previous next

CHAP. 66.—PANCHRUS. PANGONUS. PANEROS OR PANERASTOS. PONTICA; FOUR VARIETIES OF IT. PHLOGINOS OR CHRYSITIS. PHŒNICITIS. PHYCITIS. PERILEUCOS. PÆANITIS OR GÆANIS.

Panchrus1 is a stone which displays nearly every colour. Pangonus2 is no longer than the finger: the only thing that prevents it from being taken for a crystal, is, its greater number of angles. What kind of stone paneros3 is, Metrodorus does not inform us; but he gives some lines, by no means without elegance, that were written upon this stone by Queen Timaris, and dedicated to Venus; from which we have reason to conclude that certain fecundating virtues were attributed to it. By some writers it is called panerastos.4 Of the stone called "pontica"5 there are numerous varieties: one is stellated, and presents either blood-red spots, or drops like gold, being reckoned in the number of the sacred stones. Another, in place of stars, has streaks of the same colour, and a fourth presents all the appearance of mountains and valleys.

Phloginos,6 also called "chrysitis,"7 strongly resembles Attic ochre,8 and is found in Egypt. Phœnicitis9 is a stone so called from its resemblance to a date. Phycitis receives its name from its resemblance to sea-weed.10 Perileucos11 is the name given to a gem, in which a white colour runs down from the margin of the stone to the base. Pæanitis,12 by some called "gæanis,"13 conceives, it is said, and is good for females at the time of parturition: this stone is found in Macedonia, near the monument14 of Tiresias there, and has all the appearance of congealed water.

1 "Of all colours." Either Opal, Ajasson thinks, or Iridized hyalin quartz.

2 "All corners." Ajasson seems to think that this may have been Hyalin quartz.

3 "Worthy of all love."

4 Of the same meaning as "paneros."

5 "Gem of Pontus." According to Desfontaines, these stones are identified, by some with agates, by others with sapphires.

6 "Flame-coloured."

7 "Golden-coloured stone."

8 See B. xxxiii. c. 56, and B. xxxv. cc. 12, 16.

9 "Palm-date stone. Desfontaines says that this is Jew stone, the fossil spine of an egg-shaped echinus, See Chapter 56, Note 55.

10 φῦκος whence the Latin "fucus."

11 "White around."

12 An Aëtites or Geodes, probably. See Chapter 56, Note 92; also B. xxx. c. 44, and B. xxxvi. cc. 32, 39.

13 "Earth stone," apparently.

14 The tomb of Tiresias was ordinarily pointed out in the vicinity of the Tilphusan Well. near Thebes; at least Pausanias states to that effect.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Latin (Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff, 1906)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide References (3 total)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: