There are many curiosities of Ancient Egypt, but none like its pictorial and representative capacity. For this civilization, representing their gods and pharaohs on their journey to the other world had a very strong symbolic and ritualistic charge, which is why they created the famous Egyptian colors, pigments established from natural and chemical processes to conceive great shades. At Supercurioso we are lovers of Ancient Egyptian technology, so this time, we will tell you everything about Egyptian pigments. Join us! 🙂
Find out what the Egyptian colors meant
In ancient Egypt, color was considered an integral part of an element of nature or of the person, in such a way that the term “color” could refer indistinctly to the appearance, character, being or nature.
Likewise, at present, the word color It has different meanings depending on the point of view from which you observe it. For example, for the physicist, color is related to photons of a certain level of energy, for the physiologist, color is a stimulus to the retina, and for the chemist, a dye.
However, even if color theory is almost as big as the universe, the truth is that colors affect our mind and the Egyptians knew this perfectly.
Egyptian colors were not only used in representations of daily life, some were part of the architecture of Ancient Egypt, where, on the facades, with pigments they showed the Egyptian gods in their pantheon.
Egyptologist Margaret Bunson described Egyptian colors as: “an integral element of all artistic representations, including wall scenes, statues, tomb objects, and jewelry, and it was believed that the magical qualities of a specific color became an integral part of any object to which it was added.”.
1. How did they get the pigments?
Before telling you how the Egyptians obtained their pigments, it is necessary to make a precision: we must distinguish between two types of colors, organic and synthetic.
The first ones have been worked since Paleolithic times because they are obtained through natural elements, the first ones were created from soft rocks, or existing deposits in nature, such as clay or ilmenite.
On the other hand, synthetic colors are the result of complex mixtures, in which metal is an essential part of their production. One of the curious facts of the Egyptian colors is that one of them was the first known synthetic pigment in the world: Egyptian blue.
To obtain Egyptian pigments, a wide variety of processes were used, which could include dissolution, precipitation, filtration, washing, calcination, and grinding of the materials.
2. Most used Egyptian colors
As we told you, The colors for the Egyptians had a great symbolic charge that goes beyond their ornamental functionTherefore, the color palette was not very wide. Today we are going to know some of the most used Egyptian colors:
1. Red
This color can be considered the color of disorder and chaos, it was also considered the color of the desert. Its base was iron and it was obtained from its oxidation. It was the color of the god Seth, the god of chaos who later became associated with death. Red was also the color of destructive fire and the color of fury, it was used to represent danger..
Likewise, the color red was used in protective amulets because it was also the color of blood and was considered a color of life and protection. This is one of the few Egyptian colors that the scribes used when they had to speak about evil or in disastrous days of the year.
2. Egyptian blue
The color blue was the color of the skies and represented the domain of the Ancient Egyptian gods. As we told you, obtaining it was a more complex process than the rest, It was obtained after combining copper and iron oxide with calcium and silicon.
Its meaning could vary depending on the tone that was used; for example, lapis lazuli blue was used to represent the horse of the Egyptian gods, while turquoise blue represents the color of water. In turn, the Egyptian blue symbolized life and rebirth.
3. Black
The color black signified fertility, new life and resurrection.. It was the color of the god Osiris, the god raised from the dead, as well as that of Anubis, in fact, black was considered the color of the Egyptian underworld.
In the same way, this is one of the easiest Egyptian colors to obtain because, it was extracted from different media such as charcoal, burned animal bones or soot. Usually the ancient Egyptians used the color black on statues and coffins to invoke the regeneration process attributed to Osiris.
4. White
This was the color of purity, holiness, simplicity and cleanliness.. For this reason, the clothing in Ancient Egypt was white, especially that of the priests. Similarly, both sacred objects, such as tools, sandals and sacred animals were white. Pure white was one of the least commonly found Egyptian colors, made from chalk and gypsum..
5. Green
The color green was the color of growth, of vegetation, and of new life. Along with black, it also represented the resurrection. For the ancient Egyptians, green was a color with healing and protective powers, so it also meant well-being. If we were to attribute Egyptian colors to the worldview of this civilization, black would be the underworld, blue the sky and green the earthly state. This pigment was obtained from copper and malachite powder.
6. Yellow
Yellow has always been the color of the divinities par excellence., the color of the sun was perceived as something eternal and imperishable. In fact, the different figures of the gods were built with pure gold, since it represented perfection. This tone was obtained from natural ocher or oxide.
7. Silver
The silver color represented the color of the sun at dawn and also that of the moon and stars. Since silver was a rarer metal than gold in Ancient Egypt, its value was higher. This type of material was extremely strange, since silver did not exist in Egypt naturally, everything was imported. Additionally, unlike other Egyptian colors, silver and gold They were used above all for inlays in sarcophagi or glass pieces.
Other curiosities of Egyptian colors
The Egyptians often paired colors that were considered complementary. For example, silver and gold formed for them a duality of opposites (like the sun and the moon). Green and black represented different aspects of the regeneration process. Other colors that complemented each other were red and white. Likewise, for the Egyptians the purity of color and craftsmen did not change color until they had finished with the one they were working on. To finish off the work, they used fine brushes to finish outlining and add details.
We hope this article has been of interest to you. Tell us, what else would you like to know about the Egyptian civilization? We read you! And if you want to know more, we recommend you to know how people lived in Ancient Egypt, it will surprise you.