A fragment of the Black Stone of Mecca was brought to Bagdad in 951 A.D. by order of the Khalif Moti Lillah, and was inserted in the threshold of the main entrance to the royal palace there. From a balcony directly above the entrance was suspended a piece of tapestry taken from that in the Kaaba, and it was so hung that its lower border was about on a level with the face of anyone entering the portal. All who passed in were strictly enjoined to touch their eyes with this tapestry and also to kiss the piece of the Black Stone, upon which no one was permitted to tread. These details are given in Khondemir’s life of Abu Jafer Al Mostasem, the last of the Khalifs, who died in 1258 A.D.[[162]]
The Kaaba at Mecca offers to the adoration of faithful Mohammedan pilgrims to the shrine, not only the famous Black Stone, which is set in the eastern corner of the building, but also another sacred stone inserted in the southern corner at a height of five feet from the ground. This is designated as the “Southern Stone.” The Kaaba itself is a small rectangular structure, built of stone from the surrounding hills, and having a length of 12 metres (39.4 feet), a width of 10 metres (32.8 feet) and a height of 15 metres (49.2 feet). One of the few Europeans who have been permitted to enter the sacred enclosure, Dr. Snouck-Hurgronje, does not believe that the Kaaba owes its origin and sanctity to the Black Stone, but that its foundation was rather due to the presence of the well Zemzem, whose waters were already reported to have a therapeutic quality in the early days of Islam, and which may have earned its repute on this account. If, however, we admit that the medical properties (of a purgative nature) are due to contamination or percolation posterior to the primitive time when the well Zemzem first attracted the reverence of the Arabs of this region, then the purity of the water may account for its high place in the esteem of the Arabs. Of the Black Stone, a native of Mecca who saw the stone when it had been taken out of the wall of the building, in the course of the latest restoration of the structure, states that its inner surface is of a grayish hue.[[163]]
The Kaaba also contained the Maquam Ibrahim, a sacred stone preserved from pre-Islamite times, and brought into connection with the history of Abraham by the Mohammedan legends. This stone, enclosed in a receptacle of like material, was at one time buried in the ground underneath the building, but receptacle and enclosed stone are now set within the iron gratings which partition off a part of the space inside the cupola over the pulpit of the Mosque of Mecca.[[164]]
An Oriental poem by Assmai detailing the wonderful exploits of the hero Antar, describes the way in which he became possessed of a matchless sword. One day he came upon two knights in desperate encounter; on seeing him they paused in their strife and to his question as to its cause one of the combatants told him that they were brothers, sons of a great Arab emir, recently deceased. Their father had once found a black stone, in appearance like a common pebble, but possessed of such penetrative power that when a herdsman threw it at a camel it traversed the animal’s body, inflicting a gaping wound. The emir immediately recognized that the stone must be a “thunder-stone,” as meteorites were called; he therefore secured possession of it and commanded his most skilful smiths to forge a sword from it. When this task had been successfully performed the emir clothed the smith in a robe of honor, and then, drawing the new sword from its sheath, cut off his head with a single stroke. This served at once as a test of the weapon’s quality and as an assurance that it would not soon be duplicated. On his death-bed the emir called to him his youngest son and said to him: “My son, take the sword and hide it from your brother, and when you shall see that he has seized my goods and is squandering them in riotous living, and sends you away, without reverence for the Lord of Heaven and Earth, take the sword away with you. If you bring it to the court of the Persian King, Khusrau Nushirwan, he will heap gifts and honors upon you, or if you elect to go instead to the court of the Byzantine Cæsar, monarch of the Servants of the Cross, he will give you as much gold and silver as you may ask for.” This was the tale told by the younger knight, who added that when, after the father’s death, the brother had sought in vain for the famous sword, he had resorted to torture to extract from the favored son the secret of its hiding-place, and had brought the latter to this spot commanding him to find it and give it up, and when he refused so to do, had attacked him. The hero Antar, like a veritable knight-errant, took up the quarrel of the oppressed brother and slew his opponent, securing as a free-will offering of gratitude the magic sword.[[165]]
The forging of swords from meteoric iron was, in the opinion of the Orientalist Hammer-Purgstall, the origin of the characteristic surface given to the famous Damascus blades. A most interesting modern example of a meteoric-iron weapon is a dagger made by Von Widmanstädt for Emperor Francis I of Austria, out of the famous Bohemian siderite long preserved in the Rathaus at Elbogen and known as the “Verwünschte Burggraf.” On the surface of this blade, however, the lines were angular, while on the true Damascus blade the lines are wavy.[[166]] An unsuccessful attempt to forge a sword from a piece of meteoric iron is reported by Avicenna in the case of a siderite that fell at Jurgan in 1009 A.D., from which swords that were ordered to be made by the Sultan of Khorassan could not be executed.[[167]]
In an Arabic work bearing the name of Avicenna and entitled “The Cure,” the writer mentions a meteorite which fell in the Jordan, and of which Sultan Mohammed Ghazni wished to have a sword made for him, thus proving that the Sultan believed that meteorites possessed marvellous properties.[[168]]
A number of Greek and Roman coins bearing representations of these sacred meteorites have come down to us, and more than two hundred specimens may be seen in the section of meteorites in the Natural History Museum (Königlich-kaiserliches naturhistoriches Hofmuseum) in Vienna. These coins are of great value in determining the history of those aerolites which were preserved in the temples of certain divinities.
The Viennese collection of meteorites is the finest in the world, and this is largely due to the zeal and intelligence of the late Dr. Aristides Brezina, while superintendent of the department of mineralogy and meteorites in the Museum. In regard to the impression made upon the mind of man in ancient times by the fall of meteorites, Dr. Brezina writes:[[169]]
The ancients supposed the stars to be the domiciles of the gods; falling stars and falling meteorites signified the descending of a god or the sending of its image to the earth. These envoys were received with divine honor, embalmed and draped, and worshipped in temples built for them.
