Elektra Ring

The sublime power of the Bronze Age Aegean radiates in this ring, which is based on a solid gold example from the Mycenaean cemetery at Knossos, on Crete, dating 1400 BC. The form is typical for a Bronze Age signet ring in this area, as the several extant examples attest. Here, a prominent oval face features a repeated "horizon" motif within a delicate beaded border, which also frames the upper and lower sides of the ring shank.  The Mycenaeans, like other ancient cultures, used rings with special and personalized designs on them, "signet" rings, as a form of self-identification. Often incised into (or raised in relief out of) the stone or metal, the designs on the front of the rings identified the rings' owners in some way. As these designs (and therefore the rings) were personalized, they became a type of signature or an official mark of the individual, when pressed into hot wax on a document. It is believed that the Greek name "Elektra" began as a Mycenaean name, though it has not been identified in Linear B tablets. The name means "bright, shining." According to Greek legend, Elektra (or Electra) was the daughter of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon and his wife, Clytemnestra. Referred to in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, this daughter of the king was a hero who saved her brother's life. She would, too, become one of the most popular subjects of ancient Greek plays (such as those by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), and of ancient Greek vase painting.