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Ch. 7: Religious Use of Gemstones

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232 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES
dian of the infernal regions obliges the goddess to lay aside some part of her clothing and ornaments at each of the seven gates through which she passes. At the fifth, we are told that she stripped off her girdle of aban alâdi, or stones which aided parturition.13 It has been as­serted, and perhaps with some reason, that of the many mineral substances supposed to possess this virtue, jade (nephrite) or jadeite was the earliest known.
The Babylonian legends also tell of trees on which grow precious stones. In the Gilgamesh epic a mystic cedar tree is described. This grew in the Elamite sanct­uary of Irnina and was under the guardianship of the Elamite king Humbaba. Of this tree an inscription re­lates :
It produces somtu-stones as fruit;
Its boughs hang with them, glorious to behold;
The crown of it produces lapis-lazuli ;
Its fruit is costly to gaze upon.
Another tree bearing precious stones was seen by the hero Gilgamesh, after he had passed through darkness for the space of twelve hours. This must have been a most resplendent object, to judge from the following description on a cuneiform tablet :14
It bore precious stones for fruits; Its branches were glorious to the sight; The twigs were crystals; It bore fruit costly to the sight.
One of the rarest and most significant specimens illustrating the use of valuable stones for religious cere-
13Jansen, "Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen," Berlin, 1900.
" Ward, " Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," Carnegie Institution Pub., Washington, D. C, 1910, pp. 232, 234.
Ch. 7: Religious Use of Gemstones Page of 467 Ch. 7: Religious Use of Gemstones
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