About the Historical Popularity of Earrings

No custom is more ancient or more universal than that of wearing EAR-RINGS. Among the Hebrews their use appears to have been confined to the women. That they were not worn by men is implied in the Book of Judges, where they are mentioned as distinctive of the Ishmaelite tribes. Ear-rings are seen as decorative ornaments on the Assyrian bas-reliefs. Those worn by the Egyptian ladies of high or royal rank were sometimes in the shape of an asp, set with precious stones. Three pearls, increasing downwards in size, composed the ear-pendants most admired by the queens of ancient Persia. The Rev. Mr. Rawlinson, in his "Five Great Monarchies of the Eastern World," describes a king of ancient Persia as richly adorned with gold ornaments. He had ear-rings of gold in his ears, often inlaid with jewels; he wore golden bracelets on his wrists, and he had a chain or collar of gold about his neck. In his girdle, which was also of gold, he carried a short sword, the sheath of which was formed of a single precious stone, perhaps of jasper, agate, or lapis-lazuli.

Golden ear-rings with precious stones set in them were found in the tomb of Cyrus, at Pasargadae. When Hera adorns herself to captivate Jove, it is said by Homer--

"Her zone, from which a hundred tassels hang

She girt about her; and in three bright drops,

Her glittering gems suspended from her ears,

And all around her grace and beauty shone."

The ear-rings worn by the ladies of Greece and Rome were also generally of pearls, three or four to each ear, sometimes of immense value, besides others of precious stones.

The extravagance of the Greek and Roman ladies for ear-rings almost exceeds belief. Pliny says, "They seek for pearls at the bottom of the Red Sea, and search the bowels of the earth for emeralds, to ornament their ears." Seneca tells us that a single pair was worth the revenue of a large estate. Ear-rings were worn by young men of high rank, not only as ornaments, but from superstition, as amulets or charms. The early Saxons had the same custom, and ear-rings are mentioned by Chaucer. The rage for these pendant decorations was chiefly in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Stubbs, in his "Anatomie of Abuses," 1583, mentions the women as being so far bewitched, as "they are not ashamed to make holes in their ears, whereat they hang rings and other jewels of gold and precious stones; but this," he adds, "is not so much frequented amongst women as men."

Men also wore these effeminate ornaments in the reign of James I. The ear-rings worn hy the Incas of Peru were of enormous size and richness; they were inserted wholly into the gristle of the ear, which they distended towards the shoulder. In the East Indies they are also of immense size, frequently as large as saucers, and generally of gold and valuable jewels. An incision is made through the ear, and a filament formed of cocoa-nut leaves tightly rolled together is thrust into the opening. This filament is constantly enlarged, till it has stretched the orifice to two inches in diameter. The perfection required being then attained, the wound is allowed to heal, and the ear bears its precious and ponderous ornaments.