Did people in medieval times or in antiquity ascribe different values to different gems?

by HuffsGoldStars

Were semiprecious gems as valuable as precious gems?

Did they confuse some gems with others (eg. Garnet with ruby)?

XenophonTheAthenian

Just to clarify, are you asking whether in antiquity different precious stones had different monetary values or different symbolic (or superstitious, if you prefer) values? In either case the answer is emphatically yes, but they're two very different questions with totally unrelated answers, I don't want anyone to goof