Lapis Lazuli was so named by the Ancient Romans who called it simply “Stone Blue”. Lapis is one of the two rocks of the gemstone world, the other being Turquoise. Most gemstones are crystalline (Ruby, Diamond, Garnet, Peridot etc etc); there are also a number of non-crystalline “organics” such as Coral, Pearl, Amber.
Main sources for Lapis Lazuli are Afghanistan and Chile; in the Ancient World there was only the Afghanistan material available, and it was, and still is, prized for its use ornamentally and in jewellery, and found its way three thousand years ago to Ancient Egypt, all the way from the fastness of its source in the north-east of what is now called Afghanistan.