DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42779#0046
22 PREHISTORIC PERIODS
haec fuere antiqua genera marmoribus secandis. He adds that
Thebaic sand was used forpolitura, in stonework, and further
tells us that for long Naxian stone was preferred for the
polishing of marble statues and for the cutting of gems—
signis e marmore poliendis gemmisque etiam scalpendis atque
limandis Naxium din placuit ante alia. Later,1 he remarks
that among the abrasive stones which were used with water,
as contrasted with those which required the use of oil—
Naxiae laus maxima fnit, mox Armeniacae.
From the silence of Theophrastus about Naxian stone
and his mention of the Armenian it may, perhaps, be inferred
that the Naxian had, by the fourth century B.c., gone entirely
out of fashion and been replaced by the Armenian. Certainly
Pliny’s reference to the antiqua genera and his further
remarks, Naxium diu placuit ante alia, and Naxiae laus
maxima fuit, mox Armeniacae, indicate something of the
kind.
But it is not quite clear in Pliny where the use of Naxian
sand can be distinguished from use of pieces of the actual
emery itself. Emery sand can be produced by crushing the
emery stone, or from sandy deposits in the proximity. Such
sand is referred to by Hesychius2 and Dioscorides3 as crpupis
or upipis, and in the LXX Book of Job4 as anuphris AiOos.
The use of emery-stone as a cutting instrument must be
inferred both from the use of the term AiOos by Stephanus
and Suidas and the TrsTpa implied in the passage of Pindar.
Pliny, on the other hand, refers to the sand when he calls it
Naxiae in one passage (simile Naxiae vitium est et Coptitidi),
but later, where he calls it Naxium and states how it was used
for statues and gem-cutting, he is thinking of it as the stone
itself, not of the shaped whetstone, the noun understood
being saxum. The final mention (Naxiae laus maxuma fuit,
&c.) takes cos as its noun from a preceding sentence.
1 N.H. xxxvi. 22, 47.
2 S.v. 2|iipis‘ appou elSos ri a|ir)XOVTCC1 °i cKAripoi tgdv AiOwv.
3 v. 166: Zpupis- AiQos kniv rj Tots vjrpcpous oi ScacruAioyAucpot apriyouat.
4 xli. 7: cruvSeapos auTou, obarrep apupirns AiQos.
haec fuere antiqua genera marmoribus secandis. He adds that
Thebaic sand was used forpolitura, in stonework, and further
tells us that for long Naxian stone was preferred for the
polishing of marble statues and for the cutting of gems—
signis e marmore poliendis gemmisque etiam scalpendis atque
limandis Naxium din placuit ante alia. Later,1 he remarks
that among the abrasive stones which were used with water,
as contrasted with those which required the use of oil—
Naxiae laus maxima fnit, mox Armeniacae.
From the silence of Theophrastus about Naxian stone
and his mention of the Armenian it may, perhaps, be inferred
that the Naxian had, by the fourth century B.c., gone entirely
out of fashion and been replaced by the Armenian. Certainly
Pliny’s reference to the antiqua genera and his further
remarks, Naxium diu placuit ante alia, and Naxiae laus
maxima fuit, mox Armeniacae, indicate something of the
kind.
But it is not quite clear in Pliny where the use of Naxian
sand can be distinguished from use of pieces of the actual
emery itself. Emery sand can be produced by crushing the
emery stone, or from sandy deposits in the proximity. Such
sand is referred to by Hesychius2 and Dioscorides3 as crpupis
or upipis, and in the LXX Book of Job4 as anuphris AiOos.
The use of emery-stone as a cutting instrument must be
inferred both from the use of the term AiOos by Stephanus
and Suidas and the TrsTpa implied in the passage of Pindar.
Pliny, on the other hand, refers to the sand when he calls it
Naxiae in one passage (simile Naxiae vitium est et Coptitidi),
but later, where he calls it Naxium and states how it was used
for statues and gem-cutting, he is thinking of it as the stone
itself, not of the shaped whetstone, the noun understood
being saxum. The final mention (Naxiae laus maxuma fuit,
&c.) takes cos as its noun from a preceding sentence.
1 N.H. xxxvi. 22, 47.
2 S.v. 2|iipis‘ appou elSos ri a|ir)XOVTCC1 °i cKAripoi tgdv AiOwv.
3 v. 166: Zpupis- AiQos kniv rj Tots vjrpcpous oi ScacruAioyAucpot apriyouat.
4 xli. 7: cruvSeapos auTou, obarrep apupirns AiQos.