Carnelian

History and lore

Carnelian is one of humanity's oldest gem materials. Craftsmen of the Indus (Harappan) civilisation in the third millennium BCE drilled long, perfectly shaped carnelian beads and decorated others with white lines etched by alkali and heat; such beads have been found in the royal tombs of Ur in Mesopotamia, evidence of trade across thousands of kilometres. Khambhat (Cambay) in Gujarat has continued as a bead-making centre into modern times. In Egypt carnelian was used in jewellery from the Predynastic period onward and appears as red inlay in royal pieces such as the pectorals of Tutankhamun. Greek and Roman engravers favoured it for seals and intaglios, because hot wax does not stick to it.

The English name, older spelt "cornelian", has been derived from the Latin for the red cornel cherry and from the Latin caro, "flesh"; both explanations have their defenders. Closely related browner chalcedony was called sard, a name ancient writers connected with Sardis in Lydia.

In the traditions

The first stone of the High Priest's breastplate is odem, from the Hebrew root for "red", rendered "sardius" in the King James Bible (Exodus 28:17); most scholars think it was carnelian or sard. Revelation 21:20 names sardius as the sixth foundation of the heavenly city, and in Revelation 4:3 the one seated on the throne is "to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone".

In Arabic, carnelian and agate are both called aqiq. Rings of red Yemeni aqiq, often engraved with names of God or prayers, have long been worn across the Muslim world, especially in Shi'i piety, and are associated in tradition with sayings of the Prophet and the Imams whose authenticity Muslim scholars have assessed differently. Medieval European lapidaries in Marbode's tradition said that the sard gladdened the heart, drove away fear and countered the gloomy influence of onyx. Agrippa lists corneola among the stones of Venus, which this entry follows, though modern writers more often give carnelian to the Sun or Mars. In older month lists carnelian is the stone of August, and a British list usually dated to 1937 gave it to July; modern American lists use sardonyx instead.

Meaning and symbolism

Its warm, blood-like colour has made carnelian a stone of life, vitality and courage nearly everywhere it was known. In Egypt red stones were linked with blood, the sun and protective power; in Rome and the Islamic world the carnelian seal stood for identity and trustworthiness. Modern crystal books call carnelian a stone of motivation and creativity; these are recent associations, and scientific studies have not found that gems change character or health.

The mineral

Carnelian is translucent chalcedony coloured by finely dispersed iron oxide; browner stones are called sard, and the boundary between the two is arbitrary. Heat turns brownish iron compounds red, a fact known to Indus and Indian bead-makers, who heated stones in the sun or in pots. Today much commercial carnelian is Brazilian or Uruguayan agate that has been dyed and heated. Held to the light, natural carnelian shows a cloudy, even distribution of colour, while dyed material often shows stripes following the agate's banding. Sources include India (Gujarat), Brazil, Uruguay, Madagascar and Indonesia.

With a hardness of 6.5–7 and good toughness, carnelian wears well. Glass imitations are warmer to the touch and may contain bubbles. Clean with warm soapy water, and keep dyed stones out of prolonged strong sunlight.

Sources and further reading

• Exodus 28; Revelation 4 and 21 — King James Bible, 1611
• Natural History, Book 37 — Pliny the Elder, c. 77 CE
• De lapidibus — Marbode of Rennes, c. 1090
• Three Books of Occult Philosophy — Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, 1533
• Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries — Alfred Lucas, 1926
• The Curious Lore of Precious Stones — George Frederick Kunz, 1913