Next to Egyptian, the most famous scarabs were those of Phoenicia (especially in green jasper), those of Greece, and those of the Etruscans who carved them out of hard stones such as the Sard, Agate and Carnelian, engraving them with exquisite figures, in fine intaglio style, usually of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, sometimes accompanied by Etruscan inscriptions or words and encircled with an engrailed or guilloche margin. When we consider the Egyptian Priests’ practice of speaking “words of power” into these scarabs, we have cause for additional wonder at the recorded act of the great Law-Giver in striking the rock instead of speaking to it, as he had been commanded.
PRECIOUS AND SEMI-PRECIOUS GEMS
ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
CHAPTER XI
AGATE-AMAZONITE
AGATE
“By the rushing fringed bank
Where grows the willow and the osier dank
My sliding chariot stays,
Thick set with agate.”
Milton.
The name occurs as agath, agget, agot, agat, agett, agott, aggat, aggot, achate, etc. The great Greek philosopher and scientist, Theophrastus, in his writings “Of stones,” says that the agate obtained its name from the river Achates—now known as the Drillo—in Sicily, because near its banks the first specimens were found. Dr. Bochart derived the name from the Hebrew word NAKAD, meaning “spotted.” Most authorities agree that this stone was the eighth stone in the Breastplate of the High Priest and that it was known in Hebrew as SHEBO. In Rabbinical writings there is an allegorical story of the discussion in Heaven of the import of the lines in Isaiah (Chap. 54 v. 12) “And I will make thy windows of agates,” but it is a matter of considerable doubt if the Hebrew word KADKOD can correctly be rendered agate. In the controversy between Judah and Ezekiel, sons of Rabbi Hayya, in the same writings the former calls it a beryl, the latter a jasper, and the voice of God said “Kadkod will include both of these,” in allusion to the unity of all things.