Medieval Roman Byzantine Evil Eyes Gemstone Ring Plaque

Genuine Ancient Fabulously Ornate Size 6 3/4 Medieval Roman/Byzantine Bronze Ring Tenth to Twelfth Century A.D. Features Mystic “Concentric Circles” and Three Carat (Plus) Orange Agate Gemstone. Mounted into Glass-Fronted Display Plaque.

CLASSIFICATION: Ancient Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) Bronze Ring with concentric circles; symbols of both Ancient Mysticism, Roman Paganism and Ancient Christianity. Antique Handcrafted Eighteenth Century Handcrafted Siberian Orange Agate Semi-Precious Gemstone.

ATTRIBUTION: Eastern Roman Empire (Hierapolis, present-day Pamukkale, Turkey), Tenth to Twelfth Century A.D.

SIZE/MEASUREMENTS: Fits ring size 6 3/4 (U.S.).

Diameter: 20mm * 19mm (outer dimensions); 19mm * 16 1/2mm (inner diameter).

Bezel: 24mm (breadth) * 10mm (height) * 2 1/2mm (thickness).

Gemstone: 8 1/2mm (diameter) * 3mm (thickness). Approximate Weight: 3.10 carats.

Diameter of Concentric Circles: 3 1/2mm.

Fixed Width 2 1/4mm Band.

Weight: 1.25 grams.

Plaque Size: 19 * 14 centimeters (8 * 6 USA inches).

ARTIFACT CONDITION: Fair. Fractured and repaired band. Moderately light wear (consistent with usage in ancient Byzantium) and relatively light porosity (surface pitting caused by contact with earth while buried). Professionally conserved.

A Medieval Roman/Byzantine bronze ring circa tenth to twelfth century A.D. As you can see, the ring is very elegant in design with a number of exceptional features. The ring was created with a large, round, cup-style bezel so as to accommodate a gemstone. Flanking the gemstone on either side is a cluster of three sculpted concentric circles. These concentric circles are particularly significant, and laden with symbolism. The symbolism of such “eyes” found on items of personal adornment arose in very ancient times…much more ancient than the even the Phoenicians and Persians who predated both the Romans and their Byzantine successors and the antecedent civilization of classical Ancient Greece.

Ancient pagan beliefs encompassed the idea that a glance from a powerful and evil individual could bring about adverse consequences. Thus some sort of protection against such an event was considered by many imperative. Items of personal adornment such as this ring were thought to protect the wearer from the "evil eye" by the proviso of always watchful open eyes (the concentric circles). The symbolism was eventually adopted by ancient Christianity, and within a few centuries would be regarded as an almost “exclusive” symbol of Christianity. The ring is truly elegant and significant with respect to religious history and culture; unfortunately it was recovered with the bands fractured in two pieces, so a segment of the ring had fallen out. We used jeweler’s epoxy to reattach the fractured segment of ring band. Were it requested by the new owner or the ring, we could solder the ring segment in place and the ring could be worn.

The Medieval world had a number of different adhesives they used, some of the most common being resin, wax, and bitumen. However one characteristic that they all had in common is that sooner or later, they tended to fail. Consequentially ancient “gemstone” rings are typically unearthed without the gemstone. True to form, this particular ring was not recovered with the gemstone intact, so we mounted a large, natural, antique, handcrafted orange agate semi-precious gemstone. Agate has been popularly used through recorded history for the production of jewelry, beads, and amulets due to the vibrant rainbow of colors agate naturally occurs in. Agate amulets produced by Stone Age man in France has been discovered, dating the known use of agate back to approximately 20,000 B.C. Agate was widely used and admired by the ancient Romans, Greeks, Phoenicians, Persians, Egyptians, etc.

Rather than use bitumen pitch or tree resin, we mounted the gemstone using jeweler’s epoxy. The gemstone is quite secure, but if you at time in the future wished to remove it, this could easily be accomplished using some thinner or nail polish remover. The gemstone was produced in the eighteenth century by Russian artisans famed for centuries for the elaborate jewelry produced using precious and semi-precious gemstones mined in the fabled Southern Ural Mountains of Siberia. It’s a very beautiful gemstone, and though it is not an expensive gemstone, it seemed an appropriate choice. Though the gemstone is not as old as the ring, given the fact that many cultures of the classical Mediterranean world (including the Greeks and the Romans; Republic, Imperial Period, and the Byzantine Empire) made wide use of agate in their jewelry, and that the gemstone in itself is historically significant, it seemed an appropriate gemstone to enhance this ring’s beauty, a choice which preserves historical continuity.

The ring actually evidences fairly light wear, best simply characterized as “light all-over wear”. It does not appear that wear contributed to the fracturing of the band. It could be that the band being fractured is why the ring was discarded; or it could be that the ring’s band was fractured while it lay buried in the soil for one thousand years. In any event, despite the fractured bands, fate has been relatively kind to this artifact. The fact that the ring evidences some degree of wear from ancient usage should not be a source of disappointment. 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 purchaser. And without any regard to twenty-first century posterity, that precisely what happened! The original owner of this ring wore it, enjoyed it, and probably never could have in his or her most delusional moment ever dreamed that over a thousand years later the ring would still exist, let alone that you and I would be examining and discussing it on the internet, separated perhaps by continents.

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 disfigured. To the casual admirer, it simply looks like an ancient ring, nicely surfaced, no immediately discernible blemishes. You have to look very closely to detect the telltale signs indicating the ring was buried for millennia. No denying, there is oxidation, as if you examine the ring in a jeweler’s loupe, or if you examine these photo enlargements closely, you can clearly see the evidence of porosity (corrosion, fine surface pitting). However the extent is very mild. This ring spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 years buried, yet by good fortune there is only a very modest degree of porosity evidenced. It happened to come to rest in very gentle soil conditions. Consequentially, the integrity of the artifact remains undiminished, and despite the slight porosity, the ring remains quite handsome.

Though the ring could not be worn in its present condition (the band would eventually refracture as it is only joined with jeweler’s epoxy, it could be more permanently repaired with a bronze solder. At that point it could be worn on the finger, and should you desire, we would be happy to complete those repairs without charge. However we thought it might be most suitable as the focal point of the very handsome and interesting glass-fronted display plaque ("shadow box") shown herewith. The frame/plaque (approximately 8x6 inches) narrates a brief outline of the history of the Roman/Byzantine Empire. It would make a great gift, for yourself or a friend, and would surely delight a son or daughter. It would not only make a very handsome display, but would be very educational as well. If at some point you wished to dismount the ring and have it repaired, the ring is attached only with inert rubber glue, and so could be removed without damage to either the ring or plaque.

The ring dates to a time when the Western Roman World had collapsed, plunging Western Europe into 1,000 years of darkness. But at the time, yet to confront Islam, the Eastern Roman Empire still flourished as one of the globe’s great powers. The Romans and their 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. Aside from being significant to the history of ancient jewelry, this artifact 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/Byzantine Empire”.

HISTORY: The symbolism of the concentric circles arose from more ancient times, where such circles would be found on items of personal adornment. These concentric circle designs were thought to protect the wearer from the "evil eye." By the third century concentric circles were increasingly associated with Christianity. By the sixth century rings, bracelets, and pendants worn by Christians commonly carried this theme. Byzantine era cross pendants would be depicted with five such circles representing the five wounds Christ suffered during crucifixion (hands, feet, crown of thorns, spear to the sides). While it is impossible to say with certainly whether this ring was designed expressly for the purpose of making a statement of faith, it is not unlikely. Certainly at the time this ring was crafted the artisan making the ring would have known that the symbol was closely associated with Christianity.

This ring would have served as protection against adverse influences of the "evil eye". Ancient pagan beliefs encompassed the idea that a glance from a powerful and evil individual could bring about adverse consequences. Thus some sort of protection against such an event was considered by many imperative. This concentric circle design, affording protection to the wearer from the "evil eye", was increasing adopted by and associated with those of the ancient Christian faith. So much so that even though the symbolism of the concentric circles arose from more ancient times, by the 3rd century A.D. concentric circles were increasingly associated with and regarded as being exclusively an expression of Christianity. By the time this ring was produced, the concentric circles were associated almost exclusively with the Christian faith.

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.

In the ancient world valuables such as coins and jewelry were commonly buried for safekeeping, and inevitably the owners 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, thousands of years later caches of coins and rings are still commonly uncovered throughout Europe and Asia Minor. 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 thousands of years after they were originally hidden by their past owners.

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.

Agate is named after its ancient source, the Achates River in Sicily, now known as the Drillo River, which remains a major source of this gemstone (though some ancient historians believe that the word agate is derived from the Greek word "Agateес" – meaning happy). Agate was used by Stone Age man in France 20,000-16,000 B.C. The ancient Egyptians used it prior to 3000 B.C., and in the Ptolemaic Period carved agate scarabs. Agate was also extremely popular for us in jewelry in ancient Sumeria. Agate was highly valued as a talisman or amulet in many other ancient cultures. It was said to quench thirst and protect from fevers.

Persian magicians were believed to possess the power to divert storms through the use of agate talismans. The ancient Egyptians believed that agates protected the wearer from lightning and bestowed the power of oratory. A famous collection of four thousand agate bowls was accumulated by Mithradates, king of Pontus, is illustrative of the high value the ancient world had for agate. Agate bowls were also popular in the Byzantine Empire. Collecting agate bowls became common among European royalty during the Renaissance and many museums in Europe, including the Louvre, have spectacular examples.

The agate-working industry grew up centuries ago in the Idar-Oberstein district of Germany, where agates were abundant. From the 16th century onwards cameos were cut from agate where different colors occur in layers. The background material is cut away, leaving the cameo design in relief. At the same time in Torre del Greco (Italy), a similar technique was used to cut cameos from sea shells. Agate is a common semiprecious silica mineral, colorful microscopic crystals of quartz, a variety of chalcedony occurs in bands of varying color and transparency. Most agates occur in gas bubble cavities in eruptive rocks or ancient lava. Silica laded water is deposited within the bubbles, and coagulates to a silica gel, eventually crystallizing as quartz. One common form of such quartz is onyx. Agate is found in a wide variety of patterns and beautiful colors, and can be transparent to opaque. The primary sources of agate today are Brazil, Uruguay, China, India, Madagascar, Mexico, and the USA.

Due to its fragile nature this particular piece is shipped in an oversized box with lots of Styrofoam peanuts. Domestic shipping (insured first class mail) is included in the price shown. Domestic shipping also includes USPS Delivery Confirmation (you might be able to update the status of your shipment on-line at the USPS Web Site). Canadian shipments are an extra $2.99 for Insured Air Mail; International shipments are an extra $7.99 for Air Mail (and generally are NOT tracked; trackable shipments are EXTRA). ADDITIONAL PURCHASES do receive a VERY LARGE discount, typically about $5 per item so as to reward you for the economies of combined shipping/insurance costs. 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.

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, which is why we include insurance and a USPS Delivery Confirmation at no extra charge (international tracking is at additional cost). 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 (less our original shipping costs).

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."