions asked return policy. Send it back, I will give you a complete refund of the purchase price.

Most of the items I offer come from the collection of a family friend who was active in the field of Archaeology for over forty years. However many of the items also come from purchases I make in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) from various institutions and dealers. Though I have always had an interest in archaeology, my own academic background was in sociology and cultural anthropology. After my retirement however, I found myself drawn to archaeology as well. Aside from my own personal collection, I have made extensive and frequent additions of my own via purchases on Ebay (of course), as well as many purchases from both dealers and institutions throughout the world – but especially in the Near East and in Eastern Europe. I spend over half of my year out of the United States, and have spent much of my life either in India or Eastern Europe. In fact much of what we generate on Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay goes to support The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as some other worthy institutions in Europe connected with Anthropology and Archaeology.

I acquire some small but interesting collections overseas from time-to-time, and have as well some duplicate items within my own collection which I occasionally decide to part with. Though I have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, my primary interest is in ancient jewelry. My wife also is an active participant in the “business” of antique and ancient jewelry, and is from Russia. I would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from me. There is a $2 fee for mailing under separate cover. Whenever I am overseas I have made arrangements for purchases to be shipped out via domestic mail. If I am in the field, you may have to wait for a week or two for a COA to arrive via international air mail. But you can be sure your purchase will arrive properly packaged and promptly – even if I am absent. And when I am in a remote field location with merely a notebook computer, at times I am not able to access my email for a day or two, so be patient, I will always respond to every email. Please see our "ADDITIONAL TERMS OF SALE."