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Sec. I, Ch. 3: Precious Stones & Their Uses in Bygone Times

Sec. I, Ch. 3: Precious Stones & Their Uses in Bygone Times Page of 366 Sec. I, Ch. 3: Precious Stones & Their Uses in Bygone Times Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
Precious Stones and their uses in bygone times. 13
After the Romans became possessed of the treasures of Asia and Africa, they probably gained a much fuller knowledge of Precious Stones. The elder Pliny must have been better informed than his predecessors as to the places where gems were found. From him also we gain most of our knowledge of the views of the Ancients as to Precious Stones. During this period the luxury of Rome in respect to PreciousStones was enormous. The Emperors adorned their robes with jewels of immense value. Paulina, the wife of Caligula, covered her dress entirely with Emeralds and Pearls of untold wealth. Pliny says " we drink out of a mass of gems, and our drinking vessels are formed of Emeralds." A little later they began to mount their sacred pictures in frames set round with gems. Constantine entered Rome in a chariot of gold, adorned with Precious Stones, which are described as having sent forth brilliant rays of light. In his time the Royal Crown was first set about with similar gems, a custom which has been continued to the present day.
Passing on to the Christian Era we find among writers upon Precious Stones, that Isidorus, Bishop of Seville, in the year 630 A.D., takes a prominent place. He classified gems according to their colour. In the eleventh century Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, wrote a Lapidarium, or Latin poem on stones, of which a Norman-French version is also known. A century later brought forth a really scien­tific treatise by Mohammed Ben Mansur—a work marked by great acumen, and evidently the result of an extensive acquaintance with the stones which he describes. Coming down to later times, attention may be specially directed to the treatise De Gemmis et Lapidibus, written in 1609 by a Dutch physician, Anseimus de Boot, whose name is better known in its Latinised form of Boethius.
Sec. I, Ch. 3: Precious Stones & Their Uses in Bygone Times Page of 366 Sec. I, Ch. 3: Precious Stones & Their Uses in Bygone Times
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