Every symbol has a past. One of them may already be yours.
Long before jewellery followed fashion, it followed meaning. The forms that return again and again in our work, the serpent, the sun, the star, the crescent and the pearl, were carved, cast and worn for thousands of years before they reached us.
Many of their stories begin in the same part of the world as our pieces: Anatolia and the lands between the rivers.
Göbekli Tepe, c. 9500 BC: Serpents Before Writing
In south-eastern Turkey stand the carved pillars of Göbekli Tepe, raised around 9500 BC, more than seven thousand years before the first pyramid. Their makers had no writing, no metal and no pottery.
What they did have was an eye for formidable creatures. Among the animals cut into the limestone, the most frequent are foxes, boars and, above all, serpents. Archaeologists are careful about what they meant. But they are among the oldest snakes ever made by human hands.
Alaca Höyük, c. 2500 BC: The Sun in Bronze
In the royal tombs of Alaca Höyük, in central Anatolia, the dead were laid to rest with gold diadems and with bronze openwork standards, discs and arcs that archaeologists have long called "sun standards". Their exact purpose is still debated.
The finest of them are kept today in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara. Our Spiral Sun Necklace belongs to the same long line of attempts to hold the sun in metal.
Ur, c. 2300 BC: The Moon, the Star and the First Poet
Ur was the city of Nanna, the Mesopotamian moon god, and his sign was the crescent. Around 2300 BC his high priestess was Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad. She is the earliest named author known in world history.
The hymns linked to her name praise Inanna, goddess of love and war, whose symbol was the eight-pointed star, later the morning and evening star. A few generations earlier, Queen Puabi of Ur had been buried in gold, lapis lazuli and carnelian, beneath a headdress of golden leaves and rosettes.
The crescent and the star, side by side, from the very beginning. They meet again in our Minimal Crescent and Minimal Star necklaces.
Egypt: Flesh of Gold, Bones of Silver
Egyptian texts describe the sun god Ra as having flesh of gold, bones of silver and hair of lapis lazuli. It is, quietly, how every THENÚM piece is made: silver at its core, gold at its surface.
On the brow of the pharaoh sat the uraeus, a rearing cobra believed to spit fire at his enemies. Above, the burial chamber of King Unas, around 2350 BC, was painted blue and scattered with gold stars. And in the tomb of Tutankhamun appears one of the earliest known images of the Ouroboros, the serpent that circles back to swallow its own tail.
Byzantium, c. 300 BC: A Crescent and a Star over the Bosphorus
The pairing of crescent and star is thought to have emerged in the Greek city of Byzantium around 300 BC, on the same shores where Istanbul stands today. Centuries later it became the emblem of the Ottoman Empire, and it still flies on the flag of modern Turkey.
Rome: A Crescent Against the Evil Eye
Roman girls wore the lunula, a small crescent-shaped pendant, to ward off the evil eye. In one of Plautus' comedies, a character recalls bringing a young girl a gold lunula on her birthday. The instinct is familiar to anyone who has grown up in Anatolia: what is precious should also protect.
Our Familia Luna Crescent Necklace carries that idea forward.
Istanbul, 1461: The Bedesten of Gems
After the conquest of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II built a covered hall for the trade in jewels and fine textiles. It was named the Cevâhir Bedesten, the Bedesten of Gems, and it became the heart of the Grand Bazaar. Its eastern entrance is still called the Kuyumcular Kapısı: the Goldsmiths' Gate.
It is in this city, and within this tradition, that our pieces are handcrafted today.
The Baroque Pearl: A Flawed Pearl, Perfected by Nature
The Portuguese word barroco once meant a flawed pearl, one that refused to be round. By the sixteenth century, the term appeared in royal inventories, long before it gave its name to an entire era of art.
Of all the forms here, it is the only one not drawn by hand. No two are alike. Explore our baroque pearl earrings.
London, 1839–1840: A Serpent for a Queen
When Prince Albert proposed to Queen Victoria, he gave her a ring in the form of a serpent, its head set with an emerald. The design spoke of eternal love, and serpent jewellery swept through Victorian Britain.
At her wedding the following year, Victoria chose to wear a diamond necklace and earrings sent to her by the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. Even then, the threads between London and Istanbul ran through jewellery.
The green-eyed serpents of our Serpent du Soleil pieces are a quiet nod to that ring.
Find Your Symbol at THENÚM
Some people are drawn to a form first and discover its history later. Others know the story long before they find the piece. The five short questions below will guide you to the symbol that suits you, or the person you are choosing for.
Each THENÚM piece is crafted in 925 sterling silver, many finished with 18K or 22K gold micron plating. Designed in Edinburgh, handcrafted in Istanbul, delivered across the UK.
Drawn by the eye. Informed by history.
