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Asterism on the surface of a blue star sapphire. A purple-pink star sapphire displaying asterism in a platinum ring.. An asterism (from Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr) 'star' and -ism) is a star-shaped concentration of light reflected or refracted from a gemstone.
In late classical times and as late as the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli was often called sapphire (sapphirus in Latin, sappir in Hebrew), [28] though it had little to do with the stone today known as the blue corundum variety sapphire. In his book on stones, the Greek scientist Theophrastus described "the sapphirus, which is speckled with gold," a ...
The name sapphire is derived from the Latin word sapphirus, itself from the Greek word sappheiros (σάπφειρος), which referred to lapis lazuli. [2] It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors.
The museum holds a very important collection of coins from the 6th century BC until the 5th century CE like those from the Greek Poleis and the Hellenistic and Roman periods. There also major Byzantine and Medieval collections from Western Europe, the East and the Ottoman Empire .
The classification of the cardinal gems dates back to antiquity, and was largely determined by ceremonial or religious use as well as rarity. [1] The term has largely fallen out of use. The five traditional cardinal gems are: amethyst (purple) – Rare and precious in the Old World until large deposits were found in Brazil. diamond (transparent)
The “incredibly rare” lump was unearthed at a 1,700-year-old bathhouse in the United Kingdom. ‘Mysterious’ purple lump found at ancient Roman ruins was once ‘worth more than gold’ Skip ...
The three most important standards of the ancient Greek monetary system were the Attic standard, based on the Athenian drachma of 4.3 grams (2.8 pennyweights) of silver, the Corinthian standard based on the stater of 8.6 g (5.5 dwt) of silver, that was subdivided into three silver drachmas of 2.9 g (1.9 dwt), and the Aeginetan stater or didrachm of 12.2 g (7.8 dwt), based on a drachma of 6.1 g ...
Ancient Tyrian purple, named for the town of Tyre in what is now southern Lebanon, was also rose, bluish red or velvety black, she writes. Purple was reserved for royalty, priests and nobles at ...