Corals in the Desert: Recent Discoveries of Red Sea Corals in Byzantine and Early Islamic Sites in the Negev Desert
Corals have been commercially exploited for many centuries all over the world (Jiménez and Orejas 2017). Traditionally, they have been regarded as mystical objects and hybrid organisms. Their skeletons have commonly been used as remedies and as amulets or jewelry, and they have represented an exotic...
Authors: | ; ; |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
University of Chicago Press
2021
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In: |
Near Eastern archaeology
Year: 2021, Volume: 84, Issue: 3, Pages: 238-245 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Negev
/ Corals
/ Red Sea
/ Commerce
/ Aristoteles 384 BC-322 BC
/ Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Gaius 61-114
/ Theophrastus 369 BC-288 BC
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IxTheo Classification: | HA Bible KAC Church history 500-1500; Middle Ages |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | Corals have been commercially exploited for many centuries all over the world (Jiménez and Orejas 2017). Traditionally, they have been regarded as mystical objects and hybrid organisms. Their skeletons have commonly been used as remedies and as amulets or jewelry, and they have represented an exotic and valuable resource throughout human history. In the Greco-Roman literature a number of classical authors, such as Aristotle (fourth century BCE, History of Animals 5.16; Ogle 1882) and Pliny (first century CE), referred to the natural history of corals and classified them as enigmatic creatures. Since corals are animals that lack locomotion or perception, Theophrastus also classified them as hybrids of plants and stones (On Stones 53:38; Caley and Richards 1956). |
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ISSN: | 2325-5404 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Near Eastern archaeology
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/715343 |