The Curious Lore of Precious Stones Being a description...

In the attempt to determine the identity of the stones enumerated in Exodus xxviii and xxxix, as adorning the breastplate of the high-priest, we must bear in mind that this “breastplate of Aaron” and the one described by Josephus, and brought by Titus to Rome after the capture of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., are in all probability entirely distinct objects. The former, if it ever existed, except in the ideal world of the authors of the Priestly Codex, must have been composed of the stones known to and used by the Egyptians of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, B.C., some of them being, perhaps, set in the “jewels of gold and jewels of silver” borrowed by the Israelites from the Egyptians just before the Exodus; on the other hand, the most trustworthy indications regarding the stones of the breastplate of the Second Temple, made perhaps in the fifth century B.C., should be sought in the early Greek and Latin versions of the Old Testament, and in the treatise on precious stones by Theophrastus, who wrote about 300 B.C. The Natural History of Pliny, that great storehouse of ancient knowledge, and other early writers, may also be used with profit.

I. Odem. [אֹדֶם.] The etymology of this word clearly indicates that we have to do with a red stone, most probably the carnelian. We know that in ancient Egypt hieroglyphic texts from the Book of the Dead were engraved upon amulets made from this stone, and it was also used for early Babylonian cylinders. Fine specimens of carnelian were obtained from Arabia. The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, as well as Josephus, in the “Wars of the Jews” (V, 5, 7), and Epiphanius, all translate sardius, the ancient designation of carnelian; in his “Antiquities,” however, Josephus renders odem by “sardonyx.” The Egyptian word chenem was used to designate red stones, and seems to have been applied indifferently to red jasper and red feldspar as well as to carnelian; indeed, the first-named material was more freely used in early Egyptian work than the carnelian. It is, therefore, probable that in Mosaic times odem signified red jasper, while for the fifth century B.C. “carnelian” would be the better rendering. This modern name of the sardius, signifying the “flesh-colored” stone, first appears in the Latin translation of a treatise by Luca ben Costa, who wrote in the tenth century A.D. The name of Reuben is said to have been engraved on the odem stone, which occupied the first place on the breastplate.

II. Piṭdah. [פַּטְדָה.] There seems to be little doubt that this is the topazius of ancient writers, which usually signified our chrysolite, or peridot, not our topaz; for Pliny and his successors describe the topazius as a stone of a greenish hue. A legend related by Pliny gives as the place of origin an island in the Red Sea, called Topazos, from topazein, “to conjecture,” because it was difficult to find. However, the Hebrew piṭdah appears to have been derived from the Sanskrit piṭa, “yellow,” and should, therefore, have originally signified a yellow stone, perhaps our topaz. W. M. Flinders Petrie, probably influenced by this Sanskrit etymology, sees in it the yellow serpentine used in ancient Egypt. If, nevertheless, we admit that a light green stone occupied the second place on the Mosaic breastplate, it was perhaps the light green serpentine. This was called meh in Egyptian, and was often used for amulets. In the case of the later breastplate we may substitute the peridot. On this second stone was engraved the name Simeon.

III. Bareketh. [בָּרֶקֶת.] Here the Septuagint, Josephus, and the Vulgate agree in translating smaragdus, and as we know that emerald mines were worked at Mount Zabarah, in Nubia, before the beginning of our era, and that the emerald was known and used in Egypt, there does not seem to be any reason for rejecting the usual translation “emerald.” Still it must be admitted that smaragdus often designates other green stones than the emerald. The suggestion has been made (by Myers and Petrie) that the passage in Revelation iv, 3, where the rainbow is likened to the smaragdus, indicates that the writer used this name for rock-crystal; but this conjecture is scarcely satisfactory, since it confuses the prismatic effects of light which has traversed the crystal with the crystal itself. There can be little doubt that a stone of brilliant coloration, like the emerald, not a colorless one, like rock-crystal, would be used as a simile of the rainbow. Whether the Mosaic breastplate already contained the emerald is another question, and it seems rather more likely that green feldspar, freely used in ancient Egypt for amulets, and known as uat, was the third stone of the proto-breastplate. The Authorized Version makes “the carbuncle” the third instead of the fourth stone. Upon the bereketh was engraved the name Levi.

IV. Nophek. [נֹפֶךּ.] This name is rendered ἄνθραξ by the Septuagint and Josephus, and “carbunculus” by the Vulgate. This designation, signifying literally “a glowing coal,” was used for certain stones distinguished by their peculiarly brilliant red color, such as the ruby and certain fine garnets. While it is quite possible that the Oriental ruby may have been in the breastplate seen by Josephus, it is almost certain that it could not have been in the original breastplate of Mosaic times, since there is absolutely no proof that this stone was known in ancient Egypt. Hence we are inclined to believe that in the thirteenth century B.C. the name nophek designated the almandine garnet, or some similar variety of that stone. The Authorized Version has “emerald” here instead of in the third place. On this fourth stone of the breastplate was engraved the tribal name of Judah.

V. Sappir. [סַפִּיר] This is rendered sapphirus in all the old versions.423 The stone cannot have been our sapphire, for both Theophrastus and Pliny describe the sapphirus as a stone with golden spots, thus showing that they meant the lapis-lazuli, which is often spotted with particles of pyrites having a golden sheen. This stone was named chesbet by the Egyptians, and was highly prized by them, a quantity of lapis-lazuli often appearing as an important item in the lists of tribute paid to Egypt and among the gifts sent by Babylonia to the Egyptian monarchs, and obtained from the oldest mines in the world. These were worked at a period 4000 B.C. and still are worked to this day. From this material amulets and figures were made, many of which have been preserved for us, and the Egyptian high-priest is said to have worn, suspended from his neck, an image of Mat, the Goddess of Truth, made of lapis-lazuli. The name is composed of the Latin lapis, “a stone,” and lajuward, the name of the stone in Persian. From this latter word is also derived our “azure.” In ancient times the lapis-lazuli was the blue stone par excellence, because of its beautiful color and the valuable ultramarine dye derived from it. Although Pliny writes (xxxvii, 39) that this stone was too soft for engraving, this fact need not have prevented its use in the breastplate, since the stones set therein were not intended for use as seals and hence were not subjected to any wear.

In this connection, however, it is somewhat strange that the Hebrew word sappir appears to indicate a stone especially adapted to receive inscriptions. The fact that the lapis-lazuli was greatly esteemed in ancient Egypt, and was still much used as an ornamental stone in Greek and Roman times, renders it probable that it was set not only in the original breastplate, but also in that of a later age. Upon this fifth stone the name Issachar was inscribed.

VI. Yahalom. [יַהֲלֹם] The sixth stone of the Septuagint version and of Josephus is the ἴασπις, probably green jasper, or jade, and this has been assumed to show that in the original Hebrew text yashpheh was the sixth stone, in place of yahalom. The twelfth stone of the Greek version is the ὀνύχιον or “onyx,” and this seems to be the most probable equivalent of the Hebrew yahalom. Some Hebrew sources, however, render it “diamond,” and Luther in his German version of the Bible, as well as our own Authorized Version, translates it thus. This rendering is based upon the derivation of the word yahalom from a verb meaning “to smite,” thus making the name of the stone signify “the smiter,” a designation not inappropriate for the diamond, which, because of its extreme hardness, has the power to cut, or “smite,” all other stones. However, for this purpose the emery corundum, or smiris-point shamir, mentioned in Zechariah, was most likely used. The diamond was certainly not used in this way in very early times, although it is possible that the stone was employed in engraving in the fifth century B.C. These considerations induce us to prefer the traditional interpretation of yahalom, and translate it “onyx.” In this case “the smiter” could be explained as denoting the use of the engraved onyx for sealing, as the engraved figure or letters were struck upon some soft material to make an impression. Zebulun was the tribal name inscribed on the yahalom.

VII. Leshem. [לֶשֶׁם] No stone in the breastplate is more difficult to determine than this one. The Septuagint, Josephus, and the Vulgate all translate ligurius, an appellation sometimes applied to amber, a substance quite unfitted for use in the breastplate among the other engraved stones. Probably the original significance of ligurius was amber, this name being used because Liguria, in northern Italy, was the chief source of supply for Greece and the Orient; amber which had been gathered on the shores of the Baltic being brought by traders to Liguria and forwarded thence to other lands. As, however, the Greeks had another name for amber, electron, the name ligurion appears to have been applied later to a variety of the jacinth somewhat resembling amber in color, and then to other varieties of the same stone. The original form of the name was evidently ligurion, which was later changed to lyncurion, and was then explained as meaning the urine of the lynx (from λύγξ, and οὖρον, urine). This fanciful etymology gave rise to the story that the ligurios, or rather lyncurius, was the solidified urine of the lynx. The term lyncurion, as used by Theophrastus, may possibly have included the sapphire as well as the jacinth, since he lays especial stress upon the coldness of this substance, a quality characteristic of the sapphire, and also of the still denser jacinth.

Hence, it appears that we have, even in the name ligurius, some justification for accepting the rendering hyacinthus, suggested by the list of foundation stones in Revelation xxi, 20, and already proposed by Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia, about 400 A.D. Whether hyacinthus should be rendered “sapphire” or “jacinth” is not easy to determine, as this name seems to have been used indifferently for both stones; with the Arabs, under the form yakut, it became a generic term for all the varieties of the corundum gems. The sapphire was engraved in Greek and Roman times and is, perhaps, the leshem stone of the Second Temple. For the Mosaic breastplate we are forced to seek for some stone known in ancient Egypt, where the sapphire does not seem to have been introduced at an early date. If we could accept the suggestion of Brugsch that the Egyptian neshem stone, reputed to have wonderful magic virtues, was the same as the Hebrew leshem, a brown agate would have been the seventh stone in the original breastplate, as Wendel gives very strong reasons for rendering neshem in this way. The color designations were very freely used in Egyptian, and therefore a reddish or a yellowish brown agate may have been used. The leshem bore the tribal name Joseph.

VIII. Shebo. [שְׁבוֹ.] This is uniformly rendered in the ancient versions and in Josephus by “agate,” a composite stone highly esteemed in very ancient times, and hence worthy of a place among the stones of the breastplate; at a later period, as Pliny notes (xxxvii, 54), it became so common that it was but little regarded. Nevertheless the fact that the various kinds of agates were believed to have many talismanic and therapeutic virtues, the great variety of coloration observable in these stones, and the curious figures and markings displayed by many of them, served to make them favorite objects. The etymology of the word shebo suggests that it designated more especially a banded agate, and that set in the proto-breastplate was most probably one with gray and white bands, as this variety often appears in Egyptian work. There would have been no lack of contrast between this stone and the reddish or yellowish-brown agate, of uniform color, which may have occupied the seventh place. For the later breastplate we may choose any one of the many kinds of banded agate. This stone had engraved upon it the name Benjamin.

IX. Aḥlamah. [אַחְלָמָה.] As to this stone also, all the authorities are in agreement, and render aḥlamah by “amethyst.” This was not, however, the Oriental amethyst, a variety of corundum, but a dark blue or purple variety of quartz. Both Arabia and Syria furnished a supply of amethysts. The Hebrew name shows that this stone was believed to possess the virtue of inducing dreams and visions (cf. halom—“dream”), while, as is well known, the Greek name characterizes it as an enemy or preventive of inebriety. The amethyst was known in ancient Egypt and probably was named hemag. In the Book of the Dead a heart made of hemag is mentioned, and two such heart-shaped amulets of amethyst are preserved in the Boulaq Museum. As the amethyst retained its repute as a stone of beauty and power through the Greek and Roman periods, we may safely assert that it was set in both the first and second breastplates. Upon the aḥlamah was engraved the name Dan.

X. Tarshish. [תַרשִׁישׁ.] The Septuagint renders this word “chrysolite,” where it is used in the description of the breastplate, as does Josephus also. In the Authorized Version, “beryl” is the rendering. We have already stated that the topaz of the ancients was usually our chrysolite, or peridot, and the name “chrysolite” appears to have been used to designate our topaz. This is indeed indicated by the literal meaning of the word, “golden-stone.” The tarshish received its name from Tartessus, in Spain, an important commercial station of the Phœnicians. The stone derived from this source was not, of course, our Oriental topaz, a variety of corundum, nor was it the true topaz; neither is it at all likely that the name tarshish signified, at least originally, the genuine topaz; most probably it denoted a variety of quartz which occurs in Spain. This is originally black, but is decolorized by heating to a deep brown, and if the heating be prolonged the stone becomes paler and eventually entirely transparent. The ancients were familiar with this property. In ancient Egyptian records a stone called thehen is frequently mentioned as a material from which amulets were made. This Egyptian name signified primarily a “yellow stone,” and might designate either the topaz or the yellow jasper, known and used in Egypt at a very early date; the topaz was probably not known there earlier than 500 or 600 B.C.

Hence, in spite of the unquestionable difficulty offered by the geographical name tarshish, which might seem to confine us to a Spanish origin for the stone, the probabilities favor the selection of the yellow jasper as the tenth gem in Aaron’s breastplate. For that made with pious zeal by those who labored to renew the glories of the Old Jerusalem, we choose the topaz,—possibly, indeed, a fine specimen of the genuine topaz,—for whatever the quality of the yellow stone originally brought from Tartessus, the name may well have been applied to the genuine topaz when that stone became known to the Jews, either in Babylonia, or after their return to Palestine. The tarshish was engraved with the name Naphtali.

XI. Shoham. [שֹׁהַם.] The Septuagint translates “beryl,” but in our Authorized Version and in that used by Roman Catholics, the so-called Douai Version, the word is invariably rendered “onyx.” Diodorus Siculus and Dionysius Periegetes, writing in the first century B.C., are the first classical authors who use the name beryl. While this name does not appear in the treatise of Theophrastus, he evidently includes the beryl among his smaragdi; indeed, the true emerald is simply a variety of the beryl, and owes its beautiful coloration to a slight admixture of chromium. The finest beryls were brought from India. Besides the specimen set in the breastplate, the high-priest wore on his shoulders two shoham stones, each engraved with the names of six of the tribes. After carefully weighing the evidence, we believe that the stones worn by the high-priest of the Second Temple were aquamarines (beryls). In our endeavor to determine the shoham stones used in Mosaic times, we have no very definite information to guide us; on the whole, the conjecture of J. L. Myers, that they were malachites, seems to have much in its favor, for this material was known to the ancient Egyptians and appears to have been often used for amulets. The Egyptian name for malachite, as well as for other green stones, was mafek, and a ring of mafek is mentioned in an Egyptian text; undoubtedly, at a later period in Egyptian history, mafek may also have denoted the beryl.

In view of the fact that the turquoise was unquestionably known to the Egyptians at a very early date, the supply being derived from mines in the Sinai Peninsula, which were rediscovered by Macdonald, we might be tempted to suggest that the shoham stones were turquoises. The light blue or blue-green of the specimens of this stone found on Mt. Sinai would make an even better contrast with the neighboring jade than would the bright green malachite. On the shoham of the breastplate the name Gad was engraved.

XII. Yashpheh. [יָשְׁפֶה.] If, as appears almost certain, this name originally occupied the sixth place in the original Hebrew text, all the ancient versions agree in translating it “jasper.” An Assyrian form of the name was yashpu, as is shown by the Tell el Amarna letters in the cuneiform writing dating from not long before the Exodus. Of all the so-called jaspers none were so highly valued as those of a green color. The talismanic and therapeutic qualities of the “green jaspers” are often noted by ancient writers, and, according to Galen, these stones were recommended for remedial use by Egyptian writers on medicine. Abel Remusat, the great French Orientalist, writing in 1820, was one of the first to see in the yashpheh of the Hebrews and in the green jasper of the Greeks and Romans, the material jade (nephrite or jadeite), the Chinese yu-stone. These minerals were used both in the Old and the New World, and were everywhere believed to possess wonderful virtues. Very likely the powers supposed to characterize jade were later attributed to green jasper, but there is every reason to suppose that the true jade was always more highly prized than its jasper substitute, for it was much rarer, and was easily distinguishable, by its translucency, from jasper of a similar color. Until quite recently only Turkestan, Burma and New Zealand have supplied jade and most of that used in other lands came from prehistoric relics or from sources unknown to us.

It seems highly probable that the yashpheh which adorned the breastplate made for Aaron was a piece of nephrite or jadeite; possibly in the later breastplate green jasper may have been employed. This stone was inscribed with the tribal name Assher.

In the following lists of the precious and semi-precious stones contained in the earlier and later breastplates, the writer does not claim to have finally solved the problem presented by the Hebrew accounts of the high-priest’s adornment, but he hopes that the distinction established here between the Mosaic breastplate and that of the Second Temple, separated from each other by an interval of eight centuries, may serve to clear up some of the difficulties encountered in the treatment of this subject.