A Byzantine Gold Star Pendant, Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 6th–8th century CE Tools & Weapons serving as a cosmographic map

serving as a cosmographic map for the soul’s orientation and passage

or in death with the hope of rebirth

Width: 2 7/8 inches (7

elongated ears

A hand-formed terracotta jug from the Levantine region

A Byzantine Gold Star Pendant, Eastern Mediterranean, ca. 6th–8th century CE Tools & Weapons serving as a cosmographic mapAn exquisite Byzantine pendant of high karat gold, meticulously fashioned as a six pointed star. The front is ornamented with a raised domed boss encircled by delicate twisted wire filigree. Each arm of the star is further decorated with a single twisted wire circle, the precision of the work underscoring the technical mastery of the Byzantine goldsmith. The reverse is plain and lightly convex, the pendant formed of thin hammered sheet gold and