Details

LOT 0106

Greek Solid Gold Ring Idol

5TH-4TH MILLENNIUM B.C.

3/4 in. (1.65 grams, 20 mm).

Annular in form with pierced tab.

Provenance

Private collection, acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s; thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Mărgărit M., and Boroneanț, A., Beauty and the eye of Beholder, personal adornment across the millennia, Targoviște, 2020, fig.2p, for a similar gold ‘Ring Idol’ Pendant from Megalo Nisi Galanis.

Footnotes

During the Greek Neolithic, certain types of ornaments share common morphological characteristics; one such example is the so-called ‘ring-idols’. The prototype of these ring-shaped pendants seems to have been made out of gold, which began to be used during these late phases of the Neolithic in Greece and the Balkans, in general.