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A lunula (pl. lunulae) was a crescent moon shaped pendant worn by girls in ancient Rome. [1] Girls ideally wore them as an apotropaic amulet, [2] the equivalent of the boy's bulla. [3] In the popular belief the Romans wore amulets usually as a talisman, to protect themselves against evil forces, demons and sorcery, but especially against the ...
Gold lunula from Blessington, Ireland, Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, c. 2400BC – 2000BC, Classical group. A gold lunula (pl. gold lunulae) was a distinctive type of late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and—most often—early Bronze Age necklace, collar, or pectoral shaped like a crescent moon.
Lunula (amulet), a Roman amulet worn by girls, the equivalent of the bulla worn by boys; Gold lunula, a specific kind of archaeological solid collar or necklace from the Bronze Age or later; Lunula, the crescent-moon decoration on an ancient Roman calceus senatorius; Lunula (anatomy), the pale half-moon shape at the base of a fingernail
In Ireland, lunulae were probably replaced as neck ornaments firstly by gold torcs, found from the Irish Middle Bronze Age, and then in the Late Bronze Age by the spectacular "gorgets" of thin ribbed gold, some with round discs at the side, of which 9 examples survive, 7 in the National Museum of Ireland. [9]
A Roman girl did not wear a bulla per se, [4] but another kind of amulet called a lunula, until the eve of her marriage, when it was removed along with her childhood toys and other things. She would then stop wearing child's clothes and start wearing women's Roman dress.
Today it is held by the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, where it is on permanent display.According to Mary Cahill of the museum, the objects are significant as the only extant "association between the discs and the lunula, because the discs would be considered among the earliest gold ornaments and the lunula as coming a little bit later". [6]
The lunula is made of decorated gold and dated to 2200-2000 BC and is one of the earliest gold ornaments from Wales. [1] Other estimates suggest 2400-2000 BC of the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. [2] The lunula is the heaviest lunula from the islands of Britain and Ireland, weighing 185g. [3] Llanllyfni lunula.
[150] [151] The presence of traces of tin in the gold lunulae from Harlyn Bay and St. Juliot suggest that the gold may derive from a local Cornish alluvial source. [152] Of the four Cornish lunulae, the St. Juliot and Gwithian lunulae and one of the Harlyn Bay lunulae are of Classical type, the most accomplished of all the lunulae styles.