Amber

The history of the Amber is an epopee of the human journey …. the Amber is a fossilized resin that comes from coniferous forests of prehistoric plants that were located where today lies the Baltic Sea and that, over millions of years, has undergone a process of gradual mineralization. The Amber has always been loved for its warmth, its splendor, for the mystery that it contains and the fact that every piece of amber is unique and special. Sometimes it includes within itself perfectly preserved organic fossil, such as insects or other inclusions. Older people (Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs) considered it equal to gold and it was exchanged and much searched for its therapeutic powers.

History

Formerly it was believed as a condensed sunlight and its name from the ancient Greeks was elektron, who is a thing what shining, a very similar term to elektor, one of the names of the sun. One of the many names by which the amber was identified was “succino.” It links to sucinum, “juice” in Latin, as the ancients had correctly understood it was a fluid produced by plants lived in ancient times (see the work Naturalis Historia, Pliny, I Century B.C.).
The Amber was known to the Northern peoples since prehistoric times. It was transported from the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to Italy, Greece and even Egypt, through the so-called “amber routes”, several roads that crossed all Europe by establishing grand commercial traffics along the major Northern rivers, such as the Vistula and the Dnieper.
During the Bronze Age, in the Northern Adriatic were built important amber’s centers of commerce, the first was created to Adria, who also became an important center for the processing of the hand-manufactured goods.
Later, during the Iron Age, the amber trade monopoly was the prerogative of Piceni, people living in the present area of Marche. The Amber was known to the Romans, who liked very much this precious gemstone, it was used as jewelry and as an amulet. Traditionally the “bulla” of Amber was a pendant worn around the neck by Roman children to protect them against disease and negative influences. Sometimes this tradition is still used today with some children.
The Teutonic Knights, whose mission was to evangelize the Northern heathen nations, in the 13th century conquered the coasts of the Baltic Sea, occupied by Baltic tribes, as Bruzzi (which seems to be derived the name of Prussia). The Teutonic Knights had the trade amber monopoly, which they obtained precious rosaries, sold in all Christian lands.

Features

The Amber is a complex molecule, a polymer, formed by repeated structures several times, consisting of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, together with various impurities.
It is very resistant to chemicals, it does not dissolve in acid, the proof is the fact that at the beginning of the 1900 containers for chemical use in laboratories were made with amber resistant even by hydrofluoric acid. The amber instead may be partially dissolved by some organic solvents, such as ether or acetone.
The amber burns with the flame, giving off the smell of pine resin (the origin of amber, the Baltic amber, is traced back to the resin of Pinus succinifera, a prehistoric conifer).
The amber is very soft (hardness 2-3 on the Mohs scale), has a specific gravity slightly greater than that of water and is brought ashore by the waves of the Baltic Sea, which erode submarine sediments rich in this precious gem. Since ancient times the amber is collected at the seashore using traditional nets.
If it is rubbed vigorously, the amber is electrified and takes the property of attracting light bodies. One of the names by which the amber was known in ancient Persian was karabe, which means “straw attracts”. The actual term “electricity” comes from amber, called in ancient Greek elektron, “the substance of the sun.”