The Identity of the Breastplate Stones: Ahlamah

IX. Ahlamah. As to this stone also, all the authorities are in agreement, and render ahlamah by "amethyst." This was not, however, the Oriental amethyst, a variety of corundum, but a dark blue or purple variety of quartz. Both Arabia and Syria furnished a supply of amethysts. The Hebrew name shows that this stone was believed to possess the virtue of inducing dreams and visions (cf. halom--"dream"), while, as is well known, the Greek name characterizes it as an enemy or preventive of inebriety. The amethyst was known in ancient Egypt and probably was named hemag. In the Book of the Dead a heart made of hemag is mentioned, and two such heart-shaped amulets of amethyst are preserved in the Boulaq Museum. As the amethyst retained its repute as a stone of beauty and power through the Greek and Roman periods, we may safely assert that it was set in both the first and second breastplates. Upon the ahlamah was engraved the name Dan.