10. Ear-rings were universal in the East with wom- en (Exod. xxxii, 2; Ezek. xvi, 12; Jud. x, 4) and
children of both sexes (Exod. xxxii, 2 ; comp. Buck- ingham, Trav. p. 241, 342). Travellers have found them sometimes small and closely fitting the ear, some- times very large and heavy (Mandelslo, Reisen, p. 21 ; in North Africa as thick as a good-sized pipe-stem, Host, Morocco, p. 119), four fingers' breadth in diam- eter ; they so enlarge the hole through the lobe of the ear that it is said one can pass two fingers through it (Harmer, Obs. iii, 314). Luxury has carried the fash- ion to such a pitch that women puncture as many ap- ertures in the ear-lobe as possible, and hang a ring through each (Arvieux, iii, 25) ; Wellsted {Travels, i, 224) counted sometimes fifteen in a single ear, and Eussegger (II, ii, 180) speaks of even twenty. The ancient Hebrews designated this ornament by the terms fit 3, ne'zem (e. g. Gen. xxxv, 4, "HOIK C"1*^"? ti"r.3TX2, the rings that were in their ears), and 5"1V, agil (Ezek. xvi, 2), which almost everywhere also signify ring or hoop. See Eing. Besides proper rings (of horn, bone, or metal), persons also wore oth- er trinkets in the ear, which were called, for exam- ple, (1.) mSvJ3, netiphoth' ', little drops (Judg. viii, 26 ; Isa. iii, 19), i. e. ear pendants with tiny bells, name- ly pearls (Gr. ordXaypa, Lat. stalagmium, Plaut. Mi n. iii, 18) ; (2.) tOlB, kumaz' , on the other hand, is prob- ably not an ear-ring, but necklace or amulet (see Ge- senius, Thes. Heb. p. 692) ; (3.) for a peculiar kind of Jewish ear-ring, see the Mishna (Chelim, xi, 9; ac- cording to the Mishna, Shabb. vi, 6, the girls first drew a cord through the ear after piercing, until it was heal- ed). Whether men among the Jews made use of ear ornaments is uncertain ; Pliny (xi, 50) asserts the cus- tom of Orientals without distinction, and other writers state the usage in the case of men with respect to sev- eral Eastern nations more or less positively and relia- bly: e. g. the inhabitants along the Euphrates (Juven. i, 104), the Lydians (Xenoph. Anab. iii, 1, 31), the Lib- yans (Macrob. Sat. vii, 3), the Arabians (Petron. Sat. 102), the Carthaginians (Plaut. Pan. v, 2, 21), the In- dians (Curt, ix, 1, 30), the Parthians (Tertull. Cult, fern, x), the Assyrians (Asiatic Journ. 1843, No. 8, pi. xvii), and probably others (see Bochart, Hieroz. i, 342). The modern Arabs likewise certainly wear ear-rings (Niebuhr, Beschr. p. 65; Reisen, p. 164 sq,), as an- ciently the Midianites (Judg. viii, 24). Among the Greeks onlv children wore rings, and that but in the right ear (Isid. Grig, xix, 31, 10; Appul. Habit, i, 160, ed. Bip. ; yet see Dio Chrys. xxxii, 361 [or 654 ed. Reiske]) ; among the Eomans the women had reached the highest pitch of luxury in ear-rings, wearing gold, jewels, and the most costly pearls in their ears, not singly, but in pairs and triple (Seneca, Benef. vii, 9 ; 17/. In-lit. 17; Pliny, ix, 56). Nevertheless, Exod. xxxii, 2, appears indirectly to forbid the supposition that they were at that time worn by male Israelites; and we may ass.ume from the Mishna (Shabb. vi, 6) that among the later Jews even children did not usual- ly have these ornaments. It remains to notice that in early times ear-rings were employed as charms ^Gen. xxxv, 4; comp. Jonathan's Targ. in loc; see Mai- monid. Tdolol. vii, 10; Augustine, Ep. 73); and Eich- horn (Einleit. ins X. T. i, 524) would introduce iheir mention into Matt, vii, 6, as the rendering (for "pearls") of the original Aramaean Gospel. See Am- ulet. On the boring the ear of a slave (Deut. xv, 17), see Servant. (See generally Schroder, Vestit. mul. p. 187 sq. ; Hartmann, Hebraerin. ii, 163 sq. ; Bartho- lin, De inaurib. vet. syntagma, Amstel. 1676; Rathge- ber, in the Hall. Encyclop. Ill, ii, 333 sq.) — Winer, ii. 173. See Ear-ring.
11. The nose-ring (in general faM, ne'zem,, comp. Prov. xi, 22 ; Ezek. xvi, 12 ; more definitely dXH DM, ne'zem ha-aph, jewel of the nose, Isa. iii, 21; probably also nr:, chach, Exod. xxxv, 22), a very favorite adornment among Oriental females from the earliest
ATTITUDE
534
ATTITUDE
times (Gem xxiv, 22, 47; comp. Mishna, Shalb. vi, 1, where it appears that the Jewesses wore no nose-rings on the Sabbath, but ear-rings only). Eastern women to this day wear in the perforated extremity of the car- tilage of the left (Chardin, in Harmer, iii, 310 sq.) or right nostril (see the fig. in Hartmann, Hebrderin. pi. 2), or even in the middle partition of the nose (Mariti, p. 216), a ring of ivory or metal (doubtless often deco- rated with jewels) of two or three inches diameter, which hangs down over the mouth, and through which the men are fond of applying their kiss (Arvieux, iii, 252; see Tavernier, i, 92; Shaw, p. 211; Niebuhr, Beschr. p. 65; Joliffe, p. 35; Eiippel, Arab. p. 203; comp. Hartmann, Hebrderin. ii, 1C6 sq., 292; Bartho- lin, J)ij annulis narium, in his treatise Be morbis Bibl. c. 19; also in his work De inauribus vet. Amstel. 1767). Even among the aborigines of America this ornament has been found. Occasionally men also in the East affect the use of the nose-ring (Russegger, II, ii, 180). But whether it was derived from the practice of treat- ing animals thus (as Hartmann thinks) is not clear; for the female love of decoration might naturally in- troduce nose-rings as well as ear-rings, since the nose and the ears are such conspicuous parts of the person as readily to lead to a desire to set them off by artifi- cial finery. — Wild beasts were led (as still bears and buffaloes are) by a ring through the nose, as the easi- est mode of subduing and holding them ; the same is sometimes done with large fishes that have been caught