The ancient Egyptians described their native country as "the black land," recognizing it as a font of fertile abundance in contrast to the harsh, unyielding deserts surrounding them. This fertility applied to more than just agriculture. The inventiveness and creativity of ancient Egypt still exerts influence and inspires awe today. The ancient Egyptians were trailblazers in many fields, but particularly in the field of beauty.
Pioneers in the arts of adornment, including cosmetics and tattooing, they did not limit themselves to enhancement of only the body's natural charms. The ancient Egyptians were also brilliant innovators in the creation of jewelry.The ancient Egyptians loved ornamentation. Jewelry was designed, crafted and worn with great care thought and care. In their typical holistic fashion, fine jewelry was valued not only for beauty but also for the magical and spiritual protection it provided for its wearer. Did the concept of purely ornamental adornment exist for the ancients? Did they make that distinction between amulets and |
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jewelry? Many anthropologists believe not.Minerals and metals were identified with specific deities as well as with specific spiritual and therapeutic values. Thus their words for lapis lazuli and turquoise were synonymous with joy and delight, respectively. Copper and malachite were identified with Hathor, gold connected to the solar deity.
The Egyptians did not confine themselves to a limited selection of materials: a very wide variety of minerals were crafted into jewelry including amethyst, cornelian, jasper, onyx and quartz crystal. Today these stones are classified as semi-precious versus precious gems like diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. |
How or even whether the Egyptians classified these gems remains unknown: the distinction between precious and semi-precious, for us, has largely to do with scarcity and economic value. Connections between availability and economic value did also exist in ancient Egypt but we cannot assume that modern cultures and ancient Egypt share the same perceptions of what was precious. For instance, during many periods of Egyptian history, silver was valued more highly than gold, due to its relative scarcity.
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Just as in today's world, silver holds less economic value than gold, perhaps many of what are now considered semi-precious gems may have been perceived as quite rare and valuable in old Egypt. Many were obtained only with great effort and cost: lapis lazuli, which held great spiritual significance for the Egyptians was not obtained locally but imported largely from what is now Afghanistan. |
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Resources:
Source: Published in Tour Egypt,
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