GEMS, ANCIENT. The term gem, which is applied to jewels and other valuable and precious stones, means in archology engraved stones of the precious kinds, and even small engraved portions, of hard and primitive rocks which have been set or worn as jewels by the ancients. Before entering, however, upon the subject of engraved stones, it will be necessary to mention the principal are mentioned by ancient authors, or have been found by modern researches to have been used for engraving.
Akhough the principal varieties of precious stones were known to the ancients, yet owing to the absence of scientific and chemical analysis, they appear to have distin guished precious, and other stones, only by color, specific gravity, and density. The different nomenclature, too, used by different authors, multiplied synonyms, and caused confusion; so that it has become impossible to identify all the stones mentioned by Theophrastus, Pliny, and others. As a general rule, the ancients did not engrave such precious stones as the diamond, ruby, and sapphire, being content with those of less, hardness and value. The principal stones used by engravers were: (1) The carnelian, and its more transparent variety the card, eardion, in common use in the days of Plato (so called from Sardes in Lydia, but chiefly- obtained from India and Babylonia): (2) the chalcedony, supposed to be the ancient calchedonion, used for seals and reliefs, of which two kinds have been found: (3) the onyx or nail-stone, variously described by Pliny and his predecessors, but distinguished by a white layer resembling the nail: (4) the mcolo or Willa, obtained from the onyx, a blue spot with a black zone encircling it: (5) the sardonyx, which was a variety of the onyx, having black, blue, white, and red colors, and particularly used for cameos and vases, by cutting down the lighter colored layers to the darkest for a background to the figures, a stone much prized by the ancients; the signet of Scipio Africanus the elder being of this material, and the emperor Claudius esteeming it and the emerald above all other gems 46) the agate or aehates, so named from a Siciliah river, embraced many varieties, as the jaspachates, dendrvaehates, but confounded with the jasper, considered- a charm against scorpions and spiders, used for whetstones, and a talisman by athletes; it was obtained from Egypt, Greece, and Asia: (7) plasma or the prasius, root of emerald, much used under the lower empire; its varieties were the mo/ochates and nilion: (8) numerous varieties of the jasper, iaspis, green, blood-red, yellow, black, mottled or porcelain, and even blue, were employed for signets at the Roman period, and procured from India, Persia, and Cappadocia. Pliny mentions a remarkable statuette of Nero, weighing 15 ozs. in this material: (9) garnets, the granatiei or red hyacinths of antiquity, which were principally in use at the latter days of the Roman empire, and amongst the oriental nations—with which may be classed: (10) the earbuneulus, supposed, however, ly.some to be the name given by the ancients to the ruby, was brought from India, Gam/militia, Carchedon, and Anthe musia: (11) the hyacinthus or jacinth, a yellow variety of the garnet, which was used for signets, and came from Ethiopia and (12) the /yncutium, or lychnis, which is the ancient name of the true modern jacinth: (13) several varieties of the emerald or smaragdus are cited by the ancients, as the Bactrian or Scythian, supposed to he a green ruby,•principally derived from the emerald mines at Zabora, in the neighborhood of Coptos, worked by conscripts, and described by Agatharcides; many remarkable stories are told of this gem, which has only been found with engravings of a later period; one sent by a king of Babylon to a king of Egypt was 4 cubits and 3 in width; an obelisk in the temple of 'Jupiter, 40 cubits high, is said to have rieen made out of four emeralds; and Theophrastus mentions an emerald column of great size in the temple of Hercules at Tyre; in the Egyptian labyrinths, according to Anion, was a colossal Serapis of great height, .made of emerald; this stone was used by gem
engravers to " refresh" the sight, or inlaid in the eyes of statues, as in the lion at Cyprus, erected to Hermias; it was set in the ring of Polycrates; and used as a lens by Nero to behold the fights of the gladiators in the circus: (14) the beryl or beryllu 8, obtained from India, cut in shape of a hexagonal pyramid, was used at an early period for engraving: (15) the amethyst, brought from Arabia Petra and Armenia Minor, is found used for intagli at all periods: (16) the sapphirus of the ancients, supposed by some to be lapis lazuli, came from Media, and appears in use amongst the Egyptians and Persians: (17) the anthrax, supposed to be the ruby, was not engraved; the liyacin thus has also been conjectured to be the blue sapphire: (18) the topaz, topazon, applied by the ancients to a green stone found by the Troglodytes in the island of Cytis, in the Arabian gulf, and first sent by•Philemon to Berenice, out of which also a statue of Arsinoc was made and placed in the so-called "golden temple" by Ptolemy Phila. delphus: (19) the chrysolithus: (20) chrysoprase, turquoise calla is: (21) the Inagua, or loadstone, were used for cylinders and gems of a late period: (22) the green tourmaline, or avanturine, sandaresus: (23) the obsidian, obsidianus, so called after its founder Obsiditis, four elephants made of which were dedicated by Augustus in the temple of Concord were also known; and a statue of Menelaus, made of the same.material, was returned to the Heliopolitans by Tiberius: (24) the opal opalites, or paderos, obtained from India, the largest of which then known,. of the size of a hazel-nut, belonging to the senator Nonius, was valued at about £2,000, which he would not yield to M. Antony; this stone was sometimes engraved: (25) the adamas, of which seven varieties were known to the ancients, was only used for cutting other gems, or worn rough, but was not engraved, or even faced, the art of polishing it having been discovered by Louis de Berghem in the 15th century. The list of Pliny, indeed, contains many other stones, which have been either confounded with those described—their names having been derived from different sources—or else they are species of the same. of these had fanciful names, as (26) the aromatites of Arabia and Egypt, so called from its fragrance: (27) the aleetorius, worn by the wrestler Milo, so called from being taken out of the gizzard of a fowl: (28) the aspilates, a fiery stone, said by Democritus to be found in the nest of Arabian birds. In the selection of stones for engraving, the gem-engrav ers adapted the material to the subject— Bacchanalian subjects were often engraved on amethysts; marine, on beryls; martial, on carnelians, sards, and red jaspers; rural, on green jasper; celestial, on chalcedonies. Superstitious virtues were also attributed to the different varieties of gems—thus the amethyst was supposed to protect from the influence of wine; and according to Dioscorides, the jasper was particularly adapted for amulets; and Alexander of Tralles recommends the subject of Hercules engraved on a Median stone, to be worn on the finger as a remedy against the colic.