A Brief History
On March 13, 222, the Roman army hailed Severus Alexander as emperor, following the assassination two days earlier of his cousin Elagabalus.
Digging Deeper
In at least two excerpts from the biography of Alexander in the Historia Augusta, the emperor is described as having a disdain for jewelry. In the first, the biographer says, “All the jewels that he had he sold and the proceeds he deposited in the public treasury, saying that men had no need of jewels, and that the women of the royal household should be content with one hair-net, a pair of earrings, a necklace of pearls, a diadem to wear while sacrificing, a single cloak ornamented with gold, and one robe with an embroidered border, not to contain more than six ounces of gold.” In the second, the biographer adds, “Gifts presented to him by kings he would always dedicate in a temple, but the jewels that were given to him he sold, maintaining that jewels were for women and that they should not be given to a soldier or be worn by a man. And when one of his legates presented to the Emperor’s wife through Alexander himself two pearls of great weight and uncommon size, he ordered them to be sold. But when no offer could be found, fearing that a bad example might be set by the queen, were she to wear jewels too costly to find a buyer, he dedicated them to Venus for earrings.”
These sentiments somewhat resonate with me personally in that I do not wear jewelry. I never bought a class ring and even my wrist watches have always been inexpensive plastic digital ones just to tell time. Plus, such films as Blood Diamond (2006) have not improved my opinion of jewels. So, jewelry has just never had any appeal to me. I am curious, though, what you think about jewelry? Do you think Emperor Severus Alexander had it right?
Question for students (and subscribers): Is jewelry worthwhile or a waste of money? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Magie, David, trans. Historia Augusta, Volume II. Harvard University Press, 2022.
Weissman, Ira. “7 Reasons Why Diamonds Are a Waste of Your Money.” HuffPost. Updated January 23, 2014. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/7-reasons-why-you-shouldn_b_1720870.
Zwick, Edward, dir. Blood Diamond. WarnerBrothers, 2007.
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