Commentary Page 123



	THEOPHRASTUS ON STONES

	quartz. He mentions rock crystal and ametliyst in one phrase as though they belonged together, stating further that they were found when dividing other stones. Colorless quartz and ametliyst are often found in this way, and sometimes they are found together, in veins or cavities of massive rocks. They are also found lining the interior of geodes, and are revealed when these stones are broken. In the next section Theophrastus notes that άμίθνσον was wine-colored. These meager characterizations of amethyst are fortunately supplemented and confirmed by later writers. Thus, Pliny speaks of amethystus in this way: causam nominis adferunt quod usque ad vini colorem accedens, priusquam eum degustet, in violam desinat fulgor.²¹¹ (The reason for its name is said to be that it approaches the color of wine, but before it reaches this color it shades off into violet.) In speaking of the varieties of amethyst, Pliny also says this: quintum ad vidua crystalli descendit albicante purpurae defectu²¹² (a fifth kind approaches rock crystal very closely, the purple gradually fading off into white). The second quotation accurately describes the common kind of amethystine quartz which is only slightly or partially colored. Though it is likely that the same name would have been applied by the ancients to purple sapphire or purple fluorite because they are similar in color, there are no stones of this kind in collections of ancient engraved gems; this indicates that amethyst, if not the only purple stone known to the ancients, was at least the only one of this color that was engraved. About three per cent of the engraved gems of the Hellenistic and early Roman period that are catalogued by Furtwangler²¹³ are made of amethyst. 30. sardion. The brief statements in this passage, when supplemented by what Pliny²¹⁴ says about sarda, show that σάρδων was a generic name applied to those varieties of red chalcedony suitable for seals. These stones are simply quartz colored with small amounts of ferric oxide. Theophrastus plainly distinguishes two varieties: the one which is described as translucent but redder than the other ²¹¹XXXVTI, 121. 21= XXXVII, 123. ²¹³ Furtwangler, Die antigen Gemmen, Vol. II, pp. 130-46, 153-73. ²¹⁴ XXXVII, 105-107.

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