Livia Earrings

These gorgeous earrings are delicate and bold, and are based on a popular design of the first centuries BC and AD both in Rome and in the Bay of Naples area, as seen in several examples. Here, a gorgeous twisted hoop carries a solid spherical dangle that recalls the dome of the same diameter attached to the top of the hoop. 

"Livia" was the name of the wife of the great Augustus, first emperor of Rome, and she lived from 58 BC to AD 29. Livia was a strong woman who was very influential with her husband, serving as his unofficial advisor. She was also very ambitious and, it is said, instrumental in seeing that her own son Tiberius became Augustus' heir and the future emperor. About Augustus' relationship with Livia, the biographer Suetonius says that he, the most powerful man in Rome, "loved and esteemed her to the end without a rival." - Augustus 62.2