Vipsania Earrings

These hoop earrings are playful and unique, featuring a flat crescent shape with tiny balls attached at the outer side. They are based on several similar Roman examples from the first century AD.

"Vipsania" is the female patronymic form of the name Vipsanius. One notable Vipsania was Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of Augustus' right hand man, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Vipsania was betrothed by her father and Augustus to the latter's stepson and the future emperor of Rome, Tiberius, when she was still a child. Once married, the couple were happy, and had a son together. Eventually, Tiberius was ordered by Augustus (who had now adopted Tiberius as heir) to divorce his beloved Vipsania so that he could enter into a politically-strategic marriage with Augustus' own daughter, Julia. According to the imperial biographer, Suetonius:

"...Even after the divorce [Tiberius] regretted his separation from Vipsania, and the only time that he chanced to see her, he followed her with such an intent and tearful gaze that care was taken that she should never again come before his eyes." - Tiberius 7.3