Alabaster

‘Αλαβαστρον, the name of a genus of fossils nearly allied to marble. It is a bright elegant stone, sometimes of a snowy whiteness. It may be cut freely, and is capable of a fine polish; and, being of a soft nature, it is wrought into any form or figure with ease. Vases or cruises were anciently made of it, wherein to preserve odoriferous liquors and ointments. Pliny and others represent it as peculiarly proper for this purpose; and the druggists in Egypt have, at this day, vessels made of it, in which they keep their medicines and perfumes.

In Mat 26:6-7, we read that Jesus being at table in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came thither and poured an alabaster box of ointment on his head. St. Mark adds, “She brake the box,” which merely refers to the seal upon the vase which closed it, and kept the perfume from evaporating. This had never been removed, but was on this occasion broken, that is, first opened.

Fig. 22—Perfume containers

This word occurs in the New Testament only in the notice of the ’alabaster box,’ or rather vessel, of ’ointment of spikenard, very precious,’ which a woman broke, and with its valuable contents anointed the head of Jesus, as he sat at supper in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper (Mat 26:7; Mar 14:3). At Alabastron, in Egypt, there was a manufactory of small pots and vessels for holding perfumes, which were made from a stone found in the neighboring mountains. The Greeks gave to these vessels the name of the city from which they came. This name was eventually extended to the stone of which they were formed; and at length it was applied without distinction to all perfume vessels, of whatever materials they consisted. It does not, therefore, by any means follow that the alabastron which the woman used at Bethany was really of alabaster: but a probability that it was such arises from the fact, that vessels made of this stone were deemed peculiarly suitable for the most costly and powerful perfumes.

A sort of stone, of fine texture, either the white gypsum, a sulphate of lime, or the onyx-alabaster, a hard carbonate of lime, having the color of the human nail, and nearly allied to marble. This material being very generally used to fabricate vessels for holding unguents and perfumed liquids, many vessels were called alabaster though made of a different substance, as gold, silver, glass, etc. In Mat 26:6,7, we read that Mary, sister of Lazarus, Joh 12:3, poured as alabaster box of precious ointment on Christ’s head. Mark says "she brake the box," signifying probably, that the seal upon the box, or upon the neck of the vase of bottle, which kept the perfume from evaporating, had never been removed; it was on this occasion first opened. See SPIKENARD.\par

Alabaster. From the Arabic ’al bastraton’, a whitish stone or from Alabastron, the place in Egypt where it is found. It occurs only in Mat 26:7; Mar 14:3; Luk 7:37. The ancients considered alabaster to be the best material in which to preserve their ointments. The Oriental alabaster (referred to in the Bible) is a translucent carbonate of lime, formed on the floors of limestone caves by the percolation of water.

It is of the same material as our marbles, but differently formed. It is usually clouded or banded like agate, hence, sometimes called onyx marble. Our common alabaster is different from this, being a variety of gypsum or sulphate of lime, used in its finer forms for vases, etc.; in the coarser, it is ground up for plaster of Paris. The noted sculptured slabs from Nineveh are made of this material.

Not our gypsum, but the oriental alabaster, translucent, with red, yellow, and gray streaks clue to admixture of oxides of iron with a fibrouscarbonate of lime. A calcareous marble like spar, wrought into boxes or vessels, to keep precious ointments from spoiling (Pliny H. N., 13:8). Mar 14:3; "broke the box," i.e., broke the seal on the mouth of it, put there to prevent, evaporation of the odor (Luk 7:37).

(Α᾿λάβαστρον) occurs in the N.T. only in the notice of the "alabaster box," or rather vessel, of "ointment of spikenard, very precious," which a woman broke, and with its valuable contents anointed the head of Jesus as he sat at supper, once at Bethany and once in Galilee (Mat 26:7; Mar 14:3; Luk 7:37). At Alabastron, in Egypt, there was a manufactory of small pots and vessels for holding perfumes (Ptolemy 4:5), which were made from a stone found in the neighboring mountains (Irwin’s Travels, p. 382). The Greeks gave to these vessels the name of the city from which they came, calling them alabastra. This name was eventually extended to the stone of which they were formed; and at length the term alabastron was applied without distinction to all perfume vessels of whatever materials they consisted. (Herod. 3, 20; AElian, Var. Hist. 12, 18; Theocr. 15:114; Lucian, Asin. 51; Petron. Sat. 60; Pliny, 9:56; comp. Wetstein, 1:515; Kype, Obs. 1, 188.) The material, although sometimes colored, was usually white, which was the most esteemed (Athen. 15:686). Theocritus speaks of golden alabastra (Idyl. 15, 114); and perfume vessels of different kinds of stone, of glass, ivory, bone, and shells, have been found in the Egyptian tombs (Wilkinson, 3, 379). It does not, therefore, by any means follow that the alabastron which the woman used at Bethany was really of alabaster, but a probability that it was such arises from the fact that vessels made of this stone were deemed peculiarly suitable for the most costly and powerful perfumes (Pliny Hist. Nat. 13, 2; 36:8, 24). The woman is said to have “broken" the vessel, which is explained by supposing that it was one of those shaped somewhat like a Florence oil-flask, with a long and narrow neck; and the mouth being curiously and firmly sealed up, the usual and easiest; way of getting at the contents was to break off the upper part of the neck. The alabastrum mentioned in the Gospels was, according to Epiphanius, a measure containing one cotyla, or about half a pint (Smith’s Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v.). The word itself is, however, properly the name of the substance of which the box was formed, and hence in 2Ki 21:13, the Sept. use ὁ ἀλάβαστρος for the Hebrew צִלִּחִת(tsallach’-ath, a dish, patina, λήκυθος, ampulla). Horace (Od. 4, 12) uses onyx in the same way. Alabaster is a calcareous spar, resembling marble, but softer and more easily worked, and therefore very suitable for being wrought into boxes (Pliny, 3, 20). The alabastra were not usually made of that white and soft gypsum to which the name of alabaster is now for the most part confined. Dr. John Hill, in his notes on Theophrastus, sets this matter in a clear light, distinguishing the alabastrites of naturalists as hard, and he adds: "This stone was by the Greeks called also sometimes onyx, and by the Latins marmor onychites, from its use in making boxes to preserve precious ointments, which boxes were commonly called ’onyxes’ and ’alabasters.’ So Dioscorides interprets." It is apprehended that, from certain appearances common to both, the same name was given not only to the common alabaster, called by mineralogists gypsum, and by chemists sulfate of lime, but also to the carbonate of lime, or that harder stone from which the alabastra were usually made (Penny Cyclopcedia, s.v.).

By the English word alabaster is likewise to be understood both that kind which is also known by the name of gypsum, and the Oriental alabaster which is so much valued on account of its translucency, and for its variety of colored streakings, red, yellow, gray, etc., which it owes for the most part to the admixture of oxides of iron. The latter is a fibrous carbonate of lime, of which there are many varieties, satin spar being one of the most common. The former is a hydrous sulfate of lime, and forms, when calcimined and ground, the well-known substance called plaster of Paris. Both these kinds of alabaster, but especially the latter, are and have been long used for various ornamental purposes, such as the fabrication of vases, boxes, etc., etc. The ancients considered alabaster (carbonate of lime) to be the best material in which to preserve their ointments (Pliny, H. N. 13, 3). Herodotus (3, 20) mentions an alabaster vessel of ointment which Cambyses sent, among other things, as a present to the AEthiopians. Hammond (Annotat. ad Matthew 26, 7) quotes Plutarch, Julius Pollux, and Atheneus, to show that alabaster was the material in which ointments were wont to be kept. Pliny (9, 56) tells us that the usual form of these alabaster vessels was long and slender at the top, and round and full at the bottom. He likens them to the long pearls, called elenchi, which the Roman ladies suspended from their fingers or dangled from their ears. He compares also the green pointed cone of a rose-bud to the form of an alabaster ointment- vessel (It. N. 21, 4). The onyx (Hor. Od. 4, 12, 17, "Nardi parvus onyx"), which Pliny says is another name for alabastrites, must not be confounded with the precious stone of that name, which is a sub-species of the quartz family of minerals, being a variety of agate. Perhaps the name of onyx was given to the pink-colored variety of the calcareous alabaster, in allusion to its resembling the finger-nail (onyx) in color, or else because the calcareous alabaster bears some resemblance to the agate onyx in the characteristic lunar-shaped mark of the last-named stone, which mark reminded the ancients of the whitish semicircular spot at the base of the finger-nail. SEE MARBLE; SEE VASE.

Alabaster. What is usually called alabaster is a kind of soft gypsum, properly sulphate of lime. But the alabaster of which jars and vases were usually made was finer grained, opaque, and usually white, but frequently shaded with other soft colors; hence sometimes called onyx marble, which is properly a carbonate of lime. Several vases of alabaster have been found in Egypt, varying in form and size; one of which, bearing the name and title of the queen of Thothmes II., had ointment in it, which had retained its odor for several centuries. In Mar 14:3 the phrase "she brake the box," is simply, "she brake the alabaster," i.e., the vase so called; and merely refers to the breaking of the seal which closed the vase, and kept the perfume from evaporation. Mat 26:7; Luk 7:37.

A valuable calcareous spar, a hydro-sulphate of lime, used by the ancients for making vessels to hold valuable ointments. It is probable that ’breaking’ ’ the box means breaking the seal, to open the box. Mat 26:7; Mar 14:3; Luk 7:37.

ALABASTER (ἀλάβαστρος or ἀλάβαστρον; in secular writers always ἁλάβαστρος [more correctly ἁλάβαστος], though with a heterog. plur. ἁλάβαστρα; in NT only in aecus, and only once with art., which is found in different MS^{S [Note: SS Manuscripts.]} in all the genders—ΤήΝ, ΤάΝ, Τά [Tisch., Treg., W^{H [Note: H Westcott and Hort’s text.]} , Meyer, Alford prefer ΤήΝ]).—The word occurs four times in the Gospels: Mat 26:7, Mar 14:3 ^bis, Luk 7:37. The Oriental alabaster, so called from the locality in Egypt (the town of Alabastron, near Tell el-Amarna)^{* [Note: The reverse supposition is possible, that the town derived its name from the material (see Encyc. Bibl. i. 108).]} where it is found in greatest abundance, is a species of marble softer and more easily worked than the ordinary marble. It was so frequently used for holding precious ointment that ἁλάβαστρος came to be a synonym for an unguent box (Theoer. xv. 114; Herod. iii. 20), Horace (Od. iv. 12. 17) uses onyx in the same ways.

In all three of the Gospel narratives emphasis is laid on the costliness of the offering made to our Lord. The ointment was that with which monarchs were anointed. Judas valued it at three hundred pence. If we bear in mind that a denarius was a day’s wage for ordinary labour, it would represent about four shillings of our money. And unguent and box would have a value of something like £60. Mary ‘brake the box.’ This is generally interpreted as merely meaning ‘unfastened the seal’; but is it not in accordance alike with a profound instinct of human nature and with Oriental ideas to interpret the words literally? The box which had been rendered sacred by holding the ointment with which Jesus was anointed would never be put to a lower use.

This incident is the gospel protest against philanthropic utilitarianism. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ We have here the warrant for the expenditure of money on everything that makes for the higher life of man. Whatever tends to uplift the imagination, to ennoble and purify the emotions, to refine the taste, and thus to add to the spiritual value of life, is good, and is to be encouraged. Jesus claims our best. He inspires us to be and do our best, and the first-fruits of all the higher faculties of the soul are to be devoted to Him. See, further, art. Anointing i. 2.

A. Miller.

By: Gerson B. Levi

The Alabaster of the ancients was the stalagmitic variety of carbonate of lime, and differed from what now is commonly known as Alabaster, which is sulphate of lime. From this material vases were made to hold unguents (see Matt. xxvi. 7; Mark, xiv. 3; Luke, vii. 37). Gradually the vases themselves were called Alabasters; and this is the explanation of the Septuagint translation, alabastron, in II(IV) Kings, xxi. 13. Alabaster is still obtained from mines in the province of Oran in Algeria; it was found also in Thebes and on the western side of the Tigris. In Assyria it was used in bas-relief and was called pilu, though this term was a general one applied to various kinds of hard stones. Its employment can be traced back beyond the ninth century B.C.; and it may be assumed that even at an earlier period there was trade in Alabaster in Babylonia, since the mineral is not found in southern Mesopotamia. It was usually grayish and striated in appearance.

ALABASTER.—See Jewels and Precious Stones.

A fine-grained variety of gypsum, much used for ornamental articles. The ancients used it for vases which held unguents, in the belief that it preserved them; hence the vases were called "alabasters," even when made of other material. Such was the "alabaster box of ointments," with which Mary Magdalene anointed the Saviour.

(Greek alabastros, -on; Latin alabaster, -trum; of uncertain origin).The substance commonly known as alabaster is a fine-grained variety of gypsum (calcium sulphate) much used for vases and other ornamental articles. Oriental alabaster, the alabastrites of the classical writers, is a translucent marble (calcium carbonate) obtained from stalagmitic deposits; because of its usually banded structure, which gives it some resemblance to onyx, it is also called onyx marble, or simply, though incorrectly, onyx. From remote times it was highly esteemed for decorative purposes. Among the ancients Oriental alabaster was frequently used for vases to hold unguents, in the belief that it preserved them; whence the vases were called alabasters, even when made of other materials. Such was the "alabastrum unguenti" (Matthew 26:7; Mark 14:3, Luke 7:37), with which the sinful woman anointed the Saviour. The vase, however, though probably of alabaster, was not necessarily of that material, as our English translation "alabaster box of ointments" seems to imply.----------------------------------- THOMAS in VIG., Dict. de la Bible, I, 330. F. BECHTEL The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

al´a-bas-tẽr (ἀλαβάστρον, alábastron (Mat 26:7; Mar 14:3; Luk 7:37)): In modern mineralogy alabaster is crystalline gypsum or sulphate of lime. The Greek word alabastron or alabastos meant a stone casket or vase, and alabastites was used for the stone of which the casket was made. This stone was usually crystalline stalagmitic rock or carbonate of lime, now often called oriental alabaster, to distinguish it from gypsum. The word occurs in the Bible only in the three passages of the Synoptic Gospels cited above. See BOX.

A beautiful kind of stone that

can be carved.