Origin: Egypt
Dimensions: 0.750" (1.9cm) wide
Collection: Egyptian antiquities
Style: Third Intermediate Period, Dyn. XXI
The ancient Egyptians maintained that the sun was propelled across the heavens by means of a scarab, or sacred beetle. With the passing of time, the Egyptians created a series of amulets in the form of this beetle in a great variety of materials, and these were routinely provided with inscriptions in hieroglyphs conveniently accommodated to their stylized flat bottoms.
This amulet in the form of a scarab is one of several Egyptian variations on the theme. The body of the beetle is stylized to the extent that the details of the head, plate, and clypeus are confined to a single zone and rely on a few ornamentally incised strokes for their articulation.
The base of our scarab is divided into three vertical zones, the center of which contains a cartouche, or royal ring, with three hieroglyphs spelling the personal name, Men-kheper-Re. To the left, with wings outstretched in a gesture of protection is a serpent associated with two hieroglyphs forming the formulaic phrase, “true of voice,” which habitually accompanies the name of the deceased in funerary contexts. To the right are a series of hieroglyphs which may be translated as, “the Good God, the Lord of the Two Lands.”

Antiquities
Ancient Egyptian