This glimmering collection of ancient amber jewellery was set up in an ancient burial cave near Jerusalem . Decorated with the symbol of the Roman goddess Luna , the 1,800 - yr - erstwhile jewellery was intended to guard off malefic spirits and provide protective cover for a young girl in the hereafter .
The lot includes gold earring , a hairpin , a Au pendent , gold beads , carnelian astragal , and a chicken feed bead .
They were first establish in 1971 inside a lead casket at a Roman - epoch sepulture site on Mount Scopus , a mountain in northeast Jerusalem . It appears the fine object were either set alongside the corpse of a young young lady by her relatives or she was just buried have on the jewelry .
The gold earrings found at the site. Image credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority
The jewelry is a snapshot in prison term of an epoch when this part of the world was ruled over by theRoman Empire . For a picayune over a century , between 6 CE and 132 CE , this arena was known as the Roman province in Judea . It ’s notably the menstruum that get wind thelife of Jesus , as well his crucifixion , and the emergence of Christianity .
While Roman Catholic rule had a flaming and tumultuous end , the culture left its influence , as evidenced by this jewelry . Some of the relics – such as the mountain range with a lunula dependent ( pictured below ) – feature the symbol of Luna , the papistic Sun Myung Moon goddess who was often portray as the female counterpart of Sol , the Roman personification of the Sun .
The historical circumstance of the burial indicate that this might have been the burial site of starter to the metropolis who had arrived from elsewhere in the Roman Empire , still holding onto their non - Jewish “ pagan ” beliefs .
A lunula pendant, named after Luna, the Roman moon goddess. Image credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority
The eye of today can only guess whether this held some deep personal meaning for the family . However , the researcher consider it ’s likely the jewellery was swallow alongside them to protect them from tough spirits that might commove their afterlife .
“ These items of jewelry are known in the Roman domain , and are characteristic of young girl entombment , possibly providing evidence of the people who were inter at these web site . Late Roman Jerusalem — renamed Aelia Capitolina — had a mixed population that touch the city after the end of the Jerusalem Temple and the evacuation of the Jewish population , ” total the researchers .
“ hoi polloi from different part of the Roman Empire settle in the city , play with them a different set of values , impression and ritual . The pagan cult of the city ’s fresh universe was rich and varied , including graven image and goddesses , among them the furore of the moonshine goddess Luna , ” they proceed .
