RING, any circle or section of a cylin der. Rings of gold, silver, and of other metals and materials have been worn in all times and countries, and while they have been used to decorate the ears, neck, nose, lips, arms, legs, and toes, finger rings have always occupied the most important and significant place among such ornaments. From the ear liest period of civilized relationships the finger ring was a convenient means for carrying the signet of its wearer. He rodotus mentions the wearing of finger rings by the Babylonians; and from Asia the habit probably passed into Greece, though the Homeric poems men tion earrings alone. In the later Greek legends the ancient heroes are described as wearing rings, and every freeman throughout Greece seems afterward to have possessed one. The LacedTmonians wore iron rings. The Romans are said to have derived the use of rings from the Sabines; their rings were at first, as those of the Greeks, signet rings, but made of iron. Ambassadors, in the early age of the Roman republic,wore gold rings as a part of their official dress—a custom afterward extended to senators, chief magistrates, and in later times to the equites, who were said to enjoy the jus annuli aurei, from which other persons were excluded. It became customary for the emperors to confer the jug annuli aurei on whom they pleased and the privilege grew gradually more and more extensive till Justinian embraced within it all citizens of the empire whether in genui or libertini. Rings entered into the groundwork of many Oriental su perstitions, as in the legend of Solo mon's ring, which, among its many mag ical virtues, enabled the monarch to triumph over all opponents and daily to transport himself to the celestial spheres, where he learned the secrets of the universe. The Greeks mention various rings endowed with magic pow er, as that of Gyges, which rendered him invisible when its stone was turned inward; and in old Saxon romances a similar ring legend is incorporated. The ring of POLYCRATES (q. v.), which was flung into the sea to propitiate Nemesis, was found by its owner inside a fish; and there were persons who made a lu crative traffic of selling charmed rings, worn for the most part by the lower classes. By many Mussulmans at the
present day a ring having enclosed in it a verse from the Koran is worn as an amulet.
Various explanations have been given of the connection of the ring with mar riage. It would appear that wedding rings were worn by the Jews prior to Christian times. It has been said that as the delivery of the signet ring to any one was a sign of deputing or sharing of authority, so the delivery of a ring by husband to wife indicated her admit tance to share his rights and privileges. In pagan times in Europe the ring seems to have been connected with fidelity or with espousals. By an ancient Norse custom, described in the "Eyrbrygia Saga," when an oath was imposed, he by whom it was pledged passed his hand through a silver ring sacred to that ceremony; and in Iceland the ceremony of betrothal used to be accompanied by the bridegroom passing his four fingers and thumbs through a large ring, and in this manner receiving the hand of the bride, as is represented in a woodcut in an old edition of "Olaus Mangus." For betrothal, as well as for marriage, a ring is commonly bestowed; and in many countries both spouses wear wedding rings. Though the third finger of the left hand is the official finger, rings are worn on all fingers, and in medimval times even the thumbs were frequently decorated with large and massive rings. During the 16th, 17th, and 18th cen turies it was a very common practice to have mottoes inscribed on rings, in cluding wedding rings, and the motto was called the posy or chanson. The ring was the symbol of the dominion of Venice over the Adriatic; and yearly, on Ascension Day, a ring was thrown by i the Doge from the ship "Bucentaur" into the sea, to denote that as the wife is subject to her husband, so is the Adri atic sea to the republic of Venice. The reception of a ring forms an essential feature in the investiture of many Cath olic dignitaries, and even in the Angli can communion. The "fisherman's ring," containing an engraved representation of St. Peter in an ancient fishing boat, is the official ring of investiture of the Pope. It is broken and another made on the death of each Pontiff.