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Zendaya's appearance at the London promotion of Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" drew attention not only because of her myth-inspired styling, but also because the earrings completing her look reportedly incorporated ancient Iranian gold objects dating back approximately 3,000 years.
The objects were described by London-based dealer Barron London as two gold medallion plaques associated with the Ziwiye period in Iran. British jeweler Glenn Spiro later set the plaques in yellow gold and surrounded them with modern diamonds, turning archaeological objects into wearable luxury jewelry.
Zendaya's outfit was put together as an example of "method dressing," a red-carpet approach in which an actor's clothing and accessories draw on the character, setting or visual world of a film.
As Zendaya reportedly portrays Athena, the Greek goddess associated with wisdom and warfare, her white Jacquemus dress, covered hair and gold jewelry were presented as a modern interpretation of ancient Mediterranean imagery.
Yet the appearance also brought up a broader question that extends beyond celebrity fashion: what happens when an object connected to an ancient culture is taken out of its historical setting, redesigned and brought back as a luxury accessory?
According to Barron London's description, the jewelry incorporated "two gold medallion plaques from the Ziwiye period in Iran," which were redesigned by Spiro with diamonds and yellow gold.
This description places the ancient components within the cultural world associated with Ziwiye, an archaeological site in Iran known for gold, silver and ivory objects. The Ziwiye Treasure was reportedly uncovered near the Ziwiye fortress in 1947, although objects attributed to the group have since been spread out across museums and private collections.
Items associated with Ziwiye can reportedly be found in institutions including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London. Zendaya's earrings, however, show how objects attributed to the same cultural setting can also turn up in the international luxury market.
The available descriptions set out the plaques' approximate age and cultural attribution, but they do not explain how the objects moved from Iran into private ownership or eventually reached a London jewelry dealer. That missing path matters because the ownership history of an antiquity, often referred to as its provenance, helps establish where an object came from, how it changed hands and whether it was legally removed from its place of origin.
The transformation carried out by Spiro did more than provide the plaques with a new setting. By building diamonds and modern gold work around the ancient pieces, the designer folded archaeological material into a contemporary commercial object.
This approach changes how the plaques are encountered. Rather than being displayed as evidence of an ancient society, with information about their production, purpose and archaeological context, they are presented through celebrity culture, fashion photography and luxury branding.
Their historical identity does not disappear, because their age and Iranian origin are central to the way the jewelry is promoted. At the same time, that history is used to build up the object's rarity, visual impact and commercial prestige.
The tension therefore comes from the way the antiquity performs two roles at once. It remains a surviving object from an ancient culture, yet it has also been worked into a modern accessory intended to be worn, photographed and admired on a red carpet.
Zendaya's styling was designed to bring out the ancient Greek world of The Odyssey, but the plaques used in the earrings were attributed to ancient Iran rather than Greece. Their use shows how red-carpet styling can pull together objects and visual references from different cultures under a broad idea of "the ancient world."
For audiences unfamiliar with the distinctions between these societies, the result may flatten separate histories into a single exotic image. Greek mythology, Iranian goldwork and modern European jewelry design are brought together because they produce a convincing red-carpet look, even though they come from different cultural and historical settings.
This does not make the earrings less visually effective, but it shifts attention away from the specific community that produced the original plaques. The ancient objects are made to fit the theme of a Hollywood production, while their own cultural background is reduced to a brief sales description.
The debate surrounding Zendaya's earrings is ultimately larger than one actor, designer or promotional event. It brings together recurring concerns about displaced antiquities, private collecting and the conversion of cultural heritage into high-end commodities.
Once an ancient object is worked into contemporary jewelry, the line between preservation and consumption becomes harder to draw. The plaques survive physically, but their meaning is filtered through diamonds, fashion branding and the demands of a film promotion.
Zendaya's appearance therefore highlights an unresolved contradiction within the international antiquities market: ancient objects are celebrated because of the cultures that created them, yet they can be detached from those cultures and brought back as exclusive objects for modern display.
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