The art of engraving on precious stones was known from the very earliest times. Sir G. Wilkinson says {Anc. Egypt. [Lond. 1854], ii, 67), "The Israelites learned the art of cutting and engraving stones from the Egj^p- tians." There can be no doubt that they did learn much of the art from this skilful nation, but it is prob- able that it was known to them long before their so- journ in Egypt; for we read in Gen. xxxviii, 18, that when Tamar desired a jiledge Judah gave her his sig- net, which we may safely conclude was engraved with some device. The twelve stones of the breastplate were engraved each one with the name of one of the tribes (Exod. xxviii, 17-21). The two onyx (or sar- donyx) stones which formed the high-priest's shoulder- pieces were engraved with the names of the twelve tribes — six on one stone and six on the other — "with the work of an engraver in stone like the engravings of a signet." See also Exod. xxviii, 36, "like the engravings of a signet." It is an undecided question whether the diamond was known to the early nations of antiquity. The A. V. gives it as the rendering of the Heb. Yaha- lom, (D?il^), but it is probable that the jasper is in- tended. Sir G. Wilkinson is of opinion that the an- cient Egyptians were acquainted with the diamond, and used it for engraving (ii, 67). Beckmann, on the other hand, maintains that the use of the diamond was unknown even to the Greeks and Romans: "I must confess that I have foinid no proofs that the ancients cut glass with a diamond" {Hist, of Inventions, ii, 87, Bohn's ed.). The substance used for polishing precious stones by the ancient Hebrews and Egy[ptians was em- ery powder or the emery stone (corundum), a mineral inferior only to the diamond in hardness. See Ada- mant. There is no proifthul the diamond was known to the ancient Orientals, and it certainly must be ban- ished from the list of engraved stones which made the sacerdotal breastplate ; for the diamond can be cut only by abrasion with its own powder, or by friction with another diamond ; and this, even in the hands of a well-practiced artist, is a work of most patient labor and of considerable difliculty; and it is not likely that the Hebrews, or anv other Oriental peojjle, were able to engrave a name upon a diamond as upon a signet ring. Again, Josephus tells us (.4 «/. iii, 7, 5) that the twelve stones of the breastjylate were of great size and extraordinary beauty. We have no means of ascer- taining their size ; probably they were nearly an inch
STONE-SQUARER
1047
STONING
square; at any rate, a diamond only half that size, with the five letters of "(bl^t (Zebulun) engraved on it — for, as he was the sixth son of Jacob (Gen. xxx, 20), his name would occupy the third ])lace in the second row — is quite out of the question, and cannot possibly be the Yahaldm of the breasti)late.
Perhaps the stone called " ligure" by the A. V. has been the subject of more discussion than any other of the precious stones mentioned in the Bible. In our ar- ticle on that subject we were of opinion that the stone denoted was probably toiirmulinf. We objecte<l to the " hyacinth stone" representing the lyncurium of the an- cients, because of its not possessing attractive powers in anj' marked degree, as we supposed and had been in- formed by a well-known jeweller. It appears, how- ever, from a communication recently made by Mr. King, that the hyacinth {zircon) is highly electric when rubbed. He states he is practically convinced of this fact, although he allows that highly electric powers are not usuallv attributed to it by mineralo- gists. Mr. King asserts that our hyacinth (jacinth, zircon) was greatly used for engraving on by Greeks, Romans, and Persians, and that numerous intaglios in it exist of the age of Theophrastus. The ancient hya- cinthus was our sttpphire, as Solinus shows.
Precious stones are used in Scripture in a figurative sense to signify A'alue, beauty, durability, etc., in those objects with which they are compared (see Cant, v, 14; Isa.liv, 11,12; Lam.iv,7; Eev.iv,3; xxi, 10-21). As to the precious stones in the breastplate of the high- priest, see Josephus, A7it. iii, 7, 5; Epiphanius, Ilept riijv ifS' XiBujv Twv bvTwv iv t. (ttoX. t. 'Aapiov. in Epiphanii Opii^c. ed. Petavius (Cologne, 1682), ii, 225- 232 : this treatise has been edited separately by Ges- ner [Conr.], De Omni Rei-um Fossil. Geneve, etc. (Tiguri, 1565), and by Hiller, the author of the Uierophyticon, in his Syntar/mata Ilermeneutica (Tubing. 1711), p. 83; Braun, De Vestitu Sacerdotnm Hehrceorum (Amstcl. 1680 ; 2d ed. 1698), lib. ii, c. 7 and 8 ; Bellermann, Die Urim und Thtimmim die dlfesten Gemmen (Berlin, 1824) ; Rosenmiiller, The Mineralogy of the Bible, in Biblical Cabinet, vol. xxvii. — Smith. See Gem.
Stone-squarer. See Giblite.
Stone-'worship. One of the earliest modes of commemorating any remarkable event was to erect a pillar of stone or to set up heaps of stone. These in course of time came to be looked upon as sacred, and even to be worshipped. The stone which Jacol) anoint- ed and set up at Bethel is the first instance on record of a consecrated pillar, and Vossius alleges that, at an after-period, it became an object of worship, and was conveyed by the Jews to Jerusalem, where it remained even after the city was destroyed by the Koraans. Ac- cording to Bochart, the Phoenicians worshipped Jacob's pillar; but whether this was the case or not, we know, on the authority of Sanchoniathon, that they had their own bcelyliu, or anointed stones, to which they paid di-