The name comes from a property of the stone (Helios, the sun, rpkiruv, to
turn). According to Pliny when placed in a glass of water it changes
the brilliance of the sun, as it approaches it, into a blood-red color,
especially the Ethiopian stones. Outside the water the stone will
reflect the sun's rays like a mirror and it shows the eclipse of the
sun when the moon passes in front of it.
Although topazius also has a leek-green color it is transparent and extraordinarily brilliant. It has a golden fulgor and
is classed among the precious gems. The name comes from the Topazius
Island of Arabia (modern St. John's Island in the Red Sea). Archelaus
calls it Chitis22 and writes that the Troglodyte pirates
found the stone long ago when digging for herbs and roots having been
shut in by storms and suffering from hunger. Since it has a fulgor similar
to gold it is not easily seen in the daytime for it resembles the rays
of the sun. It is conspicuous at night and is sought for at that time.23
This same gem is called chrysolampis for
Pliny says it is found in Ethiopia and has a pale color by day and a
flaming color at night. Strabo writes that at one time the kings of
Egypt supported a multitude of men who collected and guarded this topazius. According
to Pliny, the most recent writers say it is found near Alabaster, a
town of Thebes, Egypt, and they describe two species. One is prasoides, the other, chrysopteros similar to chrysoprasius. The one evidently has a fulgor that is deep golden yellow, the other a paler fulgor. A third species, according to our gem workers, is found in Dacia and since it contains no green is pale yellow and has a fulgor of the same color.24
Topazius is
known to occur in larger masses than any other precious stone for Juba
writes that a statue six feet high of the wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus
was made from it and placed in a sacred shrine named Aureus. Hadrianus
Guilielmus of Naples has a topazius which is engraved with these old Roman words,
Nature fails, Fortune changes, God decides all.25
22
Obscure references in the older literature to Topazius and Chitis have
raised the question of whether there were two islands in the Red Sea
that were ancient sources of peridot. Agricola believes them to be one
and the same island.
23 This description would apply to the modern peridot or chrysolite and not to topaz.
24 These
species are probably chrysolite in part. From these descriptions it is
impossible to identify them with any accuracy. Chrysolampis could be the modern gem alexandrite, a variety of chrysoberyl but this gem has never been found in Egypt, Africa or Asia Minor.
26 This is freely translated by Thomas Nicols in his Faithful Lapidary, London, 1659, page 107, as follows,
Nature by fraility doth dayly waste away, Fortune is turned and changed every day, In all these there is an eye knows no decay.
