Did I happen to mention that I am writing about some odd pieces of jewelry this year?
There are so many types of jewelry out there, I wanted to cover some odd things that maybe we overlook... or maybe people already know so much about these pieces... that we don't even think about them anymore.
Today.. it's amulets.
When I was a kid... we had to learn about Egypt. Everybody does, right? So... what on earth could they have NOT taught over the years at school...
Well, jewelry for one. Oh, they touched on it, but didn't really tell you how the different jewelry related to daily life/religion.
Amulets are an important object to some in their daily life even in modern society, but even more so in ancient societies. Not all people use amulets in the religious form, but the definition is an object that has power ascribed to it by it's owner. That power is to protect the owner from harm.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the amulet can be worn, carried, or offered to a deity. In Ancient Egypt, the amulet might be worn as a necklace, as a bracelet, ring or carried.
The amulets were also used in the burial ceremony. The amulet would be placed within the bandages to keep the departed from harm and to ensure safe passage to the afterlife.
An amulet can be made of any material, and have any symbol. The material used and the shape of the piece tell the story of it, even the color has great significance. Many amulets were made into shapes of animals.
In ancient Egypt, How were amulets used and what were they made of?
As with all types of jewelry there are different types of amulets. Some were used in the death rituals, and represented the part of the body that it was to protect, like the The djed amulet-- or the backbone. It is shaped like what you would think, a bone. It represent the spine of Osiris, and when used in burial, it was placed on the neck, to help the body reconstitute itself.
The Amulet doesn't have to be a representation of a specific body part, it can have meaning for something different than the look, such as the frog amulet... It represented the power of resurrection of Heqt the Frog-goddess... in Roman lore it was the symbol of Aphrodite and sometimes for Venus, and was a symbol of fertility.
Jewelry made with amulets varies widely... they were used in head bands, necklaces, bracelets... very beautiful work indeed.
This is a pectoral piece, it is a necklace that features scarabs, which were the symbol for the Egyptian god Ra. who was often depicted as a scarab beetle or as a scarab beetle-headed man. The ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri renewed the sun every day before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it through the other world after sunset, only to renew it, again, the next day.
The scarab is the representation of a beetle, it has been used in jewelry for thousands of years. Other animals have been used, such as an owl, fox, snake, bear, cats,
The scarab (or what is known as a dung beetle) dedicated to the sun god Ra. It was used widely in the funeral process because it was thought to be the "protector of the heart".
Why would a dung beetle be chosen for such a symbol to an all important god? The beetle lays it's eggs inside the dung of an animal, then rolls up the dung into a ball, then rolls the ball into the sun to be heated. This allows the eggs to mature and hatch.
Nothing says I worship you like a beetle that rolls dung.
Some of the materials used to carve the early amulets were lapis-lazuli, soapstone, carnelian, turquoise, feldspar, serpentine and steatite.
Metals were used, in addition, gold being the most valuable, but copper, bronze and iron also were prized. Wood and bone were sometimes used.
Of all materials, however, the greatest number of amulets was made out of faience, which is a sintered-quartz ceramic, with surface vitrification creating a bright lustre. Of the color combinations that were made, the most common is blue/green.
In Jewish and Judeo-Christian beliefs, uses of amulets and other types of talisman are frowned upon, stating that they are superstitions of the East, in Isaiah 2:6.
But it didn't stop people from copying some forms of amulets... it made me wonder about the evil eye thing... you know, that symbol that is used in many Jewish pieces of jewelry. Is that a direct descendant of the hand of Fatima, also called the Hamsa, used in Eastern religions, It is thought to be from ancient Mesopotamia region.... so I did some research.
In the Jewish faith, this hand itself is called the hand of Miriam, The Evil Eye (ayin ha-ra) In Jewish culture is according to the site "MyJewishLearning.com that in the Babylonian Talmud,
"...the notion developed that some persons do have this kind of baneful power and thereare
a number of superstitious practices to ward off the harmful effects of the evil eye, for
example, spitting out three times when a person seems to be at risk.
the words "bli ayin hara" in Hebrew mean "without an evil eye".
In Turkish, Nazaar (nazar boncuğu) (or in Old Turkikgökçe munçuk, meaning "blue bead"-- which makes sense to me and Nazur in Arabic-meaning sight) means an oval shaped amulet that wards off evil eye... So this thing about a necklace or bracelet, or some type of eye type jewelry probably does come from this "blue bead eye" thing. And, the amulet thing is not quite a thing of the past.
references:
Author unknown, . What Does God Say About People Who Use Amulets? Retrieved October 5, 2016 from: http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/what-does-god-say-about-people-who-use-amulets
Lemieux, E. (2012, August 15). How Were Ancient Egyptian Amulets Used? Retrieved October 5,2016, from http://wcma.williams.edu/blog/amulets/
Term Nazaar defined by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar_%28amulet%29
https://www.evileyestore.com/evil-eye-beads
By tutincommon (John Campana) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10647023@N04/1594047510/in/set-72157602463107321/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5107288
There are so many types of jewelry out there, I wanted to cover some odd things that maybe we overlook... or maybe people already know so much about these pieces... that we don't even think about them anymore.
Today.. it's amulets.
When I was a kid... we had to learn about Egypt. Everybody does, right? So... what on earth could they have NOT taught over the years at school...
Well, jewelry for one. Oh, they touched on it, but didn't really tell you how the different jewelry related to daily life/religion.
Amulets are an important object to some in their daily life even in modern society, but even more so in ancient societies. Not all people use amulets in the religious form, but the definition is an object that has power ascribed to it by it's owner. That power is to protect the owner from harm.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the amulet can be worn, carried, or offered to a deity. In Ancient Egypt, the amulet might be worn as a necklace, as a bracelet, ring or carried.
The amulets were also used in the burial ceremony. The amulet would be placed within the bandages to keep the departed from harm and to ensure safe passage to the afterlife.
An amulet can be made of any material, and have any symbol. The material used and the shape of the piece tell the story of it, even the color has great significance. Many amulets were made into shapes of animals.
In ancient Egypt, How were amulets used and what were they made of?
As with all types of jewelry there are different types of amulets. Some were used in the death rituals, and represented the part of the body that it was to protect, like the The djed amulet-- or the backbone. It is shaped like what you would think, a bone. It represent the spine of Osiris, and when used in burial, it was placed on the neck, to help the body reconstitute itself.The Amulet doesn't have to be a representation of a specific body part, it can have meaning for something different than the look, such as the frog amulet... It represented the power of resurrection of Heqt the Frog-goddess... in Roman lore it was the symbol of Aphrodite and sometimes for Venus, and was a symbol of fertility.Jewelry made with amulets varies widely... they were used in head bands, necklaces, bracelets... very beautiful work indeed.
 |
| By: John Campana Pectoral Jewelry of Senusret II |
This is a pectoral piece, it is a necklace that features scarabs, which were the symbol for the Egyptian god Ra. who was often depicted as a scarab beetle or as a scarab beetle-headed man. The ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri renewed the sun every day before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it through the other world after sunset, only to renew it, again, the next day.
The scarab is the representation of a beetle, it has been used in jewelry for thousands of years. Other animals have been used, such as an owl, fox, snake, bear, cats,
The scarab (or what is known as a dung beetle) dedicated to the sun god Ra. It was used widely in the funeral process because it was thought to be the "protector of the heart". Why would a dung beetle be chosen for such a symbol to an all important god? The beetle lays it's eggs inside the dung of an animal, then rolls up the dung into a ball, then rolls the ball into the sun to be heated. This allows the eggs to mature and hatch.
Nothing says I worship you like a beetle that rolls dung.
Some of the materials used to carve the early amulets were lapis-lazuli, soapstone, carnelian, turquoise, feldspar, serpentine and steatite.
Metals were used, in addition, gold being the most valuable, but copper, bronze and iron also were prized. Wood and bone were sometimes used.
Of all materials, however, the greatest number of amulets was made out of faience, which is a sintered-quartz ceramic, with surface vitrification creating a bright lustre. Of the color combinations that were made, the most common is blue/green.
In Jewish and Judeo-Christian beliefs, uses of amulets and other types of talisman are frowned upon, stating that they are superstitions of the East, in Isaiah 2:6.But it didn't stop people from copying some forms of amulets... it made me wonder about the evil eye thing... you know, that symbol that is used in many Jewish pieces of jewelry. Is that a direct descendant of the hand of Fatima, also called the Hamsa, used in Eastern religions, It is thought to be from ancient Mesopotamia region.... so I did some research.
In the Jewish faith, this hand itself is called the hand of Miriam, The Evil Eye (ayin ha-ra) In Jewish culture is according to the site "MyJewishLearning.com that in the Babylonian Talmud,
"...the notion developed that some persons do have this kind of baneful power and thereare
a number of superstitious practices to ward off the harmful effects of the evil eye, for
example, spitting out three times when a person seems to be at risk.
the words "bli ayin hara" in Hebrew mean "without an evil eye". In Turkish, Nazaar (nazar boncuğu) (or in Old Turkikgökçe munçuk, meaning "blue bead"-- which makes sense to me and Nazur in Arabic-meaning sight) means an oval shaped amulet that wards off evil eye... So this thing about a necklace or bracelet, or some type of eye type jewelry probably does come from this "blue bead eye" thing. And, the amulet thing is not quite a thing of the past.
references:
Author unknown, . What Does God Say About People Who Use Amulets? Retrieved October 5, 2016 from: http://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/what-does-god-say-about-people-who-use-amulets
Lemieux, E. (2012, August 15). How Were Ancient Egyptian Amulets Used? Retrieved October 5,2016, from http://wcma.williams.edu/blog/amulets/
Tut Exhibit - King Tutankhamun Exhibit, Collection: Jewelry - Djed Pillar representing King Tutankhamun-Read more: http://www.touregypt.net/museum/djedpillarpage.htm#ixzz4MLlRrlfi
Term Nazaar defined by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar_%28amulet%29
https://www.evileyestore.com/evil-eye-beads
By tutincommon (John Campana) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10647023@N04/1594047510/in/set-72157602463107321/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5107288
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