Lapis Lazuli is a beautiful deep blue stone, although its exact color varies because it is a mixture of minerals whose proportions vary. It has been known since ancient times, its name coming from a Persian word lazhward meaning blue, and its historical source being high in the Badakhshan mountains in north-eastern Afghanistan where it has been worked for over 6,000 years. It is opaque and slightly soft, therefore is almost always cut en cabochon, or as beads, rather than being facetted. It was also in ancient times sometimes called sapphirus, meaning blue. The word lapis is latin meaning stone.