Over 3 thousand years of experience and practice with creating various cosmetic products have enabled Egyptian royalty, aristocracy, and middle class to fully embrace cosmetics and make it to be important part of their lives.
Greek traders who visited Egypt around BC mentioned that they were astounded with fashion shown in public places - almost everyone wore cosmetic products of some kind, and not in small quantities!
But that was not the end, because even their statues of gods and public buildings with human motif decorations wore cosmetic paints. There cosmetics were not only celebrated as a fashion products, but as items that were gifted to them by the gods. A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you Cookie Policy.
Egyptians loved to dress up and wear fancy makeup. They had an amazing collection of cosmetics and used to do make up in the most graceful ways you can imagine. For Egyptians, especially during ancient times, one's attire and appearance mattered a lot. From dressing to cosmetics everything had to be as beautiful and stunning as possible. In ancient Egypt, makeup was important both for appearance as well as for protection.
Both men and women used to use various cosmetics and rubbed them all across their skins to protect it from the drastic atmospheric conditions and strong sun. They had different classes and categories of makeup that was used for different purposes and depending on your social class. Fish-shaped palettes were especially popular, for example, and this might have been because of the symbolism of the fish. A palette shaped like a tilapia fish might be a potent symbol in and of itself because tilapia were associated with fertility.
Naturally, the invention and use of so many cosmetics required an entire array of jars, pots, and other devices. Some of why we know what we do about the changing makeup styles of Ancient Egyptians is thanks to the various objects associated with the array of pigments and compounds used by Ancient Egyptians.
An Ancient Egyptian's collection might include vessels for kohl, friction stones to grind mineralis like azurite into power, thin makeup applicators, alabaster jars for ointments, a makeup spoon, and more, all surprisingly similar to the cosmetic accoutremants we still use today.
Even if drawing one eyeliner in the morning feels more routine than a moment of special significance, consider the Ancient Egyptian rituals the next time you reach for the tube of makeup. Cosmetics were just as important - if not moreso - to them, a practice that connects us through time. Our mission is to illuminate the natural world and the place of humans within it.
In addition to housing outstanding exhibits for the public, NHMU is a research museum. In short, ancient Egyptians of both sexes apparently went to great lengths to touch up their appearance. Moreover, this was just as true in death as it was in life: witness the smooth, serene faces, with regular features and prominent eyes emphasised by dramatic black outlines, typically painted onto cartonnage mummy masks and wooden coffins.
Yet, for modern archaeologists, the ubiquity of beauty products in ancient Egypt offers a conundrum. On the one hand, it is possible that ancient Egyptians were besotted with superficial appearance, much as we are today.
Indeed, perhaps they even set the template for how we still perceive beauty. But, on the other, there is a risk that we could project our own narcissistic values onto a fundamentally different culture.
Is it possible that the significance of cosmetic artefacts in ancient Egypt went beyond the frivolous desire simply to look attractive? This is what many archaeologists now believe. Take the common use of kohl eye makeup in ancient Egypt — the inspiration for smoky eye makeup today.
Recent scientific research suggests that the toxic, lead-based mineral that formed its base would have had anti-bacterial properties when mixed with moisture from the eyes.
In addition, the heavy application of kohl around the eyes would have helped to reduce glare from the sun. In other words, there were simple, practical reasons why both men and women in ancient Egypt wished to wear eye makeup.
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