| Goldsmiths have always been a special category | | | | as kingdoms rose and fell. When Darius' palace |
| of craftsmen who worked for the wealthiest and | | | | was built at Susa in Iran, the goldsmiths were |
| most powerful members of society. | | | | Egyptian and Medes, while the gold itself came |
| Historically, goldsmiths often lived in their own | | | | from Asia Minor and Afghanistan. An inscription |
| communities, which in many instances were | | | | from Alexandria tells of a goldsmith migrating |
| attached to or associated with temples or | | | | from Egypt to Italy in the 1st Century AD. This |
| palaces, as they were in the ancient Near East | | | | may have been a trend since jewelry of this |
| and Egypt. In Rome, temples sometimes provided | | | | period is similar in both places. A revival of the |
| sites for gold stalls. From Hellenistic times on, | | | | Gold smithing art in Greece from 900-700 BC is |
| there were also independent workshops with stalls | | | | thought to be due to an influx of Phoenician |
| within the market places of the cities. Medieval | | | | craftsmen who had kept the Mycenaen Greek |
| monasteries were an important source of | | | | traditions alive for five centuries and then |
| patronage for goldsmiths and up to the early 13th | | | | reintroduced them to Greece where they had all |
| century some goldsmiths were also monks living | | | | but disappeared. |
| within the monastery. However, as cities grew in | | | | As the Roman Empire expanded, many |
| the 11th & 12th centuries, so did the population of | | | | goldsmiths migrated from the Greek East to |
| urban goldsmiths. Shops were often located on | | | | Alexandria, Antioch and Rome where they began |
| bridges to catch passers by and the smiths were | | | | to organize guilds. In medieval times, goldsmiths |
| organized into guilds. | | | | migrated throughout Europe from one center of |
| Guilds controlled quality, production techniques and | | | | gold work to another seeking the most favorable |
| apprenticeship. In Europe, communities of smiths | | | | circumstances. The city of Cologne alone sent |
| flourished in Bruges, Utrecht, Lubeck, Florence, | | | | smiths to Spain, the Baltics, Venice, Italy, France |
| Strasbourg, London, Paris and Cologne. They | | | | and the Netherlands. Gold smiths were also |
| continued to grow except during periods of the | | | | uprooted by war, often forced to move to new |
| Black Death. Meso American goldsmiths were also | | | | kingdoms as the captives of invading armies. This |
| organized into fraternities. They inhabited particular | | | | was the case when Nebuchadnezzar conquered |
| areas and were placed under the protection of | | | | Jerusalem and took all the goldsmiths with him |
| specific deities. | | | | back to Babylon. |
| In general, goldsmith communities were not | | | | Goldsmiths were so sought after that kings and |
| particularly well off. Clients provided the gold and | | | | princes would do anything to keep them at court, |
| the smith worked it, passing on skills and trade | | | | and would sometimes cripple them to keep them |
| secrets from one generation to the next. It is | | | | from fleeing. Perhaps that is one reason that |
| much more common for us to know the name | | | | smiths in mythology are often lame. The Greek |
| of the owner than that of the crafter of gold | | | | God and goldsmith Hephaistos had two broken |
| jewelry. | | | | legs and walked with gold crutches. His Roman |
| Goldsmiths migrated throughout the ancient world | | | | counterpart, Vulcan, was also lame. |