Commentary Page 139



	THEOPHRASTUS ON STONES

	it as bluish-green fluorite; and Stephanides²⁶⁶ suggested that it was beryl or chrysoberyl. That any of these identifications is correct seems very unlikely, for both the immediate context and the general content of the section show that Theophrastus is speaking of an opaque green stone. Though it is reasonably certain that prasitis was green and opaque, the lack of detailed description makes its specific identification almost impossible. Possibly it was the same as the prasius of Pliny,²⁶⁷ who lists it as a common stone, one variety of which was evidently the same as our heliotrope, a kind of dark-green chalcedony or jasper marked with spots of red jasper. The statement about its color in the present passage tends to show that prasitis was green jasper, though the possibility still remains that it was serpentine or some other common green opaque stone. Like many other ancient mineral names, prasitis may have been a generic term and may therefore have denoted any dark-green opaque stone. Cylinders, seals, and various objects made of green jasper and other kinds of green opaque stone were in use in the Aegean region from early times, as is clear from the numerous finds that have been made.²⁶⁸ 37. haimatitis. All previous commentators have identified this as hematite, native ferric oxide; apparently they assumed that it was the same as the haematites of Pliny,²⁶⁹ a term which certainly included most varieties of the mineral now called hematite. However, Pliny also mentions²⁷⁰ a precious stone called haematitis, and it seems more logical to suppose that αίματΐτις corresponded to this, for Theophrastus is clearly referring to a mineral substance of this kind. Furthermore, Theophrastus describes it in accordance with its name as having the color of dried blood, and Pliny also states that haematitis was blood-red in color; but these descriptions do not apply to the kinds of hematite that are hard enough for use as ornamental stones, since these varieties of the mineral are black, steel-gray, or, at the most, a dark-brownish red inclining to black. Only the streak that appears in these varieties and the soft compact ²⁶⁶ The Mineralogy of Theophrastus, pp. 103-104. 267 XXXVII, 113. 268 Partington, Origins and Development of Applied Chemistry, pp. 325, 359. ²⁸⁹ XXXVI, 144-47. ²™ XXXVII, 169.

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