A wonderful carpet woven of white brocade is described as being one of the marvels of the world. It was four hundred and fifty feet long by ninety feet in breadth, and exhibited a border worked in with precious stones of various hues to represent a garden of all kinds of beautiful flowers. The leaves were formed of emeralds and other green colored stones, while the buds and blossoms were composed of pearls, rubies, sapphires, and other gems of immense value. The captured robe of state was thickly embroidered with the most beautiful rubies and pearls. The arms, helmets, and scimetars found in the royal treasury fairly flashed with the gleams of the rarest precious stones, so thickly were they incrusted over the metal. At a later period of the monarchy the Sassanian kings adorned the paraphernalia of their courts to a degree of magnificence which is almost incredible. Some of the coins and sculptures yet extant have preserved faithful representations of their luxury in dress. Many of the robes were beautifully embroidered and covered with gems and pearls. The royal crown at this period, it appears, was not worn by the monarch, but was suspended from the ceiling in the throne-room directly over the king’s head when seated on the throne. Theophrastus, a Greek writer living three centuries before the Christian era, does not mention the gem in a clear and distinct manner. It is true he alludes to adamas, but it is now thought by several mineralogists that this term was then applied to steel and some of the varieties of corundum. The descriptions of the splendid fêtes given by the army of Alexander at this period, when the wealth of India and Persia was brought forth to deck the Persian maidens, do not mention the diamond. At this period, and even in later times, the royal insignia and the emblems of Persian authority were such as wreaths and vines of pure gold laden with flowers and clusters composed chiefly of emeralds, rubies, carbuncles, and other bright-colored gems, but not including the adamas. Of like description were those famous canopies under which the ancient potentates of Persia sat and gave their audiences. Pliny, three centuries later, was the first to describe the gem in unmistakable terms, but even then but very little of a definite character was known of it.