Scarab Beetle One of the most important symbols in the history of ancient

Egyptian civilization is the Egyptian Scarab Beetle which was featured in Egyptian art,

iconography, and ancient Egyptian religion. It represented life, regeneration,

resurrection. Everything began when the beetle rolled its dung into a ball

and laid its eggs in it which the dung acted as food for the young when they

hatch which acts as perfect imagery of life rising from death. The symbol became

directly associated with the divine manifestation of the sun god Khepri the assistant

of Ra who rolls the morning sun disk over the eastern horizon at daybreak.

The scarab hieroglyph refers to the ideas of existence, manifestation, development,

effectiveness, growth, and divine manifestation.

The Egyptian Scarab Beetle was carved from stone or molded from Egyptian faience,

they would first be carved from glazed blue or green then fired up.

A soft stone called Steatite that hardened when fired called steatite.

The most common scarabs were the hardstone made from amethyst, green jasper, and carnelian.

The beetle symbol came in the shape of an amulet that existed throughout

all the periods of ancient Egypt when it first appeared in the late Egypt old

Kingdom (2575-2130 BC) as they evolved from what known as button

seals. They were extremely rare but by the time of Egypt middle kingdom

(1938 1630 BC), there created in great numbers where they

used as ornaments and an amulet especially in Egypt new kingdom

(1539-1075 BC) as a large Scarab placed in the bandages of mummies

to represent the heart of the deceased. The symbol appeared many times in the holy book of the dead.

The Scarab came in the shape of a seal and there were many clay sealings.

The Egyptian Scarab Beetle used in describing the titles of officials,

places, even different deities combined with a prayer like ” With Ra Behind

There Is Nothing To Fear” as a sign of a good omen. In the 11th dynasty,

the most valuable class of scarabs were the ones that bear royal names.

Most of the names of the Hyksos dynasts have known due to the

recovered collections of Scarabs. The scarab imported by ancient traders

from the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Levant, and the Middle East, even

today the scarab still considered being a common product of present-day forgers.

Scarab Beetle