The estimation of pearls among the art-loving Greeks may be traced to the time of Homer, who appears to have alluded to them under the name τρίγληνα (triple drops or beads) in his description of Juno; in the Iliad, XIV, 183: In three bright drops, Her glittering gems suspended from her ears. and in the Odyssey, XVIII, 298: Earrings bright With triple drops that cast a trembling light. Classical designs of Juno usually show the three pear-shaped pearls pendent from her ears. The ancient Greeks probably obtained their pearls from the East through the medium of Phenician traders, and a survival of the word τρίγληνα seems to exist in the Welsh _glain_ (bead), the name having been carried to Britain by the same traders, who exchanged textiles, glass beads, etc., for tin and salt. The Persian wars in the fifth century B.C., doubtless extended the acquaintance which the Greeks had with pearls, as well as with other oriental products, and increased their popularity. One of the earliest of the Greek writers to mention pearls specifically appears to have been Theophrastus (372–287 B.C.), the disciple and successor of Aristotle, who referred to them under the name μαργαρίτης (_margarites_), probably derived from some oriental word like the Sanskrit _maracata_ or the Persian _mirwareed_. He stated that pearls were produced by shell-fish resembling the _pinna_, only smaller, and were used in making necklaces of great value. In Pliny’s “Historia naturalis,” that great storehouse of classical learning, reference is made to many other writers—mostly Greeks—who treated of gems; but virtually all of these writings have disappeared, except fragments from Theophrastus, Chares of Mytilene, and Isidorus of Charace. [Illustration: GRECIAN PEARL AND GOLD NECKLACE Of about third century B.C. Now in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York ] From Greece admiration for pearls quickly extended to Rome, where they were known under the Greek word _margaritæ_. However, a more common name for this gem in Rome was _unio_, which Pliny explained by saying that each pearl was unique and unlike any other one. The conclusion of the historian Ammianus Marcellinus (330–395 A.D.), that it was because each one was found singly in a shell,[9] seems scarcely correct. Claude de Saumaise, the French classical scholar, thought that the common name for an onion was transferred to the pearl, owing to its laminated construction.[10] According to Pliny, the Romans used the word _unio_ to distinguish a large perfect pearl from the smaller and less attractive ones, which were called _margaritæ_.[11]