Chrysolite

Rev 21:20, a precious stone of a golden colour. Schroder says it is the gem now called the Indian topaz, which is of a yellowish green colour, and very beautiful.

Chrys´olite. This word occurs only in Rev 21:20 in the enumeration of the stones which formed the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem. This stone is found solid, and in grains, or in angular pieces. The prevailing color is yellowish green, and pistachio green of every variety and degree of shade, but always with a yellow and gold luster. Although this stone is not mentioned in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament, it is supposed to be intended by the Hebrew word Tharshish, which occurs in Exo 28:20; Exo 39:13; Eze 1:6; Eze 10:9; Eze 28:13; Son 5:4; Dan 10:6, and is in all these places translated ’beryl.’ The name Tharshish stone seems to intimate that it was known to the Hebrews as brought from the part so called. [TARSHISH]

A transparent precious stone, having the color of gold with a mixture of green, and a fine luster, Jer 21:20 . Many suppose it to be the topaz of the moderns.\par

Chrysolite. One of the precious stones in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem. Rev 21:20. It has been already stated, (see Beryl.), that the chrysolite of the ancients is identical with the modern oriental topaz, or the tarhish of the Hebrew Bible.

("gold stone".) The garniture of the seventh foundation of New Jerusalem. The modern topaz.

(χρυσόλιθος, golden stone), the precious stone which garnished the seventh foundation of the New Jerusalem in John’s vision (Rev 21:20); according to Schleusner, a gem of golden hue, or, rather, of yellow streaked with green and white (see Pliny 37:9, 42; Isidor. Orig. 16:14). It was called by some chrysophyllum (χρυσόφυλλον, Epiphan. De geminis, 10). It was a name applied by the ancients to all gems of a golden or yellow color, but it probably designated particularly the topaz of the moderns (see, however, Bellermann, Urim et Thummim, p. 62). In the Sept. the word is employed for תִּרְשַׁישׁ, tarshish’, the “beryl” of our version (Exo 28:20; Eze 10:9). SEE BERYL; SEE TOPAZ.

What is usually termed chrysolite is a crystalline precious stone of the quartz kind, of a glossy fracture. In chemical composition it is a ferriferous silicate of magnesia. The prevailing color is yellowish-green, and pistachio-green of every variety and degree of shade, but always with a yellow and gold luster. There are two particular species of chrysolite: one, called the Oriental chrysolite, of a pistachio-green, transparent, and, when held up to the light in certain positions, often with a cherry-red shade; the other is the granulous chrysolite, of different shades of yellowish-green color, half transparent and nearly pellucid (see the Penny Cyclopedia, s.v.). SEE GEM.

Chrysolite, golden stone. A precious stone of the quartz kind, whose prevailing color is yellow with a golden lustre. It is supposed to be the modern topaz. Rev 21:20.

kris´o-lı̄t. See STONES, PRECIOUS.

(÷ñõóüëéèïò, Rev_21:20)

In modern usage the name ‘chrysolite’ is applied to a transparent variety of olivine, used as a gem-stone and often called ‘peridot.’ The ancients applied the word to various yellowish gems. The Septuagint gives it as the equivalent of úַּøְùִׁéùׁ, which Flinders Petrie (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iv. 620b) is inclined to identify with yellow jasper. The later Greeks gave the name chrysolite to the topaz, which was unknown in earlier times.

James Strahan.