Jewelry in Ramesside Egypt served religious, status, and utilitarian purposes. Religiously, jewelry adorned statues of gods and was included in burials to protect the dead. Materials like gold, silver, and gemstones symbolized parts of the gods and were seen as protective. Jewelry exhibited the status and wealth of pharaohs and officials through ornate pieces awarded by the king. Both men and women displayed their rank through jewelry. Amulets protected the living from harm. Functionally, signet rings and necklaces identified roles. Overall, jewelry production supported religious rituals and expressed the social hierarchy of this Egyptian period.

1. Ramesside Egypt:
Jewlery

2. Purpose:
• Religious - amulets for protection of the living
- amulets for protection of the dead
- jewellery for statues of gods
• For adornment & to exhibit status & wealth
• Utilitarian reasons

3. Jewellery was made from the
metals:
• Gold – mined in Nubia & the eastern desert
• Silver – imported from Asia
• Electrum – a naturally occurring mix of gold
& silver

4. It was embellished with stones
of:
• Carnelian – from the eastern desert
• Turquoise – mined in the Sinai
• Lapis lazuli –imported from Afghanistan via
the Euphrates area

5. Also other stones such as:
• Garnets from Aswan & the western Sinai
• Green feldspar from the eastern desert
• Amethyst from Aswan & eastern desert
• Yellow, green & brown jaspers
• rock crystal
• obsidian & calcite

6. Religious Significance
• The gods’ bones were thought to be made of
silver
• Their flesh was of gold
• Carnelian was the colour of life blood
• Turquoise was the green of spring vegetation
• Lapis lazuli (often flecked with calcite, iron pyrites
or gold) was the blue of water & the holy sky
realms

7. Jewellery was worn by:
• Statues of gods – especially collars.
• Elite males & females – rings, bracelets,
anklets, collars, necklaces, earrings & fillets
• Poorer males & females (with imitation
stones)
• dancers
• children

8. Statues of the gods in temples
• Collars were changed as part of the daily ritual of
washing & clothing the statues of the gods
• Inventories of temple magazines indicate they
held impressive quantities of jewels
• Hathor was the goddess love & beauty as well as
the deserts (where many stones came from). She
was the patron of miners & prospectors & her
priestesses carried an elaborate menyet necklace
as a symbol of her cult

9. Religious Purposes – for the living
• Amulets were strung on linen cords or leather
thongs as charms to protect the wearer from
mysterious hostile forces, such as crocodiles,
snakes, scorpions or disease, accidents, flood,
storm & drought
• They were tied to wrists, ankles, necks, waists
and other vulnerable points
• small images of gods or animals put the wearer
under the protection of the deity

10. Amulets for the Living
• Wadjet eye or eye of Horus protected
against the evil eye
• Sa sign meant protection and was a general
defence against any hostile force
• tyet meant welfare
• small images of gods or animals

11. Wadjet eye
bracelet – it is
made of lapis
lazuli,
carnelian &
ivory

12. Amulets for the Dead
included in the bandages of
mummification
• ankh symbol represents ‘life’
• djed pillar represented the spine of Osiris
and ‘endurance’
• scarab beetle represented rebirth

14. For Pharaohs
• Jewellery showed their link to the gods –
gold (flesh) & silver (bones)
• It reflected their status & wealth
• They controlled all mining & trade
• Many of the jewellers/craftsmen worked
for pharaoh (the other employers were the
temple cults)

15. Ramesses III
wearing the
red crown of
Lower Egypt,
false beard,
bracelets,
armlets, collar,
an elaborate
belt and an
intricately
patterned
tunic.

16. Pendant of
Ramesses II as
the young sun
god at his
birth from a
lotus flower
(made in the
cloisonné
technique)

17. In the New Kingdom hinged bracelets with a retractable pin appear.
A pair of hinged bracelets of Ramessess II, featuring two ducks fashioned
from lapis lazuli & gold

18. For Adornment & Social Status
• Jewellery was worn by both males &
females
• For officials it was an indicator of wealth –
rich jewels were rewards of the Pharaoh
• People of lower status had jewellery made
of less valuable gemstones, coloured glass
or faience

19. Types of jewellery for adornment:
• Both males & females wore:
• pectorals
• collars
• fillets
• earrings (introduced by the Hyksos)
• ear studs (introduced in the Amarna period)
• bracelets & armlets
• anklets were less deep
• inscribed signet rings & swivelling or bezel scarab
rings

20. Wife of
Amenemopet (TT
148) from the time
of Ramesses III-V,
wearing bracelets,
armlets, collars &
hair ornament.

21. Faience floral necklace

22. Necklace of Queen Twosre
& ear-rings of her husband Seti II

23. Carnelian, amethyst
& garnet beads from
Buhen, tomb K13

24. Alternating
cylinder &
disk beads of
faience,
interspersed
with ball beads
of beryl &
multicoloured
glass

26. An undated New
Kingdom burial
excavated at
Saqqara by
Prof. N. Kanawati
in 2003

27. To exhibit status
• Rich jewels could only be displayed
as rewards of the king (he had a
monopoly on mining & trading)
• The ‘Gold of Honour’ was a collar of
gold disk beads & a set of bracelets
& armlets awarded for bravery or
loyalty
• ‘Gold Flies’ for perserverance in the
attack
• ‘Gold Lions’ for bravery
Gold flies

28. Flowers
• Wreaths, chaplets &
collars of fresh flowers
were worn
• Lotus buds were usually
tucked in the hair of
guests at feasts
• Collars of flower petals,
leaves, fruits & seeds
were sown onto papyrus
or strips of palm leaves
Floral necklaces – Tomb of
Tutankhamun

29. Utilitarian purposes
• heavy signet rings, the bezel
of which bore the king’s
cartouche were conferred on
those high officials who were
to act in the name of the
Pharaoh
• menyet necklaces & counter-
poises were carried by great
ladies or priestesses as
symbols of their devotion to
the cult of Hathor
Scarab
seal,
Steatite &
gold,
Mid
Dynasty
18 to 19
Tomb of
Roy (TT
255),
from the
time of
Ramesses
I & Seti I,
shows his
wife
carrying a
necklace
with
counterp
oise

30. Naked women such as dancers & musicians wore a girdle around their
waist

31. Children
• are shown with a sidelock
held by a hair-ring or clasp
• sometimes they had green
fish pendants called
nekhau attached to their
sidelocks as protection
against drowning
Prince Amen-hir-khopeshef, son
of Ramesses III
Fish amulet representing a Nile
fish (Synodontis batensoda)
Dynasty 12