Colors in Pharaonic Era

By Ali Abu Dashish and Salma Yassin

Cairo, Feb 20 (SEE)-The Egyptian Archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass stated that Pharaohs used to use colors in a perfect way.

He added that their tombs and temples spreading everywhere are best evidence for their artistic eye in using colors.

Hawass pointed out to Nefer tomb which dates back to 4200 years was uncovered by the Egyptologist Ahmed Moussa in Sakkara.

“These tomb’s colors are amazing and unbelievable; as they are still bright and shiny as if they were used couple of days ago,” the archeologist added.

Another marvelous tomb that Hawass pointed to was tomb of Queen Nefertari, the wife of King Ramses II who belonged to the nineteenth pharaonic dynasty.

“This tomb is found in The Valley of Queens on Luxor’s western bank, and whoever goes there just stands amazed by its glowing colors,” said Hawass.

It’s remarkable that, when the wife of the former Philippine President Imelda Marcos visited this tomb with wife of late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, she was astonished by the charming drawings and colors.

Thus, Marcos donated 1 million dollars for the tomb’s renovation.

“Other beautiful tomb is tomb of priest Kai from the Fifth Dynasty and it contains so many fantastic colors with the signature of the artist who made the drawings,” added by the archeologist.

In the same context, colors in pharaonic era also used to have specific tenor and significance and some of them were related to religious practices.

Green color was called “Wadj” and used to reflect prosperity and growth.

On the other hand, Red, which was known as “Dashr”, was a symbol of power and anger and it was used frequently and brought from a socket in the western desert.

For white color that was known as “Hadj”, it used to reflect purity and high social status, that’s why clothes of kings, nobles and senior staffs were all in white.

Black color was known by “Kam” and was related to the darkness as well as soil fertility.

Yellow color known to pharaos as “Kengt” and used to reflect eternity, while the blue one was related to restoring life.

Eventually, Hawass stressed, ''We as Egyptians will remain grateful to all ancient Egyptian artists who left marvelous artworks and participated in building our ancient Egyptian civilization."