_hyacinthus_, suggested by the list of foundation stones in Revelation xxi, 20, and already proposed by Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantia, about 400 A.D. Whether _hyacinthus_ should be rendered “sapphire” or “jacinth” is not easy to determine, as this name seems to have been used indifferently for both stones; with the Arabs, under the form _yakut_, it became a generic term for all the varieties of the corundum gems. The sapphire was engraved in Greek and Roman times and is, perhaps, the _leshem_ stone of the Second Temple. For the Mosaic breastplate we are forced to seek for some stone known in ancient Egypt, where the sapphire does not seem to have been introduced at an early date. If we could accept the suggestion of Brugsch that the Egyptian _neshem_ stone, reputed to have wonderful magic virtues, was the same as the Hebrew _leshem_, a brown agate would have been the seventh stone in the original breastplate, as Wendel gives very strong reasons for rendering _neshem_ in this way. The color designations were very freely used in Egyptian, and therefore a reddish or a yellowish brown agate may have been used. The _leshem_ bore the tribal name Joseph. VIII. Shebo. [שְׁבוֹ.] This is uniformly rendered in the ancient versions and in Josephus by “agate,” a composite stone highly esteemed in very ancient times, and hence worthy of a place among the stones of the breastplate; at a later period, as Pliny notes (xxxvii, 54), it became so common that it was but little regarded. Nevertheless the fact that the various kinds of agates were believed to have many talismanic and therapeutic virtues, the great variety of coloration observable in these stones, and the curious figures and markings displayed by many of them, served to make them favorite objects. The etymology of the word _shebo_ suggests that it designated more especially a banded agate, and that set in the proto-breastplate was most probably one with gray and white bands, as this variety often appears in Egyptian work. There would have been no lack of contrast between this stone and the reddish or yellowish-brown agate, of uniform color, which may have occupied the seventh place. For the later breastplate we may choose any one of the many kinds of banded agate. This stone had engraved upon it the name Benjamin.