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Document Details :

Title: On the Topaz Island
Subtitle: Diodorus of Sicily and the Byzantine Florilegium Coislinianum
Author(s): MICHELS, Johanna , VAN DEUN, Peter
Journal: Byzantion
Volume: 83    Date: 2013   
Pages: 283-296
DOI: 10.2143/BYZ.83.0.2988920

Abstract :
As part of ongoing research into the byzantine Florilegium Coislinianum at the University of Leuven this paper presents a critical edition of a lemma adopted from the historian Diodorus Siculus. It offers a description of the ‘Snake Island’ and the τοπάζιον stone (our peridot) that was found and mined on the island. The surprising inclusion of this pagan fragment in a sea of Christian lemmas is testimony to the Christian interest in the origin and properties of the precious stone.

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