How Did The Meaning Of Amethyst Change Over The Years?

Crystals, their natural beauty forged by the Earth over thousands, if not millions of years, endure across generations, outliving many of the civilizations that treasure jewellery made from them.

This means that their meanings can become fluid and evolve over a long period of time, and nowhere is this more evident than in the unique cultural history of amethyst.

The birthstone for February is typically associated with a calm mind free of negative energy and the potential for healing, the name itself comes from Greek myth.

The Greek root word “amethystos” translates to “not drunken”, and was in Ancient Greece commonly seen as an antidote against the effects of drunkenness, something that has shifted into a more general healing and focused quality.

It was therefore initially associated with Bacchus, the god of wine-making, drunkenness and religious ecstasy. 

He was first connected to the stone through the epic poem Dionysiaca by the poet Nonnus, where the goddess Rhea provides him with a stone made of amethyst to protect his sanity.

There are several origin stories that have emerged, some within Greek historical texts and others inspired by Greek myth.

One of the most famous origin stories was that Bacchus pursued a nymph named Amethystos, who refused his advances and was turned into a white stone by the goddess Artemis. Humbled by this, Bacchus poured wine over the stone, which is the cause of its purple hue.

A variation of this story has Bacchus swear to use tigers to attack the next mortal being that crosses his path after being insulted. That turned out to be a young woman who was saved by Artemis again by being turned into a statue of pure crystal. Bacchus cried tears of wine which stained the statue purple.

Outside of Ancient Greece, soldiers during the Middle Ages would wear amulets made of amethyst based largely on the beliefs people have about the crystal today; the stone would help them keep a cool head and heal their wounds.

As well as this, the stone, due to its purple colour was seen as a symbol of the English royal family, in part because purple was one of the rarest and most expensive natural dyes for centuries.