Lunula necklace, Roman, 1st century CE (Walters Art Museum)

The lunar crescent is one of the oldest amulets worn continuously over 4000 years of human history. Scholars have found evidence of its use starting in the 4th century BCE in Mesopotamia, spanning from the Archaic to the Hellenistic periods of ancient Greece, and across the Roman Empire. Over time, the crescent symbol evolved as ancient traditions adapted to different contexts. By Roman times, the lunar crescent was worn widely, especially by women and girls, as a powerful amulet believed to have protective powers.

Associated with the waxing and waning of the moon, the crescent represented growth, regeneration, and renewal. This connection with the lunar cycle also linked the crescent to the feminine, particularly the concepts of birth and rebirth.

In the ancient Babylonian creation epic the Enuma Elish, when the god Marduk orders the moon, he calls upon “the jewel of the night.” Indeed, some of the earliest examples of the crescent symbol in jewelry are from Western Asia. 

The 4,500-year-old jewelry excavated from the Royal Cemetery of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia includes the earliest known examples of advanced goldsmithing techniques that are still in use today, like granulation, woven chain, and filigree. Several examples of lunate (or crescent) shaped earrings were found in the tomb of Queen Puabi, so large that they may have been worn over, rather than in, the ear.

Large lunate earrings, Tomb of Queen Puabi, Ur, 2600-2450 BCE (Penn Museum)

Several crescent pendants formed from gold sheet were discovered at the lowest excavation level of the ancient site of Troy (from the earliest settlement dating from 3000-2500 BCE). They have been found into the Greek and Roman periods in ancient Anatolia as well.

Crescent-shaped pendants, Ephesus, 700-500 BCE (Istanbul Archaeological Museum)

In ancient Greece, starting in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE and through the Hellenistic period, the crescent was commonly worn as a pendant, often with granulation and other embellished details. As an amulet, the crescent was always worn with downward-pointing ends.

Greek lunula pendant, Hellenistic Period, ca. 3rd century BCE (Christie’s)

In Roman times, the crescent-shaped pendant was called a lunula, which means “little moon” in Latin, and was one of the most popular amulets worn by Roman women and girls as protection against the evil eye, illness, and misfortune. Lunula amulets are often found on woven loop-in-loop chains, as below, and figure-of-eight chains.

Gold necklace with crescent-shaped pendant, Roman, 1st–3rd century CE (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Many examples of gold lunula amulets have been found across the Roman Empire, including in and around Pompeii. Women are portrayed wearing lunula amulets in paintings and sculpture found in Palmyra (modern-day Syria) as well.

Funerary monument of Aththaia, Palmyra, 150–200 CE (Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

Lunula amulets can also be seen in multiple mummy portraits from Roman-era Egypt, when artistic styles changed to reflect Greco-Roman culture but the ancient practice of mummification still continued.

Portrait of a young woman, Egypt, Roman Period, 120–140 CE (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Mummy portrait of a woman, Hawara, Egypt, 60-80 CE (Ägyptisches Museum)

Mummy portrait, Fayum, Egypt (Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology)

The mummy portraits are notable for how realistically and carefully each individual person is depicted, and they give us valuable information about how jewelry was worn at the time. The frequent inclusion of the lunula amulets demonstrates not only their popularity but also their importance, and their power to bestow protection and comfort to wearers across the ages.