the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Bracelet
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or This name, in strict propriety, is as applicable to circlets worn on the upper part of the arm as to those worn on the wrist; but as it has been found convenient to distinguish the former as Armlets, the term bracelet must be restricted to the latter. These are, and always have been, much in use among Eastern females. Many of them are of the same shapes and patterns as the armlets, and are often of such considerable weight and bulk as to appear more like manacles than ornaments. Many are often worn one above another on the same arm, so as to occupy the greater part of the space between the wrist and the elbow. The materials vary according to the condition of the wearer. Among the higher classes they are of mother-of-pearl, of fine flexible gold, and of silver, the last being the most common. The poorer women use plated steel, horn, brass, copper, beads, and other materials of a cheap description. Some notion of the size and value of the bracelets used both now and in ancient times may be formed from the fact that those which were presented by Eleazer to Rebecca weighed ten shekels (Genesis 24:22). The bracelets are sometimes flat, but more frequently round or semicircular, except at the point where they open to admit the hand, where they are flattened. They are frequently hollow, giving the show of bulk (which is much desired) without the inconvenience. Bracelets of gold twisted rope-wise are those now most used in Western Asia: but we cannot determine to what extent this fashion may have existed in ancient times.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Bracelet'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/b/bracelet.html.
