Engagement ring has embodied both love and status

 

From ancient Egypt to Hollywood, the engagement ring embodied  

Each autumn, as the season turns colder and cosier, the jewellery world enters what retailers call, engagement season – a period stretching until Valentine’s Day when proposals peak and demand for diamond rings rises.  

Earlier this year, two high-profile engagements captured the public imagination and galvanised the market: Cristiano Ronaldo’s fiancée was gifted a very large brilliant-cut diamond, while Taylor Swift’s partner opted for an old mine cut. Same tradition, different expressions.  

To explore both the symbolism and the substance, we sat down with historian and jewellery specialist Kathia Pinckernelle. Kathia teaches the Advanced History of Jewellery Course held at SSEF in Basel.  

Already the ancient Egyptians wore amulets and rings as symbols of protection and affection. Jewellery accompanied both daily life and spiritual belief. In Greece, too, jewellery carried symbolic power. Many pieces referenced Eros and Aphrodite and were exchanged as tokens of affection or betrothal.

The Romans then formalised the practice: the anulus pronubus, the engagement ring, marked a contractual promise following lengthy family negotiations. Early rings were iron, later gold, representing wealth, dowry, and social standing as much as sentiment.  

Many modern marriage customs – the dowry, carrying the bride across the threshold, even the notion of divorce law – have Roman roots. Rings often depicted two clasped hands, symbolising the handshake of a legal and emotional bond.