Two varieties of lapis lazuli, a natural and an artificial, were known to the ancients. The former came from Cyprus and Scythia, and was ' a silicate and sulphate of calcium, sodium, and aluminium.' The latter was made in Egypt : it was an alkaline silicate, coloured deep -blue with carbonate of copper ; scarabs and signets were made of it, and it was used as a pigment.
If the sapphire of our Bibles does not correspond with the gem now known by this name, it yet re- mains probable that this gem is once mentioned. RVni suggests *rt;)^/iirc in \i\aa%oi jacinth {ii6.Ki.ti0o^) in Key"!'". Middleton {Engraved Gems, p. 132) and King {Antique Gems, p. 46) are in favour of the identification. Pliny (HN 37, 125) seems at first sight to be against it, for he writes of the fiUgor violaceus of the hyacinthos ; but his view is not really adverse, for the less valuable sapphires are amethyst by artificial light. King (pp. 51, 399) quotes the lines of Marbodus as recognizing with astonishing clearness, considering his date, the fact that sapphires, rubies, and Oriental topazes are all of them varieties of the same mineral, namely, the hyacinth—
' T!^**^® various kinds the skilled as IJyacintht nuXM^
Virj ini- in colour and unlilic in fame One, like pome^mnatc Howt-rs, a fler. - ._ And one Ine yellow citron's hue disp'luya.
One charms with palsy blue tlie gazer's eye Like the mild Unt that decks the northern iky.'
The best sapphires are now obtained from Ceylon. The Greeks wore these stones as jewels. A few engraved ones have survived, mainly from the age of imperial Home, but the gem was too hard to be much used for this purpose. Cf. art. Jacinth in vol. ii. J. Taylcic.
SARABIAS
Neh 8'.
(SopajSfat), 1 Es 9*» = Sherebiah,
SARAH, also (to On 17") SARAI ('Sarah' means 'princess,' IK 11' al. ; the meaning of ' Sarai ' is doubtful: perhaps [Olsh. Lchrb. § 110; Noldeke, ZDMG, 1886, p. 183, 1888, p. 484 ; Konig, Lehrg. ii. 1, 427] it is an older form of 'Sarah,' formed with the unusual fern. term, -ay).' — 1. The wife of Abraham, first mentioned in On 11^ (.J). Sarai's parentage is not given : according to 20'^ (E), she was Abraham's half-sister, the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother.f The incidents of her life have already been narrated at some length in connexion with Abraham, Haoar, Isaac, and I.SHMAEL ; so that a risum6 will be sufiicient here. Sarai accompanied Abraham into Can.aan (12°), and went down with him into Egypt (12"''-": J): it was on this occasion that, feanng lest her beauty might indirectly cost him his life, Abraham passed her oil as his sister, and, being admired before the Pharaoh by his courtiers, she was sent for and taken into his palace. This was in accordance with the custom, described as still prevalent among Oriental princes, of arbitrarily selecting beautiful women to be added to their harems.J Abraham's timidity and want of candour might have involved him in serious consequences ; but the Pharaoh contented him.self with rebuking him for his untruthfulness, and appointing an escort to conduct both him and Sarai out of the country (v.'O; cf. 18" 3127).
From 12^, compared with 17", it appears that Sarai wa.i at this time at leuaL 05 years of age ; and it has often been won- dered why Abraham should have been in alarm on the ground stated, and why the Pharaoh should have been attracted by her beauty. The difficulty disappears when it is remembereii that the statements about Sarai's age belong to a ditTerent document (P) from the one (J) which narrates the visit to Egypt ; the author of the latter evidently pictured Sarai as still a young woman. (Cf. for similar caaes elsewhere in Genesis, voL ii. pp. 484 (No. 8), SUSb, bii>).
Sarai is next mentioned in ch. 16 (J, except w.'»' '• '"•). Being barren (cf. ll*"), she induces Abraham to take her handm.-iid Hagar as a con- cubine; but when she finds that Hagar 'despises' her, she passionately and unjustlj' casts the blame upon her husband : ' The wrung done to me be upon thee ; J" judge between me and thee.' Abraham, however, declines to interfere ; and bids Sarai herself deal with Hagar as she pleases. Her harsh treatment of her handmaid compels Hagar to take (light ; and only the voice of J"'8 angel induces her to return, and 'submit' herself to her mistress (see, more fully, Hagar and ISHMAKL).
In the existing text of Genesis, the promise of a son for Sarai is first distinctly given in ch. 17 (P), vv.""*'. Her name is changed to Sura/t (v.") ; she is to be blessed, and a son is to be bom to her ;
* Found In certain words in the cognat« languages. See Olsh. and Konig, U.ce.; NOld. Sitr. f.'r. § 83; Wright, Arab. Gram. i. i 205, Comp. Oram. 13s; Dillni. Aeth. Oram. 12"(j (of. ; 1'20(; $); Barth, Nominalh(M\iii<i. 385. Soycc's doubts (IICM 179) are unfounded. The ex]»Iatuitioii (Jerome and oUIer scholars) 'my princess' is philolngically impossible. The LX.\ gives for Sarai 2!<x^«, and for ^arah ^pen.
t CI. SlARRiAiiS, vol. ill. p. 207'> ; W. H. Smith, Kinaliip, 102 1. The tradition (Jos. Ant. I. vi. 6, ai.) that she was the same person as Isiam has no probability : it can only be reconciled artillcially with 2U'» ; and had the writer of ll^s identilled Sarai vv'iih Iscoh, he would certainly have worded the verve dilTerentty.