Quantcast
  We apologize for any slow response. This will be fixed before October 31st Portal logo
Login/Register
Bactrian Gold Treasure from Afghanistan, coming soon....
/gemstones/king-precious-stones-metals/page_051 - 2
 

Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond

Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond Page of 377 Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
40 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.
Adamas, " bearing the highest value not merely amongst gems, but amongst all human possessions, was long known to none but kings, and to but a very few of them." Indeed it could not have been known at all in Europe before a direct intercourse with the nations of Southern India had been brought about by the establishment of a Macedonian kingdom in Bactria. Certain it is that Theophrastus could not by mere oversight have omitted it from his list of gems, if known to his contemporaries, for the above-quoted passage from Pliny clearly proves that the Diamond, as soon as introduced to the knowledge of the ancients (for his " regibus " necessarily signifies Greek princes), took the same foremost place amongst precious stones that it has ever since maintained.
Pliny thus gives the ancient notion as to the nature of the Adamas (xxxvii. 15), " Ita appellatur auri nodus (the germ of Gold), in metallis repertus perquam raro, comes auro, nee nisi in auro nasci videbatur." Here he evidently alludes to the passage in Plato's ' Timseus ' (59, B), describing the origin of metals by infiltration and con­densation, the theory afterwards adopted by Theophrastus :
(" Of all these elements, designated by us liquids in a state of flux, that from the finest and most homogeneous particles becoming the most condensed was solidified into a special kind distinguished by its shining and yellow colour, that most precious thing gold, after filtering through the pores of the rock ; whilst the germ of the gold, excessively hardened and dark-coloured by reason of its density, has been termed the Adamas.") The epithet μΑανθίν, " dyed a dark blue,"
Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond Page of 377 Ch. 2: Adamas, Diamond
Suggested Illustrations
Other Chapters you may find useful
Other Books on this topic
bullet Tag
This Page