The Greeks highly appreciated art for the love of beauty. "The body was considered the best adornment of a person ...", and drapery on clothes emphasized his best forms and masked flaws. The Greeks emphasized nobility and dignity with a developed and trained body, beautiful posture.



Ancient Greek jewelers have left us a legacy of fine examples of artistic creativity in jewelry.

Often, decorations in Ancient Greece were accompanied by ornamentation. In the ornaments, the masters preferred strict symmetry and geometric lines, right angles, combinations of all kinds of wavy lines. Jewelers used the image of aloe leaves, grapes, ivy, laurel, acanthus, oak, honeysuckle flowers, olive tree. The meander was widely used - square and round. A certain order and symmetry were observed in the arrangement of ornamental compositions.



The passion for jewelry has always been inherent in people, because it is one of those that delight vanity. However, in antiquity, it was considered bad form in everyday life to abuse luxury. Then there were even laws that required to observe the measure. Therefore, Greek jewelry is distinguished by excellent restraint. But there was undoubtedly an opportunity to beautify oneself to a greater extent.

These were special ceremonial appearances, various holidays, weddings, theater visits. And, despite this, elegance and naturalness were always present in the Greek style. The silhouettes of ancient Greek women resembled columns of architectural structures of that time or an antique statue, and therefore the set of jewelry accompanying such a dress was rather limited.




Especially the Greeks took care of the head decoration. The most natural and natural in the early period were wreaths of flowers and leaves. They were made from roses, violets, myrtle and ivy. The women of Ancient Greece weaved headbands into their hair.

The most famous was the Greek sphendona, which was adorned with gold, pearls, or precious stones. The middle of it was wider and higher, on the head it stood out from the hair like a diadem and held back the hair. Especially the sphendon was comfortable with a short haircut. The forehead and the forehead were similar to the sphendon. Greek women adorned their hair with crowns, as well as strings of pearls.

Greek stefana was especially preferred, in the classic version - from gold threads. Artfully woven nets of gold gimp or gold cord were attached to the hair with ivory hairpins. Luxurious stefans emphasized the high status of their owner. In addition to weaves from braids, women loved to collect their hair in a knot, which is still called the Greek knot. Both long and short hair were curled and worn with a hoop or ribbon. Tiaras and combs were often used.

The girls decorated their hairstyles with a gold hoop, often decorated with a meander or other ornamental decor with a clear rhythm. On special solemn occasions, the hair was decorated with a diadem, which could be made of gold leaves and beads. Jewelers offered hairpins and nets, headbands and combs with pearls and mother-of-pearl as hair decoration.

Greek style bracelets

The Greek women were very fond of bracelets; they tried to emphasize the grace of their hands with them, putting them on not only on the wrist, but also on the forearm. Bracelets were made in the form of a single wide hoop made of precious metal or several thin rings, which were worn in large numbers. Wide bracelets could be decorated with ornamental patterns, such as a meander, or twisted lines of a plant character.




Neck jewelry - necklaces, chains, beads, medallions. The neck decorations used carved vine leaves, wavy lines. The metal discs and plates that make up the necklace were inlaid with garnets, amethysts, and covered with enamel. Very often, virtuoso carving created unique products with perforations in the form of wavy lines.

Neck jewelry was sometimes assembled from separate elements, soldered to each other, or mechanically connected. In the jewelry technique, the diffuse soldering method was very common, with the help of which point grain was obtained. Necklaces and wreaths had a variety of pendants in the form of fruits, flowers, dolphins and other animals.

The fashion of that time for brooches was especially favored. They were round, oval, and necessarily large, because their function was not only a decoration for a lady, but also to fasten folds of fabric. If a dress in the Greek style seems too simple, a beautiful large brooch will always help out. Cameos were inserted into gold frames.

Greek women willingly adorned themselves with belts with embroidered ornaments, or decorated with buckles. In our time, a belt and bracelet with a meander made by tatting can be a great addition.

Greek style earrings

Greek earrings sometimes resembled images of gods or represented a disc with small patterns and inlaid, from which hung thin pendants. These earrings rang beautifully as they moved. The disc was gracefully depicted with images of various objects; the pendants repeated the shape of amphorae or animals.

Earrings to create an image in the Greek style, you need to choose large, tear-shaped shapes, including pearls, are also suitable. A dress in the Greek style on one shoulder will look stylish and unusual, if as a decoration there is a large earring with a pendant on one ear.

Rings and signet rings

The Greeks also loved rings. They began to be worn from the beginning of the 6th century BC. Initially, these were signet rings, but later the rings began to be made of ordinary metals, at first without stones, but then they began to be decorated with precious metals and stones. Wearing a ring on the fourth finger of the left hand was considered quite fashionable.

People with high incomes and those who do not have standards of decency wore many rings at once. Gradually, the number of rings was added to all lovers of this jewelry. For rings and medallions, gems were made, in which the image on the stone was convex or hollowed out.

Ancient Greek jewelers often used filigree, their work was distinguished by subtlety and grace. The finer the work, the more expensive the jewelry was. In jewelry, splashes of glass colored smalt or small pearls were used. This technique made it possible to create openwork patterns of extraordinary beauty. Filigree threads were used to make necklaces and hairnets.

Ancient Greek craftsmen applied engravings to stones. The best stones for engraving were sardonyx and cream agate. Some of the items of ancient Greek jewelry, decorated with filigree and point-beading, are made in microtechnology. The details of the delicate and exquisite workmanship can only be seen through the magnifying glass.

In addition to plant and geometric patterns, the Greeks loved to carve butterflies, birds, insects on ornaments, there was also a fantastic animal world that came from myths and legends. Gold and silver were used as metal, but there were decorations and simpler ones.

Gold in Ancient Greece was highly valued as, indeed, in other countries and civilizations.Often, gold items were sent to the afterlife together with their owner, since the magical effect of gold was attributed to the ability to drive away evil spirits. But among the ancient Greeks, not everyone adorned themselves. For example, the Spartans were distinguished by an ascetic and strict lifestyle. Mostly jewelry for them was simple metal bracelets and brooches.

The color of jewelry in the Greek style should be calm and restrained, because dresses in this style are mainly of a pastel palette. Therefore, pearls and transparent light stones are suitable for the Greek image. Looks especially beautiful rhinestone.

Ancient Greek jewelry can be seen in many museums around the world. The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg owns a rich collection of necklaces and brooches.