The love of ornament is as old as civilization itself. By wearing jewelry that is unusual or unique, we define ourselves as individuals and set ourselves apart from the crowd. Throughout antiquity, in every great culture, beads were formed from colored gems, glass, ceramic, shell, bone and metal in an endless variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes they were worn for their magical or curative powers, at other times simply for their beauty. People, highborn and low, the citizens of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Judea, Greece, Rome and Byzantium, wore them. Frequently these jewels, so prized in life, were buried with their owners to adorn them through eternity. When we wear them today, we add another chapter to their long and fascinating history.

In the Bible, the value of glass is equated with that of gold and silver, for the ancients treated it as a precious substance. With its infinite variety of colors and malleable shape, glass was prized throughout antiquity for jewelry and ornament. The beads collected together in this splendid necklace range in period from the Iron Age through the Byzantine era, and include Hellenistic and Roman examples. Their colors are rich and vivid, their patterns bold and abstract. These beads delight the contemporary eye as they surely did the ancient one. We can imagine the beautiful women who adorned themselves with such treasures long ago. To wear such a jewel today is to immerse oneself in the collective energy of history.