There is likewise little evidence that pearls were extensively employed by the ancient Assyrians, notwithstanding that excavations at Nineveh and Nimrud have furnished much information regarding their ornaments; and the collars, bracelets, sword-hilts, etc., wrought in gold and ornamented with gems, show that the jewelers’ art had made much progress. This is not wholly trustworthy as determining the relative abundance; for being of organic or non-mineral origin, pearls would not have survived the burial for thousands of years so well as the crystal gems. An inscription on the Nineveh Obelisk, which states, according to Sir Henry Rawlinson, that in the ninth year of his reign Temenbar received, as “tribute of the kings of the Chaldees, gold, silver, gems, and pearls,”[6] shows that the sea-born gems were highly valued there. The mother-of-pearl shell was in use as an ornament in ancient Egypt certainly as early as the sixth dynasty (_circa_ 3200 B.C.), the period of the Tanis Sphinx. In a recent letter from Luxor, where he is studying the ruins of ancient Thebes, Dr. James T. Dennis states that he has found several of these shells bearing cartouches of that period; and in the “pan-bearing graves” of the twelfth dynasty (2500 B.C.), the shell occurred not only complete, but cut in roughly circular or oblong angular blocks and strung on chains with beads of carnelian, pottery, etc. So far as can be determined from the representations of ancient Egyptian costumes, pearls do not seem to have been employed to any great extent in their decoration. The necklaces, earrings, and other jewels found in the tombs, which are composed largely of gold set with crystal gems, contain the remains of a few pearls, but give no indication that they were numerous. In fact, no evidence exists that they were used extensively before the Persian conquest in the fifth century B.C.; and probably it was not until the time of the Ptolemies that there began the lavish abundance which characterized the court of Alexandria at the height of her power. The authorities differ in regard to the mention of pearls in ancient Hebrew literature; although in the Authorized Version of the Old Testament, this significance has been given to the word _gabîsh_ in Job xxviii. 18, where the value of wisdom is contrasted with that of _gabîsh_. Some writers claim that this word refers to rock crystal. Other authorities are of the opinion that the word _peninim_ in Lam. iv. 7, which has been translated as “rubies,” actually signifies pearls. In Gen. ii. 12, Prof. Paul Haupt has proposed to render _shoham_ stones by pearls, since the Hebrew word translated “onyx,” if connected with the Assyrian _sându_, might mean “the gray gem.” It does not appear that they entered into the decorations of the Tabernacle and the Temple, or were largely employed in the paraphernalia of the synagogue.