This is a Getty podcast.
Do you ever feel like something is watching you? Could it be something you’re wearing? Today, we hear from a gold bracelet that is thousands of years old and shaped like a snake. Welcome to If Objects Could Talk, a podcast where art and artifacts get to leave the museum vault and tell their side of the story. Thanks for joining us as we bring objects into the light! Today’s snake bracelet was discovered in Egypt and was made between 100 BCE and 100 CE.
Can you imagine what it must have been like there? Take a moment to feel the sun on your skin, listen to the Nile, and watch people from different cultures exchanging goods in the marketplace.
A golden snake with two glass eyes and a textured surface to mimic the look of a snake’s scaly skin. In its glory days, it was worn on the wrist or upper arm. While we don’t know anything about the maker, we are so lucky that the bracelet isn’t shy at all and agreed to share a little about herself. Here she comes now:
Oh my goodness, can it be any brighter in here? I mean, it’s fine, I’m just, you know, I’m used to the vault being a cool, dark environment. Actually, can we turn the lights down just a tad? Oh thank you, that’s better, much better. And I feel a little far from the microphone. Is there any way someone could help me s-s-s-slither a little closer so I can properly spin a story for the children? Oh, thank you.
If I’m going to tell you all about myself, I should at least be comfortable, don’t you think? Now where should I begin? I suppose I should begin in the fire where I came alive. I was once a small nugget of solid gold. But I was heated and turned into hot, liquid gold. I remember cooling down and found myself in a new shape. Then I was hammered and stretched into another shape, and then my end was coiled to form my tail.
They twisted me into big loops like, what’s that thing you snack on nowadays? With the salt and its bread and you have it with yellow sauce? You know?
Pretzels! Get your pretzels here!
A pretzel. Yes! They twisted and coiled me like a pretzel. And then the goldsmith embossed my surface, giving me the texture of scales. He shaped my face, giving me my smile. Then he gently inserted my glass eyes and POOF! I was myself...a golden snake bracelet of the highest quality. And I know what you’re thinking about me: I’m a talking golden snake bracelet, I must be sneaky or something like that, but I’m not. People get the wrong idea about snakes.
What would you do if you saw a snake right now? Scream? Run? Cry out to the gods to strike it from your presence?! But in my time, snakes were considered very special. It was believed we moved between earth and the underworld. We were feared but also admired. And wearing the likeness of one was like wearing a talisman or amulet. I was a protector! You see, I was born in Egypt, which at that time was part of the Roman Empire.
And when you think of the Roman Empire you probably think of roads and aqueducts and backstabbers! But when I think of the Roman Empire, I think of the parties. Oh, the parties! The food! The wine! The music! The people! Everything is divine at a party. The gods walked among us on those nights, I’m sure of it! Who would want to be left out of the hottest gatherings in the Mediterranean. I’ll never forget my first party! That’s where I met her. My Maxima!
She was the daughter of a wealthy, Roman merchant. You see, he moved to Egypt in order to better oversee his stone quarries. You know, there was plenty of money to be made in trading granite. Anyhoo, he had two daughters: a really annoying one whose name I can’t remember for the life of me...and my Maxima. I was her Saturnalia gift.
What’s Saturnalia?
You don’t celebrate Saturnalia? Oh that’s too bad, you would love it. Saturnalia was a week-long winter festival timed to celebrate the winter solstice, the promise of a bountiful spring harvest and to honor the god of wealth, time,
Saturn. There was feasting, partying, relaxing and REPEAT! Saturnalia was all about ease, even social norms and rules were lightened. For instance, gambling was illegal, but during Saturnalia a little bet didn’t hurt anyone. Dress codes were also loosened which was disappointing because fashion is very important. People also exchanged gifts, which is how I bring this back to me! Maxima wore me on her arm, a symbol of her wealth, her status and her father’s favor.
Maxima loved me, I matched her golden earrings and necklace perfectly. She had such beautiful things. When she wore me for the first time, my golden body coiling around her upper arm. I was warm again. The first time since I was a hot pool of liquid gold. Maxima’s skin was balmy from dancing being alive and loved on that perfect December night. Candles were lit to make sure the festivities would not extinguish in the dark.
In the candlelight, Maxima and her friends and family dined on boar, root vegetables, fresh fruits, nuts, and cakes. They played games, wore silly hats, and talked about how they should stay up all night long and take the party to the streets with song and dance! They took eating, drinking and being merry very seriously.
I was only supposed to be worn for special occasions like Saturnalia and birthdays but she seemed to always get her way, so life became a special occasion and I was always coiled around her upper arm, witnessing everything. There isn’t enough papyrus in the world for me to have written down all the wonders I’ve seen. But this is nice...having a brief record of my side of things. And since I’ll be around forever, maybe I’ll share another story another time.
For now I must rest so that I can dream of parties by the Nile. Will you dream of it with me?
I hope you enjoyed learning about jewelry and Saturnalia! Join us next time when an ancient kind of dice tumbles into the studio. To see photographs of the snake bracelet and learn more, visit our website at Getty dot edu slash podcasts. This episode was written by Tocarra Elise and produced by Zoe Goldman. Yolanda Spearman voiced the snake. Theme music, mixing and sound design by Alexandra Kalinowski. Christopher Sprinkle is executive producer.
Special thanks to curators Ken Lapatin and Judith Barr, conservator Susanne Gaensicke, and educator Lilit Sadoyan as well as Ethan Marshall. Catch you next time!