Greek Origin Story and Meaning of Opal Mythology
In Greek mythology, Zeus's siblings begged him to rule them and start a battle with the other Titans and their ruthless father Cronus. Zeus went to Tartarus to help the battle effort and released three Cyclopes and three Hundred-Hand Giants from their imprisonment. They chose to create the thunderbolt as a special weapon for Zeus as a token of their appreciation. The Titans were then engaged in combat by Zeus and his new friends.
In Greek mythology, Zeus's siblings begged him to rule them and start a battle with the other Titans and their ruthless father Cronus. Zeus went to Tartarus to help the battle effort and released three Cyclopes and three Hundred-Hand Giants from their imprisonment. They chose to create the thunderbolt as a special weapon for Zeus as a token of their appreciation. The Titans were then engaged in combat by Zeus and his new friends.
Cronus was briefly distracted by the fog of war. Zeus took advantage of the chance to kill his father with a thunderbolt, making it possible for him to be captured. Zeus is fabled to have cried tears of victory that, when they touched the ground, changed into stunning opals.
The ancient Arabs, who thought that opals fell from the sky during storms, also maintained the belief that opal retained the ferocious luminosity of lightning and thunder. The Roman academic Pliny once observed that "certain opali convey such a play within them that they rival the deepest and richest colors of painters. Others "simulate the dazzling blaze of burning oil and even the scorching fire of burning sulphur."
Through the past, Opals have been the target of some horrific defamation campaigns. Opal became connected with all the disease and affliction in Medieval Europe, when the Black Death and superstition were rampant. Opal was then sought after by thieves who thought it could grant them a form of invisibility, allowing them to carry out their trade away from watching eyes.
The powerful diamond miners in the De Beer mining family, who dreaded the prospect of opal displacing diamonds, undoubtedly contributed to the curse of the opal. They witnessed a resurgence in its favor, with even Queen Victoria wearing and giving opal! They were so successful in spreading the myth that wearing an opal brings bad luck that it is still possible to believe this if you were not born in the month of October.
The English word "opal" comes from the Latin word "opalus," which means "precious stone." Despite its historic background and negative reputation, the jewel is still loved and worn by many people today, especially European royal families.
Beatrix, a former Dutch queen, owns both a private and a regal collection of jewelry created from orange-colored fire opals. For the Netherlands, ideal! The national gemstone of Australia is the opal, and as the monarch of Australia, Queen Elizabeth also owns an exquisite collection of opal jewelry.
We use Australian, Peruvian, and Mexican Fire Opals to make unique jewelry. We make sure that all of our gemstones are responsibly obtained, albeit we can't guarantee they came from Zeus' tears.