Black

The Color Black


 * Egyptian Name:**

//Kem//


 * Hieroglyphics:**



The ancient Egyptian concept of "black" covered all shades of the color as well as grey, purple, and some browns. Different shades of black were identified, such as //djab// black (the color of coal and black hair), //kem// black (the dark brown of soil, the black of skin, the color of onyx, and in some instances the grey of water), and //kek// black (purple, and the pure blackness of the night.) In Egyptian statuary and jewelry black was represented by stones and woods such as hematite, basalt, onyx, ebony, obsidian, amethyst, or steatite. Black pigments were created from carbon compounds such as soot, ground charcoal, or bone black (burnt animal bones.)

While //kek// black negatively symbolized death and nothingness, //kem// black represented eternity, regeneration, and resurrection. The association of life and fertility with //kem// black is likely due to the abundance provided by the dark silt of the annual inundation of the Nile. The color of the silt became emblematic of Egypt itself, and the country was called //Kemet// ("the Black Land") by its people from early antiquity.

The color black carried powerful connotations of fertility and regeneration, and was also the color of the Duat, where the sun regenerated every night. Sacred animals such as the jackal of Anubis and the bull of Mnevis were pictured as black. The hardness of black stones was symbolic of endurance - important amulets such as the Two-Finger Amulet were made of such materials to ensure that their magical powers lasted for all eternity.

The body of the deceased turned black during mummification. Osiris, the King of the Afterlife, was often portrayed with black skin. He was called both //Kmj Wer// (“The Great Black”) and //Wadj Wer// ("The Great Green") - when used to represent resurrection, black and green were sometimes interchangeable.

Egyptian Colors