Crescents (Hastings' Dictionary)

RV tr. of ^T-y^ .Jg 8='- "^ (AV 'oriiaiiieiits'), Is 3" (AV 'round tires like the mnon';. As elearly indicated by its etym. (from Aram. suhrU, 'moon,' with nn as diminutive ter- mination,— for which .see Barth, XomindUiiUly. § 212), — the .sttAai-on was a crescent or moon-slia))ed ornament of gold (Jg 8-'''), introduced presumably by Syrian traders from Babylonia. In OT we find these crescents worn by Midianite chiefs (Jg 8-") , by the ladies of Jeru.s.

(Is 3"), and hung by the former on the necks of their camels (.Ig 8-'). They were in all pmbability worn on the breast by a chain rnun<l the neck, like the crescents (hilitlat) of a modern Arab, belle (see Del. and Dillra. on Is 3'" ; Keil, Bihl. Arrlueol. Kng. tr. ii. 149 ; Nowack, Ileb. Arch. i. 129 ; cf. Jg 8-''', where the crescents seem to be distinguished from the chains by which they were suspended). Others {e.y. Moore, C'nmm. in loc.)

consider the latter to have been 'necklaces or collars, the elements of which were little golden crescents.' Originally the crescents were amulets or charms (W. U. Smith in Journ. of riiiloloi/ii, xiv. 122-123;* Wellh. Skizzen, iii. 144), although by Lsaiali's time they may have become more purely ornamental. A. R. S. KiCN.nkky.