The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-12-22
FINGER RINGS.

IT Is ARGUED THAT THEY ARE OF THE LATEST
ORIGIN IN JEwELRY.
From all authority on the subject which
can be deemed authentic, it seems probable
that finger rings are of later origin than al
most any other well known ornament in the
line of jewelry. With the exception of the
allusion to the signet given by judah to
lamar as pledge for the fulfIImenG OF his
promise of his son TO her in marriage, there
is nothing in the Mosaic record of the Holy
Scripture that indicates their use in the
early times of jewish history, and it is pos
sible that this signet was not finger ring,
but an engraved gem, worn as our modern
seals, as at that day ornaments of the kind
seem to have been worn, especially among
the Egyptians, of which fact abundant evil
dence Is found in the ancient scarRbei dis
covered from time TO time among the
memorials of that people. Not even in the
specifications of the priestly vestmenJs
is there any account of finger rings; though
the Prophet Isaiah includes them among
the articles of toilet luxury of which the
Lord, in the "great and terrible day of His
wrath" would deprive the daughters OF
Israel for the sinfulness of the people in de-
parting from His statutes. In the gospel
we find the happy father placing shoes
the returning 'prodigal SOM while st.
James, the evangelist, cautions the disci-
Piles OF Christ against being influenced in
their treatment of the stranger by the
"goodly apparel" and the ring upon his
hand, abe Te other considerations of worth
which frequently attach to the humble
dress of the lowlY. Upon the figures of
both men and women, as copied from the
Ninevah marbles now in the British Mu-
scum, and also upon ancient Egyptian
figures, we notice necklaces, bracelets, ear
rings, and bands for the head, ali evidently
- 80 Ia md a.
psrently set with precious stones, but we
see no rings on the fingers; while there is
evidence to
SUPPORT THE SUPERSTITION
that they were not worn until their con-
venience for the purpose Of the signet-the
earliest outgrowth of the glyptic srt-be-
came apparent in the works of Pliby he
makes special mention of the fact that in all
the Homeric writings there is nothing said
about finger rings; while in his minute de-
scriptions of ornaments worn in his day,
the Father of Poetry alludes particularly to
| earrings, necklaces and hair cauls, as the
workmanship OF Vulcan, the court jeweler of
Olympus. Indeed, it does not appear that
gems, even in their native state, were totally
| unknown to Homer-amber, and possibly
pearls, in the solitary instance Of Juno's
| ''triple eyed" earrings, beaten gold being
| the only materials which were employed by
the Greeks in Homer's time in the COM
position of jewelry. Yet with great exact
actuess and evident appreciation of the
J artistic skill displayed in the work does the
poet decant upon the beauty and elegance
of the brooch of Ulysses, chased with the
group of hound bringing to the ground a
a ''sorely painting fawn" - giving
| the impression that m this remarka ble
ornament there must have been much
of the action upon which excellence In
works of the kind is thought to depend. 1t
would be presumptuous TO venture upon a
probability, however carefully qualified, as
to where the King of Ithaca obtained this
beautiful brooch, which perhaps was of
chased gold only, and somewhat similar TO
the latter works of Benvenuto Cellini; but
certain it does seem that precious stones
were but imperfectly known to the Greeks
until intercourse was opened with Asia
through the incursions into Persia, both
hostile and amicable, of Philip of Macedon,
aud subsequently through the more ex-
tended conquest of Alexander the Great
Losing, indeed, boldly maintaining in his
dissertation on the famous ring of Polyer-
ates, that tbs Greeks did not begin to wear
signet rings at all previous to the Polyne-
sian war, b. @. 43l years. From Asia Minor
to Greece Nroper alter this period, however
the transiion of fashion must have been ex.
ceedingly expeditions, as the signet
mounted as finger ring, rapidly found uni
versal favor among the Hellenic people,
people, IN we know, readily adopting all tEt
refnements <pf luxury, and giving an ina
petus to civilization and the high arts tina
! TO this day is felt throughout the world re
deemed from the savage state.