ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL
been
an important factor in shaping the destiny of nations, changing the
borders of great countries and thereby aiding the progress of
civilization. As pearls helped materially to bring Rome to the British
Isles and the colonists of Spain to South America, so it is quite
probable that the pearls of Egypt had their influence in drawing the
Macedonians to that country, to be followed by the Romans when the
latter sought to overturn the Macedonian empire. Beyond this, their
influence among those who held the reins in the government of empires,
or those having power with them that did, cannot be estimated.
Passing
beyond the days of Greece and Rome to more remote times and countries,
we come to the realms of conjecture. We know that pearls were known and
used as jewels in Egypt under the Ptolemies. Chares of Mytilene
mentioned that they were worn by women of the East about the neck and
arms and even upon the feet. It is said there is a word for them in a
Chinese dictionary four thousand years old.
There is evidence that they had been used in India and the far East long before the West had
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