ORNAMENTS

2. Ear-rings, always of gold or silver where the material is stated, are frequently named, from Gn 36« onwards. In this passage their character as amulets is clearly imphed. Among the Hebrews ear-rings were apparently confined to women, and to children of both sexes (Ex 322), for the 'rings,' of Job 42" RV are not necessarily ear-rings as AV. The only men expressly mentioned as wearing them are Midianites (Jg S^^-)-For illustrations of gold ear-rings found at Gezer see MacaUster, Bible Sidelights from Gezer, Fig. 32, repro-duced in Benzinger, Heb. Arch.^ (1907) 83. The ' ear-rings ' of Is 3™ AV rightly appear in RVas 'amulets' (see Amulet). The pendants of Jg 8^ RV (AV ' collars ' ) and Is 31 » RV ( AV ' chains '), to judge from the etymology of the original term, had the form of drops or beads, although it is unknown whether they were worn in the ears or as a necklace.

The custom still observed by the Bedouin women of wearing a ring through the right nostril (Doughty, Arab. Deserta, i. 340; ii. 220, 297) was also in vogue among the Hebrew women. Such was the nose-ring presented to Rebekah, wrongly given in AV as an ear-ring (Gn2422, note v."), as also the 'nose -jewels' worn by the ladies of Jerusalem (Is 3^1). Although Ezk 16'2, as correctly rendered by RV, cannot be cited in support of wearing ornaments on the forehead as AV suggests ('a jewel on thy forehead'), this practice is attested by the figure in Ex IS", Dt 6« ll'", where the word rendered 'frontlets' (between the eyes) really denotes a Jewel or amulet (see Hastings' DB ill. 872, now con-firmed by Smend's reading of the Heb. text of Sir 36^). For a real frontlet, see § 6 below.

3. Several varieties of neck ornament occur, but here again the precise nature of each escapes us. The ' chains ' of Pr 1", Ga 4» are clearly necklaces ; the same word is used of the chains hung as amulets about the necks of the Midianite camels (Jg 8^8). The 'strings of jewels' of Ca 1'° RV were probably a necklace of beads. A special form of necklace or breast ornament was composed of crescents of gold (Jg ^, Is 3 », both RV). Cf. Amulet, § 4. and illust. PEFSt, 1905, 314, PI. IV. The wide-spread custom of wearing a gold chain of office on neck and breast is met with in Egypt (Gn 41«) and Babylon (Dn 6'- "• '»).

4. Like other Eastern peoples, the Hebrews were fond of decking the arms and hands with ornaments. The term most frequently used for the finger -rings iiabba'at) properly denotes a signet-ring, as in Sn 41« RV, Est 3'^, for which see art. Seal. From the use of an engraved cylinder for this purpose was developed a form of ring found in the excavations, consisting of a small cylinder of stone or paste, or of more than one, fitted into a ring of silver or gold (see illust. PEFSt, 1905, 314, PI. IV., and Benzinger, op. dt. 83, from SelUn's work cited in § 6). Ordinarily, however, tabba'al denotes a plain finger-ring (Ex ZS^, Nu 31so, Is 3^, Lk 16^2) such as those found at Taanach (§ 6).

Of the various terms rendered bracelet in AV, the most common is isamld; Rebekah's weighed 10 shekels, and was of gold (Gn 2422. so. 47; cf. Nu 316°, Ezk 16" 23«). The bracelets of Is 3" seem to have been made of twisted strands of gold wire. The word 'bracelet' in 2 S 1'" more probably denotes an armlet or arm-band, worn on the upper arm. It is rendered ' ankle-chains ' in Nu 31»° RV, while a cognate word of the same mean-ing occurs in Is 3^' (AV 'ornaments of the legs'), and in the emended text of 2 K II12, where the crown and the arm -band (EV 'testimony') are named as insignia ol royalty. Similarly, the bracejet worn 'upon the right arm' (Sir 2121 EV) is an armlet, as is seen from the list of Judith's ornaments, who 'decked herself bravely' with her armlets (EV 'chains' ), 'and her bracelets, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and all her ornaments ' (Jth 10«). The nature of the ornament given in AV as tablets and In RV as 'armlets' (Ex 3522, Nu 31"), is quite uncertain. RV rightly finds anklets in Is 3";

670

OSNAPPAR

these the ladies of Jerusalem rattled as they walked (v.'« end).

5. In a separate category may be placed such articles as, in addition to being ornamental, served some useful purpose in connexion with dress. Among these may be reckoned the gold brooches of Ex 3522 RV ( AV ' bracelets,' lit. hooks), and the 'buckle of gold' of 1 Mac lO^' etc. There seems to be no reference in OT to the ornamental pins in gold, silver, and bronze which are found in con-siderable numbers at Gezer and elsewhere. For illustra-tions of typical pins and brooches found at Gezer, see MacaUster, op. dt. Fig. 34.

6. This article would be incomplete without a fuller reference to the countless specimens of ancient jewelry, recovered from the sands of Egypt and the soil of Palestine, which serve to illustrate the ornaments above mentioned. The jewelry of the early Egyptian gold-smiths (Ex 322), as is well known, has never been sur-passed in variety and delicacy of workmanship. The excavations at Gezer, Taanach, and Megiddo have revealed an unexpected wealth of gold and silver orna-ments. One of the most remarkable of these recent finds is that described by its fortunate discoverer. Dr. Sellin, in his NacMese auf dem Tell Ta'annek, 1906, 12 ff. (cf. PEFSt, 1905, 176). Beneath the debris of a Canaanite house were found a mother and her five children, and beside the former the following ornaments: a gold band for the forehead, 8 gold rings, of which 7 were simple bands of gold wire, while the eighth was of several strands of wire, 2 silver rings, 2 larger bronze rings, perhaps bracelets, 2 small cylinders of crystal, 6 pearls, a scarab of amethyst and another of crystal, and finally a silver fastener (all illustrated op. dt. PI. IV. and Fig. 16).

The ornaments found in still greater variety in the mounds of Gezer are described and illustrated in the PEFSt from 1902 onwards. A special interest attaches to certain recently discovered graves, probably of Philistine origin and of a date c. B.C. 1000, in which a profusion of jewelry has been found similar in character and workmanship to the ornaments of the Mycenasan age found in Cyprus and Crete. For a description of the armlets, bracelets, anklets, rings, etc., found in these graves, see PEFSt, 1905, 318 ff. and PI. VI.; 1907, 199 ff. and PI. I., 240 ff.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

ORKAN, — See Ahaunah.

ORPAH. — A Moabitess, sister of Ruth and daughter-in-law of Naomi. When the latter was returning to her own country, Orpah, following Naomi's advice, elected to go back to her own people and to her god (or gods), while her sister went with her mother-in-law (Ru 14-").

ORTHOSIA (1 Mac 15").— Placed by the Peutinger Tables 12 Roman miles N. of Tripoli, and 30 S. of Antaradus. The name has not been recovered.

OSAIAS (1 Es 8") = Jeshaiah, Ezr 8".

OSEA (2 Es 13")= king Hoshea (wh. see).

OSEAS = the prophet Hosea (wh. see).

OSNAPPAR (so written in RV of Ezr 4i». Asnapper of AV is more correct; but the best reading of the Hebrew is_ Asenappar). — A curiously distorted form of Ashurbanlpal, the name of the last great king of Assyria (B.C. 668-626), the son of Esarhaddon, and grandson of Sennacherib. He is distinguished chiefly as the great conserver of the ancient Babylonian literature, whose rich and varied collections have come to us from his own Ubrary in Nineveh. He succeeded by great efforts in keeping together the empire of his father; and he added thereto the country of Elam in a fierce campaign which ended with the capture of Susa (Shushan), about B.C. 645. It was after this event that the deportation, alluded to in Ezr 49- ■», of ' Shushanchites ' and 'Elam-ites' to Samaria and the vicinity took place. The