| Egypt is one of the primary regions where the early civilizations of antiquity produced and used beads and other ornaments, considered to be significant artifacts that demand continuing admiration, and maintain their value and collectibility.
The Egyptian civilization goes back to about 10,000 BCE, and Egyptian art and artifacts come to us from as early as the third millennium BCE, through historic and recent times. Thus, when looking for Egyptian articles here, they may be included in almost any time division—though the Roman and Islamic Periods may have the more desirable types. |
Phoenician traders acquired Egyptian beads, added them to the inventories of local beads from their homelands, and then traded ALL of these products to the known world. In the third century BCE, Egypt was controlled by
Alexander’s empire, and, like much of the ancient
world, became a “Hellenized” culture, even while
maintaining its local traditions.
New techniques of complex glassworking were
developed, that allowed for the
mass-production of intricate beads—that we generally
call “mosaic-glass” products.
Glass of two
or more colors were joined together, and often
manipulated
to imitate natural stones
and materials;
or to form
complex
pictorial images.
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| By about 700 BCE and somewhat later, it is clear that Egyptian and Phoenician beadmakers were in competition, since they seem to have made similar products—namely stratified eye beads. |
The beadmaking of Egypt continued through the Islamic Period, with a significant factory area established at Fustat (near modern Cairo ), that produced beads into the 15th century.
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