Scarab (artifact)

Scarabs were popular amulets and impression seals in ancient Egypt. They survive in large numbers and, through their inscriptions and typology, they are an important source of information for archaeologists and historians of the ancient world. They also represent a significant body of ancient art.

Commemorative Marriage Scarab for Queen Tiye from Amenhotep III. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

For reasons that are not clear (although likely connected to the religious significance of the Egyptian god Khepri), amulets in the form of scarab beetles had become enormously popular in Ancient Egypt by the early Middle Kingdom (approx. 2000 BCE) and remained popular for the rest of the pharaonic period and beyond. During that long period the function of scarabs repeatedly changed. Primarily amulets, they were also inscribed for use as personal or administrative seals or were incorporated into jewelry. Some scarabs were created for political or diplomatic purposes to commemorate or advertise royal achievements. By the early New Kingdom, heart scarabs had become part of the battery of amulets protecting mummies.

From the middle Bronze Age, other ancient peoples of the Mediterranean and the Middle East imported scarabs from Egypt and also produced scarabs in Egyptian or local styles, especially in the Levant.

Scarabs are a common counterfeit product of present day forgers.[1]

Description
Scarabs are usually identified as the dung beetle Scarabaeus sacer, here rolling a ball of dung.

Scarabs were produced in vast numbers for many centuries and many thousands have survived. They were generally intended to be worn or carried by the living. They were typically carved or moulded in the form of a scarab beetle (usually identified as Scarabaeus sacer) with varying degrees of naturalism but usually at least indicating the head, wing case and legs but with a flat base. The base was usually inscribed with designs or hieroglyphs to form an impression seal. Scarabs were usually drilled from end to end to allow them to be strung on a thread or incorporated into a swivel ring. The common length for standard scarabs is between 6 mm and 40 mm and most are between 10 mm and 20 mm. Larger scarabs were made from time to time for particular purposes (such as the commemorative scarabs of Amenhotep III). Heart scarabs (typically 50 mm to 90 mm long, made of dark hardstone and not pierced for suspension) were made for a specific funerary purpose and should be considered separately.

Scarabs were generally either carved from stone or moulded from Egyptian faience. Once carved, they would typically be glazed blue or green and then fired. The most common stone used for scarabs was a form of steatite, a soft stone which becomes hard when fired (forming enstatite). Hardstone scarabs were also made and the stones most commonly used were green jasper, amethyst and carnelian.

While the majority of scarabs would originally have been green or blue the coloured glazes used have often either become discoloured or have been lost, leaving most steatite scarabs appearing white or brown. Scarabs were often of very light color.

Religious significance of the scarab beetle

In ancient Egyptian religion, the god Ra is seen to roll the sun across the sky each day, transforming bodies and souls. Beetles of the family Scarabaeidae (dung beetle) roll dung into a ball.[lower-alpha 1] Because of its symbolically similar action, the scarab was seen as a reflection the heavenly cycle, and as representing the idea of rebirth or regeneration.

The Egyptian god Khepri, Ra as the rising sun, was often depicted as a scarab beetle or as a scarab beetle-headed man. The ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri renewed the sun every day, before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it through the other world after sunset, only to renew it again on the next day. A golden scarab of Nefertiti was discovered in the Uluburun wreck.[2]

Historical development
Scaraboid seals are small impression seals, some 1.5 cm long.

By the end of the First Intermediate Period (about 2055 BCE) scarabs had become extremely common.[3] They largely replaced cylinder seals and circular "button seals" with simple geometric designs.[4] Throughout the period in which they were made, scarabs were often engraved with the names of pharaohs and other royal persons. In the Middle Kingdom scarabs were also engraved with the names and titles of officials and used as official seals.[5] From the New Kingdom scarabs bearing the names and titles of officials became rarer, while scarabs bearing the names of gods, often combined with short prayers or mottos, like "With Ra behind there is nothing to fear" became more popular. These "wish" scarabs are often difficult to translate.

Commemorative scarabs

Amenhotep III (immediate predecessor of Akhenaten) is famous for having commemorative scarabs made. These were large (mostly between 3.5 cm and 10 cm long) and made of steatite. They are beautifully crafted scarabs, apparently created under royal supervision or control and carry lengthy inscriptions describing one of five important events in his reign (and all of which mention his queen, Tiye). More than 200 examples have survived and they have been found in locations that suggest they were sent out as royal gifts/propaganda in support of Egyptian diplomatic activities. These large scarabs continued and developed an earlier Eighteenth Dynasty tradition of making scarabs celebrating specific royal achievements, such as the erection of obelisks at major temples during the reign of Thuthmosis III. The tradition was revived centuries later during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, when the Kushite pharaoh Shabaka (721-707 BCE) had large scarabs made commemorating his victories in imitation of those produced for Amenhotep III.[6][7][8]

Funerary scarabs
Two heart scarabs beside Queen Mernua's coffin.

Although scarab amulets were sometimes placed in tombs as part of the deceased's personal effects or as jewelry, generally they have no particular association with ancient Egyptian funerary practices. There are, however, three types of specifically funerary scarabs, heart scarabs, pectoral scarabs and naturalistic scarabs.

Scarab with Separate Wings, ca. 712-342 B.C.E., 49.28a-c, Brooklyn Museum

Heart scarabs became popular in the early New Kingdom and remained in use until the Third Intermediate Period. They are large scarabs (typically 4 cm-12 cm long) often made from dark green or black stone and are not pierced for suspension. The base of a heart scarab was usually carved, either directly or on a gold plate fixed to the base, with hieroglyphs which name the deceased and repeat some or all of spell 30B from the Book of the Dead. The spell commands the deceased's heart (typically left in the mummy's chest cavity, unlike the other viscera) not to give evidence against the deceased, when the deceased is being judged by the gods of the underworld. It is often suggested that the heart is being commanded not to give false evidence but the opposite may be true. The Book of the Dead requires the heart scarab to be made of green nemehef stone but a variety of green or dark coloured stones were used.[9] Heart scarabs were often hung around the mummy's neck with a gold wire and the scarab itself was held in a gold frame.

From the Twenty-fifth Dynasty onwards large (typically 3 cm-8 cm long) relatively flat uninscribed pectoral scarabs were sewn, via holes formed at the edge of the scarab, onto the chests of mummies, together with a pair of separately made outstretched wings. These were mainly made from faience and glazed blue. The association of pectoral scarabs appears to be with the god Khepri, who is often depicted in the same form.

A third kind of funerary scarab is the naturalistic scarab. These were relatively small scarabs (typically 2 cm to 3 cm long) made from a wide variety of hardstones and faience and are distinguished from other scarabs by having naturalistic carved "3D" bases, which often also include an integral suspension loop running widthways. Groups of these funerary scarabs, often made from different materials, formed part of the battery of amulets which protected mummies in the Late Period.[10]

When a person died and went to their final judgement, the gods of the underworld would ask many detailed and intricate questions which had to be answered precisely and ritually, according to the Book of the Dead. Since many people of those days were illiterate, even placing a copy of this scroll in their coffin would not be enough to protect them from being sent to Hell for giving a wrong answer. As a result, the priests would read the questions and their appropriate answers to the beetle, which would then be killed, mummified, and placed in the ear of the deceased. When the gods then asked their questions, the ghostly scarab would whisper the correct answer into the ear of the supplicant, who could then answer the gods wisely and correctly.[11]

Scarabs with royal names
Two sides of a scarab inscribed with the name of Senwosret II

Scarabs are often found inscribed with the names of pharaohs and more rarely with the names of their queens and other members of the royal family. Generally, the better established and longer reigning a king was, the more scarabs are found bearing one or more of his names.

Most scarabs bearing a royal name can reasonably be dated to the period in which the person named lived. However, there are a number of important exceptions.

Scarabs are found bearing the names of pharaohs of the Old Kingdom (particularly of well-known kings such as Khufu, Khafre and Unas). It is now believed these were produced in later periods, most probably during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty or Twenty-sixth Dynasty, when there was considerable interest in and imitation of the works of great kings of the past.

Scarabs are also found in vast numbers which appear to bear the throne name of the New Kingdom king Thuthmosis III (1504–1450 BCE) Men Kheper Re ("the appearance of Ra is established"). Many of these scarabs do date from the long and successful reign of this great warrior pharaoh, or shortly thereafter but many, perhaps the majority, probably do not. Like all pharaohs, Thuthmosis was regarded as a god after his death. Unlike most pharaohs his cult, centered on his mortuary temple, seems to have continued for years, if not centuries. As a result, many scarabs bearing the inscription Men Kheper Re are likely to commemorate Thuthmosis III but may have been produced hundreds of years later. Later pharaohs adopted the same throne name (including Piye of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, 747–716 BCE) and this can lead to confusion. The hieroglyphs making Men Kheper Re seem to have become regarded as a protective charm in themselves and were inscribed on scarabs without any specific reference to Thuthmosis III. It can be doubted that in many cases the carver understood the meaning of the inscription but reproduced it blindly. On a lesser scale the same may be true of the throne name of Rameses II (1279–1212 BCE) User Maat Re ("the justice of Ra is powerful"), which is commonly found on scarabs which otherwise do not appear to date from his reign.

The birth names of pharaohs were also popular names among private individuals and so, for example, a scarab simply bearing the name "Amenhotep" need not be associated with any particular king who also bore that name.

The significance of a scarab bearing a royal name is unclear and probably changed over time and from scarab to scarab. Many may simply have been made privately in honour of a ruler during or after his lifetime. Some may also have been royal gifts. In some cases scarabs with royal names may have been official seals or badges of office, perhaps connected with the royal estates or household, others, although relatively few, may have been personal seals owned by the royal individual named on them. As the king fulfilled many different roles in ancient Egyptian society, so scarabs naming a pharaoh may have had a direct or indirect connection with a wide range of private and public activities.

Scarab rings
Main article: Scarab ring

From the late old kingdom onwards Scarab rings developed from scarabs tied to the fingers with threads through full rings with Scarab bezels in the middle kingdom to rings with cast Scarabs in the new kingdom.[1]

  • P.G. Wodehouse's first Blandings novel — Something Fresh (1915) — involves the pilfering of a rare Egyptian scarab (a "Cheops of the Fourth Dynasty") as a key plot device.
  • In the British crime novelist Dorothy L. Sayers` novel Murder Must Advertise a scarab, catapulted, is the murder weapon.
  • The rock band Journey uses various types of scarabs as their main logo and in the cover art of the albums Departure, Captured, Escape, Greatest Hits, Arrival, Generations, Revelation, and The Essential Journey
  • The Egyptian death metal band Scarab takes their name from these artifacts.
  • The Dutch print-maker, M. C. Escher (1898–1972) created a wood engraving in 1935 depicting two scarabs or dung beetles.
  • In Stephen Sommers' The Mummy (1999), the scarab is used as a deadly, ancient, beetle that eats the internal and external organs, killing whom ever it comes into contact with.
  • In The Twilight Zone episode Queen of the Nile season 5, episode 23 (1964), the main character Pamela Morris has an ancient scarab beetle amulet that can drain the youth of anyone she places it on, enabling her to remain young forever. Ms. Morris tells her final victim that she got it from "the pharaohs, who understood its power."
  • In Disney's animated movie Aladdin, the location of the Cave of Wonders is revealed when two halves of a scarab beetle are joined together.
  • Scarabs are used as the monetary unit of planet Dinosaur Planet in the 2002 video game Star Fox Adventures.
  • Scarabs appear in droves in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. They deal damage to Lara Croft throughout the game.

Scarabs showing top and inscriptions

See also

Footnotes
  1. The dung ball serves as food and as a brood chamber in which to lay eggs; this way, the larvae hatch and are immediately surrounded by food.

References
  1. Aldred, Cyril (1971). Jewels of the Pharaohs Egyptian Jewellery of the Dynastic Period. Thames and Hudson. pp. 160–161. ISBN 0500231389.
  2. Burlingame, Liz (23 Aug 2013). "Sunken Treasures: The world's most valuable shipwreck discoveries". The Weather Channel.
  3. Daphna Ben-Tor: Scarabs, A Reflection of Ancient Egypt, Jerusalem 1989 ISBN 965-278-083-9, p. 8
  4. Ward, William. "Beetles in Stone: The Egyptian Scarab". Manufacture. The Biblical Archaeologist. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  5. Ben-Tor, Daphna (1989). Scarabs, A Reflection of Ancient Egypt. Jerusalem. p. 8. ISBN 965-278-083-9.
  6. "ROM Images". rom.on.ca.
  7. Evans, Elaine. "The Sacred Scarab". McClung Museum. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  8. Ward, John. The Sacred Beetle: A Popular Treatise on Egyptian Scarabs in Art and History. London: John Murray Co. 1902.
  9. Andrews, p.56ff
  10. Andrews, p.59
  11. John Ward. The Sacred Beetle: A Popular Treatise on Egyptian Scarabs in Art and History. London: John Murray Co. 1902.

Sources
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