Lapis lazuli is a rare opaque blue stone. The darker the blue, the greater the quality. The word lapis comes from the Latin word for stone. Lazuli means blue and comes from Sanskrit by way of Persian to Arabic to Latin. It was first mined in the Indus Valley in what is now northern Afghanistan (known in ancient times as Bactria) around 7000 BC. Lapis from Afghanistan is still considered the finest quality even to this day. Lapis was subsequently traded to other places where it was prized for its beauty and rarity and available only to the nobility. Carvings made of lapis were found in burial tombs of the royalty of ancient Sumer, the first historical civilization in Mesopotamia. The ancient Egyptian royalty owned jewelry made of lapis which they imported from Bactria . They ground up lapis to make paint and cosmetics. Medieval artists also used lapis to make a bright blue color for their paintings.
The lapis ring pictured above can be found at METAL JEWELRY SHAPER
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