According to Greek mythology, when Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, shed tears of joy they turned into pearls. To the ancient Egyptians, pearls were precious because they represented one of their most important goddesses, Isis, whose domain was magic, medicine, healing, and the rituals of everlasting life.
Historians believe that the pearl was most highly valued first by the cultures of the ancient Middle East. From the time of the Achaemenid kings, the Persians had control of the Persian Gulf, one of the earliest and most abundant sources of these gems. which are made by oysters. So it is not hard to imagine that as the new king of Persia, Alexander must have had his choice of the finest pearls.
From Persia, the love of pearls spread to the Mediterranean where, by the first century B. C.E., it became almost fanatical. Ancient pearl-encrusted objects have been unearthed at digs throughout the ancient Roman Empire, down into North Africa, and as far north as northern France. Pearls were more valuable and sought after than gold, and a single piece of pearl jewelry might be worth many thousands of today's dollars.
By the time the Arabs controlled the region of the Persian Gulf, pearls were being transported not only along the Silk Road but by sea as well. In the first century b. c.e., Julius Caesar proclaimed pearls off-limits to anyone but the Roman rulers, and at the peak of the British Empire no common subject was allowed to wear pearls either. By the 1500s, Seville, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal, had become the centers of the pearl trade, and these cities overflowed with the finest specimens from the Persian Gulf, India, and other parts of the East.
During the late 1600s, pearls began to lose their distinctive specialness in Europe and elsewhere. The custom of lavish adornment with pearls gave way to much more modest displays as religious and political values became more conservative.
Today, a string of pearls is a more common piece of jewelry and may cost only a few hundred dollars. Just looking at a such a simple piece of jewelry, not many would guess the pearl's long and prestigious past.
World History
