Alabaster - Calcite Alabaster

This substance, the "alabaster" of the Bible, is often termed Oriental alabaster, since the early examples came from the Far East. The Greek name alabastrites is said to be derived from the town of Alabastron, in Egypt, where the stone was quarried, but the locality probably owed its name to the mineral; the origin of the mineral-name is obscure, and it has been suggested that it may have had an Arabic origin. This "Oriental" alabaster was highly esteemed for making small perfume-bottles or ointment vases called alabastra, and ...

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Alabaster, Alabaster - Calcite Alabaster, Alabaster - Gypsum Alabaster

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Alabaster (sometimes called satin spar) is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals: gypsum (a hydrous sulfate of calcium) and the calcite (a carbonate of calcium). The former is the alabaster of the present day; the latter is generally the alabaster of the ancients. The two kinds are readily distinguished from each other by their relative hardnesses. The gypsum kind is so soft as to be readily scratched by a finger-nail (hardness 1.5 to 2), while the calcite kind is too hard to be scratched in this wa ...

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• Alabaster - Calcite Alabaster
• Alabaster - Gypsum Alabaster

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In the present day, when the term "alabaster" is used without any qualification, it invariably means a fine-grained variety of gypsum. This mineral, or alabaster proper, occurs in England. However, thousands of gypsum alabaster artifacts dating to the late 4th millennium BC have been found in Tell Brak (present day Nagar), in Syria [1]. And in Mesopotamia, a gypsum alabaster sculpture, believed to represent the god Abu, dates t ...

See also:

Alabaster, Alabaster - Calcite Alabaster, Alabaster - Gypsum Alabaster

Read more here: » Alabaster: Encyclopedia II - Alabaster - Gypsum Alabaster