Caecilia Earrings

These distinctive earrings feature a beautifully modeled crescent shape, from which hangs a boat-shaped pendant. They are modeled after a sixth century BC solid gold example from Cyprus. "Caecilia" is the female patronymic form of the name Caecilius. In the second and first centuries BC, the Caecilius Metellus family was among the most prominent in Rome, with members who held the highest magistrate office of consul, and the chief priest position of Pontifex Maximus. One female member of the family, Caecilia Metella, was an important matron of the early first century BC, who married the general Lucius Cornelius Sulla - a marriage that was very beneficial to him, perhaps more than to her. Indeed, Plutarch in his Parallel Lives says of Sulla that "in the fiftieth year of his age, (he) made a most illustrious marriage with Caecilia, the daughter of Metellus, the Pontifex Maximus..." and that his esteem for her was always high, for to her, "he always showed great deference in all things." - Life of Sulla 6.10 and 12 The tomb of another Caecilia Metella still stands prominently along the Via Appia, in Rome.