Stones of Nocturnal Luminosity

	STONES OF NOCTURNAL LUMINOSITY There are mentions, in a Nestorian inscription of Si-ngan fu and in a Chinese Manichaean treatise, of a certain "night-shining jewel" and a certain "moonlight pearl." In the Manichaean treatise, the gem is likened to compassion; it is a jewel "bright like the moon, which is the first among all jewels." The T'ung tien of Tu Yu (written from 766 to 801 AD) ascribes genuine pearls, which were both night-shining and moon-bright, to a mythical kingdom . . . the country of the Pygmies, which lay north-west of Sogdiana. Well, north-west of Sogdiana might well have been the land of the Pygmies, to a Chinese writer of the eighth century; the Christian writers of the same period thought that north-east of Sogdiana lay the land of Gog and Magog and the one-eyed Arimaspi of whom Herodotus spoke. Either way, it was Cloud-cuckoo Land; it was the further ends of the earth, where any old miracle could happen. However. In the Tung ming ki, a book of marvels dated perhaps to the middle of the sixth century, the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty is said to have obtained in 102 B.C. a white gem (the word used, chu, meaning not only "pearl, bead," but also "gems generally") which the Emperor wrapped up in a piece of brocade. It was as if it reflected the light of the moon, whence it was styled, "moon-reflecting gem". And in the San Ts'in ki, a book of the fifth century, it is stated that in the tumulus of the Emperor Tsin Shi, pearls shining at night formed a palace of the sun and moon, and that moonlight pearls suspended in the grave emitted light by day and night. In the Annals of the Posterior Han Dynasty, speaking of the country Ta Ts'in, is written, "the country contains much gold, silver, and rare precious stones, particularly the jewel that shines at night, or the 'jewel of nocturnal luminosity,' and the moonlight pearl (or 'pearl as clear as the moon.'" In the Shi ki of Se-ma Ts'ien, is the following: "The moonlight pearl is produced in rivers and in the sea, hidden in the oyster shell, while the water-dragon attacks it. When the sovereign obtains it, he will hold in submission for a long time the foreign tribes residing in the four quarters of the empire." Thus the moonlight pearl was a symbol of kingship, a sort of mythical gift of royal rule. A disputed work of the philosopher Mo Ti or Mo-tse, who may have lived after Confucius and before Mencius, also mentioned the night-shining pearl in an enumeration of prominent treasures. There are Western parallels. One such is Pliny's astrion, of which he says, "Of a like white radiance <as with the stone asteria> is the stone called astrion, cognate to crystal, and occurring in India and on the littoral of Patalene. In its interior, radiating from the centre, shines a star with the full brilliancy of the moon. Some account for the name by saying that the stone placed opposite to the stars absorbs their refulgence and emits it again." Here too is a night-shining gem. Herodotus (II.44) mentions a temple of Hercules at Tyre in Phoenicia with two pillars,- one of pure gold, the other of smaragdos, shining with great brilliancy at night. Smaragdos is usually now translated as 'emerald' but a temple with a pillar of solid emerald upholding the ceiling would be a marvel indeed; some sort of semi-precious stone such as a marble or porphyry would be closer to the mark. Pliny too has a story of luminous smaragdos: "They say that on this island above the tomb of a petty king, Hermias, near the fisheries, there was the marble statue of a lion, with eyes of smaragdi set in, flashing their light into the sea with such force that the tunnies were frightened away and fled, till the fishermen, long marvelling at this unusual phenomenon, replaced the stones by others." Lucian (De dea syria) describes a statue of the Syrian goddess in Hierapolis bearing a gem on her head called lychnis: "From this stone flashes a great light in the night-time, so that the whole temple gleams brightly as by the light of myriads of candles, but in the daytime the brightness grows faint; the gem has the likeness of a bright fire." The name of the jewel lychnis, according to Berthold Laufer, sprang from the Greek lychnos "a portable lamp." Thus Pseudo-Callisthenes (II, 42) made Alexander the Great spear a fish, in whose belly was found a white stone, so brilliantly bright that all thought it a lamp, and Alexander set it in gold and used it to light his tent at night. Indeed, a night-shining stone. From Aelian comes this version of the legend: There was a virtuous widow of Tarent, whose name was Herakleis. By happenstance a young stork just learning to fly fell exhausted at her feet, but she took it up and nursed it tenderly, then released it. It flew away, as good as new, and vanished for a whole year. Then a year to the day after its release, it returned and dropped a stone into her lap. Awakening at night, she noticed that the stone spread light and lustre, illuminating the room as though a torch had been brought in. This, wrote Aelian, was certainly a very precious stone - though he does not give its name. However the scholar A. Marx (Griechische Marchen von dankbaren Tieren, p. 52, 1889) commented that this stone was the lychnites or lychnis stone. And why? Because according to Philostratus, this was the stone placed by storks in their nests, to guard their chicks against snakes that came in the night; thus the lychnis spread a marvelous light after dark as well as possessing many other magical virtues. Hebrew rabbinical tradition tells that Noah carried a wonderful luminous stone with him on the Ark. It shone brilliantly by day and still more so by night, and served to distinguish day from night during the forty days of downpour, when neither sky nor sun nor moon could be seen. In another Hebrew legend, Abraham built a city for the six sons born to him from Hagar. The city was surrounded by a wall so high, that the light of the sun was cut off and the streets were dark day and night. So Abraham gave his sons a treasure, enormous jewels and pearls which exceeded the sun in brightness; these will be rediscovered at the time of the Messiah. From the Shi i ki of China comes this anecdote. There was a Prince Chao of the kingdom of Yen, and once while he sat out on his terrace, he saw several black birds with white heads flocking together, and every bird held in its beak a perfectly resplendent pearl measuring one foot all round. Each pearl was as black as lacquer, and each pearl emitted light in the interior of a house, to such a degree that even the spirits could not obscure their supernatural essence. From another Chinese chronicle, the Sou shen ki, comes this related story: "The marquis of Sui once encountered a wounded snake, and had it cured by means of drugs. After the lapse of a year the snake appeared with a luminous gem in its mouth to repay his kindness. This gem was an inch in diameter, perfectly white, and emitted at night a light of the brightness of the moon, so that the room was lighted as by a torch." The gem was styled "gem of the marquis of Sui...... gem of the spiritual snake," or "moonlight pearl." From the same Chinese work offers another anecdote still closer to Aelian's. The bird this time is a crane, storks not being known in China: "K'uai Ts'an nursed bis mother in a most filial manner. There nested on his house a crane, which was shot by men practising archery, and in a wretched condition returned to Ts'an's place. Ts'an nursed the bird and healed its wound, and, the cure being effected, released it. Subsequently it happened one night that cranes arrived before the door of his house. Ts'an seized a torch, and, on examination, noted that a couple of cranes, male and female, had come, carrying in their beaks moon-bright pearls to recompense his good deed." From Buddhist legends come other reports of night-shining stones. Hsien-Tsang (Buddhist Records of the Western Kingdoms) describes a Buddha's-Tooth shrine brightly decorated with jewels, and on its roof was a signal-post topped with a large ruby or padmaraga, which shed such a light that it could be seen from a great distance, like a blazing star, by day or night. Somewhat later, Cosmas Indicopleustes described a gem owned by the King of Ceylon or Taprobane: "as large as a great pine-cone, fiery red, and when seen flashing from a distance, especially if the sun's rays are playing around it, being a matchless sight;" but he does not say that it shone at night. Friar Odoric of Pordenone of the fourteenth century described a similar gem in the possession of the King of the Nicobars: "He carrieth also in his hand a certain precious stone called a ruby, a good span in length and breadth, so that when he hath this stone in his hand it shows like a flame of fire. And this, it is said, is the most noble and valuable gem that existeth at this day in the world, and the great emperor of the Tartars of Cathay hath never been able to get it into his possession either by force or by money or by any device whatever." *According to Chao Ju-kua's Chu fan chi, the King of Ceylon possessed a gem five inches in diameter, which could not be consumed by fire, and at night emitted a brilliancy like a torch.* Several other sources referred to the carbuncle or ruby as night-shining. Hence Konrad von Megenberg (1309-78) in his Book of Nature, praises the carbuncle as the noblest of stones, combining the virtues of every other gem; its color fiery, it is dark all day long yet as soon as night falls, it shines forth so brightly that night becomes day. Philostratus mentioned a "stone attracting other stones" which sparkled at night like fire. And in the palace of Prester John, far away in fabulous India (or if you like, somewhere north-west of Sogdiana) were carbuncles, shining like stars. Main Sources: Kunz, George Frederick, The Curious Lore of Precious Stones Laufer, Berthold, The Diamond Return to Myths and Legends Last Updated on June 4, 2001 by Lisa and Sylvia.

STONES OF NOCTURNAL LUMINOSITY

There are mentions, in a Nestorian inscription of Si-ngan fu and in a Chinese Manichaean treatise, of a certain "night-shining jewel" and a certain "moonlight pearl."

In the Manichaean treatise, the gem is likened to compassion; it is a jewel "bright like the moon, which is the first among all jewels." The T'ung tien of Tu Yu (written from 766 to 801 AD) ascribes genuine pearls, which were both night-shining and moon-bright, to a mythical kingdom . . . the country of the Pygmies, which lay north-west of Sogdiana. Well, north-west of Sogdiana might well have been the land of the Pygmies, to a Chinese writer of the eighth century; the Christian writers of the same period thought that north-east of Sogdiana lay the land of Gog and Magog and the one-eyed Arimaspi of whom Herodotus spoke. Either way, it was Cloud-cuckoo Land; it was the further ends of the earth, where any old miracle could happen.

However. In the Tung ming ki, a book of marvels dated perhaps to the middle of the sixth century, the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty is said to have obtained in 102 B.C. a white gem (the word used, chu, meaning not only "pearl, bead," but also "gems generally") which the Emperor wrapped up in a piece of brocade. It was as if it reflected the light of the moon, whence it was styled, "moon-reflecting gem".

And in the San Ts'in ki, a book of the fifth century, it is stated that in the tumulus of the Emperor Tsin Shi, pearls shining at night formed a palace of the sun and moon, and that moonlight pearls suspended in the grave emitted light by day and night.

In the Annals of the Posterior Han Dynasty, speaking of the country Ta Ts'in, is written, "the country contains much gold, silver, and rare precious stones, particularly the jewel that shines at night, or the 'jewel of nocturnal luminosity,' and the moonlight pearl (or 'pearl as clear as the moon.'"

In the Shi ki of Se-ma Ts'ien, is the following: "The moonlight pearl is produced in rivers and in the sea, hidden in the oyster shell, while the water-dragon attacks it. When the sovereign obtains it, he will hold in submission for a long time the foreign tribes residing in the four quarters of the empire." Thus the moonlight pearl was a symbol of kingship, a sort of mythical gift of royal rule. A disputed work of the philosopher Mo Ti or Mo-tse, who may have lived after Confucius and before Mencius, also mentioned the night-shining pearl in an enumeration of prominent treasures.

There are Western parallels. One such is Pliny's astrion, of which he says, "Of a like white radiance <as with the stone asteria> is the stone called astrion, cognate to crystal, and occurring in India and on the littoral of Patalene. In its interior, radiating from the centre, shines a star with the full brilliancy of the moon. Some account for the name by saying that the stone placed opposite to the stars absorbs their refulgence and emits it again." Here too is a night-shining gem.

Herodotus (II.44) mentions a temple of Hercules at Tyre in Phoenicia with two pillars,- one of pure gold, the other of smaragdos, shining with great brilliancy at night. Smaragdos is usually now translated as 'emerald' but a temple with a pillar of solid emerald upholding the ceiling would be a marvel indeed; some sort of semi-precious stone such as a marble or porphyry would be closer to the mark. Pliny too has a story of luminous smaragdos: "They say that on this island above the tomb of a petty king, Hermias, near the fisheries, there was the marble statue of a lion, with eyes of smaragdi set in, flashing their light into the sea with such force that the tunnies were frightened away and fled, till the fishermen, long marvelling at this unusual phenomenon, replaced the stones by others."

Lucian (De dea syria) describes a statue of the Syrian goddess in Hierapolis bearing a gem on her head called lychnis: "From this stone flashes a great light in the night-time, so that the whole temple gleams brightly as by the light of myriads of candles, but in the daytime the brightness grows faint; the gem has the likeness of a bright fire." The name of the jewel lychnis, according to Berthold Laufer, sprang from the Greek lychnos "a portable lamp." Thus Pseudo-Callisthenes (II, 42) made Alexander the Great spear a fish, in whose belly was found a white stone, so brilliantly bright that all thought it a lamp, and Alexander set it in gold and used it to light his tent at night. Indeed, a night-shining stone.

From Aelian comes this version of the legend: There was a virtuous widow of Tarent, whose name was Herakleis. By happenstance a young stork just learning to fly fell exhausted at her feet, but she took it up and nursed it tenderly, then released it. It flew away, as good as new, and vanished for a whole year. Then a year to the day after its release, it returned and dropped a stone into her lap. Awakening at night, she noticed that the stone spread light and lustre, illuminating the room as though a torch had been brought in. This, wrote Aelian, was certainly a very precious stone - though he does not give its name. However the scholar A. Marx (Griechische Marchen von dankbaren Tieren, p. 52, 1889) commented that this stone was the lychnites or lychnis stone. And why? Because according to Philostratus, this was the stone placed by storks in their nests, to guard their chicks against snakes that came in the night; thus the lychnis spread a marvelous light after dark as well as possessing many other magical virtues.

Hebrew rabbinical tradition tells that Noah carried a wonderful luminous stone with him on the Ark. It shone brilliantly by day and still more so by night, and served to distinguish day from night during the forty days of downpour, when neither sky nor sun nor moon could be seen.

In another Hebrew legend, Abraham built a city for the six sons born to him from Hagar. The city was surrounded by a wall so high, that the light of the sun was cut off and the streets were dark day and night. So Abraham gave his sons a treasure, enormous jewels and pearls which exceeded the sun in brightness; these will be rediscovered at the time of the Messiah.

From the Shi i ki of China comes this anecdote. There was a Prince Chao of the kingdom of Yen, and once while he sat out on his terrace, he saw several black birds with white heads flocking together, and every bird held in its beak a perfectly resplendent pearl measuring one foot all round. Each pearl was as black as lacquer, and each pearl emitted light in the interior of a house, to such a degree that even the spirits could not obscure their supernatural essence.

From another Chinese chronicle, the Sou shen ki, comes this related story: "The marquis of Sui once encountered a wounded snake, and had it cured by means of drugs. After the lapse of a year the snake appeared with a luminous gem in its mouth to repay his kindness. This gem was an inch in diameter, perfectly white, and emitted at night a light of the brightness of the moon, so that the room was lighted as by a torch." The gem was styled "gem of the marquis of Sui...... gem of the spiritual snake," or "moonlight pearl." From the same Chinese work offers another anecdote still closer to Aelian's. The bird this time is a crane, storks not being known in China: "K'uai Ts'an nursed bis mother in a most filial manner. There nested on his house a crane, which was shot by men practising archery, and in a wretched condition returned to Ts'an's place. Ts'an nursed the bird and healed its wound, and, the cure being effected, released it. Subsequently it happened one night that cranes arrived before the door of his house. Ts'an seized a torch, and, on examination, noted that a couple of cranes, male and female, had come, carrying in their beaks moon-bright pearls to recompense his good deed."

From Buddhist legends come other reports of night-shining stones. Hsien-Tsang (Buddhist Records of the Western Kingdoms) describes a Buddha's-Tooth shrine brightly decorated with jewels, and on its roof was a signal-post topped with a large ruby or padmaraga, which shed such a light that it could be seen from a great distance, like a blazing star, by day or night. Somewhat later, Cosmas Indicopleustes described a gem owned by the King of Ceylon or Taprobane: "as large as a great pine-cone, fiery red, and when seen flashing from a distance, especially if the sun's rays are playing around it, being a matchless sight;" but he does not say that it shone at night. Friar Odoric of Pordenone of the fourteenth century described a similar gem in the possession of the King of the Nicobars: "He carrieth also in his hand a certain precious stone called a ruby, a good span in length and breadth, so that when he hath this stone in his hand it shows like a flame of fire. And this, it is said, is the most noble and valuable gem that existeth at this day in the world, and the great emperor of the Tartars of Cathay hath never been able to get it into his possession either by force or by money or by any device whatever."

According to Chao Ju-kua's Chu fan chi, the King of Ceylon possessed a gem five inches in diameter, which could not be consumed by fire, and at night emitted a brilliancy like a torch.

Several other sources referred to the carbuncle or ruby as night-shining. Hence Konrad von Megenberg (1309-78) in his Book of Nature, praises the carbuncle as the noblest of stones, combining the virtues of every other gem; its color fiery, it is dark all day long yet as soon as night falls, it shines forth so brightly that night becomes day. Philostratus mentioned a "stone attracting other stones" which sparkled at night like fire. And in the palace of Prester John, far away in fabulous India (or if you like, somewhere north-west of Sogdiana) were carbuncles, shining like stars.

Main Sources:

Kunz, George Frederick, The Curious Lore of Precious Stones

Laufer, Berthold, The Diamond

Return to Myths and Legends

Last Updated on June 4, 2001 by Lisa and Sylvia.