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THE HIGH-PRIEST'S BREASTPLATE 297
trast
between this stone and the reddish or yellowish-brown agate, of uniform
color, which may have occupied the seventh place. For the later
breastplate we may choose any one of the many kinds of banded agate.
This stone had engraved upon it the name Benjamin.
IX. Ahlamah. As to this stone also, all the authorities are in agreement, and render ahlamah by
"amethyst." This was not, however, the Oriental amethyst, a variety of
corundum, but a dark blue or purple variety of quartz. Both Arabia and
Syria furnished a supply of amethysts. The Hebrew name shows that this
stone was believed to possess the virtue of inducing dreams and visions
(cf. halom—"dream"), while, as is well known, the Greek name
characterizes it as an enemy or preventive of inebriety. The amethyst
was known in ancient Egypt and probably was named hemag. In the Book of the Dead a heart made of hemag is
mentioned, and two such heart-shaped amulets of amethyst are preserved
in the Boulaq Museum. As the amethyst retained its repute as a stone
of beauty and power through the Greek and Roman periods, we may safely
assert that it was set in both the first and second breastplates. Upon
the ahlamah was engraved the name Dan.
X. Tarshish. The
Septuagint renders this word "chrysolite," where it is used in the
description of the breastplate, as does Josephus also. In the
Authorized Version, "beryl" is the rendering. We have already stated
that the topaz of the ancients was usually our chrysolite, or peridot,
and the name "chrysolite" appears to have been used to designate our
topaz. This is indeed indicated by the literal meaning of the word,
"golden-stone." The tarshish received its name from Tartessus,
in Spain, an important commercial station of the Phoenicians. The
stone derived from this source was not, of
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