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Bactrian Gold Treasure from Afghanistan, coming soon....
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NOTES.
the Syrian Belus ; but as he specifies also the " eye " and the " finger " of the same deity, it is evident these names apply only to the shape, not to the efficacy of those stones.
AMAZON STONE.
A very compact Felspar of an emerald-green colour, but opaque, and with nacrous reflections; extremely hard, and taking a high polish. Its name comes from the circumstance of the Spaniards having first observed it in the hands of the Indians dwelling upon the Amazon. Like the Jade, this equally obdurate material was a favourite vehicle for ancient Aztec art. Grotesque figures in it of gods and of beasts, wonderfully rude in design, but very skilfully carved and polished, are frequently to be met with. All these sculptured objects are bored, and must have been worn on a string round the neck, like the similar sacred figures of the old Egyptians.
It is not quite certain to me whether this stone was known to the an­cients, either Oriental or European. It is true that the Assyrian cylinder assigned to Sennacherib is described as cut in Amazon-stone ; and certain carnei, apparently Roman, and actually in Amazon-stone, have fallen under my own observation, yet as the latter may be of the Renaissance epoch, their existence does not settle the point, to my satisfaction at least. The above-quoted cylinder, indeed, recalls to one's memory two gems, named by Pliny as coming from Persia, both of which seem, from his brief notice of them, to bear certain analogies to the Amazon-stone. His first is " the Tanos, in colour a disagreeable green, and which is foisted in amongst the Emeralds ;" and certainly the camei in Amazon-stone, above adduced, had much the appearance, and in fact were catalogued as on Emerald. His other is " the Eumithres, or Gem of Belus, of the colour of the leek-leaf, and a favourite in their superstitions "—a character which would give the stone strong claims to the honour of serving for the royal signet.
THE RING OF POLYCRATES, p. 309.
Pliny, with his accustomed happy brevity, thus condenses the long ram­bling legend narrated by Herodotus :—" The estimation of precious stones had grown into so mighty a passion that Polycrates the Samian, tyrant of the isles and coasts of Asia Minor, was persuaded that in the voluntary loss of a single gem would lie a sufficient atonement for his own prosperity, which even he, the prosperous one himself, owned was too great to last ; and that, if he wished to balance accounts with the fickleness of Fortune, he could amply buy off her spite by suffering this single grief,,being fatigued with uninterrupted happiness. Putting out therefore to sea, he threw in his signet-ring ; but a fish of remarkable size, born for the royal table, snapped it up for food, in order to give the omen, and restored it to the owner in his kitchen, from the hand of that Fortune who was plotting his destruction." Amasis, the wise Egyptian who had counselled this mode of atonement, on hearing of this last proof of the pertinacity of Polycrates'
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