Sardius (σάρδιον, a much better attested form in Revelation 4:3 than the TR [Note: R Textus Receptus, Received Text.] σάρδιος = Vulg. [Note: ulg. Vulgate.] ‘sardinus’)
The writer of the Apocalypse compares Him that sits upon the throne of heaven to a sardius (Revelation 4:3, AV [Note: V Authorized Version.] ‘sardine stone’). The sixth foundation of the wall of the New Jerusalem is a sardius (21:20). This stone is doubtless the modern orange-red or golden ‘sard,’ which is a translucent quartz coloured with iron, nearly allied with the clearer and lighter-tinted carnelian. The Greeks commonly connected the word with Sardis, where the stone was said to have been first found; but it may be related to the Persian zerd, ‘yellow.’ Pliny says that the sardius of Babylonia was more highly prized than that of Sardis (HN [Note: N Historia Naturalis (Pliny).] xxxvii. 7). This stone was more frequently engraved than any other. It was used for Assyrian cylinder seals, Egyptian scarabs, and early Greek and Etruscan gems.
Literature.-C. W. King, The Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems, 1865, pp. 278-286.
James Strahan.