(Hellenistic κοράλ(λ)ιον (korállion), κουράλ(λ)ιον (kourállion), Latin curalium, corallium).
A. General comments
The fact that coral does not consist of plants but of the calcareous skeletons of minuscule anthozoan coelenterates has only been known since the 19th cent. Theophrastus (De lapidibus 38), Pliny (HN 32,21-24, cf. Isid. Orig. 16,8,1), and Dioscorides (5,121 Wellmann = 5,138 Berendes) praise especially red coral, which was found near Na…