Legends and myths about amber. Baltic Sea: the beauty of northern nature This place does not let you go

Amber is a true treasure on our planet, which has left a large and bright mark on the history of mankind. And this is no coincidence. The mineral is incredibly ancient - it began its journey back in the Jurassic period and is the same age as dinosaurs. People throughout history have treated amber with great attention, since the stone is not only divinely beautiful, but also has miraculous properties.
Read more: Amber stone.

Most of the fairy tales and legends associated with the sun stone are collected in the folk epics of the Baltic countries - this is not at all surprising, since the largest deposits of amber are located on the picturesque Baltic shores. In the Baltic countries, for many centuries, amber has been called nothing less than “gold of the Baltic.”

A beautiful Latvian legend tells about the marvelous bird Gauja, who kept an amber necklace of amazing properties in her nest.

A magical amber necklace showed 7 wonders of the world. On one side, the necklace showed stunning landscapes of cities in distant countries. On the other hand, one could admire the amazing beauty of the seas, dense emerald forests, and snow-white mountains. The third side reflected endless plains with crystal clear rivers.

One day the Tuscan king found out about this miracle and ordered his servant, the hunter Coso, to steal the magical amber necklace.

The wondrous bird Gauja discovered the loss and rushed after the thief. Having caught up with him, she grabbed Koso in a rage and threw her into the sea with all her might. It turned out that the amber necklace also fell into the depths of the sea and crumbled into tiny pieces. So, according to legend, an amber tree grew from every amber pebble. The amber trees still yearn for the marvelous bird Gauja, and their tears turn into pieces of amber and float to the seashore.

Mole and man in the amber workshop

Another Latvian fairy tale about amber. This time - modern. Somehow a little mole became friends with a man. And he was very surprised when he found out that the person did not have a single amber stone. The Mole invited his friend to his underground amber workshop, where real miracles happened. Stone craftsmen worked there, but not ordinary ones, but those who understood the amber language. They consulted with each piece of amber on how it should be processed correctly. Amber suggested to the master the most suitable processing technique. After a fascinating excursion, the mole gave the man a piece of magical amber of unprecedented beauty. When he was tired, he only had to look at the sun stone to regain strength and energy.

The delicacy and transparency of amber always greatly excited ancient people, so many legends about amber tears were preserved in their memory. There is a whole series of amazing legends and myths about tears from solar amber.

Amber tears of the goddess Jurate

One of the most popular and beautiful legends about amber tells about the beautiful goddess Jurata, the mistress of nymphs. She lived underwater in the depths of the sea in a magical castle made of natural amber. When the sun's rays reached the palace, it glowed with amazing sunlight. The goddess Jurata really liked to admire the sea views at sunset, and she often met the sunset on the surface of the water. One day she was noticed by fishermen passing by. One of them, Kastitis, was young and handsome, like a god. The beauty of the young man conquered the beautiful goddess, and she fell madly in love with the fisherman. But the god Perkunas, the lord of thunder, was furious at his daughter’s choice and brought down his father’s wrath on her in the form of terrible lightning, which killed the young fisherman and destroyed the amber castle of Jurate to the ground. Since then, the young goddess has been mourning her lover. Her golden tears turn into pieces of magical amber, which the sea waves wash ashore.

On the Baltic coast in the Lithuanian town of Palanga, today you can see a monument to the fisherman Kastitis and the sea princess Jurata.

Tears of Indian Birds

The main character of this legend is the handsome Meleager, the son of the ancient Greek king Oeneus.

When Meleager was born, his mother Althea was predicted that he would die as soon as the log burned out in the oven. The queen immediately snatched the log from the fire and hid it securely. The boy grew up strong and healthy.

And then one day Meleager had to fight a monstrous boar. The beast was so powerful that the hero called his brothers and friends for help. Among them was the beautiful Atalanta, with whom the hero had a stormy romantic relationship. When the beast was defeated, Meleager presented his beloved with the main trophy - the skin of the killed monster, since he believed that it was Atalanta's arrow that mortally wounded the beast. But his brothers did not agree with him and took the trophy from Atalanta. The enraged Meleager, in a fit of madness, killed his brothers. Their mother Althea could no longer withstand this misfortune - being very angry with her son, she threw the treasured log into the fire, and as soon as it burned, Meleager immediately died. Althea repented and committed suicide. The ensuing tragedy was witnessed by the mysterious Indian birds that found themselves in these parts. Their grief was infinitely deep, and the tears of beautiful birds turned into equally beautiful pieces of amber.

This myth has many different interpretations, like almost all ancient Greek myths. The sad story of Meleager was told to his contemporaries by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles (5,000 BC). Euripides, Antiphon and other ancient authors also wrote about this legend.

The Legend of the Amber Tears of Heliad

Another wonderful legend about amber tears. This time, the tears of several goddesses at once - the sisters of the god Phaethon - turned into amber. Heliades were the names of three sisters, daughters of the god Helios.

The proud Phaeton endured ridicule and provocation for a long time from Epaphus, the son of Zeus, who doubted his divine origin. “What kind of god are you if you have never ridden a solar chariot?” – the villain Epaf laughed. Young Phaeton had long wanted to saddle golden horses and race across the sky in a solar chariot. But his father, the Sun god Helios, strictly forbade his son to touch the chariot, claiming that even the immortal gods were unable to resist in it. Many times he warned Phaeton against a dangerous and rash act: “...At the beginning the road is so steep that the winged horses can barely overcome it. In the middle it goes so high above the ground that fear takes over me, and at the end it descends so quickly that without experienced control of the horses the chariot will fly and crash. In addition, the road still goes among dangers, horrors and wild animals. If you deviate slightly to the left, you may fall on the horns of a formidable calf or fall under the arrow of a centaur. If you deviate to the right, you will become prey to a poisonous scorpion or cancer. Believe me, I don’t want you to die.”

But the daring Epaphus pestered Phaeton so much that he could not stand it and, as proof of his divine status, took his father’s sun chariot without permission! He controlled it so ineptly that he almost burned the entire Earth. To save the planet and its inhabitants and stop the destructive voyage of the inept young god, Zeus had to send lightning to him, and Helios had to hit his son with the sun's rays. As a result, Phaeton died and disappeared forever in the waters of the Eridanus River. The Heliades mourned their beloved brother for a long time and bitterly - after all, it was they who helped him harness the golden horses, and did not stop him from making such an unforgivable mistake. Other gods of Ancient Greece, in order to alleviate the suffering of the goddesses, turned them into poplars. They cried silently, dropping beautiful sunny tears into the river. The tears of the goddesses turned into amber of divine beauty, which to this day people find in different parts of the Earth. Delightful poems have been written about this beautiful legend in different centuries.

The famous ancient Roman poet Ovid Naso wrote about this legend in the following terms: “Amber freezes under the sun, which is accepted by a transparent river and rolls into the distance, to adorn Latin wives.”

In Russian poetry, there are also memories of the amber tears of Heliad.

THREE HELIADS
Virgins of the Sun, Heliades,
Above the green Eridanus,
We are under the crimson canopy
Evening dawn
At the gravesite on the mound
We shed tears - there is no joy for us!
They will be in pure Eridanus
Our tears are amber.
Our father, on a chariot
Red-haired, hid, angry,
Where the ocean is like
Heavy blood of black wounds.
Evening, in a smoky purple
The sunset covers the edge;
Burns with a gloomy glow
Light jet Eridanus.
And the wrath of the Sun burns,
And they are not silent, Heliades,
Funeral chants
In a paradise of sunny fields.
Since that time, how touching
Penei - from the grave earth
The three of us got three chills
White leaf poplars.
Three sisters under the poplars
We yearn, Heliades,
Tears are dripping from the white canopy,
Frozen in amber...
It burned down - there is no consolation for us! -
It is mowed like a spring flower!
We cry over the fields
Dying dawn!

(Vyacheslav Ivanov, 1904)

Shards of the Second Sun

According to one ancient legend, once upon a time, even before man appeared on Earth, there were as many as two Suns in the sky! According to different versions, one luminary exploded, according to another, both luminaries once collided in the sky. Ultimately, one Sun ceased to exist and crumbled into millions of small pieces. Amber is fragments of the second Sun.

Alatyr-stone is the father of all stones

The miraculous magical stone amber is also sung in Russian folk epics, spells and conspiracies. In ancient sources it is mentioned under the name “stone-alatyr” or “latyr-stone” - which literally meant Latvian stone.

According to ancient legends, the Alatyr stone fell from the sky, and people saw the laws of the god Svarog carved on it. That sacred stone stood in the very Center of the World, therefore in Russian legends they said about it “the father of all stones.”

Amber is the fossilized resin of coniferous and some deciduous trees. It originated on earth several tens of millions of years BC. In those distant times, the Fenno-Scandinavian Mountains had a hot climate with dense subtropical and coniferous forests. Storms, hurricanes and gales blowing from the Baltic Sea broke branches, felled and uprooted century-old trees. On quiet days, under the rays of the scorching sun, resin stood out from the trees in this windfall. In place of dead forests, new ones grew. This went on for several million years. The resin accumulated, hardened and, washed out to sea by the surf, gradually turned into amber.

In his treatise “On the Layers of the Earth,” M. V. Lomonosov writes: “Whoever does not accept such clear evidence, let him listen to what the insects included in the amber say:

And so we sat down on the liquid resin flowing from the trees, which, binding us to itself with stickiness, captivated us and, constantly pouring out, covered and enclosed us from everywhere. Then, due to earthquakes, our sunken forest place was covered with an overflowing sea."

The Baltic fields are the largest in the world. In addition, amber lay along the banks of some northern rivers and seas: it is found in Pechora, South Sakhalin, the Urals and along the banks of the Dnieper, as well as in Denmark, Poland, England, France, and Germany. In nature, amber occurs in small grains and large pieces, sometimes reaching several kilograms. It is extremely light, fragile, and easy to grind and polish. Some peoples attribute healing properties to this stone. But believing in healing with the help of gems is just as absurd as believing in talismans that bring happiness. After the Battle of Waterloo, amulets made of semi-precious stones were found on many killed Prussian officers, and Napoleon himself, who lost the battle, had a talisman on his chest - a thirty-four-carat diamond, which still did not save him from defeat.

There are also many legends about amber. These golden stones are sometimes called “sun reflections frozen at the bottom of cold seas”, sometimes “hot tears for fallen heroes.” One of the legends is very close in its content to the famous ancient Greek myth of Icarus.

The legend of amber tells of a wax angel who flew from a Christmas tree through an open window and hovered over the Baltic countries all night. Seeing how the knights of the Teutonic Order mocked the tribes they had conquered, the angel began to cry. From his tears, from the tears of destitute widows and orphans, the Baltic Sea became salty. And when morning came, the angel melted in the sun's rays. Wax drops, falling into the sea, turned into amber.

Amber is a Russian word, but its sound is close to the Lithuanian name for this solar stone - gintaras. Amber is found in golden yellow, orange and light brown colors. Amber can be transparent, matte or translucent. The latter is valued more than the former. And the most expensive is considered to be amber with insects included in it.

An interesting story related to amber is told in Senegambia, a country located in East Africa, between the Gambi and Rio Cacheo river basins, not far from Casamance.

In the middle of the 19th century, among the people of the Habu land, the Mandings and the Fulami, a pale-faced man with hair the color of dry bamboo appeared. This European, who knew neither the local dialects, nor Spanish, nor French, nor English, sold to the natives small elephants, buffaloes and spotted panthers, carved from translucent yellow stone. Having learned about the newcomer, the Manding leader Futa-Jalon invited the merchant to his semi-European home, covered with gilded sea turtle shells instead of tiles. Having fed him the exquisite dishes of Senegambia and treated him to an intoxicating drink made from the juices of feathery palm trees, Futa-Jalon made an exchange with the merchant. The Manding chief gave the pale-faced merchant four elephant tusks, and in exchange received a smoothly polished cabochon of amber with a fly embedded in it. After the merchant left, Futa-Jalon showed the stone he had acquired to his wife and sixteen-year-old son named Bartutim.

The latter liked the stone so much that he dared to ask his father for it in exchange for a gold chased belt. Futa Jalon refused the exchange. Having placed the amber on the windowsill, where sweets were usually found and termites [White Ants] walked, he lay down on his reed mat and fell asleep. And when I woke up, I didn’t find any amber on the windowsill. The leader was surprised: after all, in Senegambia there were no locks or doors themselves, and theft was not known here.

Even the Senegalese Lahobe gypsies from Casamance never took other people's things. If a traveler lost something, even a gold coin, the native who found it had to return the find to the stranger. This has been the case in Senegambia for centuries. Moreover, no one would dare enter the courtyard of the Manding chief without the permission of the owner or members of his family. The leader's suspicion fell on his son. Futa-Jalon called Bartutim and ordered him to put in place the golden stone with the fly included in it. The young man was offended, took his gun and left his father’s house forever. A year later, on the eve of a month of rain, Futa-Jalon, while digging peanuts in the yard near his window, turned over an ant heap with a shovel and discovered that it was missing. The thieves turned out to be white ants, who carried away an amber with a fly embedded in it from the windowsill into their home. The leader of the Mandings found his son in the jungle and bowed to him twice, as the people of the land of Habu bow when they have committed an irreparable mistake or injustice...

Since ancient times, wonderful craftsmen of the Baltic countries have been grinding amber mined on the shores of the Baltic Sea and using it to make mouthpieces, necklaces and brooches, and also made figurines of all kinds of funny animals from it. The demand for amber products was great. Often it was found right there on the shore, but sometimes fishermen brought amber by hooking pieces of gold stone into their old nets. There have long been disputes between the “amber masters” and the “Pomors”, who sailed on their fragile boats many kilometers from the coast in search of shoals of herring and herring: the fact is that some needed a storm, others dreamed of calm. The sea reluctantly gave up its treasure to people, and the lapidaries looked with hidden hope at the heavy brown clouds and the foamy, maned waves. And when a storm began and the sea boiled like soup in a cauldron, the masters rejoiced and looked with smiles at their apprentices and boys running towards the raging waves. On such days, one could read in local newspapers that “near Palmniken and Königsberg, a storm that raged for a whole day caused terrible devastation along the coast, and such a mass of amber was thrown ashore by the surf, which the local residents had not collected for years... During the storm, people died "six Palmniken fishermen. Among the pieces of sun stone washed ashore, fragments of a fishing boat were discovered. Amber blocks, raised from the seabed to the crests of raging waves, were silent witnesses to the death of brave fishermen."

But not only jewelry was made from sunstone; at the very beginning of the 18th century, the so-called amber room was created. Many interesting articles and books have been written about this wonderful work of art. Under what circumstances did the idea of creating an amber room arise? Apparently, at all times and in all countries there were their own Lefties, capable of “surpassing” foreign masters. Such a craftsman was found in Prussia. He was a native of the port city of Gdansk, bore a German name and a French surname - Gottfried Toussaud. In his small, dimly lit workshop, with German precision and subtle French taste, he cut out and glued squares of light and dark amber onto flat wooden boxes. Toussaud handcrafted amazing figures of pawns, bishops and kings, different from each other in each new set,

In those years, Prussia was ruled by King Frederick I, a lover of all sorts of European innovations, balls and receptions. Caring little about his country and people, he entertained himself with music and various games. One of Frederick's close associates presented the king with an amber chess set by master Toussaud. Friedrich really liked the figures, especially the two-color polished board. He called his court architect Andreas Schlüter and ordered the oak parquet flooring in the ballroom of the Monbijou Palace to be replaced with amber plates.

Your Royal Majesty,” the architect timidly objected, “amber is very fragile.” Isn’t it better to make special panels from it and decorate an office in the same palace with them?

The king agreed with Schlüter's arguments, and the architect began work. He found an unsurpassed master, made special drawings and provided Toussaud with a bright room for polishing and selecting shades of amber plates. This is how the idea of creating an amber room was brought to life.

Work on dozens of artistic panels, hundreds of compositions depicting fairy-tale scenes from multi-colored amber and tables with convex grapes, like on cameos, and thin translucent leaves and carved engravings, lasted about three years. To complete the ensemble and increase the scale of the future amber room, massive oval mirrors in heavy gilded frames were brought from Venice. When the preparatory work was completed, the king changed his mind and ordered the amber panels with all the compositions, details and mirrors to be installed not in the Monbijou Palace, where a special foundation was prepared for the cladding, but in the Queen’s Potsdam castle,

This is how the amber room appeared. This happened in 1709. The king, queen and all the court nobility immensely admired the amber cabinet created by Toussaud and Schlüter.

And two weeks later a disaster occurred: unable to withstand the weight of thick Venetian mirrors and heavy gilded frames, the amber walls collapsed. Some of the plates and mirrors turned into fragments, and the surviving panels and tables were put into boxes and handed over to a military workshop.

Both Leskov's Lefty and the amber affairs master Toussaud had a sad fate: after accusing Gottfried of treason, he was imprisoned in a fortress casemate, and Schlüter was exiled outside Prussia. A year later, at the insistence of the queen, the amber “tapestry” were again restored in one of her offices.

A few years later, Frederick I died. His son Frederick, Wilhelm I, ascended the Prussian throne. And at the end of 1716, Peter I arrived in Berlin on a friendly visit. While inspecting the Potsdam Palace, the creator of lapidary mills and cabinets of curiosities could not help but become interested in the amber room and, with his characteristic straightforwardness, expressed the idea that that he “would be very pleased to have this sunny office in foggy St. Petersburg.” Friedrich Wilhelm, who did not know how or how to thank the Russian Tsar and the great commander who defeated the Swedes near Poltava and in the naval Battle of Gangut, the commander who changed not only for Russia, but also for Prussia the balance of military forces and coalitions of the European powers, willingly presented Peter I with an amber cabinet. At the gala dinner, Friedrich - Wilhelm and Peter exchanged speeches. The Russian Tsar praised the iron discipline introduced by Frederick in the Prussian army, and the King spoke about the greatness of Russia, about the historical role of the Tsar as a commander and about Russian warriors - heroes, and for some reason he called them not heroes, but giants, which made Peter smile.

On the same day, Peter I with his retinue, in a sleigh with bear cavities, in troikas with Valdai bells, rushed off to his capital. This was in January 1717.

After several decades, no one in St. Petersburg could remember where the “solar office” in the Winter Palace came from.

For some time there was a version that the “amber room” was donated by the Prussian King Frederick William I to the niece of Peter I, Empress Anna Ioannovna. If we remember that under her, the de facto ruler of Russia was the German Ernst Biron, who maintained friendly relations with the Prussian king, then this version seemed convincing. But in the second half of the 19th century, a letter from Peter I was discovered in one of the St. Petersburg archives, sent from Amsterdam to P. M. Bestuzhev - Ryumin. “When the amber cabinet (which was given to us by His Royal Majesty of Prussia) is sent to Memel from Berlin from Count Alexander Golovkin, accept it in Memel and send it immediately through Courland on Courland carts to Riga with care of the same messenger who will announce this decree to you , and give him one under-officer with several dragoons in the convoy to Riga, also give the one sent on the road to Riga money for food, so that he will be satisfied, and if he demands a sleigh under that office, give it to him.” This message was written on January 17, 1717.

From the same archival records it became known that the amber room was presented to Peter I by Frederick William 1 during their meeting in Berlin at the conclusion of an alliance between Russia and Prussia against Sweden.

Once, remembering Frederick’s speech about the Russian heroes - “giants”, the Tsar of All Rus', who later became the All-Russian Emperor, deigned to send the Prussian King in July 1718 from the chambers of the cadet Tolstoy a gift consisting of... 55 soldiers of grenadier height, people torn off forever, at the extravagant whim of the ruler, from the homeland, from the family, from the fields and forests of the Russians. This price was paid for the amber tablets given by Frederick to Peter I.

After being delivered to St. Petersburg, the amber room was initially installed in the Winter Palace, and during the reconstruction of the palace in Tsarskoe Selo, the wonderful architect V.V. Rastrelli moved it there. But this was not a simple transfer of tiles from one palace to another. Such a delicate, jewel-like decorative mosaic required years of painstaking, thoughtful work, the talent and taste of a great artist. Rastrelli, the creator of the Stroganov, Vorontsov, Winter and Catherine palaces with a park, pavilions and the famous amber room, possessed these qualities. This is how antiquarian Felkerzam, an expert on Italian and Russian frescoes, describes it:

“All the walls of the room are completely lined with a mosaic of uneven pieces of polished amber... This decoration makes an equally pleasant impression both in sunlight and in artificial light. There is nothing intrusive or loud here, everything is modest and harmonious.

During the Great Patriotic War, on September 17, 1941, Nazi troops occupied Tsarskoye Selo and, by order of Gauleiter Erich Koch, the amber cabinet was dismantled. With pure German precision, all the tiles were numbered and placed in wooden boxes. By his order, and possibly by Hermann Goering, who, like Koch, “collected” collections of paintings, carpets and porcelain during the war, the amber room was transported to the city of Konigsberg and placed in one of the halls of the royal castle, where it remained for several years.

Despite the rapid occupation of Konigsberg by Soviet troops, where about 50,000 fascist soldiers and officers were captured, the Nazis still managed to dismantle the amber cabinet, located in the royal castle, for the second time and take it out of the city at night. The hiding place where they managed to hide the Amber Room tablets hastily folded into boxes has not yet been found. One can only assume that during a hasty retreat, the Nazis dropped this precious cargo into the Baltic Sea, into the same sea where amber was once found...

We must assume that our young explorers or experienced scuba divers will in the near future find this amber treasure and it will sparkle again in the former Tsarskoye Selo.

Since people learned to use amber - and this happened at least 5-6 thousand years ago - attempts have been made repeatedly to unravel the mystery of its origin.

Both in scientific works and in works of oral folk art, versions were proposed that were sometimes not inferior to each other in terms of the degree of fantasticness.

Nowadays, no one doubts that amber is a mineral of organic origin, belonging to typical resins, but it was not immediately that scientists came to a consensus on this issue.

Some researchers were convinced, for example, that amber was solidified oil, others were inclined to consider it fossilized honey from wild bees. It has also been suggested that this is sea foam, frozen under the influence of sunlight, a waste product of forest ants, thickened “solar ether”, mountain oil, earthly fat... And so on.

There were many hypotheses, which is not surprising. Amber is not only completely different from other gems, but also itself exhibited such a variety of shapes, textures, structures, sizes, demonstrated such a richness of shades, and possessed such unusual chemical and physical properties that in former times it often baffled researchers. And in fact, what is it: in the fire it burns like coal, crackling and smoky; melts when heated without air access; becomes electrified during friction; In salt water, certain varieties of amber are suspended - floating. The stone seems warm to the touch. In addition, a variety of insects can be seen inside some pieces of amber. How did they get there? After all, amber is most often found on the seashore, and butterflies and flies, as we know, have never been found in the sea...

While science was searching for the truth, painstakingly collecting evidence, the people quickly explained everything in a miraculous, supernatural way.

This always happens: where reason and logic are powerless, space for creativity appears and imagination begins to work. The organ responsible for fantasy is especially well developed in children and young people.

Therefore, all the legends about amber appeared at the dawn of civilization.

First of all, the ancient peoples endowed amber itself with supernatural properties. Some primitive tribes used amber products in magical rituals. Amber amulets were worn to protect against illness and death in battle. People believed that amber “draws out” illness from the body and “attracts” good luck - just as it attracts small objects if it is lightly rubbed. It was believed that amber jewelry warded off trouble, protected from the evil eye, brought success in love affairs, made a person stronger and smarter...

Of course, the possibilities of amber here are greatly exaggerated, but some things are not denied by modern science.

Of course, amber has a beneficial effect on the nervous system, its “sunny” color is pleasant to the eye, and touching a warm, smooth surface not only brings pleasure, but also helps to concentrate and gives self-confidence.

In addition, they say that constantly wearing amber jewelry improves well-being in case of diseases of the thyroid gland, relieves pain from inflammation of the joints and salt deposits.

As for the legends about amber, if you look at them carefully, then among the mass of fantastic circumstances and details you can sometimes find grains of truth.

For example, the ancient Greek myth of Phaeton (which came down to us as told by the Roman poet Publius Ovid Naso, born in 43 BC) clearly indicates the plant origin of amber - long before scientists came to the same conclusion.

The theme of tears is present in almost all legends about amber. They often talk about tragedies on a cosmic scale.
The idea of dramatic events associated with the birth of amber was obviously suggested by the drop-shaped shape of some pieces of natural stone.

Thus, in the tragedy of Sophocles (5th century BC), amber is the tears of the fallen hero Meleager, who became a victim of his mother’s curse.

In the Lithuanian legend of Jurata and Kastitis, the sea goddess sheds amber tears mourning her lover.

In all legends, amber is news from the past, containing some secret meaning. Many people try to read the “message” - and each nation does it in its own way.

In Rus', amber was called “Alatyr” or “latyr-stone”. “The white-flammable stone Alatyr,” lying “on the Okiyan sea, on the island of Buyan,” is mentioned in folk songs, fairy tales, and ancient conspiracies. At the same time, the “flammability” of amber, that is, the ability to burn, is emphasized as one of its characteristic properties.

The Russian people also have a fairy tale-parable about a singing stone, which only a person with a pure heart can hear.

And the Baltic legend about the bird Gauja connects the origin of amber with the crime to which the cruel king of an overseas country pushed his faithful servant.

The poetic perception of facts and phenomena of life, the mythologization of reality inherent in ancient peoples, preceded the scientific knowledge of the world.

In a transformed, mythologized form, oral traditions preserved and carried through the centuries information about real events, brought to us ancient knowledge, which often advanced and anticipated further directions of scientific research.

Legends about amber are invariably associated with tears and cause sadness. For example, the legend of Phaethon, the son of Helios and Thetis. It all started with the fact that the son of Zeus mocked the young Phaeton, not believing that he was the son of a great deity. In tears and despair, Phaeton came to Helios. He confirmed that he was the father of Phaeton and, as proof, allowed him to ask for anything. Among all the earthly and heavenly miracles and temptations, Phaeton asked for the right to drive a fiery chariot. For a long time, Helios dissuaded his son, talking about the difficult path that runs high above the ground, rising steeply and abruptly plunging down, about terrible celestial monsters and restive horses. Phaeton was unshakable.

And here he is in the chariot, in joyful anticipation of traveling across the sky. But everything turned out to be not as wonderful as Phaeton imagined. The horses, sensing weakness in the hands of the rider, took off, lost their way and galloped chaotically across the sky, sometimes rising above the stars, sometimes sinking to the very ground. Beautiful cities burned, forests, fields, oceans, rivers and lakes boiled, nymphs fled in horror, all living things died and suffered. Atlas himself staggered, threatening to drop the firmament and bring down the kingdom of heaven. The gods prayed to Zeus, fearing that the planet would fall into chaos again. Zeus extinguished the flames, and scattered Helios's chariot and horses across the sky. The burnt Phaeton fell from the sky to the ground and died. His inconsolable mother and sisters wept over him for a long time until the gods turned them into trees. And after that they continued to drop heavy tears into the ocean, the drops froze and turned into a beautiful stone.

And here is a Lithuanian legend. On the shores of the Baltic Sea lived a strong and handsome fisherman, Kastitis. One day he went out to fish. Time after time he cast his nets. This did not please the goddess Jurata, who lived in the waters of this sea. She sent the mermaids to the fisherman with a request not to spoil or muddy the waters. The fisherman laughed and continued. The goddess got angry and swam to him, but was subdued by the beauty of the young man and his songs. She broke the law, succumbed to the charm of human happiness and took the fisherman with her to the bottom. The lovers admired each other, they settled in the amber castle and the world ceased to exist for them, and time stood still. As soon as the happiness began, it ended immediately.

The supreme god Perkunas found out about this. He got angry and decided to punish the disobedient goddess. He destroyed the castle, killed the fisherman, and chained Juratu with golden chains to a rock above the body of the murdered Kastitis. The grieving goddess still mourns her love. Tears freeze in the water and turn into amber stone, and the water throws fragments of the castle and droplets of tears onto the shore.

The sad stories are not due to the fact that this stone makes people sad or brings misfortune. On the contrary, a joyful yellow light, similar to the sun, and a warm surface are more likely to evoke a kind smile.

The fact is that for a long time its origin remained a mystery; it surprised with its features. Outwardly it resembles a stone, but its properties were completely different. The insects frozen in the thickness of the stone were also confusing. At different times there were such theories: frozen oil, honey, sea foam, thickened sunlight, mountain oil, and so on and so forth.

While scientists were making guesses and assumptions, people were making up fairy tales. Surprisingly, ordinary people who created legends thanks to intuition and imagination turned out to be closer to solving the mystery than scientists.

Amber stone is truly the tears of trees. Many years ago, all over the earth, ancient trees exuded resin. This is a protective reaction to wounds caused by bad weather or animals. The resin sealed the damage and no rotting occurred. Layers of resin flowed over each other, captivating stuck insects, blades of grass, and pine needles. The accumulated deposits hardened in the sun and fell down.

His further fate was determined by the environment in which he found himself: whether it was soil or water, or a swampy area. In the soil, where there was a sufficient amount of oxygen, the resin darkened, hardened, turning into dense stone. In swampy areas, the resin remained more fragile, but under the influence of nitrogenous compounds it acquired a greenish tint. If the environment is rich in iron, then the amber takes on a reddish color.

Processed amber adorned the regalia of Egyptian rulers and European kings. At some times, lenses were made from amber to improve the vision of wealthy members of the nobility.

Later, people learned to glue amber. Stone processing has reached a new level. They began to make boxes, vases, dishes, watches from it, inlaid canes, staves, and furniture.

One of the most remarkable works of art made of amber is Peter’s office, completely decorated with this solar stone. During the Great Patriotic War, the amber room was lost. Many years and efforts were spent searching for her, but everything was useless.

Physicochemical characteristics

Amber's qualities are unlike any other stone, which is due to its organic origin.

The properties of amber are described in the table:

The most famous area of application is jewelry making. Almost all types of jewelry are made from amber: beads, brooches, rings, necklaces, pendants, figurines, boxes.

Substandard and waste from amber jewelry production: dust, scrap, crumbs are used for the preparation of succinic acids, rosin and oil. These substances are used to prepare perfumes, medicines and paints and varnishes.

Since amber practically does not conduct electricity, it was used for a long time as an insulator, until fluoroplastic came to replace it.

Development of amber deposits

Amber was formed 102 million years ago. During this time, the trees produced resin, which fell into conditions favorable for the formation of stone. It turns out that there are countless deposits of amber on earth. Scientists have calculated that it is theoretically possible to extract thousands of tons per year. But in practice this does not happen. Amber is located deep, its development will be unprofitable. And the material itself is not stable. High temperature and pressure are destructive. Often the ocean gives gifts to people by eroding the rock and the amber along with it. Since it is lighter than water, the waves carry it ashore.

Almost all of the world's amber is mined in the Baltic states and on the adjacent shores of the North Sea. These are yellow, sometimes brown-colored stones, less often with a shade of green. This is a relatively young amber. Its age does not exceed 40 million years. The quality is similar to Baltic amber, originally from Ukraine. It is mined near Rivne. Previously, it was even believed that they had the same origin and that it ended up in Ukraine due to the movement of glaciers. But scientists, having studied the insects in Ukrainian amber, came to the conclusion that the formation took place in the area where it was found.

The oldest ambers are found in Lebanon and Taimyr. They are more than 100 million years old. Stones of interesting color were found in Sicily and Saxony. These specimens are distinguished by their rich red color.

Varieties of amber

There are difficulties in classifying amber. It comes in all colors and can be transparent or opaque, with or without inclusions. Minerologists, geologists, collectors, jewelers - everyone makes their own classification. And within each species there are subspecies and varieties. The most common and generally accepted classification is the division by place of production.

This also has its difficulties. In different regions, amber was formed from different types of wood and was formed under the influence of different factors. For example, for a long time, Dominican ambers formed by the resin of leguminous trees were not classified as amber, but were called copals. German biochemists put an end to it, calling for any fossilized resin older than one million years to be considered amber.

So, ambers are divided into:

Baltic;
Ukrainian;
Dominican.

The most numerous amber from the Baltic states is divided into subspecies:

Succinite. It accounts for 98% of the stones mined in the Baltics. This is the resin of Pinus succinieferra, an extinct coniferous tree related to the pine. Curing took place in an oxygen-free environment.
Gedanite or rotten amber. The origin is the same pine, but the conditions of formation were different, hence the differences in appearance. This stone has a dirty, earthy color with traces of oxides.
Stanthienite or black amber. In order for this stone to form, the resin had to get into an environment containing a lot of iron. This also led to its fragility. Given this, the stone is rare or destroyed during the mining process.
Glessite. Succinite contaminated with impurities.

Succinite, in turn, is divided into varieties:

Batter. Transparent .
Bastard. Translucent due to inclusions of air bubbles. Reminds me of candied honey.
Flom. Contains more air than bastard. Smudges that resemble paintings form on the surface.
Knocken. More than half of the stone is air. This variety resembles ivory.

The latter varieties are less common and therefore more expensive.

Products and prices

Amber was valued as dearly as it is now only in ancient Egypt. Then this was due to the fact that it took a long time and was difficult to deliver. Now this is a marketing ploy. There was a lot of hype, rumors and speculation around amber. People get the idea that they can’t do without amber, and a high price is an indicator of quality. It has become incredibly popular and at the same time expensive. The Chinese market, which can accommodate the entire world's amber production, has also intervened in demand.

In Soviet times, amber was one of the most affordable jewelry. Crafts and figurines were made from it; almost every beauty had heavy amber beads, a ring, earrings and a brooch. This Soviet wealth is still valued today. They are ready to buy it for fabulous money. From 2000 to 2010, amber prices increased by 900%. He's not going to get cheaper.

This does not mean that products with amber cannot be purchased by a simple working person. The price depends on the frame, processing method, and quality of the stone. Tumbling beads cost about $60. Beads made from polished balls are more expensive - from $200, since more stone was spent on polishing, more waste was generated, and the quality of the raw materials was higher.

Cast mass-produced items in silver frames are stamped in large quantities and are not expensive. Handmade designer jewelry costs two or three times more.

Inclusions, stones with inclusions of insects or plants, are a separate issue. Prices for them are set individually depending on the beauty, expressiveness and size of the inclusion. The most interesting specimens are found in museums and private collections. The market is full of fakes, so you should think twice before buying.

Magical properties of amber

It is not used in black magic. The sun destroys any generation of evil and dark thoughts. In ancient times they believed that this was a cure for all diseases. Amber.

The main magical property of the stone is to ward off the evil eye and damage. The aura of the stone is so strong that a person is as if under a dome, under which not a single bad word or thought can fly.

In order for the magical properties not to fade, it must be recharged in a timely manner under the rays of the sun. At least once a month he needs to be shown the dawn.

Another property of the stone is to stabilize the nervous state, cleanse the thoughts and soul of sadness, negativity, and treat stress. To do this, you need to concentrate on looking at the sun through the stone for some time. The effect will be noticeable within the first minutes.

It is believed that amber is suitable for any zodiac sign. Indeed, amber does not have a negative effect. All people are different and a talisman can strengthen or weaken character traits that do not need it. It is better for the amulet to choose its owner. This will be noticeable by barely perceptible vibrations in the air; your well-being and mood will immediately improve after meeting your talisman.

Astrologers are sure that the best combination of zodiac sign and stone is Libra and amber. For the best operation of the amulet, it is necessary to use not decoration, but raw material.

It is also better for the Scorpio zodiac sign to take a stone without a frame, preferably with inclusions. , light shades, it is best for Aquarius to use jewelry with many small stones.

Medicinal properties

The healing power of amber has been proven. The stone contains succinic acid. It becomes a participant in oxygen exchange, which promotes cell growth. In ancient times, they cleaned their teeth with it, took it as a medicine for stomach pain, and used it to heal wounds.

Priests and other clergy who burned incense did not get sick. Maybe this is a manifestation of holiness, divine power descending on a person, or maybe the effect of burnt amber.

Application of amber:

cleanses the skin of acne and ulcers;
relieves pulmonary diseases, including asthma;
cleanses blood vessels;
prevents miscarriage;
increases body tone;
normalizes heart function;
restores nerve connections.

With the spread of tobacco came the belief that the amber mouthpiece neutralized nicotine poisons.

How to spot a fake

Any expensive stone can be counterfeited. In the case of amber, scammers are especially inventive. But natural stone has a number of properties that unmistakably help identify counterfeit:

Uniform coloring indicates artificial origin. Natural has color transitions.
It feels warm to the touch.
It is not very dense, so even large products weigh little.
It is impossible to scratch natural amber with a fingernail, but it can be done with a knife or needle. Chips and crumbs form at the site of damage.
After friction, it attracts hairs and small pieces of paper.
When heated slightly, it smells like resin.
Burns producing black smoke.
Resistant to alcohol and essential oils.

Amber is a gift from nature. It is beautiful and, thanks to its characteristics, can become not only a decoration, but also a medicine. Its properties will ward off not only illnesses, but also the slander of evil people.

Freeze when falling. Hitting the sharp rocks at the bottom, it broke into small pieces. Since then, waves have been lifting large and small pieces of solar stone from the bottom of the sea and throwing them onto the shore.

The legend about the bird GAUE

The Legend of Phaeton

Only once was the established order in the world disrupted and the Sun God did not go to heaven to shine on people. It happened like this. The Sun had a son, Helios, from Clementa, the daughter of the sea goddess Fedita. His name was Phaeton. One day, Phaeton’s relative, the son of the thunderer Zeus Epaphus, mocking him, said: “I don’t believe that you are the son of the radiant Helios.” Your mother is telling a lie. You are the son of a mere mortal. Phaeton became angry, a blush of shame flooded his face; he ran to his mother, threw himself on her chest and complained with tears about the insult. But his mother, stretching out her hands to the radiant Sun, exclaimed: “Oh, son!” I swear to you by Helios, who sees and hears us, whom you yourself now see, that he is your father! Let him deprive me of his light if I tell a lie. Go to him yourself, his palace is not far from us. He will confirm my words.

Phaeton immediately went to his father Helios. He quickly reached the palace of Helios, shining with gold, silver and precious stones. The whole palace seemed to sparkle with all the colors of the rainbow, God Hephaestus himself decorated it so wonderfully. Phaeton entered the palace and saw Helios there, sitting on a throne in purple clothes. But Phaethon could not get closer to the radiant God, his eyes - the eyes of a mortal, could not stand the radiance emanating from the crown of Helios. The Sun God saw Phaethon and asked him: “What brought you to my palace, my son?” - Oh, light of the whole world, oh, Father Helios! Only dare I call you father? - Phaeton exclaimed. - Give me proof that you are my father. Destroy, I pray you, my doubt. Helios took off his radiant crown, called Phaeton to him, hugged him and said: “Yes, you are my son, your mother Klymene told you the truth.” And so that you no longer doubt, ask me whatever you want, and, I swear by the waters of the sacred river Styx, I will fulfill your request. As soon as Helios spoke, Phaeton began to ask to be allowed to ride instead of Helios himself in his golden chariot.

The radiant God was horrified. - Crazy, why are you asking! - Helios exclaimed. - Oh, if I could break my oath! You are asking the impossible, Phaeton. After all, you can't do it. After all, you are a mortal, but is this the business of a mortal? Even the immortal gods are unable to resist my chariot. The great Zeus himself, the thunderer, cannot rule it, and who is more powerful than him! Just think: at first the road is so steep that even my winged horses can barely climb it. In the middle it goes so high above the Earth that even I am overcome with fear when I look down at the seas and lands stretching below me. At the end, the road descends so rapidly to the sacred shores of the Ocean that without my experienced guidance the chariot will fly headlong down and crash. You think maybe you will meet a lot of beautiful things along the way. No, there is a path among dangers, horrors and wild animals. It is narrow; if you deviate to the side, then the horns of a formidable calf await you there, a centaur’s bow, a furious lion, monstrous scorpions and cancer threaten you there. Many horrors are on the way across the sky. Believe me, I don't want to be the reason for your death. Oh, if you could penetrate my heart with your gaze and see how afraid I am for you! Look around you, look at the world, how much beauty there is in it! Ask for whatever you want, I will not refuse you anything, just don’t ask for it. After all, you are not asking for a reward, but a terrible punishment.

But Phaeton did not want to listen to anything; wrapping his arms around Helios’s neck, he asked that his request be fulfilled. - Okay, I will fulfill your request. Don't worry, I swore by the waters of the Styx. You will get what you ask for, but I thought you were smarter,” Helios answered sadly. He led Phaeton to where his chariot stood. Phaeton admired her: she was all golden and sparkled with multi-colored stones. They brought the winged horses of Helios, fed with ambrosia and nectar. They harnessed the horses to the chariot. Rose-fingered Eos opened the gate. Helios rubbed Phaeton's face with sacred ointment so that the flames of the sun's rays would not scorch him, and placed a sparkling crown on his head. With a sigh full of sadness, Helios gives his last instructions to Phaethon: “My son, remember my last instructions, fulfill them if you can.” Don't rush the horses, hold the reins as firmly as possible. My horses will run on their own. It's hard to keep them. You will clearly see the road along the ruts; they go across the whole sky. Don't rise too high, so as not to burn the sky, but don't go too low, otherwise you will burn the earth. Don't deviate, remember, neither to the right nor to the left. Your path is exactly in the middle between the snake and the altar. I entrust everything else to fate, I only hope for it. But it’s time, the goddess of the Night - Nyukta left the sky; The rose-fingered Eos has already risen. Take the reins tighter. But maybe you will change your decision - after all, it threatens you with death. Oh, let me shine on the Earth myself! Don't ruin yourself! But Phaeton quickly jumped onto the chariot and grabbed the reins.

He rejoices, rejoices, thanks his father Helios and hurries on his way. The horses beat their hooves, flames burst from their nostrils, they easily pick up the chariot and quickly rush forward through the fog along the steep road to heaven. The chariot is unusually light for horses. Now the horses are already racing across the sky, they leave the usual path of Helios and rush without a road, but Phaeton does not know where the road is, he is not able to control the horses. He looked from the top of the sky to the ground and turned pale with fear, she was so far below him. He already regrets that he begged his father to let him drive his chariot. What should he do? He has already traveled a lot, but there is still a long way ahead. The phaeton cannot cope with the horses, it does not know their names, and it does not have the strength to restrain them with the reins. He sees terrible celestial animals all around him and gets even more confused. There is a place in the sky where a monstrous, formidable scorpion lies, and horses carry Phaeton there. The unfortunate young man saw a scorpion covered in dark poison, threatening him with a deadly sting, and, mad with fear, he released the reins. Then the horses rushed even faster, sensing freedom. Either they soar to the very stars, then, descending, they rush almost over the earth itself. Helios’s sister, the moon goddess Selene, looks in amazement as her brother’s horses race without a road, unguided by anyone, across the sky. The flames from the nearby chariot engulf the earth. Large, rich cities are dying, entire tribes are dying. Mountains covered with forest are burning: double-headed Parnassus, shady Kiferon, Green Helikon, the Caucasus mountains, Tmol, Ida, Pelion, Ossa. Smoke clouds everything around; does not see the Phaeton in the thick smoke where it is driving. The water in rivers and streams is boiling. The nymphs cry and hide in horror in deep grottoes. The Euphrates, Orontes, Alpheus, Eurotas and other rivers are boiling. The heat cracks the earth, and the ray of the Sun penetrates the dark kingdom of Hades. The seas begin to dry up, and the sea deities suffer from the heat. Then the great goddess Gaia, the Earth, rose and loudly exclaimed: “Oh, greatest of the gods.” Zeus the Thunderer! Must I really perish, must the kingdom of your brother Poseidon perish, must all living things perish? Look! The atlas can barely withstand the weight of the sky. After all, the sky and the palace of the gods can collapse. Will everything really return to primeval Chaos? Oh, save from the fire what is left!

Zeus heard the plea of the goddess Gaia, he menacingly waved his right hand, threw his sparkling lightning and extinguished the fire with its fire. Zeus smashed the chariot with lightning. Helios' horses ran in different directions. The fragments of Helios's chariot and horse harness are scattered all over the sky. And Phaeton, with curls burning on his head, flew through the air like a shooting star and fell into the waves of the Eridanus River, far from his homeland. There the Hesperian nymphs lifted his body and laid it on the ground. In deep sorrow, Phaeton's father Helios covered his face and did not appear in the blue sky for the whole day. Only the fire of the fire illuminated the earth. For a long time, the unfortunate mother of Phaeton Klymene searched for the body of her dead son. Finally, she found on the banks of Eridanus not her son’s body, but his tomb. The inconsolable mother wept bitterly over her son’s tomb, and with her they mourned her dead brother and daughter Klymena Heliades. Their grief was limitless. The great gods turned the weeping heliades into poplars. Poplars - heliads - stand, bending over Eridanus, and their tears - resin - fall into the icy water. The resin hardens and turns into transparent amber... His friend Cycnus also mourned the death of Phaeton. His sad cries carried far along the shores of Eridanus. Seeing the inconsolable grief of Cycnus, the gods turned him into a snow-white swan. Since then, the swan Cykn has lived in the water, in rivers and wide, light lakes. He is afraid of the fire that killed his friend Phaeton.

The Legend of Jurata

This was a long time ago, back when the most important god among the gods was the god Perkunas (Perun), and the goddess Jurate lived at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in an amber castle. In a small village on the seashore there lived a handsome and strong fisherman, Kastitis. When he went out to sea to fish, he sang his songs very beautifully. And I listened to these songs of Jurate. Kastitis cast his nets right over the roof of the Jurate castle, the goddess warned him, but he heeded her warnings. For his courage, beauty and songs, she fell in love with a simple mortal fisherman and took him to her underwater amber castle. But their happiness was short-lived - Perkūnas learned that the immortal Jurate had broken the law of the sea by falling in love with an earthly man. He struck the castle with his lightning, destroyed it, and ordered Jurate to be forever chained to its ruins. He ordered the waves to rock Kastitis to death. Since then, Jurata has been forever crying for Kastitis, and her tears in the form of small pieces of amber, pure and bright, like the love of a goddess for a fisherman, are thrown ashore by the sea, sighing heavily. And large pieces of amber are the fragments of the Jurate amber castle destroyed by Perkūnas.