Nero’s Emerald

• The Emperor Nero (54-68 CE) watched the Gladiator Games by looking through a cut Emerald, according to Pliny the Elder in his work Natural History.

Emerald Mines of Egypt

• Emeralds were mined in Egypt from the Eastern desert: Wadi Gimal, Wadi Nuqrus, Wadi Sikait, Gebel Zubara and the Sikait-Zubara Region.
• These were the only source of Emeralds, known as Smaragdus, in the Roman Empire.

Sikait Zubara Region