Introduction
Alabaster name may derive further from the Ancient Egyptian word alabaste, which refers to vessels of the Egyptian goddess Bast, who was represented as a lioness and frequently depicted as such when placed atop these alabaster vessels.
It has been suggested that the name was derived from the town of Alabaster on in
Egypt, while an arabic etymological origin has also been suggested by Harrell, 1990
[1]. Travertine also is commonly referred to as alabaster in the Egyptological literature, with this term being derived from alabastrites, the ancient Roman name for the stone [2]. The technically correct name for the Egyptian stone is "travertine" and its dense, non-porous character classifies it as the sub-variety "calcareous sinter". It is very different from the spongy-looking, highly porous "calcareous tufa" from near Tivoli, Italy, which is more closely associated with the name
"travertine" in the minds of many archaeologists and art historians. Egyptian travertine is also referred to by some scholars as Egyptian or Oriental (as opposed to true) alabaster, "calcitealabaster" or simply "calcite" [3]. In ancient Egypt alabaster is one of the stone most employed in subsidiary building
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materials, also one of the main status symbols as presents of the pharaohs to the gods or to other king, It was popular in ancient Egypt for funerary vessels to contain the viscera of mummies and with the Etruscans for vases, urns, and ornaments. In early dynastic times the