Luminous gemstones
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Folktales about luminous gemstones are an almost worldwide
Mineralogical luminosity
First, it will be useful to introduce some
The American geologist
The luminescent
Some fluorite, particularly the variety
Scholars have proposed many identifications for myths about luminous gemstones described for over two thousand years. Most frequently rubies or carbuncles (often red garnets), which classical and medieval mineralogists did not differentiate, and less commonly other gems, including diamonds, emeralds, jade, and pearls (Ball 1938: 497).
The American sinologist Edward H. Schafer proposes that the phosphorescent "emeralds" of classical antiquity, such as the brilliantly shining green eyes of the marble lion on the tomb of King Hermias of Atarneus (d. 341 BCE) on Cyprus, were fluorite, even though the Hellenistic alchemists had methods, "seemingly magical, of making night-shining gems by the application of phosphorescent paints to stones", the most famous being their "emeralds" and "carbuncles" (1963: 238).
The names of some luminescent gemstones etymologically derive from "glow" or "fire" words (e.g., pyroemerald for "chlorophane" above).
The
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Aquamarine
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Barite
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Fosterite
Mythological luminosity
Luminous gems are common theme in comparative mythology. Ball cross-culturally analyzed stories about luminous stones and pearls and found about one hundred variants in ancient, medieval, and modern sources. The wide-ranging locations of the tales comprise all Asia (except Siberia), all Europe (except Norway and Russia), Borneo, New Guinea, the United States, Canada, certain South American countries and Abyssinia, French Congo, and Angola in Africa. The later African and American myths were likely introduced by Europeans. Ball divides legends about luminous gems into three principal themes: light sources, gem mining, and animals (Ball 1938: 497–498).
Light source legends
The first theme is using legendary luminous gems to illuminate buildings, for navigation lights on ships, or sometimes as guiding lights for lost persons (Ball 1938: 498–500).
In India, the earliest country in which fine gemstones were known, belief in luminous gems dates back some twenty-five centuries. The c. 700 BCE – 300 CE
In
, "lamp; light") (Schafer 1963: 237). "From this stone flashes a great light in the night-time, so that the whole temple gleams brightly as by the light of myriads of candles, but in the daytime the brightness grows faint; the gem has the likeness of a bright fire" (tr. Strong and Garstang 1913: 72). According to Pliny, the stone is called lychnis because its luster is heightened by the light of a lamp, when its tints are particularly pleasing (Laufer 1915: 58).Although early Chinese classics from the
Li Shizhen's 1578 Bencao Gangmu pharmacopeia describes leizhu (雷珠, "thunder pearls/beads") that the divine dragon shenlong "held in its mouth and dropped. They light the entire house at night" (tr. Laufer 1912: 64). Chinese dragons are frequently depicted with a flaming pearl or gem under their chin or in their claws. According to the German anthropologist Wolfram Eberhard, the long dragon is a symbol of clouds and rainstorms, and when it plays with a ball or pearl, this signifies the swallowing of the moon by the clouds or thunder in the clouds. The moon frequently appears as a pearl, and thus the dragon with the pearl is equal to the clouds with the moon. The pearl-moon relationship is expressed in the Chinese belief that at full moon pearls are solid balls and at new moon they are hollow (1968: 239, 382).
Rabbinic Judaism includes a number of references to luminous gems. For example, the first century Rabbi, Rav Huna, says he was fleeing from Roman soldiers and hid in a cave illuminated by a light that was brighter in the night and darker in the day.[citation needed]
The best documented of the illumination tales is that of the
The English alchemist John Norton wrote a 1470 poem entitled "Ordinal, or a manual of the chemical art", in which he proposed erecting a gold bridge over the River Thames and illuminating it with carbuncles set on golden pinnacles, "A glorious thing for men to beholde" (Ashmole 1652: 27).
Boats lit by luminous gems are a variant of the illumination idea. Rabbinic Judaism had a tradition that "Noah had a luminous stone in the Ark that "shone more brightly by night than by day, thus serving to distinguish day and night when the sun and moon were shrouded by dense cloud." (Harvey 1957: 15). The Genesis Rabbah describes the Tzoar that illuminates Noah's Ark (Genesis 6:16) as a luminous gemstone (the King James Version translates as 'window').[citation needed] The Mormon Book of Ether describes "sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass", being touched by God's hand so that they might "shine forth in darkness." The Jaredites placed a stone fore and aft on each ship and had "light continually" during their 344-day voyage to America (Ball 1938: 500).
The theme of luminous gems guiding mariners and others originated in Europe in the Middle Ages. The earliest is probably the
The
The Dutch scholar Alardus of Amsterdam (1491–1544) relates the history of a luminous "chrysolampis" (χρυσόλαμπις, "gold-gleaming") gem set on a golden tablet with other valuable gemstones. Around 975, Hildegard, wife of Dirk II, Count of Holland, dedicated the tablet to Saint Adalbert of Egmond and presented it to Egmond Abbey, where the saint's body reposed. Alardus tells us that the "chrysolampis" "shone so brightly that when the monks were called to the chapel in the nighttime, they could read the Hours without any other light"; however, this brilliant gem was stolen by one of the monks and thrown into the sea (Kunz 1913: 164).
The French chemist Marcellin Berthelot (1888) discovered an early Greek alchemical text "from the sanctuary of the temple" that says the Egyptians produced "the carbuncle that shines in the night" from certain phosphorescent parts ("the bile") of marine animals, and when properly prepared these precious gems would glow so brightly at night "that anyone owning such a stone could read or write by its light as well as he could by daylight" (Kunz 1913: 173).
Gem mining legends
Second, there are stories about miners finding luminous gems at night and extracting them by day (Ball 1938: 500–501). One notable exception is Pliny's c. 77 CE Natural History that describes finding carbuncles in the daytime, some kinds "doe glitter and shine of their owne nature: by reason whereof, they are discovered soone wheresoever they lie, by the reverberation of the Sun-beams" (Harvey 1957: 34).
In the 1st century BCE, the Greek historians Diodorus Siculus (c. 90–30) and Strabo (c. 63–24) both record the peridot (gem-quality olivine) mine of Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus (r. 285–246 BCE) on the barren, forbidden island of Ophiodes (Ὀφιώδηςνήσος, "Snakey") or Topazios (Τοπάζιος, "Topaz"), modern Zabargad Island, off the ancient Red Sea port Berenice Troglodytica. Diodorus says Philadelphus exterminated the "divers sorts of dreadful Serpents" that formerly infested on the island on account of the "Topaz, a resplendent Stone, of a delightful Aspect, like to Glass, of a Golden colour, and of admirable brightness; and therefore all were forbidden to set footing upon that Place; and if any landed there, he was presently put to death by the Keepers of the Island." The Egyptian mining technique relied upon luminosity. "This Stone grows in the Rocks, darken'd by the brightness of the Sun; it's not seen in the Day, but shines bright and glorious in the darkest Night, and discovers itself at a great distance. The Keepers of the Island disperse themselves into several Places to search for this stone, and wherever it appears, they mark the Place, with a great Vessel of largeness sufficient to cover the sparkling Stone; and then in the Day time, go to the Place, and cut out the Stone, and deliver it to those that are Artists in polishing of 'em" (tr. Oldfather et al. 1814 3: 36). According to Strabo, "The topaz is a transparent stone sparkling with a golden lustre, which, however, is not easy to be distinguished in the day-time, on account of the brightness of the surrounding light, but at night the stones are visible to those who collect them. The collectors place a vessel over the spot [where the topazes are seen] as a mark, and dig them up in the day" (tr. Hamilton and Falconer 1889 3:103). Ball notes that the legendary "topaz" of Topazios island is olivine, which is not luminescent while true topaz is, and suggests, "This tale may well have been told to travelers by astute Egyptian gem merchants anxious to enhance the value of their wares by exaggerating the dangers inherent to procuring the olivines" (1938: 500). In the present day, the island mine is now submerged underwater and inaccessible.
The theme of locating luminous gems at night is found in other sources. The c. 125 CE didactic Christian text Physiologus states that the diamond ("carbuncle") is not to be found in the day but only at night, which may imply that it emits light (Laufer 1915:62). The Anglo-Indian diplomat Thomas Douglas Forsyth says that in 632, the ancient Iranian Saka Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan sent a "splendid jade stone" as tribute to Emperor Taizong of Tang. Khotan's rivers were famous for their jade, "which was discovered by its shining in the water at night", and divers would procure it in shallow waters after the snowmelt floods had subsided (1875: 113). The Bohemian rabbi Petachiah of Regensburg (d. c. 1225) adapted Strabo's story for the gold he saw in the land of Ishmael, east of Nineveh, where "the gold grows like herbs. In the night its brightness is seen when a mark is made with dust or lime. They then come in the morning and gather the herbs upon which the gold is found" (tr. Benisch and Ainsworth 1856: 51, 53).
A modern parallel to ancient miners seeking luminous gems at nighttime is mineworkers using portable shortwave ultraviolet lamps to locate ores that respond with color-specific fluorescence. For instance, under short-wave UV light, scheelite, a tungsten ore, fluoresces a bright sky-blue, and willemite, a minor ore of zinc, fluoresces green (Ball 1938: 501).
Animal legends
The third luminous-gem theme involves serpents (of Hindu origin), or small animals (Spanish), with gems in their heads, or grateful animals repaying human kindness (Chinese and Roman) (Ball 1938: 501–505).
Legends about snakes that carry a marvelous jewel either in their forehead or in their mouth are found almost worldwide. Scholars have suggested that the myth may have originated with snake worship, or light reflected by a serpent's eye, or the flame color of certain snakes' lips. In only a relative few of these legends is the stone luminous, this variant being known in India, Ceylon, ancient Greece, Armenia, and among Cherokee Indians (Ball 1938: 502).
The Hindu polymath
The "Snake Jewel" story in Somadeva's 11th-century Kathasaritsagara ("Ocean of the Streams of Stories") refers to a maṇi (मणि, "gem; jewel; pearl") on a snake's head. When the Hindu mythological king Nala is fleeing from a jungle wildfire, he hears a voice asking for help and turns back to see a snake "having his head encircled with the rays of the jewels of his crest", who, after being rescued reveals himself to be the nāgarāja Karkotaka (tr. Tawney 1928 4: 245).
The 3rd-century CE Life of Apollonius of Tyana, the Greek sophist Philostratus's biography of Apollonius of Tyana (c. 3 BCE – 97 CE), says that in India, people will kill a mountain dragon and cut off its head, in which, "are stones of rich lustre, emitting every-coloured rays and of occult virtue." It also mentions a myth that cranes will not build their nests until they have affixed a "light-stone" (Ancient Greek lychnidis, "shining") to help the eggs hatch and to drive away snakes (tr. Conybeare 1912: 103, 155).
In the Bengali tale of "The Rose of Bakáwalí", the heroic prince Jamila Khatun encounters a monstrous dragon that carried in its mouth "a serpent which emitted a gem so brilliant that it lighted up the jungle for many miles". His plan to obtain it was to throw a heavy lump of clay on the luminous gem, plunging the jungle into darkness, "so that the dragon and the serpent knocked their heads against the stones and died" (tr. Clouston 1889: 296–297).
According to Armenian "The Queen of the Serpents" legend, the serpents of Mount Ararat select a queen who destroys invading armies of foreign serpents, and carries in her mouth a "wonderful stone, the Hul, or stone of light, which upon certain nights she tosses in the air, when it shines as the sun. Happy the man who shall catch the stone ere it falls." (von Haxthausen 1854: 355).
The Catalan missionary Jordanus's c. 1330 Mirabilia says he heard that the dragons of India Tertia (Eastern African, south of Abyssinia) have on their heads "the lustrous stones which we call carbuncles." When they become too large to fly, they fall and die in a "certain river which issues from Paradise". After seventy days the people recover the "carbuncle which is rooted in the top of his head" and take it to Prester John, the Emperor of the Ethiopians (tr. Yule 1863: 42).
After his third visit to Persia in 1686, the French jeweler and traveler
Like Chardin's griffin or eagle, some stories about luminous gems involve animals other than snakes and dragons. An early example is the 3rd-century CE Greek Pseudo-Callisthenes
Sydney H. Ball recounts the widespread variation of the animal-gratitude snake story involving a wild animal (often called carbuncle, Spanish carbunclo, or Latin carbunculo) with a luminous gem on its head, and which Europeans apparently introduced into Africa and America.
In 1565, Don John Bermudez, ambassador of Prester John to John III of Portugal, described an Upper Nile snake called "Of the shadow, or Canopie, because it hath a skinne on the head wherewith it covereth a very precious stone, which they say it hath in her head" (Purchas 1625 2: 1169).
The English merchant William Finch reported around 1608 a Sierra Leone story about a wolf-like creature with a luminous gem. "The Negros told us of a strange beast (which the interpreter called a Carbuncle) oft seene yet only by night, having a stone in his forehead, incredibly shining and giving him light to feed, attentive to the least noyse, which he no sooner heareth, but he presently covereth the same with a filme or skinne given him as a naturall covering that his splendour betray him not" (Dickens 1857: 124).
In 1666, another version of the theme is a huge snake recorded from
According to the Swiss explorer
In contrast to the above legends about people killing snakes and animals in order to obtain their luminous gems, another group of legends has a theme of injured animals presenting magical gems out of gratitude to people who helped them. This is a subcategory of
These animal-gratitude stories are first recorded around two millennia ago in China and Rome. Based upon striking coincidences in Chinese and Roman versions of the story, Laufer reasoned that there was an obvious historical connection (1915: 59–60), and Ball believes these tales probably originated independently (1938: 504).
The earliest known story about a grateful animal with a luminous gem is the Chinese Suihouzhu (隨侯珠, "the Marquis of Sui's pearl") legend that a year after he saved the life of a wounded snake, it returned and gave him a fabulous pearl that emitted a light as bright as that of the moon (Ball 1938: 504).
The Marquis of Sui's pearl is mentioned in the Zhanguo ci ("Strategies of the Warring States") compendium of political and military anecdotes dating from 490 to 221 BCE. King Wuling of Zhao (r. 325–299 BCE) summoned Zheng Tong (鄭同) for an audience and asked how to avoid warfare with neighboring feudal states. Zheng Tong replied, 'Well, let us suppose there is a man who carries with him the pearl of Sui-hou and the Ch'ih-ch'iu armband [持丘之環, uncertain] as well as goods valued at ten thousand in gold. Now he stops the night in an uninhabited place." Since he has neither weapons nor protectors, "It is clear he will not spend more than a night abroad before someone harms him. At the moment there are powerful and greedy states on your majesty's borders and they covet your land. ... If you lack weapons your neighbours, of course, will be quite satisfied" (tr. Crump 1970: 327).
The c. 3rd–1st centuries BCE Daoist Zhuangzi alludes to the marquis's pearl. "Whenever the sage makes a movement, he is certain to examine what his purpose is and what he is doing. If now, however, we suppose that there were a man who shot at a sparrow a thousand yards away with the pearl of the Marquis of Sui, the world would certainly laugh at him. Why is this? It is because what he uses is important and what he wants is insignificant. And is not life much more important than the pearl of the Marquis of Sui?" (tr. Mair 1994: 288).
Several
The c. 222 CE De Natura Animalium ("On the Characteristics of Animals"), compiled by Roman author Claudius Aelianus, told the story of Heraclea or Herakleis, a virtuous widow of Tarentum, who after seeing a fledgling stork fall and break its leg, nursed it back to health, and set it free. One year later, as Heraclea sat at the door of her cottage, the young stork returned and dropped a precious stone into her lap, and she put it indoors. Awakening that night, she saw that the gem "diffused a brightness and a gleam, and the house was lit up as though a torch had been brought in, so strong a radiance came from, and was engendered by, the lump of stone" (tr. Scholfield 1959: 209–210).
Laufer cites three c. 4th-century Chinese grateful-animal stories that parallel Heraclea's stork. The Shiyi ji ("Researches into Lost Records"), compiled by the Daoist scholar Wang Jia (d. 390 CE) from early apocryphal versions of Chinese history, recounts an anecdote about King Zhao of Yan (燕昭王, r. 311–279 BCE) and grateful birds with dongguangzhu (洞光珠, "cave shining pearls").
When Prince Chao of Yen was once seated on a terrace, black birds with white heads flocked there together, holding in their beaks perfectly resplendent pearls, measuring one foot all round. These pearls were black as lacquer, and emitted light in the interior of a house to such a degree that even the spirits could not obscure their supernatural essence." (tr. Laufer 1915: 59).
The imperial historian
Kuai Shen [噲參] was the most filial son to his mother. Once a black crane was injured by a bow hunter and in its extremity, went to Kuai. The latter took it in, doctored its wound, and when it was cured set it free. Soon afterwards the crane showed up again outside Kuai's door. The latter shone a torch to see out and discovered its mate there too. Each of them held a single night-glowing pearl [明珠] in its beak to repay Kuai. (tr. DeWoskin and Crump 1996: 238).
The second story is oldest detailed explanation of Marquis of Sui's pearl.
Once upon a time, when the ruler of the old Sui kingdom was journeying, he came upon a great wounded serpent whose back was broken. The ruler believed the creature to be a spirit manifestation and ordered his physician to treat it with drugs to close up its wound. Thereafter the serpent was able to move again, and the place was called Mound of the Wounded Serpent. One year later the serpent brought a bright pearl [明珠] in its mouth to give the ruler of Sui to show its gratitude. The pearl was greater than an inch in diameter, of the purest white and emitted light like moonglow. In the dark it could illuminate an entire room. For these reasons it was known as "Duke Sui's Pearl" [隋侯珠] or the "Spirit Snake's Pearl" [靈蛇珠], or, again, the "Moonlight Pearl" [明月珠]. (tr. DeWoskin and Crump 1996: 239).
Laufer concludes that the "coincidences in these three Chinese versions and the story of the Greek author, even in unimportant details such as the thankful bird returning after one year to the marquis of Sui, are so striking, that an historical connection between the two is obvious" (1915: 60).
A later elaboration of animal-gratitude stories involves grateful animals and ungrateful people, who are typically rescued from a pitfall trap (Ashliman 2010). Two versions mention marvelous gems. The English historian Matthew Paris's c. 1195 Chronicles says that Richard I of England (1157–1199) used to tell a parable about ungrateful people. A Venetian, Vitalis, was rescued from a horrible death by a ladder being let down into a pit into which he had fallen. A lion and a serpent trapped in the same pit used his ladder to escape, and the lion in gratitude brought to Vitalis a goat he had killed and the snake a luminous jewel that he carried in his mouth. As Richard reportedly told the story after his return from the Crusades he may have heard it in the East, as similar stories, but without the stone being luminous, occur in two Indian collections, the c. 300 BCE Kalila wa Dimnah and the 11th-century Kathasaritsagara (Ball 1938: 505). The English poet John Gower's 1390 Confessio Amantis tells the story of the rich Roman lord Adrian and the poor woodcutter Bardus. Adrian falls into a pit that had already captured an ape and a serpent, and promises to give half his wealth to Bardus for pulling him out. After Bardus rescues the three, out of gratitude the ape piled up firewood for him and the serpent gave him "a stone more bright than cristall out of his mouth", but Adrian refuses to pay his debt. Bardus sells the luminous gem for gold and afterwards found it again in his purse, and the same thing happened every time he sold it. Emperor Justinian I summons Bardus, listens to his testimony supported by the magically reappearing gem, and compels Adrian to fulfill his promise (tr. Clouston 1887 1: 224–226).
Some scholars were skeptical about luminous gem stories. In the West, the earliest nonbeliever was the Portuguese traveler to India and gem expert, Garcia de Orta (1563), who, having been told by a jeweler of a luminous carbuncle, doubted its existence. In the East, the first recorded skeptic was the Chinese encyclopedist Song Yingxing, who in 1628 wrote "it is not true that there are pearls emitting light at the hour of the dusk or night" (Ball 1938: 505).
See also
- Cintamani, a wish-fulfilling jewel in Hindu and Buddhist traditions
- Indra's net, Buddhist metaphor of a vast net with a jewel or pearl at each knot, infinitely reflecting all the other jewels
- Mani Jewel, various legendary jewels mentioned in Buddhist texts
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External links
- Luminescence, The Gemology Project
- World's largest night-shining jewel displayed in S China, China Daily, 22 November 2010
- "Mens PumpUp" Maintain and Stimulate Glow-in-The-Dark Pearl-Beaded Prolonging Rubber Ring, Amazon