Roman Celtic Christian Engraved Cross Ring Size 9 AD350

Size 9 Genuine Ancient Engraved Stylized Romano-Celtic Starburst – Christian “Stellata Cross” Bronze Ring with Sculpted/Shouldered Bands 350 A.D.

CLASSIFICATION: Ancient Roman Bronze Ring with bezel featuring engraved starburst and sculpted/shouldered/engraved bands.

ATTRIBUTION: Eastern Roman Empire, Provincial Lycia (ancient Anatolia, present-day Southern Turkey), Late Fourth or Early Fifth Century A.D.

SIZE/MEASUREMENTS: Fits ring size 9 (U.S.).

Diameter: 23mm x 22mm (outer dimensions); 19 1/2mm (inner diameter).

Bezel: 12mm (height) * 10mm (breadth) * 2 1/2mm (thickness).

Tapered Width Band: 7 1/2mm (at bezel) * 6 1/2mm (at sides) * 5mm (at back).

Weight: 5.24 grams.

CONDITION: Good! Completely intact. Evidence of modeerate wear in the ancient world; moderately heavy porosity (surface pitting caused by contact with earth while buried). Professionally conserved.

DETAIL: A nicely crafted and fairly sophisticated ancient Roman bronze ring circa late third or early fourth century A.D. As you can see, the design is quite sturdy, with heavy, shouldered bands and thick bezel, and the ring is very handsome and solid in character. The ring is twice the weight of the ordinary ring of the era, very durable and solid. The "bezel" or center part of this ring depicts a stylized starburst design which though pagan in origin, was co-opted by the Christians and evolved into a stylized depiction known as a “Stellata Cross”. In hand the engraving of the starburst, or “Stellata Cross” engraving is fairly clear and easy to discern. It’s a little more difficult to discern in these images, as the design is worn and pebbled to the point of being somewhat faint. However the engraved design is clear enough to be unambiguous and unmistakable.

The starburst design was co-opted by the Christians over the period between the second and fourth centuries, metamorphosing into the “Stellata Cross”. The pagan (or non-religious) starburst which was a very popular and frequent Roman ring motif for centuries, became even more so as it metamorphosized into the “Stellata Cross” in the era of post-Constantine Christian Rome. The bands are also adorned, both shoulders feature a raised land which is engraved with an “X”. Though there might be some special significance to the “X” engraved on this raised knob on both sides of the band (“X” is the Roman numeral 10), it seems most likely that they’re simply ornamental engravings. Other symbols oftentimes used as elements in geometric designs are dots, hash-marks, chevrons, four-sided diamonds, intersecting lines, and “+” symbols, and generally have no special significance and are entirely mundane and ordinary and often used simply as geometric figures. Such engraved motifs were constituents of very popular geometric designs during the first few centuries A.D.

Whether the characters here have any significance other than that merely of geometric symbols is difficult to ascertain, but it seems to contemporary eyes it seems simply a decorative element and without any special significance. Between the raised, “X” engraved knobs and the bezel are two raised, engraved accent lines as well. The raised engraved knobs and raised engraved lines at the shoulders of the bands gives the ring a sculpted look, and is a very handsome touch. All of these decorative elements are flourishes which indicate that the ring was an “upmarket” item. It’s a relatively sophisticated ring, and although crafted in bronze, was nonetheless surely costly. A truly expensive ring would have been crafted in gold or silver. In the ancient world, silver was fairly rare, and oftentimes half the cost of gold (as opposed to the current ratio of gold being fifty times more expensive than silver). Nonetheless though executed in bronze (and even bronze was expensive in the ancient world), this particular ring was a few steps above the ordinary ring of the era.

The engraved features of the ring seem Celtic in character, somewhat abstract and stylized, and certainly finely executed. The ring does possess a hallmark characteristic of the bronze rings produced within the Roman Empire by Celtic artisans. That is the very distinctive “knob” at the back of the band. The Romans highly regarding Celtic workmanship, and articles of jewelry produced by Celtic artisans were highly prized, and by the time of Imperial Rome, Celtic artisans could be found scattered throughout the empire. The heavy construction is of one-piece construction, much like a contemporary ring. The more archaic rings produced by Roman artisans were characteristically made in two pieces; an incomplete ring (a “shank”) with a separately crafted bezel which was brazed to the shank in order to assemble the ring.

The ring bears unmistakable evidence of being worn during the original’s owner’s lifetime in ancient Rome. While there’s nothing in particular which is significant enough to merit an individual description, the ring does evidence some relatively substantial “all over” wear. However the ring is worn, not worn out. It remains quite heavy in construction and could be worn for decades into the future. So before allowing yourself to be dismayed that the ring bears evidence of being worn in the ancient world, you must keep in mind that the ring was produced by an artisan and sold to a patron or consumer with the idea that the ring would be enjoyed and worn by the purchased. And without any regard to twenty-first century posterity, that precisely what happened! The original Roman owner of this ring wore it, enjoyed it, and probably never could have in his most delusional moment ever dreamed that almost 100 generations later the ring would still exist.

It should likewise come as no surprise that also detectable are the telltale signs that the ring spent thousands of years in the soil. The evidence is known as “porosity”, which is fine surface pitting (oxidation, corrosion) caused by extended burial in caustic soil. Many small ancient metal artifacts such as this are extensively disfigured and suffer substantial degradation as a consequence of the ordeal of being buried for millennia. It is not at all unusual to find metal artifacts decomposed to the point where they are not much more substantial than discolored patterns in the soil. Actually most smaller ancient artifacts such as this are so badly oxidized that oftentimes all that is left is a green (bronze) or red (iron) stain in the soil, or an artifact which crumbles in your hand.

However this specimen is not so heavily afflicted, and certainly has not been grossly disfigured. To the cursory inspection of the casual admirer, it simply looks like an ancient ring, nicely surfaced, no immediately discernible blemishes. However if you examine the ring closely, it’s impossible not to detect the telltale signs indicating the ring was buried for millennia. There’s clearly oxidation, and if you scrutinize the ring intently, or examine the ring through a jeweler’s loupe or in these photo enlargements, the signs that the ring was buried for millennia are unmistakable. The entire ring is lightly pebbled, almost as if it suffered from acne, which is why some of the engraved themes are a bit fuzzy and indistinct.

Keep in mind that this artifact spent almost two thousand years buried, and most such artifacts are going to bear mute testimony to the ability of the earth to oxidize (decompose) buried metal. However the ring spent almost 2,000 years buried, yet by good fortune there is only a moderate degree of porosity evidenced. It happened to come to rest in reasonably gentle soil conditions. Consequentially, the integrity of the artifact remains undiminished, and despite the porosity evidenced, the ring remains quite handsome, and entirely wearable. Despite the substantial porosity however, the ring could be worn for decades, even generations, without adversely impacting the integrity of the ring. In fact wear would polish out the “acne” scars consequence of being entombed in the earth for two millennia.

The ring’s overall integrity is relatively undiminished by the passage of time, and it has been professionally conserved. The ring is quite sturdy and possesses a very nice, rich medium bronze tone quite characteristic of ancient bronze and quite handsome. The Romans 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. This is an exceptional piece of Roman jewelry, a very handsome artifact, and eminently wearable. Aside from being significant to the history of ancient jewelry, and equally significant to the history of early Christianity, it is also an evocative relic of one of the world’s greatest civilizations and than ancient world’s most significant military machine; the glory and light which was known as the “Roman Empire”.

HISTORY: One of the greatest civilizations of recorded history was the ancient Roman Empire. In exchange for a very modest amount of contemporary currency, you can possess a small part of that great civilization in the form of a 2,000 year old piece of jewelry. The Roman civilization, in relative terms the greatest military power in the history of the world, was founded in the 8th century (B.C.). In the 4th Century (B.C.) the Romans were the dominant power on the Italian Peninsula, having defeated the Etruscans and Celts. In the 3rd Century (B.C.) the Romans conquered Sicily, and in the following century defeated Carthage, and controlled the Greece. Throughout the remainder of the 2nd Century (B.C.) the Roman Empire continued its gradual conquest of the Hellenistic (Greek Colonial) World by conquering Syria and Macedonia; and finally came to control Egypt in the 1st Century (B.C.).

The pinnacle of Roman power was achieved in the 1st Century (A.D.) as Rome conquered much of Britain and Western Europe. For a brief time, the era of “Pax Romana”, a time of peace and consolidation reigned. Civilian emperors were the rule, and the culture flourished with a great deal of liberty enjoyed by the average Roman Citizen. However within 200 years the Roman Empire was in a state of steady decay, attacked by Germans, Goths, and Persians. In the 4th Century (A.D.) the Roman Empire was split between East and West. The Great Emperor Constantine temporarily arrested the decay of the Empire, but within a hundred years after his death the Persians captured Mesopotamia, Vandals infiltrated Gaul and Spain, and the Goths even sacked Rome itself. Most historians date the end of the Western Roman Empire to 476 (A.D.) when Emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed. However the Eastern Roman Empire (The Byzantine Empire) survived until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD.

At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain in the West, throughout most of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, and into Asia Minor. Valuables such as coins and jewelry were commonly buried for safekeeping, and inevitably these ancient citizens would succumb to one of the many perils of the ancient world. Oftentimes the survivors of these individuals did not know where the valuables had been buried, and today, two thousands years later caches of coins and rings are still commonly uncovered throughout Europe and Asia Minor. Roman Soldiers oftentimes came to possess large quantities of “booty” from their plunderous conquests, and routinely buried their treasure for safekeeping before they went into battle. If they met their end in battle, most often the whereabouts of their treasure was likewise, unknown.

Throughout history these treasures have been inadvertently discovered by farmers in their fields, uncovered by erosion, and the target of unsystematic searches by treasure seekers. With the introduction of metal detectors and other modern technologies to Eastern Europe in the past three or four decades, an amazing number of new finds are seeing the light of day 2,000 years or more after they were originally hidden by their past owners. And with the liberalization of post-Soviet Eastern Europe, new markets have opened eager to share in these treasures of the Roman Empire.

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.

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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. If you intend to pay via PayPal, please be aware that PayPal Protection Policies REQUIRE insured, trackable shipments. 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."