Elektra Earrings

The sublime power of the Bronze Age Aegean radiates in these earrings, which are based on a solid gold ring from the Mycenaean cemetery at Knossos, on Crete, dating 1400 BC. Here, a prominent oval face features a repeated "horizon" motif within a delicate beaded border. 

It is believed that the Greek name "Elektra" began as a Mycenaean name, though it has not been identified in Linear B tablets. The name means "bright, shining." According to Greek legend, Elektra (or Electra) was the daughter of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon and his wife, Clytemnestra. Referred to in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, this daughter of the king was a hero who saved her brother's life. She would, too, become one of the most popular subjects of ancient Greek plays (such as those by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), and of ancient Greek vase painting.