Examining the Symbolic Meaning of Colors in Ancient Egyptian Painting Art and Their Origin in Environment

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Vol.14/No.53/Nov 2017
Received 2016/09/07
Accepted 2017/03/18
Examining the Symbolic Meaning of Colors
in Ancient Egyptian Painting Art and Their Origin in Environment
Mahda Foroughi*
Shohreh Javadi**
Abstract
Throughout history, human beings have used different ways including arts to express their feelings and
thoughts. Painting art has served different purposes. It has been used a medium to portray sacred things or
to spend leisure time. Paintings can carry real and symbolic meanings. Sometimes they depict the reality
in the environment, and sometimes they present unrealistic events or have a symbolic meaning. Color as
the most important elements of the painting used in different ways to present a variety of concepts such as
death, immortality. Ancient Egypt is one of the greatest and rst civilizations of mankind from which many
archaeological works and artworks have remained.
Purpose: Previous research has analyzed the symbolic meaning of colors in the ancient Egyptian paintings
based on linguistics. So far no research has analyzed the symbolic meanings of colors and traced its origin in
the real environment. This paper is an attempt to analyze symbolic meanings of colors in ancient Egyptian
painting works.
• Methodology
Due to the presence of the gods in the ancient Egyptian paintings throughout history, we have analyzed the
colors in the image of the gods of ancient Egypt. To this purpose, after selecting the images of the gods,
the most important recurring elements (objects) and the main colors in the paintings were examined. The
meaning each of colors and their manifestation in the ancient Egyptian environment were analyzed. Finally,
to support our analysis, we searched for the evidence to show how concepts are presented in the colors
available in the paintings. As the death concept has received much attention from the ancient Egyptian
people, the paintings portraying the mummication rituals, mourning and judgment were analyzed.
Keywords
Color, artworks of ancient Egyptians, symbolic paintings.
*. M. A. student in Landscape Architecture, University of Tehran. mahda.foroughi@ut.ac.ir
**. Tehran University, Nazar research center. javadi1336@gmail.com
Persian translation of this paper entitled:


is also published in this issue of journal.

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Introduction
Ancient Egypt is one of the oldest human civilizations
from which artworks and paintings have remained. In
ancient Egypt, the color has been an integral part of life
and paintings. In ancient Egyptian paintings, the color
of everything is a clue and a sign of its true existence.
For example, the skin of Ra which is painted in blue
represents his cosmic features. The green skin of
Osiris shows his power over new life and resurrection
(Wilkinson, 2003). Paintings in ancient Egyptian
paintings have symbolic meanings. This is much true
when holy people and myths are portrayed. These
symbolic concepts have originated from the lives of
the ancient Egyptian people. In ancient Egypt, natural
elements such as the Nile River, the annual ood of
the Nile River and alluvial remnants of it on the lands
around the Nile River, the fertile lands around the Nile
River, the sun, the sky, and plants were important in
people’s lives. People attributed the myths and gods
to them because they were afraid of these elements of
nature or they showed respect for them. The color and
form of each god are tied up with the natural elements
attributed to it and also it is associated with the role
that god plays in people’s lives. For example, the Nile
River was a natural habitat for the Egyptian people.
That might explain why they created the god of the
annual ood of the Nile River (Hippies) and portrayed
him with a blue skin. Egyptian artists use mainly six
colors including green, red, yellow, blue, white and
black in their artworks (Schenkel, 2007). Colors are
often made from mineral compounds, and thus look
fresh. There are also four basic colors in ancient
Egyptian language, each of has a unique meaning. For
example, being green means revitalization. Based on
what has been discussed so far, the research questions
are as follows:
- What are the symbolic meanings of the colors used
in ancient Egyptian paintings?
- How are symbolic meanings of the colors associated
with its surrounding nature?
Literature review and theoretical foundation
A careful perusal of literature shows that less has
been documented on the symbolic meanings of colors
in ancient Egyptian artworks. Available literature
has rarely discussed this issue, or categorized the
concepts and supported their ndings with evidence.
Few studies have examined the concepts of the gods.
These studies have attempted to transiently attribute
the symbolic concepts to the colors. However,
they have barely supported their data with some
evidence. One of the most comprehensive references
on this area is the book “The Complete God and
Goddesses of Ancient Egypt” by Wilkinson (2003)
whose ideas have been referred to in the literature
pertinent to gods. Some studies have tried to establish
links between colors, symbolic concepts and their
meanings solely through linguistic discussions. Sapir
(1921) introduced a two-way relationship between
language and culture. This topic has been developed
by many theorists. In 1963, Schenkel stated that the
white, black, green and red colors are four symbolic
symbols in ancient Egyptian paintings.
In their language, there were only four colors terms.
In his view, all the colors t into one of these four
categories, for example
The blue color is the same as green color. In 1969,
Berlin and Kay introduced the theory of base color
terms1. According to this theory, the recognition of
colors is not a cultural but rather a morphological and
universal issue. In their view, the numbers of colors
known in ancient societies are limited and there
are xed rules for recognizing colors in the world.
Some linguistic scholars such as Hermann (1969)
and Brunner-Traut (1977) argue that there are no
symbolic meanings for colors in ancient Egyptian
paintings. They reject the theories of the four main
colors proposed by Schenkel and the base color terms
of Berlin and Kay. The most recent research on this
area is conducted by Schenkel (2007), who developed
its earlier theory on the recognition of only four colors
in ancient Egypt. He argues that although in ancient
Egyptian language there are only four colors terms,
yellow and blue are also recognized in paintings.
In supporting his argument, Schenkel says that
Azure and Gold not only have their own meanings,

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also are used to describe blue and yellow colors
respectively. In the ancient Egyptian language, for
explaining blue color, the sentences such as “Lapis
lazuli-like”is used. Schenkel also highlights that
examining the concepts of symbolic colors using the
linguistic approach has made this issue inconclusive.
In other words, from his point of view having access
to the comprehensive references plays a key role in
promoting the linguistics approach. However, due
to the absence of people with a great command of
ancient Egyptian language, the researchers have
barely reached the consensus on the concepts of
symbolic colors.
The colors and icons of the gods in the ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptian tended to objectify all the
phenomena, especially those regular natural forces
which were inuential in their lives. It is because
the reason explaining the order of nature and its
forces were mysterious to the people. Moreover, the
people’s lives were tied up with these forces, and
they had no control over them. To make the world
more understandable to them, they interpreted the
natural forces as the gods of the world around them.
For example, the annual oods were thought to
be as the God of heaven who pours water into the
Nile with a jug from above (Durant, 1370: 166). By
worshiping the gods and holding rituals for them,
they by some means communicated with these forces
and felt more secure. In Egyptian paintings, the gods
are the most symbolic beings. Ancient Egyptian
painters portrayed gods through the symbolic icons
and colors. In fact, each image has a lot of symbolic
interpretations. Due to large numbers of Egyptian
gods, we limited our research to gods who were
important to people and were believed to have a key
role in the people’s lives. We selected six important
gods of ancient Egypt who have a different role in
the lives of the people and then we analyzed them in
terms of meanings, icons, and colors.
Ra
The word Ra means the sun in the ancient Egyptian
language (Wilkinson, 2003). He is the creator of
the world and other gods from his generation. The
most common image of him is a man with a falcon
head who has a red disc (as a symbol of the sun) on
his head (Assmann, 2001; Hornung, 1982). In most
pictures, a cobra is wrapped around the disc. Wilson
(1946) and Wilkinson (2003) refer to the disc as a
symbol of power.
The skin usually has one of the following colors:
● Red: The sign of sun and symbol of strength and
victory
● Blue color: The sign of the sky and the place of
Ra, and symbol of divinity and supernaturalism
The ancient Egyptians believed that Ra lives in
the sky and travels around the sky during his day
(Wilkinson, 2003).
Anubis
In the third millennium BC, Anubis was the most
important god of the dead who was worshiped
as a god of mummies and the priests working as
embalmers (Assmann, 2001; Holland, 2009). He is
responsible for judging the dead and maintaining
the integrity of the dead in the transition to the
other world. In most paintings, Anubis has a
human body and his head is a combination of
a dog and a jackal and his skin is black such a
selection reects the ancient Egyptian painters’
belief in the relationship between the soul and the
body of beings (Redford, 2002); (Holland, 2009).
Sekhmet
In the ancient Egyptian language, the word Sekhmet
means the most powerful one (Holland, 2009). He
is the god of war and violence who blows re from
her mouth while ghting against her enemies. The
ancient Egyptians believed that hot and dry winds
of a desert are her breathing (Wilkinson, 2003). In
the ancient Egyptians paintings, she is depicted as
a lion- headed human in a red dress with a red disc
on her head. The most striking features of her are
power and violence. The use of the head of a lion,
the most powerful animal of the forest, can back up
our claim.

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Osiris
Osiris is the - lord of the underground world and the
god of death and eternity of the Egyptians (Assmann,
2001). Anything which is related to the underground
including land fertilization is at the disposal of the
Osiris (Redford, 2002; Holland, 2009). The amount
and the quality of land cultivation depend on his
benevolence and desire (Redford, 2002 Holland,
2009) He is depicted as a human gure in a white
shroud and his skin is painted in three following
colors:
White: The color of shrouds which is the dress of
people in Osiris’s land
Black: The symbol of after death life which means his
ruling on underground world
Green: The color of trees and agricultural crops
and it is a symbol of his power on fertilizing lands
the fruitfulness of agriculture. This color signies
revitalization
He almost had a crooked cane (the symbol of
sovereignty) and a thresher (the symbol of agriculture)
(Wilkinson, 2003) in his hands. These symbols also
highlight the role of Osiris in ruling the world of the
afterlife and fertilizing lands.
Hapy
He is the god of the annual ood of the Nile. The
ancient Egyptian associated ooding with the arrival
of Hapy. He is depicted as a man with a large stomach
and or with woman’s breasts. Such features are
symbols of fertility and the power of nutrition. In
those pictures, he is often watering plants or holding
trays lled with expensive food the symbols signify
the importance of its role in controlling the Nile and
inundation. His skin is often blue and in some of the
paintings, it has lines in the form of water waves
(Wilkins, 2003).
Based on what has been discussed so far about
the gods of ancient Egyptians, it is clear that the
ancient Egyptians embodied their gods based on the
inspiration provoked by the nature surrounding them,
and the colors attributed to them were derived from
the nature or from the nature- associated concepts
which were manifested in the form of the gods. The
information presented above is summarized in the
following table (Table 1).
Method
The research design of this study is qualitative.
This research mainly focuses on the image of the
gods in ancient Egypt. The reason is that theme of
gods has been present in ancient Egyptian paintings
throughout history. Each color represents a specic
meaning. We analyzed the symbolic meanings of
colors in ancient Egyptian painting works. Based on
the existing literature, six main colors were identied
in ancient Egyptian paintings were identied. To
this purpose, after selecting the images of the gods,
the most important recurring elements and the main
colors in the paintings were examined. The meaning
each of colors and their manifestations in the ancient
Egyptian environment were analyzed. Finally, to
support our analysis, we searched for the evidence
to show how concepts are presented in the colors
available in the paintings. As the death concept has
received much attention from the ancient Egyptian
people, the paintings portraying the mummication
rituals, mourning and judgment after death were
analyzed.
Findings
Based on the data presented in the previous section
and the lexical meanings of colors, we rst analyzed
the most important recurring elements in the available
paintings of ancient Egyptian and examined their main
colors. Then we searched for the important elements
of nature in the life of the ancient Egyptian people.
In so doing, we analyzed the symbolic meaning of
colors and showed their manifestations in nature.
Colors and their symbolic meanings in the ancient
Egyptian painting art
In ancient Egyptian paintings, the color of everything
is a clue and a sign of its true existence. Except
for some practical uses, colors in the art of ancient
Egyptian painting have symbolic connotations.
According to Schenkel (2007) and Baines (1985),

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there are six colors green, red, yellow, blue, white and
black in the paintings of Egyptian artists. Except for
blue and yellow colors, there are words for the rest
of the colors in the Ancient Egyptian language. The
symbolic meaning of each color in ancient Egyptian
art and its origin are presented in the following
paragraphs and analyzed.
Green (Wadj)
In the folk ancient Egyptian language, doing green
work means to prosper and to be fresh. Schenkel,
2007). The ancient Egyptians had many gods for
the abundance of agricultural products. The most
important of them are Tenten and Sobek which
both have green skins symbolizing the prosperity in
agriculture and its products. In some of the paintings,
Osiris and Anubis are also depicted with a green skin
symbolizing their role in the fertility of the earth and
resurrection. In the most paintings, in addition to gods
with green skins, plants and crops are displayed in
green. The primary sources of income for the ancient
Egyptians were agriculture and livestock. Such
sources were tied up with plants and land fertility.
The elements of nature were the source of the life
for the ancient Egyptian people and the natural green
elements had a great inuence on the people’s lives.
The prosperity in agriculture and the growth of trees
present the concept of revitalization, success, and
fruitfulness. Therefore, the symbolic meaning of
green is a rebirth and success.
Red (desher)
In the folk ancient Egyptian language doing red
work means being angry and victorious. (Schenkel,
2007). As mentioned in the previous section, among
the most important gods of ancient Egypt, Sekhmet
is depicted in red. The concepts of victory, war, and
violence are attributed to him. Also, the discs on the
heads of Sekhmet and Ra are depicted in red. In the
paintings, the eye of the god of the sun is shown in red
and generally, this color shows the god’s anger and
brilliance (Schenkel, 2007). The ancient Egyptians
believed that the eye was made of a red opal stone.
During the celebrations, the ancient Egyptians
also covered their bodies in red. Therefore, the red
color has been a symbol of violence, power, and
victory. In ancient Egyptian texts, deserts and gold
symbolize red. In these texts, many sentences, such
as red like gold (desert)” can be frequently observed
(Schenkel,2007). Generally, among the natural
Feature
Concepts symbolizing god
color
linguistics
meaning
the god's role
in nature
god
A sun disc on her head
the god of other deities: power
red
the sun
Ra
A head of a hawk
living in the sky:
supernaturalism
blue
A head of a jackal
the god of mummies and the
embalmers
black
death
Anubis
responsible for peoples'
resurrection
green
A sun disk on the head,
a head of a lion
The wild god of war and
violence
red
the powerful
one
war
Sekhmet
A Crooked
cane
The king of the afterlife
red
death
Osiris
white dress
the god of the dead in white
white
thrasher
Responsible for land’s fertility
and peoples' resurrection
green
A big belly and
woman's breasts
Responsible for the annual
flooding of the Nile
blue
The annual
flood of the
Nile
Hapy
Table 1. A summary of important gods, their gods, their roles, colors and the concepts symbolizing them. Source: authors.

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elements that affect the lives of Egyptians, the sun,
the desert, and gold are perceived as red.
All three elements are eternal and superior, and the
heat of the sun and desert dryness evoke a feeling of
violence.
White (hedj)
In the ancient Egyptian language, doing white work
means To shine and to become bright (Schenkel,
2007). Osiris is the god of the afterlife was often
depicted in this color. Other symbolic manifestation
of this color which frequently recurs in the ancient
Egyptian paintings include:
- White sandals in the sacred ceremony
- White colored elements and ritual objects such as
ceremonial bowls and even dining tables in Memphis
The shroud of mummies and the dresses of the dead
The color of “Nefer”, the crown of Upper Egypt, is
white, although it is probably made of green straw.
In this way, white is used for the concepts of rebirth
afterlife and sacredness. The most important element
of white color is the ancient Egyptians day and its
brightness. The ancient Egyptians believed that Ra
sails across the heavens every day in his ship and he
dies at night and goes to the underground world to be
reborn next day. Thus, the day signies the concept
of revitalization.
Black (kem)
In the ancient Egyptian language, doing black means
revitalization (Schenkel, 2007). Among the gods,
Osiris, the king of the afterlife, is called “black”.
Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, who supported the
cemetery, was also usually depicted with black skin.
Anubis, the mummy god was depicted black jackal or
dog-headed even though jackals and dogs are usually
brown. In ancient Egypt, the concepts of death and
revitalization are not separate, and these two concepts
are juxtaposed, and black is used for both concepts.
From the viewpoint of the ancient Egyptian people,
the most striking natural black element are the night,
and the annual the alluviums of the annual ood
of Nile. As it mentioned before, the night for them
reected the death concept for his resurrection next
day. In the ancient Egypt, alluvial remnants from the
annual oods re-fertilized the land and brought about
the prosperity in agriculture. That’s why it signies
the concept of revitalization.
Yellow
As previously described, there is a lot of doubt if the
Egyptian people could have distinguished the yellow
color from red because there are no words for these
colors. Moreover, they perceived the desert, the gold,
and the sun as red. However, with reference to the
research carried out by Schenkel, (2007) and Baines
(1985), we examined this color separately. The
ancient Egyptians believed that the skin and bones of
the gods were made of gold. Therefore, the statues
of gods and masks of mummies were often made of
gold or gold plated. The most prominent elements
in the ancient Egyptian paintings were yellow, for
instance, the bones of the gods of mummies. Also,
the background of many paintings, especially those
related to the afterlife, is depicted in this color. This
color signies the immortality of the afterlife because
the ancient Egyptian people view the world after
death eternal and superior to this world. Among the
elements of nature, the sun and gold, both are yellow
and signify the immortality and eternity of the other
world.
Blue
There is a lot of doubt if the Egyptian people could have
distinguished the yellow color from with reference to
the recurring elements or objects in this color in the
ancient Egyptian paintings and explanations provided
by Schenkel( 2007) and Baines (1985), we analyzed
this color. Among the most important gods in ancient
Egypt, Hapy , the god of annual ood, is depicted in
blue. In some of these paintings, lines in the form of
water waves are also visible on his skin. His falcon
head and his blue hair symbolize his heavenly and
supernatural role in the creation of the universe.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the hair of the
gods was made of an azure stone, a blue stone. The

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blue color has the concepts of the Nile River and the
supernaturalism. The most effective natural elements
on the lives of ancient Egyptians, the sky, and the
Nile, are blue. The sky is a supernatural and terrestrial
space. The Nile River has been the source of life for
the ancient Egyptian people and has been the factor for
their agricultural prosperity. Therefore, the blue color
indicates the Nile inundation and its supernaturalism.
Discussion
The paintings of the ancient Egyptians’ can fall into
two categories.
1. The pictures—depicting a routine daily life
of people, livestock, agriculture, and harvesting.
2. The pictures depicting gods and their
legends.
The rst group of ancient Egyptian paintings contains
real elements. Usually no symbolic art can be seen
in these pictures. As it is shown in Figure 8, all
elements of the image, such as proportions, colors,
and people are real.
In this image, colors, proportions and elements are all
in accordance with reality and no symbolic elements
can be seen (Fig. 1, 2).
As can be seen picture 2, there are lots of unreal
objects unrealistic colors
To support our analysis, we provide some evidence
to show how concepts are presented in the colors
available in the paintings. The most important
concept in the life of ancient Egyptians is afterlife.
This is manifested in the architecture of their
monuments which has superiority over the
architecture of the palaces and houses.
As many of their paintings are also about death and
afterlife, we choose those images representing this
recurring theme to examine how colors reect the
concepts.
Mummication and mourning ceremony
The following pictures show the mummication
ceremony throughout the history of ancient Egypt.
The dominant and common colors of these paintings
are white, golden and black, which signify immortality
and afterlife concepts. The black head of Anubis and
yellow bones of gods are also recurring elements
which signify the concepts of death and immortality
respectively.
As can be seen in the following picture, the color of the
mummy and Anubis skin, divine beings, are golden,
Fig. 1. The Image of a daily life of people. Source: Marie & Hagen, 1999: 171.

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Fig. 2. The Image of the Day of Judgment. Source: http://www.crystalinks.comegyptart.html
while the skin color of the priest and the mourning
women are brown and pinkish. As discussed earlier,
gold and yellow colors are the symbols of immortality.
As can be seen, the symbolic meaning of yellow is
used in this image. The blue hair of Anubis and
mummy represents its cosmic features. The dress of
mourning women and the priests are white. This color
represents sacred rituals and ceremonies (Fig. 3, 4).
In the following picture, the yellow bones and blue
hairs can be seen.
The prevailing colors in picture 5 are white, black and
yellow like the other paintings (Fig. 5).
The Judgment after death
The picture below shows the afterlife and the Day
Fig. 3. Anubis is embalming one of Egyptian pharaohs. Source: Oakes & Gahlin, 2003: 419.

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Fig. 4. The mummication ceremony of one of the pharaohs by Anubis. Source: http://www.robinurton.comhistoryancientegypt.htm
Fig. 5. The mummication ceremony of one of the pharaohs by Anubis. Source: Marie & Hagen, 1999: 140.

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Fig. 6. Weighing peoples’ heart on the Judgment Day in the underground world. Source: Oakes & Gahlin, 2003: 395.
of Judgment. Osiris is sitting on the judgment board
on the right side of the image and Anubis is the one
on the left side of the image judging the dead and
weighing their hearts. The background color of the
image is yellow. This color signies the immorality
of the other world. The skins of the gods are golden,
white or green, but ordinary people have red pale
skins and wear white dresses. The skin color of the
gods, symbolize the life, while the skin color of the
people is not symbolic, as in all the images, the skin
colors of men and women are red or pale red. But the
clothes of men are also white (Fig. 6).
After analyzing the data, most key elements of nature
in the life of ancient Egyptians emerged.
We also found that the ancient Egyptians attributed
the gods to these elements of nature either because
of the fear of these elements or respect. In Table 2,
summarizes the manifestation of each color in nature,
the symbolic stones for each color, as well as the
lexical and symbolic meanings of the colors.
Symbolic
meanings
Lexical
meanings
Stone god
the manifestation of the
color in nature
color
renascence,
prosperity
to prosper, to
be fresh
Turquoise11
Osiris, Sobek,
Tanten
plants and agriculture crops green
power, victory,
violence
violence,
victory
Agate12 Ra, Sekhmet the sun, desert, gold red
resurrection,
holiness
resurrection,
to shine
Osiris daylight white
resurrection, death
renascence
Osiris, Anubis
alluvium, night
black
immortality
kings' bones
the sun, gold
yellow
Sacredness and
inundation of the
Nile
Azure Hapy, Ra, gods'
hair the sky, the Nile blue
Table 2. A summary of the colors, their symbolic meanings and their reference in nature. Source: authors.

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Conclusion
The ancient Egyptian tended to objectify all the phenomena, especially those natural forces which were
inuential in their lives. It is because the reason explaining the order of nature and its forces were mysterious
to the people. Moreover, the people’s lives were tied up with these forces, and they had no control over them.
To make the world more understandable to them, they interpreted the natural forces as the gods of the world
around them.
Thus the colors attributed to the gods were derived from nature or from nature- associated concepts which
were manifested in the form of the gods. Also, understanding colors helps to understand nature. The natural
elements with distinct colors inuencing the lives of the ancient Egyptian people would have been a factor
contributing to the formation of concepts and their attributed colors. The results of the study showed that
ancient Egyptian painters used the six main colors in the paintings to express their desired concepts. The
symbolic meaning of these colors and their natural origin can be summarized as follows:
Blue is the color of the sky and the Nile and symbolizes the inundation of the Nile River and supernaturalism.
Green is the color of plants and agricultural crops, and symbolizes the rebirth and the prosperity in agriculture.
Red is, the color of the sun, the gold and the desert, and the symbol of power, victory and violence.
White is the color of the day and the sunlight and symbol of afterlife, sanctity, purity and purity. Black is the
color of alluvial remnants of the annual ood of the Nile and the night and symbol of rebirth.
Yellow, is the color of the sun and gold, and it is a symbol of immortality. Thus, in general, the symbolic
meanings of colors in the paintings of Egyptian people derive from the sun, the Nile, alluvium, agricultural
products, night and sky which were the most important elements of nature for the people.
Endnote
1. BCT: Base Color Term
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