BULLA

a circular plate or bo of metal, so called from its resemblance in form to a bubble floating upon water. Bright studs of this description were used to adorn the sword belt; but we most frequently read of bullae as ornaments worn by children, suspended from the neck, and especially by the sons of the noble and wealthy. Such an one is called heres bull at us by Juvenal. The bulla was usually made of thin plates of gold. The use of the bulla, like that of the praetexta, was derived from the Etruscans. It was originally worn only by the children of the patricians, but subsequently by all of free birth. IMG:6459379820872971714_ill062b.jpg: Bulla. (From the Collection of Mr. Rogers; the gold chord added from a specimen in the Brit. Mus.)