EARRINGS ii.erTngs (1) No custom is more ancient or universal than that of wearing earrings. front which it would appear to he a very natural idea to attach such an ornament to the pendulous lobe of the ear There are words in Hebrew denoting ear rings, viz., • -4, an'-ghee/, which is applied to any kind of ring, particularly to earrings (Num, xxxi :5o; Ezek. xvi :i2). The name implies rotold ties& and it is a fact that nearly all the ancient -arrives exhibited in the sculptures of Egypt and Persepolis arc of a circular shape. The o her word, ,,eh-:em, is also applied to a nose jewel. It most certainly denotes an earring in Gen. xxxv :4 ; bill in Gen. xxiv :47; Prow. Xi :22 ; Is. iii :2 ; it signifies a nose-jewel ; and it is doubtful which of the two is intended in Judg. yin :24. 25 ; Job Earrings of certain kinds were anciently, and are still, in the East. instruments or appendagea of idolatry and superstition, being regarded as talismans and amulets. Such probably were the earrings of Jacob's family, which he buried with the strange gods at Bethel (Gen. xxxv (2) No conclusion can be formed as to the shape el the Ifebrew earrings except from the sig nification of the words employed, and from the analogy of similar ornaments in ancient sculpture.
Those worn by the Egyptian ladies were large, round, single hoops of gold, from one inch and a half to two inches and one-third in diameter, and frequently of still greater size, or made of six single rings soldered together. Such prob ably was the round 'agil' of the Hebrews. Among persons of high or royal rank the ornament was sometimes in the shape of an asp, whose body was gold set with precious stones (sec Silver earrings have also been found at Thebes, tither plain hoops like the earrings of gold, or simple studs. The modern Oriental earrings arc more usually jeweled drops or pendants than circlets of gold. The use of earrings appeals to have been confined to the women among the He brews. That they were not worn by men is im plied in Judg. viii :24, where gold earrings an mentioned as distinctive of the Ishmaelite tribes. The men of Egypt also abstained from the use of earrings.