Dido, Queen of Carthage

Portable shrine

Egypt, Ptolemaic Dynasty (305 - 30 B.C.E.), shrine

Freer Gallery

Here’s a peek into the jewelry box of a wealthy woman living in Ptolemaic Egypt.

Jewelry-makers finally had access to gold after Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire, which included gold-rich Egypt. 

Tetradrachm of Kingdom of Egypt with head of deified Alexander the Great, struck under Ptolemy I, minted in Alexandria, Egypt, 315-300 B.C.

(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)