This earring is said to be from the ancient city of Olbia, long a colonial trading post of the ancient Greeks on the northern coast of the Black Sea. At the time these earrings were made, Olbia's local inhabitants—Greeks, Scythians, and Sarmatians—were flush with gold and silver received from the Romans in exchange for local goods, such as salt and grain.
Credit: Rogers Fund, 1922
Mid-1st century
Gold, garnets, green glass
4.5 x 1.4cm
22.50.8
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection