82 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 



issued in order to stem the tide of extravagance which 

 threatened the ruination of all classes. Julius Caesar 

 issued an edict, prohibiting the use of purple and pearls 

 to all persons who were not of certain rank, and the latter 

 also to unmarried women. 35 



The mother-of-pearl was evidently appreciated in 

 Northern Italy long anterior to the time of the Roman 

 Empire, as the shell of the pearl-oyster of Eastern seas 

 has been found in ancient hut foundations, reported to be 

 of Neolithic age, near Reggio Emilia. 36 This discovery 

 would seem to indicate very early intercourse with the 

 advanced culture of the East. Further evidence in 

 support of this is furnished by discoveries of conch-shell 

 trumpets and broken Purpura shells in Ligurian caves, to 

 which attention has been called in the other chapters 

 of this book. 



It is probable that the ancient Hebrews valued pearls 

 for ornamental purposes, doubtless obtaining them by 

 commerce with the Phoenicians. It is remarkable, how- 

 ever, that the Hebrew word, gabish, translated " pearl," 

 occurs but once in the Old Testament. Some doubt 

 exists even here as to the true significance of the word, 

 some writers claiming that it relates to some other sub- 

 stance, probably " crystal." In the New Testament and 

 in the Talmud are to be found frequent references to 

 pearls, which show how these gems were estimated by 

 the Jews. Mother-of-pearl is still a commodity of general 

 traffic in Palestine, where it is carved by the inhabitants 

 into various religious ornaments. 37 



85 Lovell, "Edible British Mollusca," 1884, p. 92; Streeter, op. cit., 

 pp. 39-40 ; Kunz and Stevenson, op. cit. , p. 9. 



36 Mosso, "The Dawn of Mediterranean Civilization/' 1910, p. 269, 

 quoting Colini, Atti della Societa romana d? Aiitropologia, vol. x,, 1904. 



S7 Streeter, op. cit., p. 32 ; Kunz and Stevenson, of. cit., pp. 6-7. 



