Ancient writers

The Assyrian ruler Ashur-nasir-apal sent his people to the Land of Amber, where the seas wash amber ashore like copper

Assyrian inscription on an obelisk in The British Museum - Early 883, AD.

Thales of Miletus was the first to describe electric properties of amber, comparing them to magnet’s tractive force, and the famous Aristotle was the first who explicitly highlighted a resinous origin of amber.

The Greek traveller Pytheus of Massilia after the greatest travel in ancient times from the Mediterranean Sea to the Scandinavian coast was the first to see and describe the washed-ashore amber, which was found in the sea grass by the natives and sold to their neighbours Teutons. The latter used to deliver it to Gallia, the final destination being Massilia.

It was Plinius Maior, a Roman historian, who gathered and systematized the most exhaustive information on amber, its origin, deposits and trade routes. When generalizing the elucidations presented by a great number of authors and the travellers' fantastic stories, he was the first to expressly state that amber had originated from the resin of pine trees.

The earliest information on amber can be found in various legends and tales, which are usually referred to myths. The myths, which emerged from folklore, reflect the efforts of the people in primitive and tribal epochs to solve the mystery of the origin of amber.

In the epoch, when people worshipped the phenomena of nature, amber was also imbued with some supernatural properties. Its articles were mainly used for worship purposes.

Ancient Egyptians used amber as an amulet or the symbol of deity. It is witnessed by archaeological finds from Chatenia (21st dynasty) and other localities.

In the Aegean world amber was also regarded to be the symbol of the Sun. Its name Helektron was derived from the name of the Sun-god Helector reaching Homer's times, though its more ancient etymology was traced to the Greek word Elek, meaning resin.

In ancient Greece this name (possibly borrowed from Phoenicians) acquired the name of the mythologicalized Sun-deity Electron.

The oldest monument of ancient literature that has survived to our epoch and where mention of amber is made is in HOMER'S (8th-7th cent. BC) poem Odyssey. In Book 4 amber is mentioned as the symbol of luxury in slave-owners' palaces:

Son of Nestor, you who delight my heart, only look at the gleaming of the bronze all through these echoing mansions, and the gleaming of gold and amber, of silver and of ivory...

In Book 15 amber is mentioned as an object of trade. Here one discovers that it was Phoenician merchants who used to bring amber articles to ancient Greek towns:

There came Phoenician men, famous sea farers, gnawers at other men's goods, with countless pretty things stored in their black ship”.

... with a golden necklace, and it was strung with pieces of amber. Now in the hall the serving women with the lady my mother were turning it in their hands and eying it and offering...

In Book 18 amber articles are mentioned as an expensive present for one's beloved:

Eurymacho's men came back with an elaborate necklace of gold, strung with bits of amber, and bright as sunshine.

There is also a narration from later epochs after Homer's hymn to Apollo, where amber beads were promised to the goddess Eileithyia:

... Iridis followed the goddesses advice and promised Eileithyia to give her an elaborate, nine inches long, string of gold beads decorated with amber in order to make Eileithyia hurry to Delos.

Another Greek poet HESIODUS (8th cent. BC) in his poem Theogonia describes Heracles' shield decorated with a piece of shiny amber symbolizing the might of the Sun-deity.

In ancient scholarly writings, the natural properties of amber were first described by Thales of Miletus (640-546 BC), a prominent philosopher, physicist and mathematician of the early 6th century AD, called by the Greeks as one of the seven sages of the world.

He described a specific peculiarity of polished amber - after rubbing it, to attract small and light things. Thales was the first to compare amber's traction with magnetic properties. The word electricity was later derived from this source.

AESCHYLUS (525-456 AD), a Greek tragic poet, was the first to write down an ancient myth about the origin of amber. Besides the elements of ancient religion, the mentioned myth also reflects the rudiments of the theory about the natural origin of amber. Its content is as follows:

Once Phaeton, the son of Helios, got permission to drive the Sun's chariot.

He was boldly driving the fiery chariot along the blue dome of heaven. But the young man got dizzy in unfathomable expanses, and his weak hands failed to bridle the Sun's winged horses.

The fiery chariot got so close to the earth that the latter nearly caught fire.

When the heat reached Olympus, the angry Zeus sent a lightning and Helios' courageous son fell dead into the River Rohdamus.

Phaeton's sisters Heliades lamented for their brother so much that the compassionate gods changed them into black poplar trees ... and their unrestrained tears turned into amber, which fell into the river and was washed ashore by the waves.

This is the origin of amber.

Later on, the myth about Phaeton - the shining, the son of Phoebus and Clymene, reaches us in the form of a graceful poetic episode in the book Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Publius OVIDIUS Naso (43 BC-18 AD).

Another ancient legend witnessing a fantasy-based origin of amber was written down by the famous Greek tragedian SOPHOCLES (497-406 BC) in his hook Antigone:

Drops of amber - the tears of mysterious Indian birds, Lamenting over the death of the hero Meleager...

When surveying the old authors' opinions on the origin of amber, PLINIUS wondered in his days at Sophocles’ description:

How could have Indian birds lamented over the hero killed on the land of Greece... The secret of the process of amber extraction must have been also carefully kept by the merchants who transported it from North Europe for barter trade. Even the prominent Greek historian HERODOTUS (484-425 BC), who widely travelled in Asia Minor, Babylon, Egypt, Italy and Scythia (present-day Ukraine), mentioning amber in his nine-volume treatise The History of Greek-Persian Wars (Lib. 3, p. 115), wrote only a few sentences:

amber gets to Mediterranean countries together with tin from North European countries. I have never met and seen a man who had seen or heard of the amber (Elektron) and tin (Kassiteros) extraction places...

A more exact place of amber extraction was pinpointed by Aristotle’s disciple THEOPHRASTUS (372-287 BC) in his treatise on mineralogy. Unfortunately, only a few short fragments have reached our times. Plinius presents the following quotation from them:

Theophrastus informs that amber is obtained from Liguria.

In Theophrastus' times, Liguria was a very rich Greek province with its centre Massilia, which was famous as a large trade centre. It was from this city that the well-known traveller PYTHEAS (4th cent. BC) started on his travel to the Tin and Amber lands in 350-320 BC.

One of the greatest geographical discoveries is associated with Pytheas’ legendary expedition, when a man of ancient civilization forced his way as far as distant Thule (present-day Norwegian shores). The disappearance of his report on the journey is one of the greatest losses suffered by geographical sources. Its survived fragments specified veritable amber discovery places, its extraction and trade routes.

Pytheas of Massilia reports that Guiones, one of Germanic tribes, live in an estuary called Metuonis stretching for 60000 stages. From there, it takes one a day to reach the island of Abalus by sailboat. In the spring the waves wash amber ashore together with all kinds of grass. The grass is used as fuel instead of wood, and amber is sold to their neighbours Teutons ... the Teutons deliver it to the North-Gallic shores and from there it gets to Massilia...

The goal of Pytheas' expedition to the Land of Amber - to collect reliable information on the amber discovery places, hoping to facilitate the transportation of these valuable goods to Massilia in greater quantities.

Greek scholars did not believe in the truthfullness of Pytheas' report and did not appreciate the importance of his scholarly discoveries. Only later, it was geographical discoveries that confirmed and rehabilitated the scholarly significance of his expedition.

Another place from which amber was transported in ancient times was mentioned by the Greek author XENOPHON (about 430-355 BC) in his book Helenica. Plinius informs:

Xenophon says that in Italia amber is called not only succinum but also thium and by Scythians - sacrium, because it was also transported from there

The application of amber in medical practice goes back to ancient Greece.

HIPPOCRATES (460-377 BC), the father of Greek medicine, provided in his treatises information on the healing peculiarities of amber and the methods of its application. This information was later made use of not only by the Romans but also by early medieval scholars. In A. Aunfabers' monograph on amber (1551), he quotes Hippocrates' information on amber in medical practice).

Natural properties of amber were described by EURIPIDES (480-406 BC), a leading figure of the Greek drama, a disciple of sophists. Speaking about various features of amber, he highlighted its inner transparent gleam.

The outstanding philosopher PLATO (427-347 BC) analysed similar properties of amber and magnet in his work Timaeus.

Valuable ideas on the origin of amber were set forth by ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC), the greatest Greek scholar and encyclopaedist, in his treatise Meteorologica. He was the first to mention a resinous origin of amber:

amber just as well as all other bodies called tears originated from hardening resin like myrrh incenses. The insects in amber prove its formation by way of hardening

Due to the fact that Aristotle’s methodological starting point for the studies of nature was physiology, exploring the laws of the emergence, evolution and decay of a natural body, he considered amber tears to be nothing else but mere hardened tree resin.

PAUSANIAS (2nd cent. BC), a Greek author and traveller, who described a great number of famous Greek cultural monuments, indicated in his work Graecial descriptio that:

A shrine in Olympia among a host of statues and frescos boasts one small sculpture made of amber picturing the Emperor Augustus

Pausanias proceeded to explain:

amber is a very rare thing, therefore, it is greatly valued. It is completely different from the metal elektron - the gold and silver alloy.

CALLISTRATUS (mid 2nd cent. BC), a contemporary of Pausanias, also showed his great enough concern for the peculiarities of amber. He called one of its species, which according to him had a tint of gold and looked particularly marvellous before noon, even strongly attracting fire to itself (causing splitting)

Later on, STRABO (63 BC-17 AD), a Roman geographer and historian, despite his criticism levelled at Phytheas’ works, acknowledged their truth that

.. amber as one of the products is delivered with Britannus tin and other luxury things...

A more exact place of amber extraction was pinpointed by another Roman historian DIODORUS Siculus (2nd half of the 1st cent. BC - 1st quarter of the 1st cent. AD). He wrote in his Historical Library:

Straight to the North of Scythia, beyond Gallia, is the Island of Basilia. The waves wash ashore so-called amber, which nowhere else can be found on earth ... Local inhabitants gather amber and deliver it to the continent opposite the island. From there amber is transported to our lands...

The Roman researcher PLINIUS MAIOR (b. 23-d. 79 during the eruption of Vesuvius) collected and systematized thorough information on amber, its origin and the places of its discovery.

A particularly great scientific importance belongs to Plinius’ work Naturalis historia consisting of 37 books, which include various pieces of information and fantastic elucidations on the origin of amber collected by other ancient authors and travellers. The work was published by his cousin Plinius Caecilius Secundus. Amber is mentioned in Book 4 of the work:

... Glaesaria (the Island of Amber) was named by our soldiers, because it was the place where amber was discovered, but local barbarians called it Austeravia...

More thorough information on amber, its natural peculiarities, commercial value, other authors’ words, and the routes of trade in amber is provided by Plinius in Book 37:

11. Pytheas informs that Gutones live in an estuary

12. As a precious stone it is so expensive that people pay more for the smallest figure made of amber than for a healthy alive man, - debauchery that deserves great contempt

33. CHARES claims that after Phaeton’s death a shrine was built in Antiochia, where amber was found

34. PHILEMON explains that amber is extracted in Scythia in two places: in one - white and of wax colour called electrum, in another - dark yellow, known as subalternicum.

Demosthrates says that amber forms of the lynx’ urine, namely: dark yellow and of fire colour - of the male and light yellow and white - of the female urine, therefore, it is called lyncurium and others call it langurium... Zenothemis called those beasts living at the River Padus langa or languria. This is the origin of amber’s name langurium (simply lyncurium)

35. SOTACUS thinks that amber runs out only of Britannia’s cliffs, which he calls Electrides... NICIAS admits that amber - the dew of sunbeams, lingering at the sunset on the shores of the ocean in the form of a rich sweat washed to Germania’s shores by the stream of waves. The same is the origin of amber from Aegyptus called sacal and from India... In Syria amber is exploited for the production of small spindles called harpax, because it attracts leaflets, straw and scraps of material.

37. THEOCHRESTUS admits that amber was washed ashore by storms in the Piranicus Cape, acknowledged also by XENOCRATUS

ASARUBAS is of the opinion that amber forms in Lake Cephisis beside the Atlantic Ocean at the time when sunbeams heat its surface

39. CTESIAS indicates that the River Hypobarus in India (the name means the river carrying everything what is good) flows from the North to the East part of the Ocean at the hill, standing out on the coast of the Ocean among the shores overgrown with trees (poplars); the amber dropping from their tops is called psitthachora; it gets from water ashore, where girls come to gather it

By way of generalizing the quoted views of many authors, Plinius proves them to be unfounded and explains the natural origin of amber: 42. Amber is known to be extracted on the islands of the North Ocean and is called glaesum by Germani, therefore, the Romans also called one of the islands Gleasaria known as Austeravia by barbarians

It (amber) forms of the sap of a special species of pine, like cummis from cherry-trees or tar from fir-trees; it is secreted due to the abundance of moisture and it hardens from cold or with time, or due to the influence of sea water, when the risen waves carry it from the islands. It is washed ashore so easily that it seems to be floating in water but not sinking to the bottom. Our forefathers called it tree-cummis, therefore, they gave the name sucinum to it; the origin of amber from pine species is also witnessed by the smell of a rubbed pine and the fact that if kindled, it burns in the same way like a smoldering pine sapwood, like all conifers

Further on, the scholar states that: 44. still at present, on the other side of the River Padus, women and commoners wear amber beads mainly as adornments and partly as a remedy for the swollen glands and the throat or palate pains

45. From Carnuntum in Pannonia the amber coast is 600000 Roman steps (about 888 km). Up to the present days is still alive that Roman rider who was sent there (to the Sambian peninsula) by Julianus, responsible for the games of the Emperor Neron’s gladiators, to provide for it (amber). At that time, the messenger visited trade stations commercia and shores. He brought such a great amount of amber that it sufficed to decorate the podium’s fences and nets, protecting from wild beasts, and the stretchers for the diseased. Even all festive decorations were sparkling with amber. One of the biggest pieces equaled 13 pounds

Germani deliver amber to Pannonia. At first it was delivered by Venedi called Enedi by Greeks, because they lived in the neighbourhood of Pannonia and later spread all over the coast of the Hadrian Sea... In the Bay of Codanus up to the Cape Cimbria (Skagends) there are a lot of islands the largest of which is Scatinavia; its area is still unknown. The part of already known island is inhabited by Hilleviones, who call their island as another world. No smaller is Aeningia. According to other data, this country stretches up to the Vistula and is inhabited by Sarmati, Vanedi, Sciri and Hirri. The sea bay is called Cylipenus. The island of Latris is at its strait. Further beyond it, there is another bay called Lagnus and it stretches to the end of Cimbria. A narrow belt of earth stretches far into the sea and forms a peninsula called Tastris”. One finds it easy to recognize the Baltic Eastern coasts in this laconic description by Plinius, where the Roman rider visited trade centres belonging to the inhabitants of Sambia. What makes one wonder is a huge amount of amber transported through all central Europe to Rome. The mentioned fact evidently proves that the Amber Road stretching from the Vistula via Carnuntum up to Aquileia was sufficiently provided with transport, and the barter trade in amber was well organized. According to Plinius:

neither white, which if burnt for a while diffuses a pleasant smell, nor waxen yellow or dark (fulvis major auctoritas) amber was more valued by the Romans than transparent, slightly glossy (praeterquam sinimio ardore flagrent), which made possible to see looking through it not fire but only its reflection... .

The most favorite amber was of a transparent Falernian wine colour. It was the most expensive

... Amber used to be made brighter (more transparent) immersing it in goat’s heated fat with Anchusa {Anchusa tietria root)

CORNELIUS TACITUS (55-120), a Roman historian, when describing various nations and their geographical situation in his work Germania mentioned Lithuanians’ ancestors - Aestii, calling them Aestiorum gentes.

On its right coast, the Suebicum (Baltic) Sea washes Aestiorum tribes, which have the same traditions and wear the same clothes as Suebi, but their language shows a closer affinity with Britanni. They worship gods’ mother and carry statuettes of wild boars, which serve as the sign of their faith and the arms defending them from everything and protecting even from enemies in turmoil. They seldom use swords, more often - clubs. They grow crops and other necessary plants more diligently than the lazy Germani. They also make a good search of the sea and are the only ones who gather amber called glesum in shoals and on its shores. As barbarians they did not investigate the properties and origin of amber and were ignorant of them. Amber had been lying among other things washed ashore by the sea for long centuries until our luxury gave a name to it. They do not use amber themselves - gather its pieces, sell unprocessed and take a reward wondering. It is easy, however, to perceive that amber is tree resin, because some beetles and insects stuck in hardening liquid remained there and in frequent cases show through it. I suppose that dense woods and forests, where incenses and balsam flow, can be found not only in secluded Eastern localities but also on Western islands and lands, where the liquid tree resin, squeezed out by the rays of the hot sun, flows (drops) to the nearest sea, and heavy storms cast it to the opposite coast. If you try to test the peculiarities of amber by sticking fire to it, amber will flare up like a pine, spreading rich, fragrant flame, but it will melt in an instant turning into tar and resin

Some time later, the great PTOLEMAEUS presents a sufficiently clear picture of the south-east coasts of the Baltic Sea in his maps.

VALERIUS MARTIALIS (42-102), a known Roman poet of epigrams, wrote epigrams about amber inclusions. The descriptions of inclusions with a little bee and ant are particularly picturesque. Later on, these epigrams charmed Renaissance scholars, and M. Lomonosov was the first to translate them into Russian.

The description of an inclusion with a little frog provokes a particularly great interest. The epigram witnesses the production of their imitations (Artificial inclusions with little frogs and lizards reached us from N. Gendel’s book on the carvings of amber inclusions (18th cent.).

GALENUS (about 129-199), a popular Roman doctor and scholar, described in his book the application of amber in medical practice. He used not only the curative recipes of amber found in the works of earlier ancient authors but also described folk medicine practice and the application of amber for the treatment of various ailments including by suggestion (Following Galenus’ recipe, the Prussian Duke Albrecht sent a piece of amber to the sick Luther as a remedy for a stone disease).

At the beginning of our era, it was amber that strengthened economic and commercial links with the provinces of the Roman Empire. Under the rule of the Emperor HELIOGABALUS (218-222) those links greatly weakened, and later, with the fall of the Roman state, they were completely broken off. The Baltic tribes searched for ways and new means to re-establish trading relations with South and Middle Europe and the Near East through the mediation of Borysthenidae and Germanic tribes.

With a view of re-establishing a trade with Italy, Aestii’s messengers went on a journey which, according to the content of THEODORICUS’ letter was a success and the messengers were sincerely welcomed.

M. A. CASSIODORUS (Magnus Aurelijus Cassiodorus, 6 th cent.), a Roman senator, THEODORICUS’ secretary, among other various official letters presents the text of King THEODORICUS’ letter to Aestii in his Book 5.

.. Therefore, we cordially welcome you and say that we have gratefully accepted the pieces of amber sent through your messengers. We understand from the reports of your messengers that amber as a very light substance is cast ashore by a subsiding ocean wave. But the messengers told us that you were ignorant of the origin of amber: to tell the truth, you are the first to get it, because your land simply donates it to you

As Cornelius (Tacitus) informs:

. amber forms of the resin (ex-suco) of the trees growing on more distant islands of the ocean, therefore, it is called succinum. Due to the heat of the sun, amber slowly hardens and when sets, it becomes a soft transparent substance of fire colour, sometimes with a shade of saffron. Polished by the waves constantly washing the sand, it is cast to your shores.

This rare journey through Central Europe forwards and backwards seems to have been made between 523 and 525 along the old Amber Road. With the fall of the Roman Empire, its provinces experienced great social, economic and ethnic changes. After the fall of the slave-owning economic system, followed by stormy wars and migration of nations, emerged small feudal states with a closed natural economy. The majority of trade and crafts centres of the antique world nearly or completely discontinued their activities, and the links with distant trade routes reachable by Aestii (Baltic) tribes were broken off. Despite the fact that Aestii’s messengers traveled to the Rome Emperor Theodoricus with a view of re-establishing trade relations, the goal was not reached.

Later, barter trade in amber continued through Borysthenidae tribes with the Byzantium Empire and Arabian countries along Eastern trade routes. Therefore, some written information on the utilization of amber in those lands can be found in more known scientific centres.

The most interesting data for science from the early Middle Ages on amber and other extracted resins is presented in the treatise on the properties of precious stones by the Uzbek encyclopaedist AL BIRUNIUS of Choresmus (973-1048). He wrote on the origin of amber:

AL KINSIUS (9th cent. Arabian scholar) says that amber - resin is similar to that of sanders secreted by some trees growing on the bank of the River Scalabi. Everything what gets into water hardens. And what gets on the ground - does not.

In this work amber is compared with other species of extracted resin, e. g. with African copal. In order to distinguish amber from copal, it is necessary to heat them. The author adduces some facts on byrmith and today’s tree resin, pointing out differences between various fossil resins. He draws attention to the natural forms of amber which perfectly witness that it was formed by flowing resin e. g. in the form of drops and icicles.

The Arabian scientists AL RASIUS (864-925) and IBN SINA (980-1037), making use of the information accumulated by ancient authors, presented some new medical recipes. For example AL RASIUM advised cleaning an eye (if a blade gets in) with a rubbed plate of amber. Another Arabian scholar JABIR HAYYAN (HABER) greatly valued curative properties of white (bone) amber, and later the Dominican monk and scholar ALBERTUS MAGNUS (1193-1200) described them.

In his well-known work De metallicis et mineralis, on the basis of the information furnished by ancient and Arabian scholars, the author described various species of amber, the places of extraction, and more thoroughly elucidated its curative properties.

The recipes presented by Albertus Magnus spread over all the drugstores of European monasteries or laboratories of alchemists.