Scarab

Patricia Podzorski on Scarab

The scarab is a charm or amulet in the form of a dung beetle. Scarab amulets were cast in gold, carved in gems or semi-precious stone, or made of glass paste. The scarab was also worn as a ring and inscribed on the bottom for use as a seal (as exemplified in cat. nos. 194 and 195). Because the dung beetle was thought to emerge spontaneously from the ground, the scarab was strongly associated with the concept of self-creation. And because the beetle was observed rolling dung balls (with which the beetles feed their larvae) across the ground to their tunnels, the scarab also became associated with the sun god, Re. The scarab was therefore often represented pushing the sun across the sky.

A heart scarab, a scarab amulet in the shape of a heart, was often wrapped within the bandages in the mummification process. Since the heart, the seat of consciousness and memory, was weighed against truth, or ma’at, in the afterworld, the heart scarab was often inscribed with a chapter from the Book of the Dead: "Oh my heart . . . Do not stand as a witness against me."