Necklace with Rod-formed Pendants: Male Masks

This type of necklace was made in the region including Carthage, Egypt, Phoenicia, Cyprus and Rhodes. The pendants originally depicted deities. Such necklaces were intended to protect the individuals – whether living or dead – who wore them. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean area by means of Phoenician and Punic trade, they were found in Gaul, the Iberian coasts, Etruria, Magna Graecia and even southern Russia. However, due to their exotic origins, their aesthetic and at times talismanic value eclipsed their symbolic nature in those regions.