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Different

kinds of eye-paint used at different

seasons of

the year.

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were made of wood, with a movable cover on a pivot (B.M. No. 2595), of obsidian, with a figure of Bes in relief (B.M. No. 2599), of ivory, with each tube in the form of a lotus column (B.M. 22,839), and of stone. Kohl pots with three tubes were also made, and an interesting example in terracotta is B.M. No. 2612, which is in the form of a "triple' crown. Kohl pots with four and five tubes are very common in wood, and several examples exist in faïence. B.M. No. 2605 is inscribed on each tube, and contains two, or more, different powders; and B.M. 2606a, with five tubes, probably a votive offering by a friend or relative of the deceased Amāsis, a scribe and overseer of works, is inscribed :

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The following texts are inscribed upon a remarkable brown wood stibium-holder, in the possession of Sir Francis Grenfell, G.C.B. It contains five tubes, each of which held

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2 These inscriptions show that one kind of eye-paint was to be used from the first to the fourth month of the inundation season; a second from the first to the fourth month of the season of coming forth; a third from the first to the fourth month of the period of growing; and also that a fourth was to be used every day.

a different coloured substance; on one side is a full-face figure of Bes, and on the other an ape. It came from Dêr el-bahari.

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A set of four or more kohl tubes were also formed by the compartments of a wooden box which was generally inlaid with ivory. The studs in kohl tubes were used for fastening the cover.

stick.

The stick with which the kohl was applied to the eyes was The kohl made of wood, bronze, glass, etc., and was thicker and more rounded at one end than at the other. The thick end was moistened, and dipped in the powder in the tube, and then drawn along the eyelid; the stick generally remained in the tube, but often a special cavity, either between or behind the tubes, was prepared for it.

The black powder in the tube was called in Egyptian mest'emut), Copt.

2: mestem (var. Y

black

Coнll, CTнll, Arab., whence the word Kohl, Gr.
στíμμ, stibium; it seems to have been the sesquisulphuret
of antimony, but sulphide of lead, oxide of copper,
oxide of manganese, and other powdered substances were
also used. The act of painting the eyes with kohl was called
semțet, and the part painted
semti.

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The custom of painting the eyelids, or the parts immediately under them, is contemporary with the earliest dynasties,

of use

of eyepaint.

Antiquity and we know that in the XIIth dynasty' mestchem was brought from the land of Absha, by people of the Āāmu, as an acceptable gift to the king of Egypt. This custom seems to have been common all over the East, and it will be remembered that Jezebel "set her eyes in stibium" TYTE DE 2 Kings ix. 30), and that the daughter of Zion was told that her lovers would seek her life, even though "she rent asunder her eyes with stibium,"2 in allusion to the wide open appearance which stibium gives to women's eyes in the East.

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Oils, unguents, scents, etc., were kept in alabaster, diorite and porphyry jars, or vases, of various shapes, ʊʊʊ□)□. Sets of alabaster jars and flat vessels were arranged on a table in the tomb, and sometimes contained unguents, sweetmeats, etc., and sometimes were merely votive offerings. A fine example of a votive set in alabaster is (B.M. No. 4694) Alabaster inscribed with the name Atenā, from Abydos, which comvases of Atenā. prises a wide mouthed jar on a stand, five smaller jars with pointed ends, and four flat saucers, the whole standing on a circular table of the same material. The shapes of the jars are of great beauty, and the alabaster is of the finest. The custom of placing alabaster jars in tombs is, at least, as ancient as the IVth dynasty, and it lasted until the XXVIth dynasty; examples are known inscribed with the names of Unȧs (B.M. No. 4602), Pepi I. (B.M. No. 22559), Mentuem-sa-f (B.M. No. 4493), Amāsis I. (B.M. No. 4671a), Thothmes III. (B.M. No. 4498), Amenophis II. (B.M. No. 4672), Rameses II. (B.M. No. 2880), Queen Amenȧrṭās (B.M. No. 4701), etc.

NECKLACES, RINGS, BRACELETS, ETC.

Judging by the enormous quantity of beads which are found in Egyptian tombs, Egyptian ladies must have thought very highly of the necklace as an ornament. Beads are of all shapes, round, rectangular, oval, and oblong, and were made of

1 In the sixth year of Usertsen II. The scene of the presentation of the mestchem is painted on the walls of the tomb of Chnemu-hetep at Beni-Hasân; see Lepsius, Denkmäler, II. ff. 131-133.

2

.Jeremiah iv. 3o כִּי־תִקְרְעִי בַפוּךְ עֵינַיִךְ *

mother-of-emerald, carnelian, agate, lapis-lazuli, amethyst, rock crystal, onyx, jasper, garnet, gold, silver, glass, faïence, clay, and straw. The necklace was ornamented with pendants Egyptian jewellery. made in the form of figures of the gods, or of animals sacred to them, or of amulets to which magical powers were attributed. Each kind of stone was supposed to possess special properties, and the Egyptians arranged their necklaces in such a way that the wearer was supposed to be protected from the attack of all evil powers and baneful beasts. Breasts of mummies and mummy cases are painted in imitation of rows of beads of various precious stones, or of collars made of beads, interspersed with pendants in the shape of flowers, etc.

Rings were made of gold, silver, bronze, precious stones or faïence; sometimes the bezels were solid and did not move, sometimes they were inlaid with scarabs, inscribed with various devices, or the name of the wearer, and revolved. During the XVIIIth dynasty, a very pretty class of ring was made at Tell el-Amarna, in blue, green, and purple glazed faïence; examples are very numerous, and every Egyptian collection of importance contains several.

Bracelets were made of gold or silver, and were at times inlaid with precious stones and coloured paste; after the XXVIth dynasty the ends of bracelets, owing to Phoenician influence, terminated in lions' heads.

SCARAB.

tion of

Scarab,' or Scarabæus, is the name given by Egyptolo- Descripgists to the myriads of models of a certain beetle, which are Egyptian found in mummies and tombs, and in the ruins of temples and beetle. other buildings in Egypt and other countries, the inhabitants

1 Scarab, from the Greek σκάραβος, οι σκαράβειος, perhaps a transcription of the Latin scarabaeus; compare dŋváptov, a transcription of denarius. The Copts called this beetle &λorkc, and the Arabs, plur.

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KC,

le, plur. lle and ¿, plur.
plur. Eló.

Thes. Syr., col. 1188, and Duval, Lex. Syr., col. 714.

خُنَافِس

See also Payne Smith,

2 The old plural scarabees we find in "You are scarabees that batten in dung." Elder Brother, Beaumont and Fletcher,

Habits of

tian beetle.

of which from a remote period had trading and other relations with the Egyptians. The beetle which was copied by the Egyptians in this manner belongs to the family called by naturalists Scarabaida (Coprophagi), of which the Scarabæus sacer is the type. These insects compose a very numerous group of dung-feeding Lamellicorns, of which, however, the majority are inhabitants of tropical countries. The species are generally of a black hue; but amongst them are to be found some adorned with the richest metallic colours. A remarkable peculiarity exists in the structure and situation of the hind legs, which are placed so near the extremity of the body, and so far from each other, as to give the insect a most extraordinary appearance when walking. This peculiar formation is, nevertheless, particularly servicethe Egyp able to its possessors in rolling the balls of excrementitious matter in which they enclose their eggs; whence these insects were named by the first naturalists Pilulariæ. These balls are at first irregular and soft, but, by degrees, and during the process of rolling along, become rounded and harder; they are propelled by means of the hind legs. Sometimes these balls are an inch and a half, or two inches in diameter, and in rolling them along the beetles stand almost upon their heads, with the heads turned from the balls. These manoeuvres have for their object the burying of the balls in holes, which the insects have previously dug for their reception; and it is upon the dung thus deposited that the larvæ, when hatched, feed. It does not appear that these beetles have the instinct to distinguish their own balls, as they will seize upon those belonging to another, in case they have lost their own; and, indeed, it is said that several of them occasionally assist in rolling the same ball. The males as well as the females assist in rolling the pellets. They fly during the hottest part of the day.' Latreille, in the Appendix to Cailliaud's Voyage à Méroé, Paris, 1823-27,a See J. O. Westwood, An Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects; London, 1839, Vol. I. p. 204 ff. 2 Tom. ii. p. 311. "Cet insecte est d'un vert parfois éclatant; son corselet est nuancé d'une teinte cuivreuse à reflet métallique." Compare Ælian, De Nat. Animal., iv. 49; Aristotle, Hist. Animal., iv. 7; Pliny, Nat. Hist., xi. 20 ff., and xxix. 6.

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