Gemstones and Greek Folktales

The ancient civilization of Greece always had a godly belief  as an explanation for any event that occured around them. Be it blaming Hades for the winter months for his act of abducting Persephone, daughter of Demeter, or attributing the death of sea sailors to the Sirens, sea creatures that sang beautifully. Nothing seems to be a far-fetched folklore to the inventories of greek storymaking, always pulling out an unheard story to gain the attention of listeners. That’s why gemstones for ancient Greeks were not merely stones for jewelry making, but another excuse to devise folklore of some kind. And once getting hold of these natural stone beads, no god was spared. Hades, Hercules, and Zeus, all were turned into just another story character, with a backstory good enough to give a build-up to these folklores.

But nonetheless, these stories are as wonderful as anything, and definitely, deserve at least a post dedicated entirely to them. So let us have a look at 3 gemstones, and the greek folk tales associated with them.

1.Diamond & Chronos

Maybe the most precious and loved of all stones for jewelry making, Diamond is no more than an allotrope of Carbon if viewed from the eyes of a scientific expert. But the reason behind how the gemstone came to be can never be so simple once the Greeks interfere. In Greek mythology,  Chronos was the personification of time. The story goes like Chronos once changes a young man named Adamas into diamond, making him immensely strong immediately. This power was then started to be seen as a power to reinforce love between married couples; a reason why people are advised to gift it their loved ones; at least De Beers would agree.

2.Amethyst and Dionysus

This is how the story goes. The god of Wine, Dionysus, once tried to kill a maiden named Amethysta, in a sudden burst of anger. To save the maiden from the obviously terrible fate, goddess Diana turned her into stone. After realizing the terrible deed he was about to commit, Dionysus wept tears of wine near the stone, turning it into violet color.

3.onyx and Venus

This one is from Roman mythology, a culture much similar to and inherited from Greek culture.  science, or gemology, Onyx is just another banded variety of silicate chalcedony. For ancient Romans, it was another opportunity to come up with a nice story that features their gods, Venus and Cupid. Cupid- the god of desire, erotic love, attraction, and affection- used is an arrow to clip off the fingernails of  Venus, the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility. The fingernails fell on the ground below after the heavenly strike. On seeing this, the gods decided to not let the godly body parts perish, and turned them into Onyx, so they could survive till time immemorial.

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