Treasures of Aegina - unique jewelry from Egypt

The Treasures of Aegina appeared in the British Museum in 1892. Initially, the find was considered to be of the Greek, classical era. In those years, the Minoan culture was not yet known, antiquities in Crete had not yet been “excavated”. Only after the discovery of traces of the Minoan culture in the early years of the XNUMXth century, it was recognized that the Aegina treasure is much older and comes from the Minoan period - from the first palace period. In general, this is the Bronze Age.

The Aegina treasure consists of many pieces of gold made in a way that testifies to the high technical skill and highly developed processing of decorative stones. Especially gold rings with lapis lazuli inlay. The inlay technique is not easy, especially when the material used for the inlay is as hard as stone. At first glance, it seems that the cells of the ring are filled with a substance with the properties of a hardening paste. But it is not appropriate to argue with the specialists of the British Museum.

Unique jewelry from Egypt.

The combination of blue lapis lazuli with the intense color of high-quality gold gives an extraordinary artistic effect. With the addition of the simple, unnecessary shape of these gold rings, we're pretty sure they would still evoke desire today.

The motif called "" is still popular .. Most often used in rings and bracelets. In Greek times, it was very popular because of its magical meaning, it had healing powers. In fact, this "knot" as a belt or loincloth belonged to the queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. Hercules was going to get it, it was his last or one of the last twelve jobs he was going to do. Hercules won the belt of Queen Hippolyta, and she lost her life. From now on, this motif of characteristic interweaving is attributed to the greatest hero of the ancient world. There is, however, a small but very important detail: the knot ring may be a thousand years older than the myth of Hercules.