Decorated eggs have become integral to the celebration of Easter today. The tradition of painting and decorating eggs pre-dates Christianity. Not only the Egyptians, but also the Greeks, Persians, and Romans decorated their eggs. Ostrich eggs were used as perfume containers, food containers, containers for water or milk, drinking cups, and bowls. The ancient Libyans offered ostrich eggs to the Egyptian pharaoh as items of tribute. Babylonian and Assyrian texts record its medicinal as well as its magical values. Ostrich eggs were used for religious purposes and were a symbol of fertility and prosperity. Eggs were offered in an­cient Greek sanctuaries and empty ostrich eggshells  were placed in graves as early as the 5th millen­nium B.C. Ostrich eggs also feature as symbols of resurrection on tombs found in Coptic churches in Egypt. Goblets fashioned from griffin eggs (actually ostrich eggs) were highly prized in medieval European courts. Magical eggs are guarded by dragons, and from eggs…