108 Amber and Jet in Ancient Burials. 



the parent word of our term electricity. PJiny says 

 that " elector " was a synonym for the sun. The 

 prophet Ezekiel (chap, i., v. 4 and 27) describes i« 

 his Vision of God the fire which seemed to come from the 

 Throne like the colour of xA.mber — the appearance of the like- 

 ness of the glory of the Lord which caused Ezekiel to fall 

 upon his face (b,c. 595). Schliemann found a considerable 

 amount of Amber from the Baltic in the graves of Mycenae,^ 

 and the frequent allusions to it in the works of Latin writers 

 ■of the first and succeding centuries testify to its popularity 

 in the Roman world. Probably the very earliest allusion in 

 literature to the ornamental use of Amber appears in Homer's 

 Odyssey (xv., 460). It was brought through the Phoenician 

 trade with Greece. In later times Amber was brought by 

 the overland trade down from the Baltic to the mouth of 

 the Po,3 and from thence further south. In the classical 

 times it seems to have been only in exceptional cases that 

 Amber was applied to the uses of art, and as Greek influence 

 increased the taste for it disappeared in Italy. It was only 

 -towards the end of the republican age that it gradually came 

 into favour again, and then as a material for ladies' orna- 

 ments, such as bracelets, pins, and rings, and for adorning 

 bedsteads and similar furniture. Under the Empire, it was 

 more fashionable than it had ever been. The ruddy Amber, 

 especially if transparent, was thought much of, but the 

 bright yellow, of the colour of Falerian wine, was liked best 

 of all.* Amber was one of the first substances used by man 

 for personal decoration, and was also employed at a very 



2 Mycetuc, by Dr Henry Schliemann, p. 203, "an enormous 

 quantity of Amber beads. . . All these beads had no doubt been 

 strung on thread in the form of necklaces, and their presence in 

 the tombs among such large treasures of golden ornaments seems 

 to prove that Amber was very precious, and considered a magnifi- 

 cent ornament in the time of the early Mycenian kings." "Pre- 

 cious was the Amber, and worth a banquet of wine, sang a poet." 

 "An artistic golden necklace set with Amber, like the sun" 

 (Odyssey, xviii.. 296). 



3 "Myths of the Precious Stones," CornMll Magazine, N.S., 

 ^o\. i.. 1883, pp. 590-91. 



4 Dr Oskar Seyffert, Classical A ntiquities, p. 208. 



