National Geographic History - 03.2019 - 04.2019

SHOWING OFF a pearl

necklace, a woman

displays her collection of

jewels. Fresco from the

Palace of Constantine in

Trier. Fourth century A.D.

Episcopal Museum, Trier

when clustered together so that they gen-

tly jingled with movement— attracting

attention with the noise—they were

called crotalia, or castanets.

Under the emperors Claudius and

Nero, the pearl trade focused on a few

n coast,

nterme-

en India

t. Goods

ed from

an ports

t’s capi-

Alexan-

, where

they were kept in warehouses and then

redistributed throughout the Mediterra-

nean. The pearl trade also benefited from

the Roman Empire’s extensive network

of well-kept roads.

Merchants who specialized in pearls

were known in Rome as margaritarii,

although this word also may have been

used to describe anyone connected

with the gem, from exporters, jewelers,

and pearl-setters to pearl fishermen

and guards who protected the precious

stones. The margaritarii joined togeth-

er to protect their interests in guilds

or associations.

Eighteen inscriptions found in Rome

mention the profession of margaritarius.

Most of these historical markings have

been discovered around the Via Sacra in

the Roman Forum, the center of day-to-

day life in ancient Rome. Such inscrip-

tions suggest that a select group of mar-

garitarii operated from one of Rome’s best

known and busiest streets, which served

as the city’s commerce nucleus for the

luxury trade.

Wealth of Riches

Pearls were so rare and expensive that

they were reserved almost exclusively

for the noble and affluent. Julius Caesar

ruled that women beneath a certain rank

could not wear them, specifying that they

were meant for “those of a designated po-

sition and age.”

Women from the imperial aristocracy

wore them in a variety of ways: as ear-

rings, in necklaces of up to three strands,

AGE FOTOSTOCK

CROTALIAEARRING MADE OF GOLD, PEARLS, GARNETS, AND GLASS. THIRD CENTURY

The Romans’ favorite pearls

were white and came from the

Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

THE ARCADE

OF PEARLS

IN ROME people interested in

buying pearls, jewelry, and oth-

er adornments would take a trip

to a place called Porticus Mar-

garitaria. Although scholars

are unsure of its exact location

in the city, they believe that

jewelers both manufactured

and sold their wares there.

JEWELER’S STORE.MUSEUM OF ROMAN

CIVILIZATION, ROME

SCALA, FLORENCE

BRIDGEMAN/ACI

ports on theArabian

which became in

di aries betwee

and the West

were shippe

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DAILY LIFE