Emerald Ring

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"Who first beholds the light of day
In Spring's sweet flowery month of May
And wears an Emerald all her life,
Shall be a loved and happy wife."

ANON, 1898

Emerald is a variety of beryl, which is a silicate of aluminium and beryllium, and its crystal belongs to the hexagonal system. Emeralds owe their green color to some of the aluminium ions in the crystal lattice being replaced by chromium ones during formation. This gem is rarely found as clean crystal - they are mostly badly flawed.

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

Emerald had been known to the Ancient Egyptians and other civilizations since before 2000 BC, and most of these emerald mines were in the vicinity of Upper Egypt, near the Red Sea. Most notable of all the mines in this area, situated in Mount Zabarah, supposedly belonged to the Queen of Sheba. Here, the mines believed that evil spirits guarded the emerald treasure, while legend tells of stones from this mine increasing or diminishing in size according to the seasons, and their color varying with the phases of the Moon. For many centuries, the mine lay deserted and unworked because its location had been lost. The site was rediscovered after an Egyptian civil service department engaged a French traveler and explorer called M. Caillaud.

Caillaud to find the ancient site. He located the mine in 1818 and made notes and drawings of the tools that he found lying abandoned there. It seemed reasonable to him, he said, to assume that miners of a later period had discovered the mine and continued to work the tunnels long after the Queen's miners had ceased to dig.

SPIRITUAL MATTERS

Revealed in The Book of the Dead is a passage that records how the Ancient Egyptians received the gift of emerald from the great god Thoth. Its color was a reminder of spring, and so the stone was dedicated to eternal youth. For this reason, The Book of the Dead instructed body embalmers to place emeralds at the throat of every mummy. This ensured that the limbs of the soul maintained a youthful strength during its long journey through the underworld, and was protected from harm.

The gem was also important to the history of various religions, including Christianity, and acquired a mental of mystic religious significance. For example, like other gems, emeralds were carried or set into amulets and worn in order to keep the wearer focused on spiritual matters. The Christian bishop of Caesarea, Andreas, dedicated the emerald of Saint John the Apostle, and his ability to soothe the souls of sinners.

It is said that 12 different gemstones were set into the breastplate of the great Hebrew High Priest, each engraved with the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. One of the gems was an emerald, bearing the name of God. Similarly, the New Jerusalem was reputedly built on 12 foundations "garnished with all manner of precious stones" - emerald being the fourth foundation.

As a focus for religious thought, Muslims also use jewel, and emeralds represent their first heaven; in India, presenting an emerald to a god brought with it knowledge of the soul and of eternal life.

THE CONQUEROR'S STONE

During, and long after, the many crusades to the Holy Land, the word emerald was used simply to describe any green gemstone - most people were unaware that there were different types. Vast quantities of green stones thought to be highly valuable gems were traded by the Crusaders or taken as plunder and set into crowns, coronets, and body ornaments. Mostly, these stones were chrysolites, now usually called peridots. Many of the stones proudly displayed as emeralds in European cathedrals and castles would probably be identified by gemologists as peridots.

THE DAY OF THE CONQUISTADORES

The Spanish Conquerors who overran South America during the sixteenth century were also said to have come upon emerald treasure. The native inhabitance of the Manta valley in Peru owned a vast emerald that struck awe into all who were privileged enough to see it. The stone was the size, so legend says, of an ostrich egg, and was often referred to as the Goddess Esmeralda and worshipped by the people at their various religious festivals, as many of the Goddess's "daughters" (small emeralds) as the congregation could afford to give were presented to her as offerings.

At the time of the conquest of Peru, the Spanish army sacked the Temple of the Sun and removed from it a large collection of emeralds - but there is no record of them finding the Temple of Esmeralda. To keep their goddess from the grasp of the Conquistadores, the high priests hid the object of their devotion so efficiently that, even to this day, Esmeralda and her temple have not been recovered.

THE LEGENDS OF EMERALD

The home of the legendary Esmeralda treasure was also home to some fascinating beliefs about emeralds. Peruvians believed that emeralds "ripened" just as fruit does, that it began as a colorless stone and gradually became green, with the colour change starting at the corner that faced the Sun.

A CURE FOR ALL ILLS

According to Dr Rowland, working in the seventeenth century, salts and tinctures of emerald "doth wonders in dysenteries and other fluxes, and is good in diseases of the heart and head, in palpitation, melan choli, phrensie, syncope."

Easter physician had an even longer list of things that emerald could alleviate:

it cured epilepsy
removed all bodily and mental pains
stopped vomiting and purged blood
was an antidote to poison and bites from wasps, bees and scorpions
allayed unhealthy thirst (diabetes)
was a remedy for jaundice, liver complaints generally and stricture
could treat leprosy when finely ground and applied as a poultice.

Because of their color, emeralds have also been liked with the Roman goddess of the forest, Diana (Artemis in Greek mythology), also considered the guardian of women and young girls and the patron of childbirth. And so, for their connection with Diana, emeralds are credited as talismans that have the power to preserve pregnant women from harm and ensure an easy birth.

EMERALD EYES

In this Historia Naturalis, Pliny mentions a marble memorial that stood on the burial mound of a Cypriot prince named Hermias. The memorial was in the form of a marble lion, and the mound overlooked fishing grounds where tuna fish were caught. This marble lion had emeralds inserted into its eye sockets and these, the legend says, blazed so brightly, "even below the sea", that the tuna fled in terror.

Local fishermen puzzled over their fruitless labours for many months until they realized that the emerald eyes of the statue could be the root cause. They insisted on the removal of the emerald eyes, which were exchanged for different green stones- the fish, Pliny notes, soon returned to the fishing grounds.

That snakes and serpents are blinded when they gaze upon the polished green luster of an emerald is recorded by the notable seventeenth-century authority on gemstones, Ahmed-ben-Abdalaziz, in his Treatise on Jewels. That same legend still lives on today - particularly in the Middle and Far East.

When it comes to human eyes, the doctors of antiquity had an unshakeable belief in the power of emerald or relieve or cure inflammation and infection, and treatment often consisted of placing emeralds on the eyes of patients.

Emeralds have also thought to enhance sight. Emperor Nero used an eyeglass fashioned from a large emerald crystal to read the many documents that arrived in his office and is also reported to have used the eyeglass to view gladiatorial games held at the Colliseum.

In actual fact, the inclusions found in emerald would make it impossible to find any crystal clear enough and large enough to form Nero's legendary eyeglass. Inserted, it was probably made from pale aquamarine or colorless beryl, which was used for eyeglasses until glass and other materials appeared on the scene.

FACT & FANTASY

Emeralds were dedicated by the ancient astrologers to mercury, the winged messenger, and the stone was carried by travelers and sailors as a special talisman to smooth the road, calm the seas and bring good fortune to their ventures.

In ancient times, parents wishing to keep children safe from the twin scourges of leprosy and plague hung emerald pendants about their necks.

Emerald talisman were often used in the exorcism of demons and demoniacal possession.

Emerald has long been a lover's emblem - the stone was claimed to lose its color if a partner had been unfaithful.

Dreaming of an emerald means a bright future and a renewing of old friendships.

A SOOTHING SIGHT

Green has often been considered to be a soothing color. Actors resting in the "green room" of a theatre declare that its green walls repair frayed nerves and soothe eyes strained by powerful stage lights. Tradition also tells of engravers who suffered from eyestrain gazing upon an emerald crystal from time to time to soothe their eyes.