Within the current previous, a gem that’s considered extra treasured than even gold, the elusive lapis lazuli , has obtained a foul repute for being a supply of unlawful mining by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The sensible, stunning blue stone, mined from a small space of the Kokcha River valley within the distant Afghani province of Badakhshan for almost 10,000 years, has repeatedly featured in historical past’s grandest civilizations – from the Indus Valley to Egypt.

The Etymology and Science of Lapis Lazuli

The identify lapis lazuli comes from the Latin phrase lapis, which suggests stone, and the Persian phrase lazhuward, that means blue. In Arabic, lazaward, means heaven or sky. The Romans known as it sapphirus, which was in reference to the blindingly blue stone. In actual fact, the English phrase azure, Portuguese azul and the Italian azzurro are cognates of the identical, rooted within the blue of lazuli.

This vivid, darkish blue stone happens in nature, just like the twilight sky or the deepest ocean depths. It’s generally graced with specks of pyrite, or idiot’s gold, which sparkle like tiny stars. Lapis happens in crystalline marble attributable to contact metamorphism, and the identical Afghani mine in operation in the present day was answerable for supplying lapis to the traditional Sumerians, Harappans, and Egyptians.

Crystals of lazurite (the principle mineral in lapis lazuli) from the Sar-i Sang mine in Afghanistan, the place lapis lazuli has been mined because the seventh millennium BC (Didier Descouens / CC BY SA 4.0 )

Lapis Lazuli’s Worldwide Commerce

The presence of lapis at these websites helped verify that some type of worldwide, inter-continental commerce occurred way back to 2000 BC – round 4,000 years in the past. From the Sar-e-Sang mine deposits in northeastern Afghanistan, the lapis traveled all around the world, ultimately reaching even the traditional Greeks and Romans.

The traditional Egyptians had been capable of acquire lapis by buying and selling with the Mesopotamians. In the course of the top of the Indus Valley (Harappan) civilization, a buying and selling colony for lapis was established close to the lapis mines in Shortugai, near the Oxus River.

This was the northernmost settlement of the Harappan civilization, with archaeological stays of beads made from lapis discovered right here, amongst different artifacts. The artisans of the Indus Valley civilization made stunning carvings out of those, and retailers would commerce them with distant lands and civilizations.

In historic Egypt, it was a favourite stone for amulets and scarabs, amongst different ornaments. In actual fact, Egyptian burial websites earlier than 3,000 BC include 1000’s of jewellery objects made from lapis. Rich Egyptian ladies would use powdered lapis as eye shadow. Reportedly, it was Cleopatra’s favourite eye shadow colour. Moreover, it was used as inlays for outlines, eyebrows, and a collar of beads across the neck on the masks of Tutankhamen .

The well-known funerary masks of Tutankhamun, 18th-dynasty historic Egyptian Pharaoh, utilized massive quantities of lapis lazuli (Roland Unger / CC BY SA 3.0 )

There’s a reference to lapis within the a hundred and fortieth chapter of the Egyptian Ebook of the Useless , a seminal historic funerary textual content written on papyrus. In accordance with this chapter, lapus lazuli within the form of a watch set in gold was thought-about an amulet of nice energy. On the final day of each month, an providing was made earlier than the symbolic eye , as they believed a supreme being positioned a picture on his head on this very day.

Egyptian Wedjat eye, or Eye of Horus, amulet of lapis azuli, circa 664-332 BC (Metropolitan Museum of Artwork / Public Area )

In close by Mesopotamia, close to the Euphrates River in decrease Iraq, the traditional royal Sumerian tombs of Ur include an enormous lapis treasure trove. Lapis statuettes of birds, deer, and rodents, together with dishes, beads, cylinder seals had been discovered, displaying exquisitely carvings and craftsmanship.

The ornate ‘Normal of Ur’ is without doubt one of the many spectacular items from the Royal Tombs of Ur. It’s a hole picket field inlaid with scenes of struggle and peace, utilizing lapis lazuli. Peace aspect proven. ( Public Area )

“In historic Sumer,” wrote Scott Cunningham in his  Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem, and Steel Magic , “lapis lazuli has timeless associations” with royalty and deities. Individuals believed the stone contained “the soul of the deity, who would ‘rejoice in its proprietor.’”

Lapis Lazuli Cylinder Seal recovered from the royal cemetery of Ur, Iraq 2550-2450 BCE (Mary Harrsch / CC BY 2.0 )

Lapis in Common Tradition and Lore

Lengthy earlier than the advance of recent medication and medical science, lapis was thought-about to have medicinal properties. To make it medicinal, it was floor down, blended with milk, and utilized as a dressing for boils and ulcers. Afterward, the traditional Romans believed that lapis had highly effective aphrodisiac properties (the Romans had been indiscriminate concerning the issues they thought-about as aphrodisiacs).

By the point of the Center Ages (also referred to as the Darkish Ages), lapis lazuli was believed to maintain the limbs wholesome, and the soul protected against malicious spirits that brought on error, envy, and worry. Unsurprisingly, even in the present day, it’s thought-about an excellent emotional healer in numerous cultures, seen as a religious power that helps combat nervousness, melancholy, grief, and unhappiness.

Lapis lazuli ring stone from post-classical Rome (Metropolitan Museum of Artwork / Public Area )

One other proof from the time of the Mesopotamians is the point out of lapis within the Epic of Gilgamesh, typically believed to be the primary famous work of literature. Extraordinarily influential even for later writers, it was written round 1800 BC, and references lapis typically.

In one of many key scenes from the narrative, King Gilgamesh returned to Uruk after a battle; he was being pursued by Ishtar, the goddess of affection and struggle. Ishtar tried to woo Gilgamesh by providing him, amongst different issues, a chariot made from lapis lazuli with golden wheels.

After Gilgamesh spurned Ishtar’s advances, she despatched the Bull of Heaven to kill him. The bull was in the end slayed by the king and a companion of his. Vitally, the bull had horns made from lapis, which Gilgamesh admired, reduce off, and used to adorn his palace.

Lapis Lazuli in Artwork

Lapis lazuli was a extremely desired pigment when floor into finer mud by painters in Europe in the course of the thirteenth and 14th centuries, used to make ultramarine. By the second half of the sixteenth century, massive objects carved from lapis began showing in Italy, with one of many facilities of manufacturing in Milan – the primary of many.

Craftsmen from Milan had been introduced into Florence within the early 1570s, with gorgeous and beautiful items showing all by means of the 1570s and 1580s in Florence. This was on the behest of the Medici household, the grandest patrons of the humanities and finance in that a part of the world. One of many Medici brothers, Ferdinand, had spent a few years in Rome, and purchased a tremendous style for intricately laid tabletops.

Much more expert craftspeople had been employed to style these tabletops, who had been capable of absolutely exploit lapis and its pure patterns – enabling beautiful foam-flecked seas and skies with billowing clouds (seen in “View of the Port of Livorno” and “Tuscan Panorama”, amongst different notable works).

The colour blue was important for plenty of causes within the classical Roman world. It was fastidiously prevented as a result of it was related to the physique paint and apparel of the so-called barbarians. Nonetheless, attributable to its lack of connections with pagan spiritual associations, the depiction of the Virgin Mary in blue turned widespread from the twelfth century onwards. Ultramarine was used for this, famend for its distinctive colour and stability within the face of solar publicity.

One of many earliest examples portraying the Virgin Mary in lapis lazuli blue was the Wilton Diptych, circa 1399 (Nationwide Gallery UK / Public Area )

Right now, lapis lazuli has sadly been tainted attributable to its affiliation with the Taliban. Over the previous decade, the Taliban has been illegally mining the stone, promoting it by means of extra-legal strategies, fueling an increase in mining. Whereas lapis lazuli stays treasured and extremely coveted, like so-called blood diamonds, commerce on this gem is approaching a degree the place moral sourcing needs to be a priority.

Prime picture: Unpolished lapis lazuli from Badakhshan province, Afghanistan. Supply: Björn Wylezich / Adobe Inventory

By Sahir Pandey