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COMMENTARY
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change in the reading of the manuscripts, since he was not satisfied with either of the two proposed emendations. Stephanides has recently decided in favor of τανων, and this is certainly better than βακτριανων.
Though both the locality and the brief description of tanos given by Pliny apply to green turquoise, the large size of the stone mentioned by Theophrastus is definitely against this identification. Possibly tanos was the proper name for green turquoise, and the large slab at Tyre was actually composed of some other stone that only resembled this mineral. Theophrastus appears to have this possibility in mind when he suggests that the material of the slab may have been a "false smaragdos" rather than tanos. The former term was clearly used to denote malachite. Green turquoise and malachite, because of their similar appearance, were apparently often confused in ancient times, and this confusion is not entirely absent from the works of modern writers who have attempted to identify the green stones used by ancient peoples.124
25. Tyre. Very likely Theophrastus obtained part of his information about this huge green stone from Herodotus,125 who visited Tyre and saw this remarkable column or slab, which he describes briefly. Herodotus says that the column shone at night, and some commentators have suggested that it may have been composed of colored glass with a light inside it.126 Though this seems an attractive explanation because of the reputed skill of the glassworkers of Phoenicia,127 the descriptions apparently refer to a natural stone rather than to an artificial material. Furthermore, as was pointed out in the notes on section 24, it is highly improbable that ancient artisans could have fashioned any very large object out of glass. If it was composed of glass at all, this column must have been made of numerous small pieces fastened together in some way. On the whole, it seems much more probable that it was
124 Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, p. 457.
125 Π, 44.
126 G. Rawlinson, The History of Herodotus (London, 1858-1860), Vol. II, pp. 8182; W. W. How and J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus (Oxford, 1912), Vol. I, p. 188.
127 Partington, Origins and Development of Applied Chemistry, pp. 454-55.
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