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CERAUNIA,
153
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CERAUNIA.
By this
name two very different things are designated, according as the idea
expressed is a resemblance in the stone to the brightness and flashing
of lightning, or its being the actual missile itself.
The
first part of Pliny's description (52) applies clearly to either the
bright Blue Beryl, or to the paler and more lustrous kind of Sapphires.
" Amongst colourless (Candidas) gems is that called Ceraunia, which
snatches its lustre from the stars (alluding to its celestial origin).
Of itself it is like crystal, but its lustre is sky-blue ; it is found
in Carmania. Zenothemis allows that it is colourless, but that it
contains a sparkling star; there are also Ceraunise that are dead, yet
if steeped for a few days in nitre and vinegar they conceive the same
kind of star, but lose it again after the same number of months." This
would seem to indicate an Asteria or Star-Sapphire; in fact, the
Ceraunia is termed an inferior kind of Astrion. Later, however, the
name seems to have been applied to the Ruby to distinguish it from the
other numerous varieties of the Carbunculus, for Tertullian (De Anima,
ix.) uses the simile : " In the gem Ceraunia the substance is
not necessarily fiery because they sparkle with a ruddy blush (rutilato
rubore)." Isidorus also makes two sorts: one like crystal, but blending
an azure with its red, found in Carmania ; the other from Lusitania,
like the Pyrope, but setting the fire at defiance,—the last character a
proof that he is speaking of the Ruby.
In these gems, therefore, Ceraunia or Ceraunias was no more than an epithet, " Lightning-like," applied to any especially lustrous stone of the Corundum class.
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