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Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications

Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis Page of 251 Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
BOOK VII
In the previous book I spoke at length about gems. I will now consider marbles. The name comes from the fact that it has a fine luster when polished.1 Marbles have been classified as gems and actually small polished pieces are sometimes set in rings. The gem lysimachia is cut from Rhodian marble; arabica, from Arabian marble; and meroctes, from thyites. These cut stones differ from marble however in color and markings and these features have given rise to a large number of species. True marbles are usually named from the place they are found, with a few exceptions such as Luculleum, Augustum, Tiberium, etc. Luculleum marble is named for L. Lucullus, Consul, who was the first to bring this particular marble to Rome from an island in the Nile. The latter two were named in deference to the importance of these two men. The former, found in Egypt, is an ophite with markings similar to a snake. The latter resembles Ethiopian basaltes with the color and hardness of iron.
I shall consider first the white marbles since these embrace the most famous varieties used by sculptors in statues, for example, Parian, Chian, Cretan, etc. The first comes from the island of Paros and was called lapis lychnites by the Greeks, according to Varro, because it was first mined and used for lamps. Pausanias writes that Phidias carved his statue of Nemesis at Rhamnus, Attica, from this stone. However the statue above the temple is of Parian marble and was sculptured by the sons of Anther-mus. The magnificent and rich Laurentine temple in Picenum is built of a white marble in which various historical events have been cut. It con­tains a shrine built of rough stones. Part of the temple of Florence, at one time dedicated to Mars but now sacred to St. John the Baptist, is built of this same stone. A fountain with this same stone is found in the villa of Prince Fr. Maria of Urbinum, a mile from Pesaro. White marble is quarried in lower Rhetia some ten miles above Augusta Tiberius and this we call Reginoburgian marble; in Thasos dug up with ram's horn and discovered by Paxadorus; in Lesbos where the stone is a little darker than the Thasian; in Proconnesos, one of the Sporades Islands in the Mar­mora Sea from whence comes the highly prized Proconnesian marble. Lygdinian marble found in Arabia and on Mt. Taurus in Asia is another famous variety. Pliny calls the latter lygdinus lapis and writes that it is never obtained in pieces larger than platters and punch bowls. Some call it lygdus and use polished slabs of it in tables.
Lapis coraliticus is a white marble similar in color to ivory and so-called, as I believe, because it is found near the Coralius river in Phrygia. This is also known as the Sangarius river. The Arabian marble from Arabia is
1 From the Greek μαρμαίρβιν, to sparkle; Latin, marmor.
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Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis Page of 251 Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications
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