The name emerald comes from the Sanskrit word “marakata," which means spring green. Many legends and stories surround this magnificent and powerful stone. The Chaldeans, a kingdom of Biblical times, believed emeralds contained Ishtar, their goddess of love and war. In the Middle East, an emerald amulet would often be engraved with a verse from sacred religious texts.
Ancient Egyptians believed the green color of emerald represented fertility and rebirth. They would commonly carve emerald scarabs and place them at the heart of a mummy to make the deceased's health flourish in the afterlife. Cleopatra herself was known for her fascination with emeralds. Pale green emeralds were once thought by the Romans to be unripe and as they changed to a darker shade of green, they were maturing in potency. Gazing into the cool green color was reported by Pliny, an author and philosopher of ancient Rome, to ease eyestrain. The Roman emperor Nero Augustus reportedly watched gladiator games through a large emerald gemstone because he found the color to be calming.
In some legends, the Holy Grail used by Christ at the last supper was made from a giant emerald. Later, the emerald grail was used to collect his blood dripping from the cross, imbuing the grail with fantastic and holy powers.
Emerald is the traditional birthstone for May, but is also associated with the Cancer zodiac. Mystical or Tibetan birthstone charts place emerald as the January stone, Polish and Russian birthstones say emerald is the May stone while according to ancient Hebrew birthstones, the emerald belongs to June. Aside from birthstones, emerald is the 20th and 35th wedding anniversary gift.
Emerald gemstones are a variety of beryl, which is the same mineral grouping as aquamarine. Genuine emeralds may include inclusions--referred to as "jardin," a French word that means garden--which can cloud the stone. These inclusions are not considered flaws and indicate an emerald is genuine, not created in a lab.
It is common to coat emeralds with clear oil, paraffin wax or clear resin to diminish the appearance of surface inclusions and deepen the green color. Emeralds range in color from light to dark green. The shade of green is determined by the presence of chromium oxide and vanadium.
Emeralds can be found all over the world, including countries in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Russia.
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