Female Roman period mummy portrait, with emerald necklace, encaustic on flat wood panel framed by linen mummy wrappings, ca. 200 AD. Found at Fayum, Egypt, the complete mummy is now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Click here or on the image for other female mummy portraits showing emerald necklaces. HISTORY Our earliest indications regarding the use of emeralds in jewelery are from ancient Egypt. Although some scholars say that emeralds were used as far back as the Pharaohs of the 12th Dynasty (1900s BC), in reality one can only say with certainty that emerald was widespread in Ptolemaic times (300-30 BC), during the Roman period (30 BC-400 AD), and in Byzantine times (400-650 AD). During Cleopatra's reign (1st Century BC), commercial traffic between Rome and Egypt developed greatly. Gemstones, as well as marble and other building materials, were imported into Roman territory for artisanal purposes. Emerald mines that definitely were active were those at El Zabara and El Sikait, on the Egyptian shores of the Red Sea. These were intensively exploited for a long period, up until the reign of Sultan Al-Kamel. Notwithstanding their widespread diffusion, these emeralds were not of high quality, due to their small size, feeble green coloration and a high internal concentration of fluid and solid inclusions. One can say, with a high degree of assurance, that most of the stones found in areas covered by Vesuvius' eruption had an Egyptian origin. Both the Romans and the Egyptians attributed numerous properties to these green gems, holding them auspicious for the growth of crops and fertility. The earliest evidence of the use of emerald in the Greco-Roman world dates back to Teofrasto, a disciple of Aristotle (371-287 BC). He looked at minerals principally from the standpoint of their utility. In his work "Peri Lithon," he described deposits of gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, mercury and the minerals and rocks which contained them. What also are of interest, even if confused and fragmentary, are theories as to the origin of minerals and their therapeutic properties. Minerals such as topaz, emerald and aquamarine, rubies and garnets were desired both for their beauty and for magical powers ascribed to them by astral influence. Teofrasto was particularly influential in claiming that emerald, if observed intensely, had the power to improve vision. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.) also held to this idea, which could be the basis out of which the glasses we wear today arose. Pliny is best known as an encyclopedist. His extraordinary knowledge is contained in the 37 volumes of his "Naturalis historia," a vast inquiry (finished in 77-78) into everything that exists in nature, beginning with the "centrality" of man and branching into topics ranging from art to medicine. He presents an ample discussion of emeralds in the volume dedicated to minerals, identifying multiple locations where they were mined. Because of this, we have a veritable archive of mines active in his time, which could be the places of probable origin for the stones found in Rome. In terms of value, Pliny puts emerald in third place, after diamond and pearls. Whatever might be their origin, Plinio criticizes society's "unbridled passion" for gold and gems in general, perhaps also because he considered this fashion outmoded. Among other important annotations, Plinio described 12 varieties of emerald of which he had knowledge. These 12 varieties were none other than 12 localities in which emerald was mined. That considered the most important was "Scizia", which corresponds to the emerald mining area of the Ural Mountains that divide European Russia from Siberia. Others cited include Batriana in present-day Afghanistan, Egypt, the island of Cyprus, Ethiopia, Macedonia, Persia, Greece, India and Pakistan. Today we know that Pliny included other green stones under the name of "emerald," stones which, in reality, have nothing to do with emerald. Among these is turquoise (a phosphate of copper), which is used in jewelry because of its beautiful shading, ranging from a clear green to sky-blue, and found in some of the same localities as emerald, e.g., Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia and Persia. Nevertheless, even with these errors, Pliny' s work is important for the research we are undertaking, as it gives us information on mines that were active in the first century A.D. in and near the Mediterranean basin. This should indicate with good probability the origin of the archeological emeralds that we are studying. One important gap in Pliny's work involves the absence of information on the Habactal mine, situated in nearby Austria near Salzburg. It is strange that a Roman writer, who is so attentive in his citations, should not have information concerning this mine so close to Rome. Moreover, according to some sources, this mine is believed to have been in use during the time of the Celts, an Indo-European people who lived in Central and Western Europe as of the 4th Century BC We accordingly can speculate that Plinio may have sent messengers to that area who failed to return in time for him to include data on this mine in his work or, more likely, the mine was no longer active in the 1st Century AD.