Ebony

Fig. 169—Diospyros Ebenum

Ebony occurs only in one passage of Scripture, where the prophet Ezekiel (Eze 27:15), referring to the commerce of Tyre, says, ’The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.’

Ebony wood was highly esteemed by the ancients, and employed by them for a variety of purposes. It is very appropriately placed in juxtaposition with ivory, because both were obtained from the same countries—Ethiopia and India: and, among the comparatively few articles of ancient commerce, must, from this cause, always have been associated together, while their contrast of color and joint employment in inlaid work, would contribute as additional reasons for their being adduced as articles characteristic of a distinct commerce.

But it is not in Ezekiel only that ebony and ivory are mentioned together. For Diodorus, as quoted by Bochart, tells us that an ancient king of Egypt imposed on the Ethiopians the payment of a tribute of ebony, gold, and elephants’ teeth. So Herodotus (Herodotus iii. 97), as translated by Bochart, says, ’Æthiopes Persis pro triennali tributo vehunt duos chœnices auri apyri (id est, ignem nondum experti), et ducentas ebeni phalangas, et magnos elephanti dentes viginti.’ Pliny, referring to this passage, remarks, ’But Herodotus assigneth it rather to Ethiopia, and saith, that every three years the Ethiopians had used to pay, by way of tribute, unto the kings of Persia, 100 billets of the timber of that tree (that is Ebene), together with gold and yvorie;’ and, again, ’From Syene (which confineth and boundeth the lands of our empire and dominion) as farre as to the island Meroë, for the space of 990 miles, there is little ebene found: and that in all those parts betweene there be few other trees to be found but date-trees, which peradventure may be a cause that Ebene was counted a rich tribute, and deserved the third place, after gold and ivorie’ (Holland’s Pliny, xii. 4). This however is a mistake, for several of the ancients mention both Indian and Ethiopian ebony.

If we look to the modern history of ebony, we shall find that it is still derived from more than one source. Thus, Mr. Holtzappfel, in his recent work on Turning, describes three kinds of ebony. 1. One from the Mauritius, in round sticks like scaffold poles, seldom exceeding fourteen inches in diameter, the blackest and finest in the grain, the hardest and most beautiful. 2. The East Indian, which is grown in Ceylon and the Peninsula of India, and exported from Madras and Bombay in logs from six to twenty, and sometimes even twenty-eight inches in diameter, and also in planks. This is less wasteful, but of an inferior grain and color to the above. 3. The African, shipped from the Cape of Good Hope in billets, the general size of which is from three to six feet long, three to six inches broad, and two to four inches thick. This is the least wasteful, as all the refuse is left behind; but it is the most porous, and the worst in point of color. No Abyssinian ebony is at present imported: this, however, is more likely to be owing to the different routes which commerce has taken, but which is again returning to its ancient channels, than to the want of ebony in the ancient Ethiopia. From the nature of the climate, and the existence of forests in which the elephant abounds, there can be no doubt of its being well suited to the group of plants which have been found to yield the ebony of Mauritius, Ceylon, and India, namely, the genus Diospyros of botanists.

The wood of a tree of no great size, growing in India and Africa; it is black, hard, heavy, and fine-grained, and receives a beautiful polish. It was anciently highly prized, Eze 27:15, and is still much used for musical instruments and fancy articles.\par

Ebony. Eze 27:15. One of the valuable commodities imported into Tyre by the men of Dedan; a hard, heavy and durable wood, which admits of a fine polish or gloss. The most usual color is black, but it also occurs red or green. The black is the heart of a tree called Diospyros ebenum. It was imported from India or Ceylon by Phoenician traders.

A dark hard wood, Diospyros ebenum, growing in Ethiopia, India, and the Mauritius (Eze 27:15). The dark portion is in the heart of the trunk.

(הָבְנַי, hobni’, stony, q.d. stone-wood [comp. the Germ. Steinholz, "fossil- wood"], only in the plum. הָבְנַים, hobnim’ [text הָוֹבְנַיםfor הוֹבֶנַרם, hobenim’], Sept. [by some confusion or misinterpretation, see Rosenmuller, Schol. in loc.] τοῖς εἰσαγομένοις, Symma chus ἐβένους, Vulg. Edentes] hebeninos) occurs only in one passage of Scripture, where the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 10-17:15), referring to the commerce of Tyre, says, "The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for. a present horns of ivory and ebony." SEE DEDAN. The Hebrew word is translated "’ebony" in all the European versions; but, as Bochart states (Hieroz. 1:20, part 2), the Chaldee version, followed by B. Selomo and other Jews, as well as the Greek and Arabic versions, render it by pea-fowl (pavonses). Some of the Hebrew critics, however, as Kimchi, also acknowledge that Arabian ebony is meant. Of the correctness of this opinion there can now be no doubt. In the first place, we may allude to Dedan being considered one of the ports of Arabia on the Persian Gulf, or at least to the south of the Red Sea; and, secondly, as observed by Bochart, the terms hobnim and ebony are very similar, the latter word being variously written by ancient authors, as ἐβένη, ἔβενος, ἔβενον, ebenus and hebenus. The last form is used by Jerome in his Latin, and ἔβενος by Symmachus in his Greek version. The Arabs have abnus, which they apply to ebony, and by that name it is known in Northern India at the’ present day. Forskal mentions abnus as one of, the kinds of wood imported in his time from India into Arabia. Whether the Arabic name be a corruption of the Greek, or the Greek a modification, as is most likely, of some Eastern name, we require some other evidence besides the occurrence of the word in Arabic works on materia medica to determine, since in these Greek words are sometimes employed as the principal terms for substances with which they are not well acquainted. Bardust is, however, given by some as the Arabic name, abnus as the Persian. Naturalists have found the latter applied to ebony in north-west India, as did Forskil on the Red Sea. Ebony wood was highly esteemed by the ancients, and employed by them for a variety of purposes (Theophr. Hist. Pl. 4:5; Plin. H.N. 6:30, § 35; 12:4, § 8, 9; Strabo, 15:703; Pausan. 1:42, 5; 8:17, 2; Ovid, Met. 11:610; compare Barhebr. Chron. page 181). It is very appropriately placed in juxtaposition with ivory, on account of the beautiful contrast in color. Ivory and ebony are probably, however, also mentioned together because both were obtained from the same countries, Ethiopia and India; and, among the comparatively few articles of ancient commerce, must from this cause, always have been associated together, while their contrast of color and joint employment in inlaid work would contribute as additional reasons for their being adduced as articles characteristic of a distinct commerce. But it is not in Ezekiel only that ebony and ivory are mentioned together, for Diodorus, as quoted by Bochart, tells us that an ancient king of Egypt imposed on the Ethiopians the payment of a tribute of ebony, gold, and elephants’ teeth. So Herodotus (3, 97), as translated by Bochart, says, "Athiopes Persis pro triennali tributo vehunt duos choenices auri apyri (id est, ignem nondum experti), et ducentas ebeni phalangas, et magnos elephanti dentes viginti." Pliny, referring to this passage, remarks, “But Herodotus assigneth it rather to Ethiopia, and saith that every three years the Ethiopians were wont to pay, by way of tribute, unto the kings of Persia, 100 billets of the timber of that tree (that is, ebene), together with gold and ivorie;" and again, "From Syene (which confineth and boundeth the lands of our empire and dominion) as farre as to the island Meroe, for the space of 996 miles, there is little ebene found: and that in all those parts betweene there be few other trees to be found but date-trees; which peradventure may be a cause that ebene was counted a rich tribute, and deserved the third place, after gold and ivorie" (Holland’s Pliny, 12:4). It is sometimes stated that the ancients supposed ebony to come only from India. This arose probably from the passage of Virgil (Georg. 2:117): "Sola India nigrum fert ebenum." But the term "India" had often a very wide signification, and included even Ethiopia. Several of the ancients, however, mention both Indian and Ethiopian ebony, as Dioscorides and Pliny; while some mention the Indian, and others the Ethiopian only, as Lucan (Phars. 10:304): "Nigris Meroe fecunda colonis, laeta comis ebeni."

The only objection to the above conclusion of any weight is, that hobnim is in the plural form. To this Bochart and others have replied, that there were two kinds of ebony, as mentioned by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, etc., one Ethiopian, the other Indian. Fuller and others maintain that the plural form is employed because the ebony was in pieces: "Refert ad ebeni palangas, quoe ex India et Ethiopia magno numero afferebantur. Φάλαγγας vocant Herodotus et Arrianus in Periplo. Plinius palangas, aut phalangas, variante scripturae, id est, fustes teretes, et qui navibus supponuntur, ant quibus idem onus plures bajulant" (Bochart, 1. c.). But the names of other valued foreign woods, as Shittim and Almuggim, are also used in the plural form. Besides abnus, Arab authors, as stated by Bochart (l. c.), mention other words as similar to and substituted for ebony: one of these is called shiz, shizi; also sasem and semsem, in the plural form semasim, described as "nigrum lignum ad patinas conficiendas.’" Hence, in the Koran, those who are tormented in Gehenna, it is said, will issue from the fire after a certain period of confinement in it: “They will go forth, I say, like the wood semasin;" that is, black, from being burnt in the fire. That such a wood was known we have the testimony of Dioscorides: " Some sell sesamine or acanthine wood for ebony, as they are very similar." Some critics, and even Sprengel, in his late edition of Dioscorides, read συκάμινα instead of σησάμινα, for no other reason apparently but because συκάμινα denotes a tree with which European scholars are acquainted, while sesamina is only known to those who consult Oriental writers, or who are acquainted with the products of the East. Bochart rightly reprehends this alteration as being unnecessary, in view of the existence of the words sesamina, sasinz, or semsem among the modern Arabs, and cites a notice of Arrian to the same effect (Bochart, l.c.). ’The above word is by Dr. Vincent translated sesamum; but this is an herbaceous oil-plant.

If we look to the modern history of ebony, we shall find that it is still derived from more than one source. Thus Mr. Holtzappfel, in his recent work on Turning, describes three kinds of ebony.

1. One from the Mauritius, in round sticks like scaffold poles, seldom exceeding fourteen inches in diameter, the blackest and finest in the grain, the hardest and most beautiful.

2. The East Indian, which is grown in Ceylon and the Peninsula of India, and exported from Madras and Bombay in logs from six to twenty, and sometimes even twenty-eight inches in diameter, and also in planks. This is less wasteful, but of an inferior grain and color to the above.

3. The African, shipped from the Cape of Good Hope in billets, the general size of which is from three to six feet long, three to six inches broad, and two to four inches thick. This is the least wasteful, as all the refuse is left behind; but it is the most porous, and the worst in point of color. No Abyssinian ebony is at present imported: this, however, is more likely to be owing to the different routes which commerce has taken, although it is again returning to its ancient channels, than to the want of ebony in the ancient Ethiopia. From the nature of the climate, and the existence of forests ins which the elephant abounds, there can be no doubt of its being well suited to the group of plants which have been found to yield the ebony of Mauritius, Ceyoon, and India, the genus Diospyrus of botanists. Of this several species yield varieties of ebony as their heartwood, as D. ebenum in the Mauritius, and also in Ceylon, where it is called kaluwara. It is described by Retz "folis ovato-lanceolatis, acuminatis, gemmia hirtis;" and he quotes as identical D. glaberrima (Fr. Rottb. Nov. Act. Havn. 2:540, tab. 5). D. ebenaster yields the bastard ebony of Ceylon, and D. hirsuta the Calamander wood of the same island, described by Mr. Holtzappfel as of a chocolate-brown color, with black stripes and marks, and stated by him to be considered a variety of ebony. D. melanoxylon of Dr. Roxburgh is the ebony-tree of Coromandel, and is figured among Coromandel plants (1, No. 46); it grows to be a large tree in the mountainous parts of Ceylon, and in the Peninsula of India — in Malabar, Coromandel, and Orissa. The black part of the wood of this tree alone forms ebony, and is found only in the center of large trees, and varies in quantity according to the size and age of the tree. The outside wood is white and soft, and is soon destroyed by time and insects, leaving the black untouched (Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2:530). Besides these, there is in the Peninsula of India a wood called: blackwood by the English, and sit-sal by the natives: it grows to an immense size, is heavy, close-grained, of a greenish-black color, with lighter-colored veins running in various directions. It is yielded by the Dalberyia latifolia. To the same genus belongs the Sissu, one of the most valued woods of India, and of which the tree has been called Dalberyia sissu. Theo wood is remarkably strong, of a light grayish hue, with darker-colored veins. It is called sissu and shishum by the natives of India. This is the name which we believe is referred to by Arab authors, and which also appears to have been the original of the sesamina of Dioscorides and of the Periplus. The name may be applied to other nearly allied woods, and therefore, perhaps, to that of the above D. latafolia. It is a curious confirmation of this that Forskill mentions that in his time shishum, with teak and ebony, was among the woods imported from India and Arabia. It is satisfactory to have apparently suck, competent confirmation of the general accuracy of ancient authors, when we fully understand the subjects and the products of the countries to which they allude (Kitto, s.v.). According to Sir E. Tennent. (Ceylon, 1:116) the following trees yield ebony: Diospyros ebenum, D. reticulata, D. ebenaster, and D. hirsuta. The wood of the first-named tree, which is abundant throughout all the flat country to the west of Trincomali, "excels all others in the evenness and intensity of its color. The center of the trunk is the only portion which furnishes the extremely black part which is the ebony of commerce; but the trees are of such magnitude that reduced logs of two feet in diameter, and varying from ten to twelve feet in length, can readily be procured from the forests at Trincomali" (Ceylon, l.c.) It bears a berry that is eaten by the natives when ripe. The leaves are elliptical, having numerous veins. The corolla or colored part is shaped like an antique vase, and bears eight stamans (Kitto, Pict. Bible, in loc. Ezekiel). There is every reason for believing that the ebony afforded by the Diospyros ebenum was imported from India or Ceylon by Phoenician traders, though it is equally probable that the Tyrian merchants were supplied with ebony from trees which grew in Ethiopia (Smith, s.v.). SEE TYRE. (See Smith’s Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Ebenus; Penny Cyclop. s.v. Ebony; Geiger, Pharmaceut. Botanik, 1:697). SEE BOTANY.

The well-known hard black wood: it was imported with ivory into Tyre. Eze 27:15.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Immanuel Benzinger

This word is mentioned only once in the Old Testament, namely, Ezek. xxvii. 15, where it is stated that the Arabian merchant people, the Dedanites (see Dodanim), brought horns of ebony to Tyre. The genuine ebony is the wood of the Diospyros Ebenum and of several kindred species. It is now indigenous to eastern Asia and Ceylon, but is found in Zanzibar and Mozambique also. In ancient times ebony was brought from Ethiopia; and this variety, which was considered superior to that of India, was held to be very precious. The Phenicians, Egyptians (Thebes; see "Zeit. für Aegyptologie," 1886, xiii.), and Babylonians ("ushu"; see Schrader, "K. B." iii. 37) used it for fashioning images of their gods and all kinds of precious vessels for sacred and profane use. Cheyne thinks, with some degree of probability ("Encyc. Bibl."), that ebony is mentioned also in I Kings x. 22, where, corresponding to Ezek. xxvii. 15, he reads , "ivory and ebony," instead of .

EBONY (hobnîm, Eze 27:15) is the black heart-wood of the date-plum, Diospyros ebenum, imported from S. India and Ceylon. It was extensively imported by Phœnicians, Babylonians, and Egyptians for the manufacture of valuable vessels and of idols.

E. W. G. Masterman.

eb´o-ni (הבנים, hobhnı̄m (pl. only), vocalization uncertain; compare Arabic ābnūs): Mentioned (Eze 27:15) along with ivory as merchandise of Tyre brought by the men of Dedan. This is the heavy, black, heart-wood of various species of Diospyros, natives of Southern India and Ceylon; the best kind is obtained from D. ebenum. The sap-wood, being white and valueless, is cut away, but the trunks are sufficiently large to leave blocks of heart-wood 2 ft. in diameter and 10 or more ft. long. Ebony was used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, as well as the Phoenicians, for various purposes; it was frequently inlaid with ivory. In Europe it has been a favorite for cabinet-making down to recent times.

Ebony. A large tree which produces edible fruit similar to the persimmon. The hard, black wood from the inner portion of the tree is quite valuable and is used for fine furniture. It is also known to have been inlaid with ivory. Idols were sometimes carved from ebony wood.

A black wood that people valued highly in ancient times for making furniture. Ebony trees grow mostly in tropical climates in southern Asia. These trees have hard, dark-colored wood at their center.

Ebony comes from the date plum or date tree (Diospyros ebenaster and Diospyros melanoxylon) of India. This tree is very different from the date palm. Phoenician ships carried ebony across the Arabian Sea and up the Red Sea to the market in Tyre. From there, traders moved it overland using camel caravans.

The outer wood of these trees is white and soft. But when the tree gets old, the inner wood becomes hard, black, heavy, and long-lasting. This inner part makes up most of the valuable ebony sold today. Ebony can be polished to a smooth finish. People value it highly for making cabinets, for turning into shapes, for making fancy decorative items and instruments, and for covering other woods.

Ezekiel mentions ivory and ebony together (Ezekiel 27:15). Both in the past and today, craftspeople often set ivory into ebony because the colors create such a strong contrast with each other.

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