corresponds to the Egyptian, for the word _azure_ is derived from
_lazulum_.
Ancients and modern differ greatly, as is well known, from each other as
to the impressions derived from colour. It seems strange to read in the
tale of the _Destruction of Mankind_ that the ‘hair of Râ was of real
_chesbet_,’ that is ‘dark blue.’ But we have an exact parallel to this
in Greek. Κύανος is _lapis lazuli_ in Theophrastus, who even mentions
the artificial lapis made in Egypt. But in the Homeric poems the hair of
Hector (_Il._, 22, 401), and the hair and beard of Odysseus (_Od._, 16,
176), as well as the eyebrows of Zeus (_Il._,1, 528; 17, 209) are
described as κυάνεαι.
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