The Peridot
Laid Bare

What Is the August Birthstone?

The August birthstone is peridot, a gem-quality variety of the mineral olivine. It is one of only two gemstones formed not in the Earth's crust but in its mantle, deep below the surface. The other? Diamond. Volcanic eruptions and tectonic collisions push peridot to the surface, making it, quite literally, a gem born of fire.

But here's where peridot's story gets strange. It doesn't just come from inside the Earth. Gem-quality peridot has been found in pallasite meteorites, stony-iron remnants of our solar system's formation roughly 4.5 billion years ago. NASA's Stardust probe brought back comet dust containing olivine in 2005. The mineral has been detected on the Moon. And in 2003, the Mars Global Surveyor confirmed olivine crystals covering approximately 19,000 square miles of the Martian surface. Peridot is, without exaggeration, an extraterrestrial gemstone.

The name likely comes from the Arabic word faridat, meaning simply "gem." It ranks 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs hardness scale, which makes it wearable but not quite as tough as sapphire or ruby. August actually has three birthstones: peridot (modern, since 1912), sardonyx (traditional), and spinel (added in 2016). But peridot has owned the month for over a century.

August Birthstone Meaning & Symbolism

The Gem of the Sun

Ancient Egyptians called peridot the "gem of the sun" and believed it could protect its wearer from nightmares and evil spirits, especially when set in gold. Egyptian priests drank wine from peridot-studded goblets, convinced the stone's connection to sunlight amplified their communion with nature. The Romans nicknamed it the "evening emerald" because its green glow held steady under lamplight, unlike true emerald, which can appear darker at night.

In Hawaiian mythology, peridot represents the tears of Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes. That connection isn't purely symbolic. When Kilauea erupted in 2018, residents found tiny green olivine crystals scattered across the landscape. Not gem quality, but a visceral reminder that this stone really does come from volcanic fire.

Renewal, Prosperity, and Letting Go

The old Greek word peridona means "to give enough," and the stone has been tied to prosperity and abundance for centuries. Medieval Europeans wore peridot to gain foresight and divine inspiration. In more recent traditions, peridot is associated with letting go of old patterns, emotional healing, and the courage to start over. That makes it a quietly powerful birthday stone for anyone born in the month when summer begins its slow turn toward fall.

The 16th Wedding Anniversary Stone

Peridot is the traditional gemstone for the 16th wedding anniversary. It also makes a warm, affordable, and genuinely distinctive birthday gift for anyone born in August.

The History of the August Birthstone

Peridot mining began on Zabargad Island, a tiny volcanic island in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, as early as 1500 BCE. The Egyptians guarded the island fiercely; ancient sources record that trespassers were killed on sight. For centuries, Zabargad was the world's only known source. A large proportion of museum-quality peridots still trace back there, including the 311-carat specimen in the Smithsonian, the largest faceted peridot in the world.

And then there's the emerald problem. Many historians now believe that Cleopatra's famous emerald collection was actually peridot. The two stones are easy to confuse, especially in ancient light, and Zabargad's peridot output far exceeded any Egyptian emerald production. The same mistake happened again in medieval Europe: the green stones adorning the Shrine of the Three Holy Kings in Cologne Cathedral were identified for centuries as emeralds. Gemologists later confirmed they were peridot.

The Fukang meteorite, discovered near Fukang, China in 2000, weighed 2,200 pounds and contained translucent peridot crystals up to 11 centimeters across, suspended in a honeycomb of nickel-iron. Only 61 pallasite meteorites have ever been found on Earth. These stones are 4.5 billion years old, formed when our solar system was condensing from dust and gas. That means some peridot is older than the Earth itself.

August Birthstone Color

Peridot is one of the few gemstones that occurs in only one color: green. But "green" undersells the range. Depending on iron content, peridot shifts from bright lime through yellow-green to deep olive. The most prized shade is a pure, saturated green with no yellow or brown. That color comes from higher concentrations of ferrous iron (FeO) in the olivine crystal structure.

Unlike emerald, whose green comes from chromium impurities, peridot's color is intrinsic to its chemical makeup. The green isn't a guest in the crystal; it's the crystal. And because peridot has no inherent color-shifting between light sources, it earned its Roman nickname: it keeps glowing the same vivid green under candlelight, lamplight, or daylight. One color, all the time, no apologies.

Higher-quality peridot shows strong transparency, bright saturation, and minimal brown or yellow modifiers. The finest material comes from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, where crystals form in larger sizes and deeper greens than most other sources. Peridot from Arizona tends toward lighter, more yellow-green tones but remains the most commercially abundant.