This stone was supposedly pulled from the eye of a Hyena. It could cure ‘quartan malaria’ (a mild form) and gout. When placed under the tongue, the stone could bring about visions and foretell the future for the user.
According to Roman Naturalist Pliny the Elder, many hunters went out to kill hyenas just to get this prized stone.
What Was the Hyena Stone?
The Hyena Stone, sometimes called hyaenia, was supposedly a small stone that came from a hyena’s eye, forehead, or belly. Ancient tales and legends claimed it had the power of divination.
An early mention of it comes from Pliny the Elder in his Natural History. There, he said it comes from a hyena’s eye, and when placed under a tongue, it supposedly gave that person the ability to predict the future. Pliny was generally skeptical of magickal claims, so he wrote about it with some distance.
In certain later descriptions, writers claimed that this legendary stone could even cure mild malaria and gout. Others, would say it could help lighten and cure a fever.
While many of this comes from later writers, some of it also appears in Pliny’s account in some way. For instance, he recorded many folk claims of healing that supposedly derived from the hyena. He said that folk healers would use their teeth for headaches and “quartan fevers relieved by three tastes of the liver before the attacks, gout by the ash of the spine.”
This might explain why others attributed these cures to the hyena stone.
Was the Hyena Stone a Real Gemstone?
There is no evidence that the Hyena Stone was a real gemstone itself. The history seems to follow a tradition of many Hyena-related health claims.
Strangely, it is typically birds associated with exotic or fantastical minerals, which are typically believed to be gastroliths.
Hyena’s don’t have gastroliths.
There is much speculation about what the imagined mineral was, with suggestions ranging quite a bit. It could have been chatoyancy, or it could have been quartz. It’s possible that there was never a distinct mineral in mind at all.