Hilary Wilson on… Lapis Lazuli

The outermost shrine surrounding Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus is inscribed with the earliest known version of The Book of the Celestial Cow, also known as The Story of the Destruction of Mankind. The text describes the ageing Ra as having ‘flesh of gold, bones of silver, and hair of real lapis lazuli’. The association of the god’s immortality with the incorruptibility of precious materials explains why the king was buried in a solid gold coffin. Statues of the gods were often created in silver, covered or inlaid with gold – symbolic of the silver skeleton encased in golden flesh. Temple building inscriptions listed the materials used to create divine statues, and the decoration of the