Tiger’s Eye and the Roman Army

Roman soldiers were holding a piece of Tiger’s Eye as a good luck omen.

I was amused and surprised to read on several websites that the Romans, longer than 2,000 years ago considered Tiger’s Eye to bring good luck and took to wearing some Tiger’s Eye as amulets.

To the best of my knowledge, Tiger’s Eye occurs only on the Karoo Desert, on the western part of the Cape Province of South Africa.

Lately, some kind of similar occurrences have been detected in Australia, but the recovered stones show more than 85% iron formation heavily embedded between the asbestos fibers that create the Tiger’s Eye effect.

We know for sure that no Roman soldier ever reached Australia on the quest to locate Tiger’s Eye.

We also know that although Roman Armies walked the African continent, it was ONLY on the Northernmost part of  it, namely Egypt.

One must walk some 4-5,000 miles from the lower Egypt to the South African borders and then some more to reach the emptiness of the Karoo Desert.

I do not believe that any Roman soldiers ventured so far from the base.

But even if they did or some traders full of temerity walked so far South in search of the Tiger’s Eye, the name does not fit.

There are no tigers in Africa and there were no tigers nowhere else in the great Roman Empire.

Tigers resided at the time mainly in India and then North, towards Siberia.

And if the tiger was unknown to the Roman soldiers, why on the Earth would they go and name a non existent stone after a non existent animal?

Then, the hardness: Tiger’s eye has an 8.5 hardness on the Richter scale.

Only the Corundum and the Diamond would cut, shape and polish Tiger’s Eye.

Neither the Roman Army nor their Emperors were known to have many of above stones and definitely they did not have the knowledge to use them for industrial purposes or the making of jewelry.

And, if against all of above odds, Tiger’s Eye stones were supposed to bring luck, it is obvious that it did not work as such, because the whole mighty Roman Army and the mighty Roman Empire just disappeared…

Or, alternatively, could it be that they disappeared exactly because they did not have any Tiger’s Eye amulets to bring them good luck?

But if did not work for the Romans, it could well be working for you and me, today, in the 21st Century.

Buy a few stones, touch them for luck, look at the chatoyancy it produces and enjoy what you see.

And then after a while, measure your luck and report to us.

‘talk to ya soon’.