Dimensions: 0.625" (1.6cm) 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.
Our scarab is just such a variation. Its top is designed in the classic manner in which the component elements of its head, plate, and clypeus are carefully articulated, although the thorax and elytra, or wing case, are treated as a single unit.