Chalcedon
Chalcedon ( or ;
, sometimes transliterated as "Chalkedon") was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy. The name "Chalcedon" is a variant of Calchedon, found on all the coins of the town as well as in manuscripts of Herodotus's "Histories", Xenophon's "Hellenica", Arrian's "Anabasis", and other works. Except for a tower, almost no above-ground vestiges of the ancient city survive in Kadıköy today; artifacts uncovered at Altıyol and other excavation sites are on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
Gemstones in the Bible
Chalcedony, Apoc., xxi, 19, "chalkedon"; Vulg. "chalcedonius", the third foundation stone of the celestial Jerusalem. The view that the writing "chalkedon" is an error and that it should be "charkedon" (the carbuncle) is not without some reason. However, the other eleven stones correspond to a stone in the rational and this is the only exception. The ancients very often confounded the names of these two stones. Chalcedony is a siliceous stone. Its name is supposed to derive from Chalcedon, in Bithynia, where the ancients obtained the stone from. It is a species of agate and bears various names according to its colour. Chalcedony is usually made up of concentric circles of various colours and the most valuable of these stones are found in the East Indies. The gem is used for rings, seals and, in the East; drinking vessels.