A gold ring with bright red garnet inset discovered in Jerusalem is the latest find indicating the considerable wealth and status of the city’s residents during the Hellenistic period (c. fourth–first centuries BCE), when many scholars had assumed Jerusalem was just a small town with few connections to the larger Mediterranean world. Marion Zindel of the Israel Antiquities Authority described the ring’s manufacture and stylistic significance: “The ring was manufactured by hammering thin pre-cut gold leaves onto a metal ring base. Stylistically it reflects the common fashion of the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. In that period, people began to […]
