by Rachael Stone

Created on: November 07, 2008

The Ancient Egyptians placed great importance upon the religious significance of certain objects that they considered to be sacred, and this was reflected in the jewellery that they made and wore. Some of the first jewellery making can be dated back some 5000 years to the time of the Predynastic period of Ancient Egypt 3100 BC.

Jewellery among other belongings symbolised the glory, power and religious dominance of the Pharoes and the projection of wealth was not only important in their earthly lives but was especially important for their afterlife. Both Egyptian men and women wore jewellery and not only was it a symbol of their wealth and status but also for adornment purposes and for protection from evil. When an Egyptian died, all their earthly possessions were buried along with them to take to their afterlife, much of this treasure has long since been plundered by tomb robbers and some of these stolen goods would have even been recycled by successive Kings for use in their own afterlife.

Gold was the metal of choice for jewellery and this was used extensively throughout the history of Ancient Egypt, although through many periods of Egyptian history, silver was valued more highly due to the scarcity of it. The Egyptians preferred to use glass to get their colours for their jewellery even though they had access to precious gemstones this was because they found that glass was easier to work with than some gemstones. It could also be possible that glass was used in place of precious gemstones to discourage the theft of jewellery after death so giving the deceased some peace in their final resting place. The colour of jewellery was very important to the Ancient Egyptians with each colour having a different symbolic meaning, green was said to symbolise fertility and the success of new crops while red was said to be placed upon a deceased person to satisfy the God Isis's need for blood.

Also very important was the motif of the jewellery and one of the most important symbols was the Scarab Beetle. A Scarab Beetle was said to be symbolic of rebirth due to the way that the beetle would roll dung into a ball shape and use it as a brooding chamber for their newborn to hatch out of. Another important piece of Egyptian Jewellery is known as a Cartouch, this was only worn by Kings and Pharoahs, they were perceived as living Gods and their Cartouches were seen as an official sign of this. Their name was engraved in the magical oval on the Cartouche to protect them from evil both in life and death. Cartouches can still be purchased today and be engraved with names on them they are seen as a symbol of long life, good fortune and protection from evil.

Learn more about this author, Rachael Stone.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.