Valeria Necklace – Roman Lunulae Collar with Crescent Moons and Green Stone
The "Valeria" necklace is a handmade replica of a Roman lunulae collar from the Imperial period (1st–3rd century CE). A crescent-shaped collier made of brass with a green cabochon stone, 46 cm long, with a hook clasp. Crescent-shaped pendants and collars of this type are considered a documented jewelry form of the Roman world: comparable pieces are preserved by the Walters Art Museum Baltimore and the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York. Anyone seeking a documented replica from the 1st–3rd century for reenactment, living history, or museum contexts will find here a source-based piece of jewelry with strong recognition value.
Who actually wore a crescent moon around the neck in the 2nd century CE?
Imagine this: Carnuntum, Pannonia, sometime around 180 CE. A woman from the local upper class – the wife of a merchant or veteran – looks into a small bronze mirror in her home. She reaches for the necklace. The metal is cool, the links softly clink against one another, and the green stone catches the morning light. Then she fastens the hook clasp at the back of her neck, straightens her palla – and she is ready. No great ritual. Just everyday life.
That is exactly what makes the lunula so fascinating. It was not a museum piece, not an exhibition object. It hung around the necks of real women, in real cities, from Britannia to Syria.
The crescent moon as a jewelry form goes back a long way. But in the Roman Empire, between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, it experienced a true renaissance. Lunula pendants and crescent-shaped collars appear in burial contexts across the Empire – in the province of Germania, along the Danube limes, in Egypt on mummy portraits, and, particularly impressively, in a child’s grave from the Romanized Jerusalem of the 2nd century. The find from Aelia Capitolina, now kept by the Israel Antiquities Authority, shows that golden lunulae were placed as grave goods with a young woman from the upper urban class, completely preserved, with the loops still intact.
The Römermuseum Schwarzenacker documents in writing for the same period what visual sources show: lunula pendants and crescent-shaped jewelry adorned the necks of women in pictorial representations, often combined with a gold chain and additional pendants. The satirist Juvenal complained in the early 2nd century in his Satires that women wore emeralds around their necks and enormous drop pearls on their ears, which proves that green stones at the neck were not a rarity, but part of lived fashion.
And now comes the part many people misunderstand: the lunula was not exclusively a children’s amulet that girls removed when they married. That may be true for the urban Roman core of the 1st century, but provincial reality in the 2nd and 3rd centuries looked different. Grave finds from the Danube region to Jerusalem clearly show that married women and middle-aged women wore crescent-shaped jewelry as a lasting protective symbol. The moon goddess Luna did not protect only children.
Metal, moon, and a green stone: the Valeria necklace
Close your eyes. You are holding a flat, broad collar in your hands: warm to the touch, lighter than expected, with the matte sheen of polished brass. Along its entire length, crescent-shaped links line up shoulder to shoulder, like a frieze of small sickles. In the center sits a round green stone. No glitter, no sparkle; rather that quiet, deep green that Pliny the Elder loved so much. The clasp rests at the nape of the neck: a solid hook that clicks into place and holds.
This is the Valeria necklace.
- Length: 46 cm, width: 1 cm (wearable as a close-fitting neck ring in collier style)
- Material: brass (gold-colored), inspired by provincial Roman jewelry of the 1st to 3rd centuries CE
- Clasp: hook clasp, a documented clasp type; attested in identical form
- Stone setting: green cabochon (jade look); corresponds to the Roman tradition of mounted glass imitations of green gemstones.
- Typological dating of the model: 1st to 3rd century CE, Roman Imperial period; comparative finds include examples from Pannonia, Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), and the eastern Baltic
How can a single piece of jewelry change the way we see an entire era?
With my reenactment experience, I can say one thing with certainty: audiences do not react to text panels. They react to objects. A visitor who holds a lunula in their hand suddenly asks questions they would never have asked before. How was it fastened? Who wore it? Was it expensive?
This is exactly where the real learning effect begins.
For reenactors and living-history interpreters of the 1st to 3rd centuries CE, the Valeria necklace offers three concrete uses.
First: source work on the object. The necklace serves as a conversational anchor when engaging with the public. Anyone who can explain why the crescent refers to Luna, who wore it, and what that meant for the wearer’s social status turns a market stall into a history lecture. Without PowerPoint. Without a microphone.
Second: equipment with documentation requirements. Many reenactment groups now work with evidence sheets. The Valeria necklace can be linked directly to the comparative piece in the Walters Art Museum and the grave finds from Aelia Capitolina. This is not “somehow Roman”; it is a documented statement about a documented wearer in a documented region.
Third: museum collaborations and school projects. Anyone working with children or teenagers in workshops needs an object that can be handled. This necklace can take that. It is robust, it looks like jewelry, and in three sentences it tells a story: a woman, a crescent moon, a goddess named Luna. That is enough for an entire lesson.
My advice for you: combine the Valeria necklace with a simple palla and a garment fibula. Then what emerges is not a costume, but a coherent overall impression that stands up to scrutiny.
What does this collar really give you when you wear it?
No gushing here. Just three honest assessments.
Anyone building an outfit for a provincial Roman woman of the 2nd or 3rd century will sooner or later start looking for the right neck jewelry. A delicate gold chain or a broad collar? The Valeria necklace answers that question clearly: it sits close, lies flat on the collarbone, and immediately catches the eye. For portrayals of a woman from the middle social strata of the Imperial period, this is exactly the right weight, literally and stylistically.
Second consideration: you are looking for a piece that not only looks good, but also stands up to the critical eye of experienced reenactors. The combination of crescent links, hook clasp, and green cabochon is archaeologically grounded, not a free design. That makes a difference when you have to explain at events why you are wearing what you are wearing.
Third point, stated plainly: if a necklace seems too fragile for outdoor use, brass is the right answer. No tarnishing like silver, no tendency to bend like thin gold wire; brass withstands market days, open-air museums, and children’s hands without losing its character.
One final note: the Valeria necklace is not a solo performer. It unfolds its effect in combination – with a stola, a fibula on the shoulder, or a second, simple neck ring. Anyone who wears it in isolation gives away half its impact.
What do Pliny and a green stone have to do with each other?
Anyone who wants to understand Roman enthusiasm for green stones needs only open a single source. Gaius Plinius Secundus, naturalist, officer, and notorious prolific writer, devoted an entire section to the emerald in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (Book 37, Chapter 16, around 77 CE). He did not write dryly like a mineralogist. He rhapsodized.
“Smaragdis nusquam alibi tanto opere viret natura.”
“Nowhere else does nature show such an intense green as in the emerald.”
Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, Book 37, Chapter 16, around 77 CE.
What Pliny describes here is not a gemstone catalog. It is a statement about perception. The Romans did not see green as a color, but as a force. Anyone who wore a green stone at the neck carried a piece of nature with them, set in metal, controlled, yet alive. That is exactly why the green cabochon on the Valeria necklace is not decoration, but a concept.
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For which era and which portrayal is the Valeria necklace historically accurate?
The necklace fits a provincial Roman woman of the 1st to 3rd centuries CE, with especially strong evidence for the 2nd and early 3rd centuries. It is ideal for portrayals from the provinces of Germania, Pannonia, or the Roman-influenced Near East. For a portrayal of the early Republic, that is, before the 1st century BCE, it would be an anachronism.
Is the green stone historically accurate or a modern compromise?
Both are true, and that is not a weakness. Wealthy Roman women wore real emeralds, while the middle class wore glass imitations in the same colors. In his Naturalis Historia (Book 37, around 77 CE), Pliny the Elder explicitly documents how deceptively well Roman glassmakers imitated gemstones. A green cabochon on a lunulae collar is therefore no less authentic; it is simply a different price range.
Can I combine the Valeria necklace with other Roman pieces of jewelry?
Yes, and it is even historically sensible. Grave finds from the Danube region and from Egypt show that Roman women wore several necklaces at the same time. A gold chain with a lunula pendant combined with another chain of pearls or glass stones is regarded as a well-documented way of wearing jewelry in the 2nd century. The Valeria necklace works as the main piece with a simple second ring.
How do I care for brass jewelry without ruining its shine?
A dry, soft cotton cloth is entirely sufficient for everyday care. Aggressive cleaners, ultrasonic baths, and damp storage damage the surface. Anyone who wants to preserve the warm brass shine should store the piece in a dry place away from light. After intensive outdoor use, simply rub it dry.
Was the lunula really only jewelry for girls?
No, that is one of the most persistent misunderstandings in popular literature. This idea may be true for the urban Roman core of the 1st century CE. In the provinces of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, however, married women also demonstrably wore lunulae as a lasting protective symbol of the moon goddess Luna. Grave finds from Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), Pannonia, and the eastern Baltic make this unmistakably clear.
Fun Fact: The crescent moon that made Nero nervous
Here is a trail that hardly anyone knows. According to ancient tradition, Emperor Nero is said to have used an emerald monocle to watch gladiatorial games. That sounds like imperial eccentricity, but there was a system behind it. Pliny the Elder explains in the Naturalis Historia that green restored overstrained eyesight. Green stones worn on the body were therefore considered not only fashionable, but medically effective. The woman who wore a green cabochon on a lunulae collar did so not only for Luna. She did it for her eyes as well.
Sources
Title: Necklace with "Lunula", 1st century CE (Imperial Roman)
Author: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
Publication: Walters Art Museum Online Collection Date: n.d. (Object inv. no. 57.525)
Title: Roman Period Metal Halfmoon Shaped Pendants with Knobs in Eastern Baltic Region
Author: Vara, Inga et al.
Publication: Academia.edu / archaeological specialist publication Date: 2002
Title: 1,800-Year-Old Golden Protective Jewelry Adorned Roman Girl
Author: Ancient Origins editorial team, based on a press release by the Israel Antiquities Authority
Publication: Ancient Origins Date: April 2023
Title: Jewelry of Roman Women
Author: Römermuseum Schwarzenacker (ed.)
Publication: Römermuseum Schwarzenacker, Homburg/Saar Date: n.d. (online version, last checked March 2026)
Title: Naturalis Historia, Book 37
Author: Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder)
Publication: Reclam, Stuttgart (translation by Marion Giebel) Date: 2005 (original work c. 77 CE)
Title: Greek and Roman Jewellery
Author: Higgins, Reynold A.
Publication: University of California Press, Berkeley Date: 1980 (2nd edition)
Title: The Power of the Toga (including: Carroll, Maureen: Ethnic Dress and Roman Clothing)
Author: Tellenbach, M. / Schulz, R. / Wieczorek, A. (eds.)
Publication: Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg Date: 2013
Further Reading
Updated on: 25 March 2026
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