Agate— Archaeology and Folk-lore 25 
(H. N. Higinbotham Hall). Aside from cut gems, 
agate was wrought into beads, scarabs, rings, and 
figures. 
Ointment bottles, cups and bowls were also occa- 
sionally made of agate, but few of these have survived. 
The best known example is a precious agate bowl pre- 
served in Vienna and measuring 28V-> inches in di- 
ameter. It was brought to Europe by the crusaders 
after the conquest of Constantinople. Another famous 
agate vessel in existence, presumably made at the time 
of Nero, is a two-handled cup holding over a pint and 
covered with Bacchanalian subjects. It was presented 
by Charles the Bald in the ninth century to the abbey 
of St. Denis, and was used to hold the wine at the coro- 
nation of the kings of France. In the Treasury of 
Vienna there is an agate bowl with a diameter of 30 
inches, which is traditionally believed to have been 
made about A.D. 1204. 
The Persians, Armenians, and Arabs, like all 
Oriental nations, do not clearly discriminate between 
agate, carnelian, chalcedony, and related stones. The 
most esteemed kind is called yamani ("originating 
from Yemen"), as it is chiefly found in Yemen, but, 
according to Arabic authors, also came from India and 
Maghreb (northwestern Africa). The stone was 
chiefly utilized for finger and signet rings in which 
the wearer's name was engraved. A verse from the 
Koran or also a magical figure was sometimes carved 
in such an agate which then served as a talisman. It 
was believed that those wearing a yamani ring were 
guarded against the danger of being killed by a col- 
lapsing wall or house. 
From ancient times India has been celebrated for 
the beauty of its agates. Pliny narrates that the agates 
of India possessed great and marvelous properties, as 
they present the appearance of rivers, woods, beasts of 
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