BUCKLE (LXX πόρπη, brooch or clasp). The word occurs in the common VS of 1 Maccabees 10:89; 11:58 and 14:44, but there is no means of distinguishing the article from the “brooches” of Exodus 35:22 (Eng. VSS) or from the fibulas found from sites as early as the 7th cent. b.c., esp. at Gezer. The Fibula Praenestina, a safety pin-like object from the same 7th cent., found at Praeneste in Latium is similar in shape and function. It is the Gr. porpē, designed to hold a chlamus or pallium at the shoulder. The brooch, if that may be identified with a buckle, was a mark and emblem of rank.