According to Greek mythology, pearls are the tears of joy shed by the goddess of love, Aphrodite. She was famously born from sea foam, so it certainly makes sense that she would be associated with the lustrous sea-born jewel.
As romantic as the notion of collecting Aphrodite’s pearlescent happy tears may be, the precious jewel is actually created in a far different manner. Pearls come from oysters and mussels, forming when an irritant is introduced to the mollusc. When this irritant enters a mollusc shell, the organism begins to release layers of aragonite and conchiolin (the same materials found in the outer shell itself) which eventually form a pearl.
