There
is likewise little evidence that pearls were extensively employed by
the ancient Assyrians, notwithstanding that excavations at Nineveh and
Nimrud have furnished much information regarding their ornaments ; and
the collars, bracelets, sword-hilts, etc., wrought in gold and
ornamented with gems, show that the jewelers' art had made much
progress. This is not wholly trustworthy as determining the relative
abundance; for being of organic or non-mineral origin, pearls would not
have survived the burial for thousands of years so well as the crystal
gems. An inscription on the Nineveh Obelisk, which states, according to
Sir Henry Rawlinson, that in the ninth year of his reign Temenbar
received, as "tribute of the kings of the Chal-dees, gold, silver,
gems, and pearls,"1 shows that the sea-born gems were highly valued there.
The mother-of-pearl shell was in use as an ornament in ancient Egypt certainly as early as the sixth dynasty (circa 3200 b.c.), the
period of the Tanis Sphinx. In a recent letter from Luxor, where he is
studying the ruins of ancient Thebes, Dr. James T. Dennis states that
he has found several of these shells bearing cartouches of that period
; and in the "pan-bearing graves" of the twelfth dynasty (2500 b.c.), the
shell occurred not only complete, but cut in roughly circular or
oblong angular blocks and strung on chains with beads of carnelian,
pottery, etc.
So
far as can be determined from the representations of ancient Egyptian
costumes, pearls do not seem to have been employed to any great extent
in their decoration. The necklaces, earrings, and other jewels found in
the tombs, which are composed largely of gold set with crystal gems,
contain the remains of a few pearls, but give no indication that they
were numerous. In fact, no evidence exists that they were used
extensively before the Persian conquest in the fifth century b.c. ;
and probably it was not until the time of the Ptolemies that there
began the lavish abundance which characterized the court of Alexandria
at the height of her power.
The
authorities differ in regard to the mention of pearls in ancient Hebrew
literature; although in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament,
this significance has been given to the word gabîsh in Job xxviii. 18, where the value of wisdom is contrasted with that of gabîsh. Some writers claim that this word refers to rock crystal. Other authorities are of the opinion that the word peninim in Lam. iv. y, which has been translated as "rubies," actually signifies pearls. In Gen. ii. 12, Prof. Paul Haupt has proposed to render shoham stones by pearls, since the Hebrew word translated "onyx," if connected with the Assyrian sându, might mean "the gray gem." It does not
1 Rawlinson, "Cuneiform Inscriptions of Babylonia and Assyria," London, 1850, p. 38.
