Egyptian Beginnings
Peridot was originally discovered on the volcanic island of Zabargad in the Red Sea. Its deposits were closely supervised, reserved for pharaohs and the Egyptian elite. Legend has it that Cleopatra’s illustrious headdress was, in fact, not bejeweled with smaragd but with locally mined peridot.
Of the many hypotheses on the origin of its name, “peridot” most likely comes from the Arabic “faridat”, meaning simply “gem.”
From the Depths of the Earth
Most gems originate in the Earth’s crust, yet peridot forms in the depths of its mantle, several kilometers from the surface to which it swept through volcanic activity. Rarely, it is also found in meteorites that have crash-landed to Earth.
Peridot belongs to the Olivine group of minerals, containing iron and magnesium.
On the Mohs scale of hardness, it ranks 6,5 to 7.
Origin
Still mined in the Red Sea where it was first discovered, peridot is also found in Myanmar, Arizona and Hawaii. Most recently, deposits were unearthed in the 1990s in Pakistan.
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