Scarab (artifact)

A scarab is a type of beetle-shaped relic that had special significance among the ancient Egyptians. It is a representation of the scarab beetle (Scarabaeus sacer), a type of dung beetle native to Egypt. This insect is known for creating rounded balls of dung that it rolls to its nest and eats over an extended period. Scarabs also lay eggs in the center of these balls so that the larvae have a ready food source at birth. To the Egyptians, the sudden emergence of these insects from dung—fully formed as if from nothing—recalled their creation myths. They viewed the beetle as being reborn in their dung balls. As a result, the Egyptians associated these behaviors with the cycle of life and rebirth.

Scarabs assumed a key symbolic role in Egyptian culture. They were typically depicted on amulets, seals, and hieroglyphs. Egyptians from all social classes carried a scarab emblem in life and then were buried with one in death. As such, they are among the most common artifacts found in archaeological excavations. Many examples are inscribed with names, which can be valuable in identifying the remains in gravesites.

Background

Scarabs had been ascribed with great significance even prior to the Egyptians. Ancient pendants depicting the scarab have been found dating back to the Paleolithic era ten to twenty thousand years ago. In early human history, these insects were an important food source. In addition, their ability to fly may have recalled the capacity of shamans to enter a dream state and soar to other states of existence. Beetles had other desirable traits. The metallic sheen of their shells and unusual shapes gave them a conspicuous appearance. Their shells and other body parts were sometimes used in art.

The first appearances of scarabs in North African art occurred during the prehistoric era of Egyptian history. Stone pendants designed to resemble scarabs were found in archaeological digs dating to the early first dynasty (approximately 3000 BCE). One example of a small alabaster case that hung from a necklace may have been designed to hold a real scarab beetle. Early depictions of the scarab may have been representations of Scarabaeus aegyptiorum, a species of scarab with a deep red metallic shell.

Starting in about 2000 BCE, scarabs took on greater religious significance. The Egyptian word for beetle was kheprer, which meant to come into existence. This reflected the belief of Egyptians that scarabs were responsible for their own creation. The Egyptians associated the scarab with Khepri (or Khepera), an incarnation of the sun god Ra. As the scarab shaped its dung balls into round objects that it rolled along the desert floor, the Egyptians saw this as representative of the similarly shaped sun that moved across the sky every day. Khepri was thus depicted as a beetle-headed man or wholly as a scarab beetle. Khepri was tasked with the movement of the morning sun. Khepri's primary site of worship occurred at the city of On, which the Greeks called Heliopolis—the city of the sun. The worship of the sun was an important part of the Egyptian cosmology. The Great Sphinx of Giza was constructed to face the morning sun, for instance.

Initially, Khepri was depicted as rolling the sun over the horizon before burying it at sunset. In this incarnation, he reputedly dug the sun up each morning like a beetle and buried it at night, a process he repeated daily. Over time, his importance diminished and he instead became part of a triad of related deities responsible for moving the sun from east to west. In this incarnation, Khepri controlled the morning sun, Ra the afternoon sun, and Atum (or Tem)—another aspect of Ra—the evening sun. Over the course of the day, Ra underwent a complete cycle of life and death. He was born as the self-creating scarab, morphed into Ra in his mature form, and ended the day as Atum, who had associations with the afterlife and was sometimes shown with the head of a ram. Some depictions of a ram-headed scarab were meant to invoke this full cycle of the sun's daily trek across the sky. Another later incarnation of this cycle depicted Khepri as the morning sun, Horus as the midday sun, and Horus's son Osiris as the setting sun. Images associated with this incarnation showed a scarab with a falcon's wings, legs, and tail. The sun itself was sometimes depicted as a scarab.

Overview

Scarabs were used for a variety of functions in ancient Egyptian society. The most common depiction of the scarab was in jewelry. Most frequently, it was used in pendants that served as talismans to protect the wearer. These pendants were rounded on one side and shaped like a beetle. On examples that are more detailed, the flat bottom side was engraved with the name and title of the bearer or with a short prayer. Scarab pendants were made from a variety of materials, including stones such as diorite, limestone, and steatite; semiprecious gemstones like amethyst, carnelian, green feldspar, and jasper; precious materials like gold; and faience, a type of fired ceramic developed by the Egyptians.

They were also used in funeral rites. In such cases, they were composed of green stone, faience, or gold. These funerary scarabs were usually depicted with a set of falcon's wings. A heart scarab was placed on a chain around a deceased person's neck. These pendants were intended to both serve as a symbolic representation of the potential for resurrection and to defend the deceased when the soul was judged before entering the realm of the dead. In this ritual, the heart was weighed against the feather of truth by the gods. If the feather was shown to be heavier, the soul was destroyed. These amulets were often inscribed with a spell from the Egyptian Book of the Dead to offer further protection. Some of the most famous examples of these amulets were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Scarabs appear in other forms in ancient Egyptian art. At the Valley of the Kings, one hieroglyph depicts a scarab pulling the sun from the sands and carrying it across the desert. At the Temple of Karnak near Luxor, there stands a large red granite statue of a scarab. It was dedicated by Amenhotep III in the fourteenth century BCE to the god Khepri. On the front of the statue is a stela showing Amenhotep III making offerings to Atum and noting its dedication to Khepri. Another large statue made of green diorite stretching 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length was made between approximately 399 and 300 BCE.

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