Tullia Earrings

These solid earrings are immensely sleek and of a timelessly attractive form, and are based on examples from ancient Cyprus. Known as "boat" earrings, they feature a gently swollen crescent shape, and a post back.

"Tullia" is the female patronymic of the family name Tullius. One famous Tullia was the beloved daughter of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC), famous orator and statesman of the Late Republic. Cicero had only one daughter, and he was completely devoted to her. When she sadly predeceased him, he went into a period of deep mourning, reading and writing to overcome his grief. Several of his works written at this time were aimed at helping others overcome their grief, too. One of the products of this period was his work, Consolatio, of which we have only fragments. In it, Cicero writes of his wish to deify his daughter, because of her earthly merits:

"But if ever any living creature ought to have been consecrated, surely it was she; if the offspring of Cadmus or Amphitryon or Tyndareus deserved to be raised to heaven by fame, for her the same honor ought certainly be declared. And this I will indeed do, and I shall consecrate you, the best, the most learned of women, placed with the approval of immortal gods themselves among their company, in the estimation of all mortals." - Consolatio, fragment