4.1298 Wedding Rings (5/116)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 29 Apr 91 23:22:48 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 1298. Monday, 29 Apr 1991.
(1) Date: Tuesday, 23 April 1991 2346-EST (13 lines)
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: Wedding Rings in Antiquity
(2) Date: Wed, 24 Apr 91 09:02:59 +0200 (13 lines)
From: ath@linkoping.telesoft.se
Subject: Re: 4.1278 Wedding Rings
(3) Date: Wed, 24 Apr 91 14:21:33 JDT (21 lines)
From: sokoloff@coma.huji.ac.il (Prof. Sokoloff Michael)
Subject: Wedding Rings
(4) Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1991 11:10 CDT (57 lines)
From: 6160LACYA@MUCSD.BITNET
Subject: Wedding/Engagement Rings
(5) Date: Sun, 28 Apr 91 20:29:08 CDT (12 lines)
From: gary forsythe <gfgf@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: Wedding Rings
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tuesday, 23 April 1991 2346-EST
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: Wedding Rings in Antiquity
If I recall correctly, the "matronly woman" sitting on
a throne-like chair in one of the painted panels in the
"Villa dei Mysterii" at Pompeii is wearing a ring, which
has been interpreted as a wedding ring on the domina of
the house. Vesuvius erupted in 79 ce, so if this counts
as evidence for wedding rings, it is relatively early
and in this instance Roman.
Bob Kraft, UPenn
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------25----
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 91 09:02:59 +0200
From: ath@linkoping.telesoft.se
Subject: Re: 4.1278 Wedding Rings (3/41)
Leslie Morgan asks how far wedding rings can be traced.
One relatively early reference can be found in Aulus Gellius. This is
from memory, so I'm afraid I can't quote book and chapter. Anyway, in
one section of his book Gellius describes how the Greek, Roman and the
Egyptians customs of wearing rings differ.
Anders Thulin ath@linkoping.telesoft.se
Telesoft AB, Teknikringen 2B, S-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------29----
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 91 14:21:33 JDT
From: sokoloff@coma.huji.ac.il (Prof. Sokoloff Michael)
The first mention of a wedding ring in Jewish sources is in the
Hebrew composition "Haxiluqim beyn anshey mizrax ubeney Eretz
Israel" (The Differences between the Jews of Babylonia and those
of Eretz Israel), composed around 700 C.E. somewhere in Eretz
Israel. Difference no. 25 (ed. M. Margoliot, Jerusalem 1938)
states:
The Jews of Babylonia "see" an engagement with a ring; the Jews
of Babylonia do not "see" a complete engagement with a ring [)n$y
mzrx rw)yN Tb(t qydw$yN. wbny )rC Y$r)l )ynN rw)yN Tb(t qydw$yN
gmwryN].
While the language of the difference is not entirely clear, the
concensus is that this reefers to concluding an engagement with a
ring, a custom not recorded in the Talmud where anything of value
can be employed for this purpose. (See the Discussion in
Margoliot's book, ib., p. 139 ff.]
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------64----
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1991 11:10 CDT
From: 6160LACYA@MUCSD.BITNET
Subject: Wedding/Engagement Rings
Regarding the recent comments on wedding and engagement rings...
Pliny (1st - 2nd cent.) talks about the giving of a ring by the groom to
the betrothed--at the time of engagement. According to old custom this
was made out of iron. (Pliny, _Natural Hist._ 33,12 'ferreus anulus
isque sine gemma'.)
According to Tertullian (?160-?230), who writes of the customs of
Carthage, this ring was out of gold. Of course, this was a century
later, on a different continent (Africa), and a different religious
tradition, although the pre-christian traditions were certainly very
strong.
Both of these authors are writing about well-established customs, not
ones that had just come into vogue.
In the East, St. John Chrysostom (?345 - 407) talks about the so-called
'arrhal' gift given by the man to the woman at engagement. (Hom. de
capto Eutropio, _PG_ 51/52, 407-409) Legally if he dissolved the
engagement she would retain this object. If she dissolved the
engagement she was obligated to return to him some multiple of the value
of the gift. Besides sums of money, a ring was a favorite gift. By the
time of Chrysostom the ring had mainly a symbolic value.
Isidor of Seville (570 - 636) gives us the first (incomplete) description
of the wedding rite in Spain (_De ecclesiasticis officiis_). In his
description he comes to talk of the meaning of the engagement ring. This
is placed on the fourth finger, since, according to old tradition. a vein
leads directly from here to the heart. Isidor's text is unclear as to
whether the man gave the woman several rings, or the couple gave each
other rings. The _Lex Visigothorum_ also explicitly mentions rings as
the 'arrhal' gift.
On the continent it is apparently not until an 11th century _Liber
ordinum_ that there is a description of the liturgical blessing of rings
as part of a religious ceremony. Apparently this had technically been
part of the engagement, but since it took place immediately before the
marriage ceremony, it seems that by the time of the MSS mentioned it was
an actual part of the marriage ceremony.
In England the Durham Ritual (late 9th century?) contains specific
blessings for rings as part of the wedding ceremony.
As we go on in time, references to rings and blessings become much more
common, but certainly the above should show that Maximilian was not the
first to exchange rings - either as part of an engagement or a wedding
ceremony.
Hope this can be of some help.
Alan F. Lacy
Maruette University
6160lacya@vms.csd.mu.edu
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------22----
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 91 20:29:08 CDT
From: gary forsythe <gfgf@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subject: Wedding Rings
The practice of giving and wearing wedding rings is at least 2000 years
old. We know from Pliny the Elder (writing no later than 79 A.D. in his
Natural History) that it was customary for people to give one another
rings, which were worn on what we now call the ring finger. Pliny
explains that rings were worn on this particular finger because it was
believed that a nerve ran from that finger to a person's heart.