Literature

Gold jewellery in the form of snakes was popular throughout antiquity, with snake bracelets appearing in Western Asia from about the 8th century BC. Such subjects spread to Greece in the 5th century BC, and came to Egypt mainly with the Ptolemaic Dynasty. In Greek culture there were certainly healing associations with snakes and such serpentine imagery served the dual purpose of being both ornamental and amuletic, meaning that the snake was invoked to protect the wearer from harm. For further discussion and examples, see S. Walker, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt, New York, 2000, pp. 151-2 (the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 10.130.1509). Also S. Walker & P. Higgs, Cleopatra of Egypt, London, 2001, p. 95.