MoBW - Collections > Toilette > Bone Kohl Tube with Bronze Applicator

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Holy Land ca. First Millennium B.C.E.
Slender decorated ivory or bone tube used as a container for Kohl, and ancient eye makeup, with bronze applicator.
Woman of ancient times like those of today wanted to enhance their beauty, with their eyes given special attention. To make their eyes look sultry and large, they would use a product much like mascara of our day. It was called Kohl and was carried in tubes of various types. An applicator was used to paint the Kohl on the eyes similar to the modern use of Q-tips. The black Kohl would appear to enlarge the eyes to make them more attractive. The wicked queen Jezebel, wife of King Ahab of Israel, at 2 Kings 9:30, it tells us that ''Jezebel heresy... proceeded to paint her eyes with black paint, (Kohl) and to do her head up beautifully and to look down through the window.'' This did not impress Jehu and he commanded that she be dropped from her window. As she fell in the street below, dogs came and ate up her body as Jehovah had decreed!

Š2001-2002 Museum of Biblical World

Collections > Toilette > Bone Kohl Tube with Bronze Applicator	< Previous \| Next >


Holy Land ca. First Millennium B.C.E. Slender decorated ivory or bone tube used as a container for Kohl, and ancient eye makeup, with bronze applicator. Woman of ancient times like those of today wanted to enhance their beauty, with their eyes given special attention. To make their eyes look sultry and large, they would use a product much like mascara of our day. It was called Kohl and was carried in tubes of various types. An applicator was used to paint the Kohl on the eyes similar to the modern use of Q-tips. The black Kohl would appear to enlarge the eyes to make them more attractive. The wicked queen Jezebel, wife of King Ahab of Israel, at 2 Kings 9:30, it tells us that ''Jezebel heresy... proceeded to paint her eyes with black paint, (Kohl) and to do her head up beautifully and to look down through the window.'' This did not impress Jehu and he commanded that she be dropped from her window. As she fell in the street below, dogs came and ate up her body as Jehovah had decreed!