King Tut is everywhere around us these days, here’s our Egyptian itinerary:

• How Did King Tut Die?
• King Tut’s Treasures: The Canopic Shrine
• Chabot Space & Science Center: Shows: Mysteries of Egypt

Great for younger kids too!

• IMAX > MUMMIES: SECRETS OF THE PHARAOHS

Bit too scary for younger ones…


• From Barcelona to San Francisco: The King is dead. Long live the King!
• Happy Mummy’s Day From San Jose

M O R E   Egyptian exhibitions in San Francisco and the Bay Area:

• Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose
• Tutankhamun and the golden age of the Pharaohs in San Francisco
• Very Postmortem: Mummies and Medicine in San Francisco
• The Lost Cities of North Africa in San Francisco
• Cantor Museum in Stanford
• Virtual Egyptian Museum

November 21, 2009: Barry Cauchon

I want to tell folks in the Toronto, Southern Ontario and Western Tier of Upper State New York that the King Tut exhibit has opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. It will run from now until April 18, 2010 and is called Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs. This is the 2nd of two exhibits currently on tour in North America. The other one is currently on display in San Francisco.

The exhibit features over 130 artifacts from ancient Egyptian history of which fifty come from the tomb of King Tut. The exhibit is excellent in content but heavy in written presentation. Attendees could be overwhelmed by the amount of information presented to them in the dimly lit and potentially crowded conditions of the exhibit. That is why I started giving live presentations to schools and groups. The presentation is called The King Tutorial and it is a primer for anyone planning to attend the show.

To learn more about this program, please visit my website at www.thekingtutorial.com.

I would love to come and present to your school or group and help you get the most out of your visit to the King Tut exhibit.

Best

Barry

outreach@awesometalks.com

1429  Joan of Arc liberated Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.

1677  The future Mary II of England married William, Prince of Orange. They would later jointly reign as William and Mary.

1783  Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 receives its première performance in Linz, Austria.

1825  Erie Canal was completed with Governor DeWitt Clinton performing the Wedding of The Waters ceremony in New York Harbour.

1839  Newport Rising took place, the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.

1861 The University of Washington opened in Seattle, Washington as the Territorial University.

1890 London’s first deep-level tube railway opened between King William Street and Stockwell.

1916 – Ruth Handler, American businesswoman and inventor of the Barbie doll, was born.

1922  British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men found the entrance to King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

1924  Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming was elected as the first female governor in the United States.

1930 Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup.

1937  Loretta Swit, American actress, was born.

1939  Shakuntala Devi, Indian calculating prodigy, was born.

1950 Charles Frazier, American author, was born.

1955 Vienna State Opera reopened with a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio.

1966 Two-thirds of Florence was submerged as the Arno river flooded; this and the contemporaneous flood of the Po River in northern Italy, this led to 113 deaths, 30,000 made homeless, and the destruction of numerous Renaissance artworks and books.

19551995  Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.

2008  Barack Obama became the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

A recent addition to the Museum’s Web site is DMA TV, www.DallasMuseumofArt.tv.  This site stores a variety of multimedia content, like podcasts and videos, that relate to works of art in the Museum’s collection and special exhibitions, as well as public programs and community projects.   I am continually surprised by the treasure trove of information that is available and found a few gemstones that I think you might like as well.  

Interviews

• Kevin Tucker, The Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, talks about the Louis Comfort Tiffany Windows
• Dr. Anne Bromberg, The Cecil and Ida Green Curator of Ancient and Asian Art, talks about the Coffin of Horankh
• Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, was a special guest during the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition

Videos

• Clip from the Hans Namuth film of Jackson Pollock creating his Action Paintings
• Performance by David “Fathead” Newman during Jazz Under the Stars

Podcasts

• Free Podcasts of  Arts & Letters Live programs can be downloaded using iTunes

Just recently, more interviews with artists, dancers, musicians, actors, and scholars have been added to DMA TV in relationship to the new exhibition All the World’s a Stage:  Celebrating Performance in the Visual Arts.  This site is growing by leaps and bounds!

Happy watching and listening!

Until next time…

Jenny Marvel

Manager of Learning Partnerships with Schools

La Reine Soleil(Regina Soarelui) 2007

Akhesa, fermecătoarea prinţesă în vârstă de doar 14 ani, nici nu se gândeşte că la un moment dat va domni peste întregul Egipt antic. Impetuoasa adolescentă se răzvrăteşte împotriva tatălui său, faraonul Akhenaton, refuzând să trăiască închisă în palatul regal. Akhesa fuge, ajutată de prinţul Thut, în căutarea mamei ei, celebra Nefertiti. Cei doi copii vor înfrunta o mulţime de pericole înainte de a-şi împlini destinul exemplar.cartoon

The BBC has a podcast on Akhenaten that you can listen to. For those of you who are unfamiliar with ancient Egypt, Akhenaten was the infamous pharaoh who abolished the old polytheistic religion, established the worship of one god (the sun disc Aten), and built the new capital of Amarna literally in the middle of nowhere. To the average Joe on the street, Akhenaten is probably better known as the husband of Nefertiti and the (probable) father of King Tut.

The Amarna Period has always been the era of ancient Egyptian history that has fascinated me the most. Ancient Egypt in general and the Amarna Period in particular feature prominently in my fiction, whether the setting is a modern dig or the ancient time itself. I was originally an Egyptology major at the American University in Cairo, although I wimped out after just one semester, unable to handle the stress of living alone in such and extremely foreign country right out of high school. But AUC is finally starting up a grad program in Egyptology, so I will be going back in two years after completing my undergrad degree, if all goes well.

Tutankhamun, faraon egiptean al dinastiei a XVIII-a (a domnit între anii 1333 BC-1324 BC)în timpul perioadei cunoscute în istoria Egiptului ca Noul Regat.

Numele său Tutankhaten,semnifică „Imaginea vie a lui Aten”,în timp ce Tutankhamun semnifică” Imaginea vie a lui Amun”.

Tutankhamun primind flori de la soţia sa Ankhesenamen

AFP – Wednesday, August 19

LUXOR, Egypt (AFP) – - The ornate pharaonic tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings are doomed to disappear within 150 to 500 years if they remain open to tourists, the head of antiquities has warned.

Zahi Hawass said humidity and fungus are eating into the walls of the royal tombs in the huge necropolis on the west bank of the Nile across from Luxor, which is swamped daily by several thousand tourists.

Poor ventilation and the breath of the hordes of visitors are causing damage to the carvings and painted decorations inside the tombs, he told journalists on a tour of the royal necropolis on Monday.

“The tombs (in the Valley of the Kings and nearby Valley of the Queens) which are open to visitors are facing severe damage to both colours and the engravings,” Hawass said.

“The levels of humidity and fungus are increasing because of the breath of visitors and this means that the tombs could disappear between 150 and 500 years.”

The Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, where pharaonic royalty was mummified, is home to the tombs of legendary pharaohs such as the boy king Tutenkhamun and Queen Nefertiti.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities have taken a series of measures to protect the tombs, including setting up new ventilation systems, restricting the number of visitors and closing some tombs.

Hawass said the authorities have also decided “to close some tombs definitively to tourists and replace them by identical replicas,” including those of Tutenkhamun, Nefertiti and Seti I.

“A team of experts is currently using laser technology to examine these tombs in order to build the replicas… which would then open to visitors in a place near the Valley of the Kings,” Hawass said.

Link to full article

The idea of building exact replicas of the most visited tombs has long been suggested, though this is perhaps one of the most concrete statements I have come across so far that the SCA is seriously looking into giving this idea the go ahead.

While in Barcelona we’ve learned about “Tutankhamun: the Tomb and its Treasures” exhibit at Museu Marítim. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to see it, so we were happy to find King Tut in San Francisco!

After reading visit reviews with or without kids, we’ll probably explore more online and in the library while crowds are dwindling, so here’s our Egyptian itinerary before the museum visit attempt:

• National Geographic Kids
• Meet My Egyptian Friends … King Tut, Horus & Ramses II
• Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation
• Tutankhamun – Interactive Egypt
• Zahi Hawass Talks to San Francisco’s KGO-TV About Tutankhamun
• King Tut: The Story of King Tut
• National Geographic
• Unraveling the Mysteries of King Tutankhamun
• Learn More
• Museu Marítim in Barcelona: “Tutankhamun: the Tomb and its Treasures
• Tutankhamun: the Tomb
• Tutankhamun: the Treasures
• The 18th Dynasty
• Pictures of the Exhibition
• Factum Arte’s work in the Tomb of Tutankhamun
• The Project
• Recording the tomb of Tutankhamun Video
• The Tut Collection at the Virtual Egyptian Antiquity Museum
• Tutankhamun collection at the Egyptian Antiquities Museum – Cairo
• BBC – Ancient History – Egyptians
• Treasures of Tutankhamun Gallery
• King Tut ‘died from broken leg’
• Eternal Egypt
• IMAX Mummies
• Little Horus: King Tut ankh Amen
• PLAY like an Egyptian
• King Tut Virtual

As for de Young tickets, here is a link with discounts.
Adding Lucky’s discount (code: TUTLUCKY), Peet’s (TUTPEETS), 20% off adult tickets from NATGEO

Is it just because we don’t have a Trader Joe’s in Bloomington that I need to find one whenever I travel?

I don’t even need to buy much when I do find one, it’s just the thrill of saying “I shopped at Trader Joe’s” and coming home with those reusable bags filled to the brim with stuff that you can’t find in Bloomington! Or, maybe you can find it but it’s more expensive.

So, as I sit here feasting on my Trader Ming’s Jasmine Rice with Green Curry and Vegetables, I cast my mind’s eye into my kitchen, where I see a bottle of Orangina, an empty package of chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels, a package of Israeli couscous (can’t find it anywhere here in Central IL!), plantain chips, lite popcorn, multigrain crackers, more in the Trader Ming’s Tasty Thai Meal range, and some Joe-Joe’s (same as Oreos) – I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of! These Trader Ming’s boxes are just delicious, inexpensive, and the perfect size for lunch (or a 10pm snack!)

The Children’s Museum in Indianapolis was wonderful … this was our second visit, and – unlike last time – it was PACKED! I remember on our previous visit we just walked up to the ticket office and bought tickets. This time, we lined up for a LONG, long time! We bought tickets for the King Tut exhibition – and it was well worth the money ($25/adult) and thought that we would eat before we went into the exhibition.

We lined up in the food court after picking out our food, and learned that the cash registers weren’t accepting credit or debit cards, so the staff were manually running the cards. We stood in line for about 20 minutes, and by the time we got to the register, the cashier had had enough and just waved us through!

We had bought food that was “portable” so we didn’t need to sit and eat it, we ate while we were lining up for the King Tut exhibit. I really didn’t expect the girls to be as interested as they were once we were in the exhibit. The crowd was thick, adults didn’t really have much respect for children trying to read the exhibit notes, and it was a big exhibit! We were warned that it would take about an hour to get through, and I think it was incredibly wise of the museum to put the exhibit notes at the top of the display structures as well as at the base!

The exhibit was truly mind blowing. We were actually looking at real artifacts from 4,000 years ago and older! The real thing. Stone that had been carved with tools by an ancient race who had a wonderful eye for detail. A race of people who really knew what they were doing when they formed gold into the most beautiful jewelry. A race with such a respect for their royalty that they buried all their earthly treasures along with the mummified bodies.

….. and then along came modern man and dug it all up.

I’m really not sure how I feel about that. I mean, in one way it is the ultimate sacrilege, and on the other hand we wouldn’t be able to appreciate it if they didn’t.

So, I’m sure I’ll post more on this, but right now I need to go take a shower and head to bed. I have a meeting to go to in the morning.

Oh, and do we love the chicken catcher from Kentucky on “America’s Got Talent”

Falcon Collar found in Tutankhamun's tomb. Photo: Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig

Howard Carter, describing his first look inside King Tutankhamun’s tomb, wrote, “…as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold – everywhere the glint of gold.”  The mellow glow of gold has seduced mankind for thousand of years, a mark of wealth and nobility, and often associated with the gods.  It was no less valued by the ancient Egyptians, although its use was relatively limited.  While Carter’s discovery of the royal tomb of Tutankhamun revealed hundreds of well-preserved artifacts such as elegantly decorated wooden boats and chairs, alabaster canopic jars, and intricately painted vessels, it was the abundance of gold that captivated the world’s attention.

Inlaid Diadem with Vulture and Cobra Uraeus. Photo: Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig

Golden pectorals inlaid with precious stones, gilded wooden chests, and, ofcourse, the gold mask of the boy king himself; all of these and more populated the tomb.  However, gold in ancient Egypt was not widely mined and was not used as a form of currency; its use was almost exclusively limited to royalty and their funerary artifacts.  Mined primarily in the eastern desert and in Nubia to the south, relatively little gold was produced (or pilfered) by the Egyptians, at least as compared, for example, to the Romans who followed.  Yet it was a sacred metal, thought to represent the sun, the giver of life.  It was also believed that the skin of the gods themselves was gold.

Gold is still a highly treasured metal, widely mined and more stable in value than most currencies.  Many cultures still prefer to hold their wealth in objects of gold rather than in stocks, bonds, or real estate.  Yet it has also become more widely available and, as a result of plating technology, more affordable.  Thus, those of you who prefer the warmth of gold to the cool shine of silver can affordably incorporate it into your beaded jewelry, capturing a small piece of the sun for yourselves.

A collection of gold vermeil findings

Customers, however, are often confused about the different types of gold beads and findings on the market.  For most of us, solid gold is too expensive (and often too soft) to use in jewelry making, but some perfectly beautiful (and affordable) alternatives now exist: gold-plated, gold-filled, and gold vermeil. Here is a quick rundown of these different types, and what they mean:

Solid Gold: Most people are familiar with the designation of karats, with 24 karat being pure gold, which is bright yellow, and rather soft.  14 karat is most typically used for jewelry due to its strength, and is a warmer yellow. The higher the karat number, the less other metal is mixed in.  However, the purer the gold, the softer, brighter, and more expensive it is.

Gold-plated: In gold-plated objects, a thin layer of gold is deposited on the surface of another metal, usually copper and/or nickel.  Typically, the gold plating is a high karat, such as 22k, but there is no regulation on how thick the layer of plating must be.  Therefore, people with sensitive skin will likely have an adverse reaction to these plated materials. In addition, while gold-plated pieces offer the bright glint of pure gold, they also run the risk of tarnishing, rubbing off, or chipping over time.

Gold-filled: Gold-filled objects are also composed of a base metal (often brass) covered in a layer of gold.  However, while the gold layer on gold-plated pieces can vary greatly, a gold-filled piece must, by definition, contain 1/20 of its weight in gold.  The layer of gold is also significantly thicker on something that is gold-filled, meaning that with normal use, it is not likely to tarnish or wear through.  On the other hand, gold-filled components usually use 10-14kt gold, which is less bright in color.  Typically, people with sensitive skin can wear gold-filled components safely without a reaction.

Gold Vermeil:  Gold vermeil is a type of plating, but unlike regular gold-plating, must meet specific requirements.  Instead of base metal, the gold must be layered over sterling silver.  In addition, the gold must be at least 2.5 microns thick, and at least 10 karats, though typically 22 karat gold is used.  However, because sterling silver tarnishes (even under the gold-plate), gold vermeil items will typically darken over time from a bright yellow to an antique patina.  But because the gold is layered over sterling silver, those with nickel or other metal allergies need not worry about reactions to gold vermeil pieces.

Peachy Rose Necklace project idea

So, pulling off the glamour of gold is no longer limited to royalty like it was for the ancient Egyptians—practically anyone can afford it given the options outlined above!  Bead Inspirations carries a wide variety of gold-plated, gold-filled, and gold vermeil components at the Alameda store, so we hope you’ll be able to find the perfect pieces to capture the soft glow of gold.  Make jewelry to rival that of Nefertiti herself!

Lord Carnarvon

Check out this article from MSNBC on a new exhibition at Highclere Castle, located near Newbury, England, and ancestral home of the Carnarvon family, the most famous of whom, George Herbert, the 5th Earl, funded the expedition which led to the discovery of the tomb of Egypt’s young King Tutankhamun (or Tutankhamen, or simply “King Tut”), one of the greatest finds in the history of archaeology.

Perhaps the most familiar story about Lord Carnarvon is the allegation he was the victim of some sort of ”mummy’s curse,” owing to the fact that he died of blood poisoning amidst portentous circumstances just a few months after the tomb was discovered.  As the MSNBC story relates, “His death was marked by all lights going out in Cairo and his dog, Susie, dying at Highclere at the exact time of her master’s death in Cairo.”

You can read more about the Egyptian Exhibition on the Highclere Castle website.

And, if you’d like to learn more about King Tutankhamun, please consider some of these Greensboro Public Library titles:  Pharaoh’s Flowers:  The Botanical Treasures of Tutankhamun by F. Nigel Hepper; Tutankhamun:  The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs by Zahi Hawass; King Tutankhamun:  The Mystery Unsealed (DVD); The Mysterious Death of Tutankhamunby Paul Doherty; In Search of Tutankhamun:  The Discovery of a King’s Tombby Giovanni Caselli (juvenile); The Complete Tutankhamun:  The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure by Nicholas Reeves; Imagining Egypt:  A Living Portrait of the Time of the Pharaohsby Mark Millmore; Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of the Boy-king by Christine El Mahdy; The Murder of Tutankhamen:  A True Story by Bob Brier; Tutankhamen, Life and Death of a Pharaoh by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt; Who Killed King Tut?:  Using Modern Forensics to Solve a 3,300-year-old Mystery by Michael R. King and Gregory M. Cooper with Don DeNevi; In the Valley of the Kings:  Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun’s Tombby Daniel Meyerson; Tutankhamen’s Tomb:  Uncover the Secrets And Treasures of Ancient Egypt by Jen Green (juvenile).

The Bead Inspirations staff has found some of their own inspiration in the King Tut exhibition- check out the latest project idea on our website!

Egyptian Elegance Necklace

Egyptian Scarab Necklace

I went to the de Young museum today to see the Tutankhamun exhibit.  I couldn’t take pictures inside, but here are a couple photos I shot on my way:

WIWT:

New Era (no vis)

American Apparel

Fifty24SF

Levis 511

Nike Air Max 90

“A Pale Green Mermaid Blog”

Good Evening, Egypt is one of the most bombastic sites for art, their dynasties reined for many centuries and during that time the production of art was tied up with religion daily life and the government.  It was a way of living that all parts of society engaged in  passionately, producing some of the most enduring and distinct images all with a common structure and pathos.

Below is a foto of the pyramids at Giza, no can really say, even to this day, how they were built but the beauty is unquenchably obvious,

The pyramids of Giza are among the most recognizable symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt.

Below is a typical wall painting- look at how the parts of the body are stylized (made to look similar)

The pharaoh was usually depicted wearing symbols of royalty and power.

 

And of course Tut, Tutankhamun to you! The find in 1922 of his tomb loaded with the riches meant for his journey in death caused a sensation across the globe called egyptomania. Mummies were sent back to  Europe for mummy parties where they unravelled the corpses  looking for the amulets that were wrapped in the endless folds of linen,

Images from Wikipedia

Tutankhamun coffinette

 Think of ways that you could incorporate art into your daily life as the egyptians did.

Have a fireworks filled weekend!

 

BJ Halliday Crawley written in heiroglyphs below,

In a Cartouche  (heiroglyphs) (Update: Cartouche image worked last night! Wiil try again but check out site below and get yours!)

Generated at Hieroglyphs.net.  Check out your own name at  www.hieroglyphs.net

Note: Cartouche - An oblong figure containing royal or divine names.

Stylized – using aartistic forms to create effects not natural.

Egyptomania – Refers to the post pharonic  fascination with ancient Egypt.  

www.egyptomania.org

Tutankhamun – Egyptian Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty 1333 BC- 1324 BC

 Amulets -Aan object that protects you from trouble.

 

November 26th 1922. When the broken lid of the golden sarcophagus of King Tut in his tomb was slowly lifted away from its base using an elaborate pulley system, there was an audible gasp from the crowd of dignitaries who had assembled for this very event. What they found, underneath two sheets of linen, was a splendid coffin covered with now famous golden mask. The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of Kings was discovered by Egyptologist Howard Carter on November 4th 1922.

The mummy itself was anatomically examined only three years later, on 11th November 1925. The autopsy by Douglas Derry, the Professor of Anatomy at the Egyptian University, was a total disaster. Although the mummy was intact, the unguents made it stuck to the bottom of the coffin and dried it to a stony hardness. They decided to cut the bandages and saw off the body, and thus released “King Tut’s curse”. The death of Carter Expedition leader Lord Carnarvon set the media on fire.Much to Carters displeasure, he began receiving letters from spiritualists from around the world. Faux legends claimed that by 1929, eleven of the people connected with the discovery of the tomb had died, including two of Carnarvon’s relatives, and Carter’s personal secretary, Richard Bethell. This would spawn a widespread interest in mummy movies and merchandise ever since. It was an amazing legacy–or call it afterlife if you may–for an unimportant puppet king who died under dubious circumstances.

Above, Howard Carter examines the triple coffin of Boy Pharaoh.

Kenneth Garrett, copyright 2008, National Geographic

Well, the King Tutankhamun exhibition is finally open at the De Young Museum—let me just say that that guy had jewelry to make even Elizabeth Taylor jealous. Most of you probably know that ancient Egyptian civilization had highly developed art, architecture, religion, and political systems, and that the artifacts uncovered by archaeologists and tomb robbers alike are of unparalleled beauty. The Tutankhamun exhibition gives viewers the opportunity to see the evidence of this for themselves. Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition is our gemstones, pearls, and natural beads trunk show, featuring many of the wonderful stones used by the ancient Egyptians to decorate the jewelry and funerary goods of their royalty.

While many tombs uncovered in the 19th and 20th centuries had already been robbed and emptied of their greatest treasures, in 1922 Howard Carter managed to discover one with the royal seals still intact: Tutankhamun’s. His first view of the contents was probably pretty disappointing: artifacts all piled in and jumbled together, giving the impression that the tomb had been robbed, despite its intact seals. However, upon removing, cleaning, and restoring the objects contained therein, Carter and others must have realized what an unbelievable find this tomb truly was.

Among the painted models of wooden ships, stone and faience figurines, and elegant furniture lay pieces of jewelry expertly crafted from gold, silver, and copper, and inlaid with semi-precious stones and colored glass. As a beader and a jewelry junkie, these were what truly hypnotized me. Enormous collars inlaid with lapis, carnelian, and turquoise; a delicate gold diadem; intricate pectorals glowing with the vibrant colors of semi-precious stones; and, my personal favorite, a wide beaded bracelet with a gorgeous lapis scarab clasp bigger than a baby’s fist.

Kenneth Garrett, copyright 2008, National Geographic

These pieces were not only meant to be decorative; they also served to protect the wearer. The scarab is the incarnation of the sun, and the eye of Horus is a symbol of protection from evil. Other images commonly found on the jewelry are sun disks, cobras, falcons, lotuses, various gods and goddesses, and the ankh (the symbol of life). Each has a very important meaning, giving the jewelry not only unmatched beauty, but also great significance. The ability of the ancient Egyptians to combine craftsmanship with aesthetic beauty and profound meaning is amazing, and evident in the pieces in the exhibition.

Not only did the symbols have meaning; the materials used were also very important. For example, green was the color of vegetation and growth (remember that the Nile River Valley was a fertile source of grain and crops for the entire Mediterranean world), thus the use of stones such as malachite and turquoise. Red, on the other hand, had associations with blood, energy, and power, but also with chaos. Carnelian and red jasper were commonly used for this purpose. One of the most popular and most precious stones used by the ancient Egyptians, however, was lapis lazuli, thought to represent the all-embracing sky with its deep blue color and often meaning “joy” or “delight”.

Stones, metals, and symbols have always been imbued with meaning for humankind, and those meanings often vary from culture to culture. However, our attraction to these materials is unquestionable; whatever we believe them to mean, they do seem to have a power of their own. In beading and jewelry-making, we often choose to use specific materials because of their cultural or personal meaning.

A selection of lapis, malachite, and coral beads in our store.

At the Bead Inspirations Alameda Store, not only do we have a large regular selection of many of the stones and materials used by the Egyptians; we are also having a huge trunk show with gemstones, pearls, natural beads, and pendants from July 1-5.  Please also be sure to visit our gemstone selection at the Bead Inspirations webstore (free shipping!).   I encourage you to find inspiration in the art of the Egyptians and the beautiful colors and shapes of our pearls and gemstones in the trunk show. I already have plans for that scarab bracelet…

Marshmallows were very famous they used sap which is a watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant instead of Gelatin that is used nowadays..

Sample Picture of Marshmallows

It was told in many books that  the Egyptians loved sweets beer and wine, and marshmallows and licorice(A Black Flavoured Candy).Among the world’s oldest sweets, marshmallow confections date back to 2000 B.C————————->Egyptians made a honey-based candy flavored and thickened with the sweet, sticky sap from the roots of the marshmallow,a plant with hollyhock(Very Tall plants of Family called Genus Althea)-like flowers that grew wild in salt marshes and in wetlands around the Nile river. This is a very special food that signifies the symbol of royalty and these are offered to Gods as a Offering. In modern marshmallow recipes, gelatin or gum arabic replaces plant sap.

Even Physicians Used Honey and other Sweetened Stuffs for their Medicine:

Egyptian physicians also used honey and the sap of the marshmallow plant in medicines and potions, especially in remedies such as medicinal wines used to treat sore throats this was followed as a Very Common Practice during the 19th century.

There is one more famous thing that the Egyptians used very commonly in many potions and herbal medicines they exported to other parts of the World:

One other plant the Egyptians both enjoyed as a sweet and in medical potions was Licorice this was used for curing Lung Diseases