Egypt & Near East
Solar Barque of Ra
Solar Barque of Ra
Crossing the sky by day and the underworld by night, it makes the sun rise again.
MountFirst recorded c. 2400 BCE
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Photograph: A gold ring from Iraq of the twelfth to thirteenth century. The hexagonal bezel is pierced with vines and script-like patterns, and animal-shaped ornaments sit on its shoulders.
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1,140 × 893 PX1140×893
ArchiveEgypt & Near East · Jewel
Ring of the Jinn
Ring of the Jinn
Rub it and the jinni of the ring appears to grant your wishes.
- Owner
- Aladdin
- Maker
- Unknown
- First record
- Galland, French Thousand and One Nights1712
- Gallery
- Egypt & Near East
Notes on the photograph 3
Story
In Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, the wicked sorcerer sends Aladdin into a cave to fetch a lamp and puts a ring on him for protection. When Aladdin will not hand over the lamp first, the sorcerer seals the cave entrance.
Wringing his hands in the dark, Aladdin rubs the ring, and the jinni of the ring appears and asks what he desires. Thanks to this jinni, Aladdin gets out of the cave and returns home.
Weaker than the jinni of the lamp, the jinni of the ring still carried Aladdin to the princess when the sorcerer later stole away the whole palace. This story too was told to Galland by Hanna Diyab and added to the Thousand and One Nights.
The object in the photo
The photograph shows Ring(Iraq, 12th–13th century), a real museum object that evokes the legendary artifact.
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