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Each stone in the High Priest's breastplate was inscribed with the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel: Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Gad, Issachar, Joseph, Judah, Levi, Naphtali, Ruben, Simeon and Zebulon . Medieval Biblical commentators constructed elaborate systems of symbolism based on 'connections' between the Old Testament breastplate stones and the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. *mindat.org* , an on-line mineral database, lists *chrysolite* , with synonyms of *olivine* (related to *peridot* ) and *prehnite* . An on-line dictionary notes that "the name was also early used for yellow varieties of tourmaline and topaz .	the tenth stone? One finds few references in history to citrine, perhaps because of the stone's relative rarity, especially in the ancient world. However, some believe citrine was the tenth stone of the twelve identified in Genesis as being in the High Priest's breastplate. However, given the fact that all 'precious' stones were, at best, haphazardly identified until relatively recently, Biblical scholars may never agree on what the 'real' stones were. depiction of aaron, the high priest Part of the confusion stems from the fact that both the Roman Catholic Septuagint and Jerome's Latin Vulgate translations of the Old Testament use the Greek word chrysolitus which literally means "golden stone," a word that has also been translated as a number of stones, including golden topaz, sea-green beryl, and even peridot. The 1611 King James, Protestant-inspired version departs from this translation, listing the tenth stone as beryl, a stone related to aquamarine, heliodor (greenish-yellow), emerald and morganite. Today, many scholars believe it to have been topaz, at least in modern times considered to be a more rare and expensive stone than citrine.
The Hellenistic Age was a period devoted to the spread of Greek culture throughout the known world in the period between Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC to the conquest of Egypt by Rome in 30 BC. Rome and India exchanged goods not only via the developing Silk Road but also between Red Sea ports like Bernike (on the current Egypt-Sudan border), which operated into the sixth century and India's west coast. Those wacky Greeks...Periegetes composed his entire geographical work in Greek verse, with the intention of transferring all the descriptions of the known world into didactic hexameters. *Description of the Inhabited World* was first translated into Latin prose by the Veronese humanist Antonio Beccaria in 1478 and is the earliest surviving work on geography. Like so many other stones in the ancient and medieval worlds, citrine was sometimes worn as a protective talisman as well as used for medicinal purposes -- it was thought to protect against plague, aid in digestion and cleanse toxins from the body. At various times throughout history, citrine has symbolized hope, youth, health, and fidelity.	golden legacy of greece Citrine was first considered a gem stone during ancient Greece's Hellenistic Age (323-146 BC). Slavish emulators of Greek culture, in the first centuries AD the Romans also made use of citrine in one of their favorite jewelry styles -- intaglio (relief carving). 1st century sea trade routes Since trade in the first centuries AD was brisk between the Romans and India, it's very likely that the Romans got their stones from southern India, an area not only rich in gems but also a major bead making and lapidary center. Several centuries earlier, when Greek poet, geographer and historian Dionysius Periegetes, a second century BC Alexandrian and author of a geographical compendium Description of the Inhabited Earth, wrote about Indian gems, every one he noted was at least at one time found in southern India: beryl, diamonds, amethyst, citrine and prase. intaglio carving Intaglios and cameos are both forms of the glyptic arts, glyptic being from the Greek word glyptos, meaning "to carve." intaglio-carved citrine ring Although many jewelers refer to intaglio gems as cameos, there are two major styles of engraving: intaglio: a cutting or engraving; a figure cut into something, as a gem, so as to make a design depressed below the surface of the material. (When it is carved or molded into the object but from the back then it is referred to as an a reverse intaglio. ) relief: shapes carved on a surface so as to stand out from the surrounding background. (This style of carving utilizes the layering characteristics of the material to achieve a color contrast between the raised design and the background.)
Twenty years in the creation, De Re Metallica is still an important historical and scientific document. Not until 1738 was the information contained in it improved upon when Schl�ter published his book on metallurgy, H�tten-Werken . (In an interesting afternote, the *first successful translation of De Re Metallica* into English (from the original Latin) was performed by American mining engineer and subsequent President of the United States Herbert Clark Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover. The translation was originally published in The Mining Magazine , London, in 1912.) -- Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society, Inc., 1994** --	a name of its own Citrine's historic reputation as the "success stone" or "merchant stone" -- as it is supposed to attract money, especially through sales -- was probably fueled by citrine's color affinity with gold. In fact, the great Arab alchemist and scientist Jabir ibn Hayyan (known in the West as Geber, pronounced "je'-ber") (c. 721-815) -- considered to be the "father of modern chemistry" -- described gold as "...a Metallick Body, Citrine, ponderous, mute, fulgid, equally digested in the Bowels of the Earth..." One myth about citrine was that if one kept a piece of citrine in a drawer, one's wealth would accumulate. Could the 'wealth' myth have prompted the invention of the cash register? antique scottish citrine brooch It wasn't until 1556 that the term "citrine" was formally used -- up until that time, the stone had been known simply as yellow quartz. German metallurgist, Georg Bauer (1494-1555), considered the "father of modern minerology," used the term citrine in his De Re Metallica (1556), published the year after his death. (Following the fashion of the day among scientists and intellectuals, Bauer went by his Latinized name of Georgius Agricola, but he is better known to history as simply 'Agricola.')
Citrine, like its close cousin, smoky quartz, was sometimes known as "cairngorm" after their mutual source in Scotland. By the end of the Romantic Period, ca. 1890, up until the First World War in 1914, dirks became more and more ostentatious as they became more ceremonial props than useful tool. Some had the entire handle formed from a single faceted citrine crystal with mounts and sheaths of solid silver. Darker orange-y brown citrines are sometimes called "Madeira citrine" because they resemble the raisin-y color of Madeira wine (named for the island off the coast of Portugal on which it is produced) Although these colors have been the most valued historically, today most people prefer the brighter lemony shades. Victoria's first visit to Scotland with her husband, in 1842 was only the second time a British monarch had visited Scotland since 1641.	isn't it romantic? A prized stone among the medieval Celts and Scots for whom it served as a protective talisman against the plague, bad skin and evil thoughts, citrine was also employed as a charm against the poisonous bite of Scotland's one venomous snake, the vipera berus, an adder found in the Scottish Highlands. But by the beginning in the seventeenth century, citrine had begun its leap from amulet to pure decoration: craftsmen of Scottish weapons such as the sgian dubh (Gaelic for "dagger" and "black" respectively -- a long dagger with a straight blade) began to incorporate "cairn" stones -- smoky quartz or citrines from the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland -- into dirk pommels, a trend whose popularity only grew. victorian scottish citrine, green agate & jasper brooch photo: heritage jewelry Moving into the Romantic Period (c.1837-1860), citrine was increasingly used in jewelry as it became more available. But it was really Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901) and her love of all things Scottish, who instigated the fashion for citrine jewelry in romantically Scottish settings. This was especially true after 1852 when she and her husband, Prince Albert, purchased the estate on which they built what was to become her favorite home in the Highlands of Scotland, Balmoral Castle. So fond was Victoria of Scotland that she frequently required her children as well as her guests to dress in full Highland attire. Since she liked nothing better than promoting stones found within the bounds of her vast empire, the Queen would have relished the sight of so many sgian dubhs, shoulder brooches, kilt pins and the like -- many of which would have been set with citrine.