deaf-mute mason, named Adrien Quinquin, while he was excavating for the
restoration of one of the dependencies of the church of Saint Brice de
Tournai. One of the most interesting objects found in the tomb was the
golden signet of Childeric bearing his head and the legend _Childerici
regis_. The earliest description is given in a work by Chiflet entitled
“Anastasis Childerici,” “Resurrection of Childeric,” published by
Plantin of Antwerp in 1655. The various ornaments were sent by the
Spanish Governor-General of the Netherlands to the Austrian treasury in
Vienna, and were not long afterward, in 1664, graciously donated by
Emperor Leopold I to King Louis XIV, at the instance of Johann Philip
of Schonborn, Archbishop of Mainz, who was under great obligation to
the French sovereign.
[Illustration: ROCK-CRYSTAL SPHERE.
Japan, five inches diameter. Morgan collection, American Museum of
Natural History, New York.]
In Paris the various ornaments were preserved in the Bibliothèque
Royale until the night of November 5-6, 1831, when many of them, with
other valuables, were stolen by an ex-convict. Closely pursued by the
police, the thief threw his booty into the Seine; much of the plunder
was subsequently recovered, but the signet of Childeric was lost for
ever. The crystal ball had not seemed of sufficient value to tempt the
thief and was left undisturbed; it was later, in 1852, deposited in the
Louvre Museum.[327]
In a personal communication to Abbé Cochet made in 1858 by Mr. Thomas
Wright, the latter stated that he had seen at Downing in Flintshire
with Lord Fielding five crystal balls, bearing labels declaring that
they came from the sepulchres of the kings of France violated at the
time of the French Revolution. They had been purchased about 1810 at
the sale of the Duchess of Portland’s effects.[328]
Among the crystal balls found in French sepulchres may be noted one
discovered by Rigollot in 1853 at Arras, and preserved in the Museum
of that city; this still has the original gold mounting serving to
attach it to the necklace from which it had been worn suspended.
Another found at or near Levas was in the possession of M. Dancoise, a
notary of Hénin-Liétard, dept. Pas de Calais.[329] In the Bibliothèque
at Dieppe there is a crystal ball, 32 mm. in diameter, found at
Douvrend, dept. Seine-Inferieure, in 1838, in a Merovingian tomb; this
is pierced through.[330] The department of Moselle supplied three
discoveries of this kind, crystal balls having been found in a tomb at
St. Preux-la-Montagne, Sablon and Moineville near Briey, the latter
measuring 36 mm. in diameter.[331]
The Saxon tombs of England have also furnished a contingent of crystal
balls, for example at Chatham, at Chassel Down on the Isle of Wight,
where four were discovered, at Breach Down, Barham, near Canterbury, at
Fairford, Gloucestershire, and also in Kent.[332]
We should also note a crystal ball found in a funerary urn at Hinsbury
Hill, Northamptonshire;[333] this as well as the one found at Fairford
was facetted.[334] From St. Nicholas, Worcestershire, is reported a
crystal ball 1½ inches in diameter.[335]
In his “Hydrotaphia, or Urn Burial,” published in 1658, Sir Thomas
Browne (1605-1682), author of the “Religio Medici,” relates that there
was at that time in the possession of Cardinal Farnese, an urn in
which, besides a number of antique engraved gems, an ape of agate,
and an elephant of amber, there had been found a crystal ball and six
“nuts” of crystal.[336]
One of the largest and most perfect crystal balls is in the Dresden
“Grüne Gewölbe” (Green Vaults). This weighs 15 German pounds and
measures 6⅔ inches in diameter; it was undoubtedly used for purposes
of augury. Ten thousand dollars was the price paid for it in 1780.
A crystal ball known as the Currahmore Crystal, because it is kept
at the seat of that name belonging to the Marquis of Waterford, has
long enjoyed and still enjoys the repute of possessing magical powers.
It is of rock-crystal, and the legend runs that one of the Le Poers
brought it from the Holy Land, where it had been given him by the
great crusader Godefroy de Bouillon (1058-1100). The ball is a trifle
larger than an orange and a silver ring encircles it at the middle.
The chief and much-prized virtue of this crystal is its power to cure
cattle of any one of the many distempers to which they are subject. Its
application for this purpose is rather peculiar, for the cattle are not
touched with it, but driven up and down a stream in which it has been
laid. Not only in the immediate neighborhood of Currahmore is resort
had to this magic stone by the peasants, but requests for its loan are
often made from far distant parts of Ireland. The privilege is almost
always accorded and has never been abused, the crystal being in every
case conscientiously returned to its rightful owner.[337]
The names “ghost-crystals,” “phantom-crystals,” “spectre-crystals,”
“shadow-crystals,” etc., are applied to a form of quartz in which the
crystallization was interrupted from time to time, so that in the
transparent successive layers there is an occasional opaque layer,
often no thicker than the finest possible dusting of a whiter material.
Sometimes as many as fifteen or twenty of these successive growths are
observable, one over the other. When these crystals are in the natural
form, they show beautifully from the sides and ends. Sometimes such
crystals are found after they have been rolled in the beds of mountain
torrents until they have become entirely opaque, but when the surfaces
are polished, the “phantom,” “spectre,” or “ghost,” appears with
wonderful beauty. Occasionally the entire crystal has been worn down
to a small part of the original prism, in which case it is cut into a
ball. The ball may seem to be absolutely pure, but when held in certain
lights little tent-like markings can often be observed; sometimes only
one marking is visible, but there may be as many as twenty. These
are occasionally due to a layer of smoky material, and, though they
add a charm to the ball, they detract from its value. Nevertheless,
crystal-gazers may find an additional interest when the “ghostly” or
“spectral” interior exists in a crystal ball. This growth is similar
in kind to that seen at times in opaque quartz, forming what is known
as cap-quartz; here the crystallizations can frequently be broken
apart so that they fit one over the other in many successive layers.
Occasionally the regular crystalline development will be interrupted,
as it were, and in place of the original crystal continuing its growth
harmoniously, a larger crystal will form on a smaller one, forming a
sort of mushroom, or “cap,” or “stilt” quartz, as it is termed.
[Illustration: “PHANTOM CRYSTAL” OF QUARTZ (ROCK-CRYSTAL) MADAGASCAR.
In possession of the author.]
[Illustration: 1. Rock-crystal, engraved with a map of the world.
Russian work.
2, 3. Rock-crystal balls (one elipsoidal) mounted in silver. Probably
twelfth or thirteenth century. Used for ornaments and possibly for
scrying purposes. Collection of Sir Charles Hercules Read.]
VII
Religious Uses of Precious Stones, Pagan, Hebrew, and Christian.
The use of stones for the decoration of images of the gods, and in
religious ceremonies, more especially in those connected with the
burial of the dead, can be traced back to a remote antiquity. Indeed,
we may regard this religious use of precious or peculiar stones as the
natural development of the original idea of their talismanic virtue.
If a certain supernatural essence manifested itself in the stone, what
more fit object could be imagined for the decoration of statues of the
gods, or to bear engraved texts from the sacred writings, and to be
placed with the bodies of the dead as “passports” to ensure the safe
entry of the souls of the departed into the better land?
While this employment of mineral substances for religious purposes
is practically universal, the earliest recorded instances come from
Egypt, and concern the Egyptian custom of engraving texts from a very
ancient ritual composition, called the Book of the Dead, upon certain
semi-precious stones which had been cut into various symbolical
forms. This “Book of the Dead,” composed of a number of distinct
chapters, each complete in itself, describes the passage of the soul
of the deceased through the realm of the dead (Amenti). Here the soul
addresses the gods and other beings who receive it, and the prayers
and invocations recited in the chapters are supposed to procure a safe
passage and protection from all evil influences or impediments.
One of the most usual of the engraved amulets is the buckle or tie
(thet). This was generally of red jasper, carnelian, or red porphyry,
or else of red glass or faience or of sycamore wood. The wood was
symbolical of the blood of Isis, and the amulets were sometimes
engraved with the 156th chapter of the Book of the Dead; they were
placed on the mummy’s neck. The formula engraved reads:
Chapter of the buckle of carnelian which is put on the neck of the
deceased.
The blood of Isis, the virtue of Isis; the magic power of Isis, the
magic power of the Eye are protecting this the Great one; they prevent
any wrong being done to him.
This chapter is said on a buckle of carnelian dipped into the juice of
ankhama, inlaid into the substance of the sycamore-wood and put on the
neck of the deceased.
Whoever has this chapter read to him, the virtue of Isis protects him;
Horus, the son of Isis, rejoices in seeing him, and no way is barred
to him, unfailingly.[338]
Another amulet is the _tet_. The hieroglyph represents a mason’s
table and the word signifies “firmness, stability, preservation.”
These figures, made of faience, gold, carnelian, lapis-lazuli, and
other materials, were placed on the neck of the mummy to afford
protection.[339]
The “papyrus scepter,” _uat_, is usually cut from matrix-emerald or
made of faience of similar hue. _Uat_ means “verdure, flourishing,
greenness”; placed on the neck of the mummy it was regarded as
emblematic of the eternal youth it was hoped the deceased would enjoy
in the realm of the dead. In the 159th chapter of the Book of the Dead,
we read of an _uat_ of matrix-emerald; it was believed to be the gift
of Thoth, serving to protect the limbs of the deceased.[340]
The amulet representing the pillow, _urs_, was generally made of
hematite. The 166th chapter of the Book of the Dead is sometimes
engraved thereon. Dr. Budge renders this as follows:
Rise up from non-existence, O prostrate one! They watch over thy
head at the exalted horizon. Thou overthrowest thine enemies; thou
triumphest over what they do against thee, as Horus, the avenger of
his father, this Osiris[341] has commanded to be done for thee. Thou
cuttest off the heads of thine enemies; never shall they carry off
from thee thy head (?). Verily Osiris maketh slaughter at the coming
forth of the heads of his enemies; may they never remove his head from
him.
Of all these amulets, the type most frequently encountered has the
shape of a heart, _ab_. These are found of carnelian, green jasper,
basalt, lapis-lazuli, and other hard materials. The heart, regarded
in ancient Egypt as the seat of life, was the object of especial care
after death. Enclosed in a special receptacle it was buried with the
mummy, and the belief was that only after it had been weighed in the
balance of the underworld, against the symbol of law, could it regain
its place in the body of the deceased. The heart was symbolically
represented by the scarab.[342]
A fine example of a heart amulet shows on one side the figure of
the goddess Neith with the pennu bird or phœnix, an emblem of the
resurrection, and bears inscribed the chapter of the heart.[343]
The following extract from the Book of the Dead treats of the formula
to be recited over a funeral scarab cut from a hard stone, perhaps the
lapis-lazuli. Egyptian tradition assigned this chapter to the reign of
Semti, the fifth king of the 1st Dynasty, about 4400 B.C.[344]
Chapter of not allowing a man’s heart to oppose him in the divine
regions of the nether world.
My heart which came from my mother, my heart necessary for my
existence on earth, do not rise up against me, do not testify as an
adversary against me among the divine chiefs in regard to what I have
done before the gods; do not separate from me before the great lord of
Amenti. Hail to thee, O heart of Osiris, dwelling in the West! Hail
to you, gods of the braided beard, august by your sceptre! Speak well
of the Osiris N; make him prosper by Nehbka. I am reunited with the
earth, I am not dead in Amenti. There I am a pure spirit for eternity.
To be said over a scarabæus fashioned from a hard stone, coated with
gold, and placed on the heart of the man after he has been anointed
with oil. The following words should be said over him as a magic
charm: “My heart which came from my mother, my heart is necessary for
me in my transformations.”
Take your aliments, pass around the turquoise basin, and go to him who
is in his temple and from whom the gods proceed.
The most ancient inscription of this especially favorite text is on
the plinth of a scarab in the British Museum bearing the cartouche of
Sebak-em-saf, a king of the XIV Dynasty, 2300 B.C. It is made from an
exceptionally fine piece of green jasper, the body and head of the
beetle being carefully carved out of the stone, while the legs are of
gold, carved in relief. The scarab is inserted into a gold base of
tabloid form, and was found at Kurna (Thebes) by Mr. Salt. As green
jasper was believed to possess altogether exceptional virtues as an
amulet, this particular scarab was probably regarded as especially
sacred.
[Illustration: AMBER HEART-SHAPED AMULET.
Italian, seventeenth century.]
[Illustration: AN INSCRIBED SCARAB (GREEN STONE) OF THE TYPE KNOWN AS A
HEART-SCARAB. DATE ABOUT 1300 B.C.
The Scribe Pa-bak: Let him say: “O Heart that I received from my mother
(to be said twice), O Heart that belongs to my spirit, rise not against
me as witness, oppose me not before the judges, contradict me not in
the presence of the Guardian of the Scales. Thou art the spirit that is
in my body, Khnum that makest sound my limbs. When thou comest to the
place of judgment whither we go, cause not my name to be rejected by
the assessors, but let the pronouncement of judgment be favorable, and
such as causes joy to the heart.”]
It appears to have been the rule to engrave certain special chapters
of the Book of the Dead, among those referring to the heart, upon
particular stones. Thus, for instance, the 26th chapter was engraved on
lapis-lazuli, the 27th upon feldspar, the 30th upon serpentine, and the
29th upon carnelian.[345] This may perhaps have been originally due to
some association of the god principally invoked in the text with the
precious substance upon which the text was engraved.
The form of an eye, fashioned out of lapis-lazuli and ornamented with
gold, constituted an amulet of great power; it was inscribed with the
140th chapter of the Book of the Dead. On the last day of the month
Mechir, an offering “of all things good and holy” was to be made before
this symbolic eye, for on that day the supreme god Ra was believed to
place such an image upon his head. Sometimes these eyes were made of
jasper, and could then be laid upon any of the limbs of a mummy.[346]
Of the image of Truth, made from a lapis-lazuli and worn by the
Egyptian high-priest, Ælian aptly says that he would prefer the judge
should not bear Truth about with him, fashioned and expressed in an
image, but rather in his very soul.[347]
Among the Assyrian texts giving the formulæ for incantations and
various magical operations, there is one which treats of an ornament
composed of seven brilliant stones, to be worn on the breast of the
king as an amulet; indeed, so great was the virtue of these stones that
they were supposed to constitute an ornament for the gods also. The
text, as rendered by Fossey, is as follows:[348]
Incantation. The splendid stones! The splendid stones! The stones of
abundance and of joy.
Made resplendent for the flesh of the gods.
The _ḥulalini_ stone, the _sirgarru_ stone, the _ḥulalu_ stone, the
_sându_ stone, the _uknû_ stone.
The _dushu_ stone, the precious stone _elmêshu_, perfect in celestial
beauty.
The stone of which the _pingu_ is set in gold.
Placed upon the shining breast of the king as an ornament.
Azagsud, high-priest of Bêl, make them shine, make them sparkle!
Let the evil one keep aloof from the dwelling!
The names of two of these gems, the _ḥulalu_ and the _ḥulalini_,
suggest that they were of similar class. As the fundamental meaning of
the root whence the names are formed is “to perforate,” it is barely
possible that we have here the long-sought Assyrian designation for
the pearl, which was commonly regarded in ancient times as a stone.
In Arabic the perforated pearl has a special name to distinguish it
from the unperforated, or “virgin pearl.” All we know of the _sându_
is that it must have been a dark-colored stone. The _uknû_, however,
is almost certainly the lapis-lazuli. It is often mentioned in the Tel
el Amarna tablets as having been among the gifts sent by the kings
of Babylonia and Assyria to the Pharaohs of Egypt, and also by the
latter to friendly Asiatic monarchs. Of the _sirgarru_ and _dushu_
stones nothing is known, but the _elmêshu_, the seventh in the list,
was evidently regarded as the most brilliant and splendid of all;
indeed, Prof. Friedrich Delitzsch hazards the conjecture that it is
the diamond. In any case this stone must have been set in rings and
considered very valuable, for in an Assyrian text occurs the following
passage: “Like an _elmêshu_ ring may I be precious in thine eyes.”[349]
The fact that this stone is described as having “a celestial beauty”
might incline us to believe that it was a sapphire.
The idea of this mystic ornament, composed of seven gems, probably
originated in Babylonia, where the number seven was looked upon as
especially sacred. As we shall see, there is some reason to attribute
a Hindu origin to the nine gems, “the covering” of the King of Tyre,
enumerated by Ezekiel, while the breastplate on the ephod of the Hebrew
high-priest, with its twelve stones, symbolizing the twelve months
of the year, appears to be of later date, and seems to belong to the
time of the return from the Babylonian Captivity and the building of
the second temple. Certainly, the historic and prophetic books of the
Old Testament know nothing of it, although the Urim and Thummim are
mentioned and the elaborate description given in Exodus is generally
regarded by Biblical scholars as belonging to the so-called “Priestly
Codex,” the latest part of the Pentateuch, gradually evolved during the
Exile and given its final form in the fifth century B.C.
In the very ancient Assyrio-Babylonian epic narrative of the descent
of the goddess Ishtar to Hades, the guardian of the infernal regions
obliges the goddess to lay aside some part of her clothing and
ornaments at each of the seven gates through which she passes. At the
fifth, we are told that she stripped off her girdle of _aban alâdi_, or
stones which aided parturition.[350] It has been asserted, and perhaps
with some reason, that of the many mineral substances supposed to
possess this virtue, jade (nephrite) or jadeite was the earliest known.
The Babylonian legends also tell of trees on which grow precious
stones. In the Gilgamesh epic a mystic cedar tree is described. This
grew in the Elamite sanctuary of Irnina and was under the guardianship
of the Elamite king Humbaba. Of this tree an inscription relates:
It produces _samtu_-stones as fruit;
Its boughs hang with them, glorious to behold;
The crown of it produces lapis-lazuli;
Its fruit is costly to gaze upon.
Another tree bearing precious stones was seen by the hero Gilgamesh,
after he had passed through darkness for the space of twelve hours.
This must have been a most resplendent object, to judge from the
following description on a cuneiform tablet:[351]
It bore precious stones for fruits;
Its branches were glorious to the sight;
The twigs were crystals;
It bore fruit costly to the sight.
One of the rarest and most significant specimens illustrating the use
of valuable stones for religious ceremonial purposes in the pagan
world is in the Morgan-Tiffany collection. It is an ancient Babylonian
axe-head made of banded agate. So regular, indeed, is the disposition
of the layers in this agate that one might be justified in denominating
it an onyx. Its prevailing hue is what may be called a “deer-brown”;
some white splotches now apparent are evidently due to the action of
fire or that of some alkali. This axe-head bears an inscription in
archaic cuneiform characters, and presumably in the so-called Sumerian
tongue, that believed to have been spoken by the founders of the
Babylonian civilization. The form of the inscription indicates that the
object dates from an earlier period than 2000 B.C.
[Illustration: BABYLONIAN AXE HEAD.
Agate, with inscription. Morgan collection, American Museum of Natural
History, New York.]
While the characters are clearly cut and can be easily deciphered,
the inscription is nevertheless exceedingly difficult to translate.
It is evident that the axe-head was a votive offering to a divinity,
probably on the part of a certain governor named Adduggish; but whether
the divinity in question was Shamash (the sun-god), or the god Adad,
or some other member of the Babylonian pantheon, cannot be determined
with any finality. The French assyriologist, François Lenormant, who
first described this axe-head in 1879, and Prof. Ira Maurice Price, of
the Semitic Department of Chicago University, both admit that it may
have been consecrated to Adad. As the weather-god, the thunderer, the
axe-symbol would have been more especially appropriate to him in view
of the usage, almost universal among primitive peoples, of associating
stone axe-heads or axe-shaped stones with the thunderbolt, and hence
with the divinity who was believed to have launched it toward the earth.
This Sumerian axe-head measures 134.5 mm. in length (5.3 inches), 35.5
mm. in width (1.4 inches), and 31 mm. in thickness (1.22 inches).
It was originally secured by Cardinal Stefano Borgia (1731-1804),
for some time secretary of the College of the Propaganda in Rome,
who probably acquired it from some missionary to the East. From the
cardinal’s family it passed for 15,000 lire ($3000) to the Tyszkiewicz
Collection, and when the objects therein comprised were disposed of at
public sale, the writer purchased it for the American Museum of Natural
History in New York, April 16, 1902.[352]
At Alicante, in Spain, cut upon the pedestal of an ancient statue,
supposed to have been that of Isis, was found an inscription giving a
list of the offerings dedicated by divine command, by a certain Fabia
Fabiana in honor of her granddaughter. Evidently the fond grandmother
had given of her best and choicest jewels which were used to adorn the
statue. They consisted of a diadem set with a “unio” (a large round
pearl) and six smaller pearls, two emeralds, seven beryls, two rubies,
and a hyacinth. In each ear of the statue was inserted an ear-ring
bearing a pearl and an emerald; about the neck was hung a necklace
consisting of four rows of emeralds and pearls, eighteen of the former
and thirty-six of the latter. Two circlets bound around the ankles
contained eleven beryls and two emeralds, while two bracelets were
set with eight emeralds and eight pearls. The adornment was completed
by four rings, two bearing emeralds, while two, placed on the little
finger, were set with diamonds. On the sandals were eight beryls.[353]
A notable instance of an antique votive offering is the necklace
of valuable precious stones dedicated to the statue of Vesta. The
Byzantine historian Zosimus attributes the tragic end of Stilicho’s
widow, Serena, to her having despoiled the image of Vesta of this
costly ornament, and finds a sort of poetic justice in the manner of
her death, since she was strangled by a cord which encircled her neck.