The Stone the Ancient Arabs Called the Gem of the Sun

Peridot is one of the few gemstones that exists in only one colour. You cannot find it in red, or blue, or colourless. Every peridot that has ever been cut, set, traded, or worn is green — ranging from a bright yellowish-lime to a deep olive, with every variation determined entirely by the iron content of the individual stone. This is not a limitation. It is what makes peridot one of the most immediately identifiable gemstones in the world, and one of the most historically significant.

The Arabs named it الزبرجد — al-zabarjad — and they called it the gem of the sun, not because it resembles sunlight, but because its green does not fade in darkness. Roman and Greek writers noted the same quality: they called it the emerald of the evening, a stone you could read by candlelight without losing its colour. This is a real optical characteristic, not mythology. Peridot's iron-based colour mechanism means its green is independent of the light source in a way that many other coloured stones are not.

That optical permanence is one reason it has appeared in the jewelry, thrones, and sacred objects of almost every major civilisation that encountered it.

The Arabic Word and What It Carries

الزبرجد is not a borrowed word. It is among the oldest gemstone terms in the Arabic language, appearing in classical poetry more than fourteen centuries ago. Tarafa ibn al-Abd, whose Mu'allaqa is one of the great pre-Islamic odes, wrote of pearl and peridot together as markers of adornment and worth:

وفي الحي أحوى ينفض المرد شادن
مظاهر سمطي لؤلؤ وزبرجد

The great Abbasid poet Abu Nuwas used the stone as an image of natural colour and divine unity:

على قضب الزَّبـَرْجَد شاهدات
بأن الله ليس له شريك

And Al-Nabigha al-Dhubiani placed it alongside pearl and ruby as the stones of the highest ornament:

بالدر والياقوت زين نحرها
ومفصل من لؤلؤ وزَبـَرْجَد

The Ottoman sultans assembled what is believed to have been the largest collection of peridot in the world. The Golden Throne in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul is set with 955 cabochon peridot stones, each approximately one inch across. The sultans also used it to decorate turbans and jewel caskets — objects that carried political and spiritual significance simultaneously. For the Ottoman court, peridot was not a secondary stone. It was among the most prized.

Ancient Islamic texts reference peridot in association with the throne of Prophet Suleiman, described as inlaid with peridot, pearl, and ruby — a combination that placed it among the most exalted materials in the tradition. And earlier still, in ancient Egypt, peridot was being carved into beads before the dynastic period. A scarab made from peridot was found in Egypt dating to the Eighteenth Dynasty. The Egyptians mined it at night — partly because the green was easier to spot in darkness, and partly because the mining island of Zabargad in the Red Sea was dangerous enough that the work required its own particular form of courage.

Cleopatra and the Stone She Actually Wore

There is a long-running dispute in gemology about Cleopatra's famous emeralds. The stones she wore — and that her mines produced — were almost certainly peridot, not emerald. The ancient Greeks used the word smaragdos for a range of green stones, and the mines associated with Cleopatra's court were located in the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea region, where peridot, not emerald, is geologically present.

The Istituto Gemmologico Italiano has documented this case in detail: many of the stones described as Cleopatra's emeralds in ancient sources were most likely peridot from the Zabargad island deposits — the same source that supplied the ancient world for centuries. Whether Cleopatra knew the distinction by modern gemological definitions is beside the point. She wore the stone. It was green, it was precious, and it came from Egyptian earth.

What Peridot Actually Is — The Gemology

Peridot is the gem-quality form of the mineral olivine, a magnesium iron silicate. Its chemical formula is (Mg,Fe)₂SiO₄ — the ratio of magnesium to iron determines the exact shade of green. More iron produces a deeper, more olive or brownish green. Less iron produces a brighter, more yellow-lime green. The most commercially valued colour sits in the middle: a vivid, saturated grass green with a slight yellow undertone.

It forms deep within the Earth's mantle and reaches the surface through volcanic activity — which is why it is also found in certain meteorites, including pallasite meteorites that carry olivine crystals from the early solar system. Peridot has been found in meteorites that predate the Earth itself. It is one of the oldest materials a human being can hold.

Key Gemological Properties

Mineral species	Olivine (Mg,Fe)₂SiO₄
Hardness (Mohs)	6.5 – 7
Refractive index	1.654 – 1.690
Birefringence	0.036 (strong — produces doubled facet edges in larger stones)
Colour range	Yellow-green to olive-green — iron content only
Formation	Earth's mantle — volcanic and tectonic delivery to surface
Birthstone month	August

Peridot's strong birefringence is one of its most distinctive gemological characteristics. In stones above approximately 5mm, this produces a visible doubling of the rear facet edges when viewed through the table — a feature unique to peridot that distinguishes it immediately from green glass, synthetic alternatives, or other green stones at casual inspection.

The Cuts — And What Each One Does to the Stone

The selection of cut for a peridot stone is not purely aesthetic. Each cut interacts differently with the stone's optical properties — its birefringence, its refractive index, and its colour distribution — and the right cut depends on what you want the stone to do.

Round Brilliant

The maximum light-return cut. A round peridot shows the colour at its most vivid and most consistent across the face of the stone. The symmetrical facet arrangement manages birefringence evenly, preventing the doubling effect from concentrating in any one area. This is the cut for a buyer who wants the green to read as powerfully as possible in all light conditions.

Oval

The oval preserves more carat weight from the rough than a round brilliant and creates an elongating effect on the finger. Colour distribution is slightly more variable across the stone than in a round — the ends often show slightly deeper concentration — which gives the stone visual depth and character. One of the most versatile cuts for peridot in ring and earring settings.

Cushion

A softer, more antique-feeling cut with rounded corners and larger facets. The cushion allows a generous face-up size relative to carat weight and creates a warmer, more diffused light pattern than the round brilliant. The Ottoman collection favoured cabochon peridot — the cushion cut is the faceted equivalent in terms of visual temperament: substantial, warm, and unrushed.

Trillion

A triangular cut with either curved or straight sides. Peridot in a trillion shows strong colour across the entire face of the stone with minimal windowing. It is one of the most efficient cuts for colour display in this material and works particularly well in statement pendants and three-stone configurations.

Pear

A romantically proportioned cut that works particularly well in pendants and drop earrings where the teardrop silhouette can hang freely. Peridot's birefringence is visible in pear cuts in a particularly interesting way — the pointed end concentrates the doubling effect visibly, which adds movement and life to the stone as it swings.

Emerald Cut

The step-cut facets of the emerald cut emphasise clarity over brilliance. In peridot this is a deliberate and demanding choice — the long open facets reveal the interior of the stone completely. A stone selected for emerald cut must have excellent clarity, because there is nowhere to hide. The reward is a stone of exceptional architectural elegance, and the cut that most closely connects peridot to its Art Deco heritage in fine jewelry.

A Note on Macro Photography and What You Are Seeing

The photographs in this guide were taken with macro lenses at close range. This is the standard approach for gemological documentation — it records stone characteristics at a scale that allows accurate assessment of clarity, colour zoning, and surface condition.

What appears in some of these images as clouds, feathers, or surface irregularities is the result of macro photography rendering features at a magnification that does not correspond to normal visual experience. When you hold a peridot stone at normal viewing distance — or wear it in a setting at the distance from your eye at which you see your own hand — these characteristics are not visible. The stones in these photographs are what they appear to be in person: clear, vivid, and green. The inclusions have not been edited or removed. What you see under macro is the honest record of a natural stone. What you see with the naked eye is the experience of wearing one.

Peridot in High Jewelry — Still in Active Use

Peridot is not a historical curiosity. It remains in active use by major jewelry houses for one reason that has not changed in four thousand years: there is no other stone this colour. The particular yellow-green of a fine peridot — what the trade calls the evening emerald — is not replicated by any other natural gemstone at the same saturation level. When a designer needs that colour, there is only one answer.

The Luna Dura studio works with loose peridot in multiple cuts — the stones photographed throughout this guide are actual inventory, available for viewing and selection in person. This is the starting point for a commissioned piece: choosing the stone first, then designing the setting around it. Rough crystals are also available for those who want to understand the material before it is cut.

August Birthstone — What the Month Carries

Peridot is the birthstone for August, confirmed by the American Gem Society and the Gemological Institute of America. It is one of only two gemstones — the other being diamond — that forms not in the Earth's crust but in its mantle, brought to the surface by volcanic and tectonic forces over geological timescales. For a buyer who connects with the idea of a stone that comes from deeper in the Earth than almost any other, that origin carries its own significance.

It is associated across traditions with clarity of mind, protection, and the relief of anxiety — qualities that the ancient world attributed to its particular green, understood as a colour of natural equilibrium rather than of excess or aggression. Whether or not you hold with the traditional associations, the stone has been given to people at significant moments for more than three thousand years. That continuity is its own kind of meaning.

The Luna Dura Peridot Collection

The following pieces bring natural peridot into 925 sterling silver settings assembled at the Luna Dura studio on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai.

The Eye of Horus Peridot Pendant places the stone within one of the most symbolically charged motifs in the ancient world — a form that connects directly to the Egyptian tradition in which peridot was first documented. The Eye of Horus Peridot Set extends this into a coordinated collection. The Evil Eye Cuff Bangle brings the protective symbolism of the evil eye motif into the same material conversation.

Loose peridot stones — rough and cut, in every cut shown in this guide — are available for viewing and commission upon request. Selection is done in person at the studio. Contact us before visiting to confirm availability.

References

GIA — August Birthstones: Peridot

Istituto Gemmologico Italiano — Peridot Gemstone

Wikipedia Arabic — الزبرجد

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Birthstone Guide Dubai — Natural Gemstones by Month

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Amethyst — February Birthstone Guide Dubai