The Scarab Amulet

1. The Scarab Amulet PRANALI DESAI SECTION C First year student

2. INSPIRATION • Scarab beetles lay their eggs inside animal dung. The beetle then moulds the dung into a neat little ball, the ball that contains their eggs and can be easily rolled around. That way they can take their unhatched babies with them wherever they go. • In ancient Egyptian the scarab was a symbol of regeneration and creation conveying ideas of transformation, renewal, resurrection and protection. They believed Scarab amulets would lend the sacred beetle's power to the wearer. They offered a person magical protection against the dangers of this world, as well as those of the next. • The image of the scarab in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs displays the image of the beetle translated as "to come into being", "to become" or "to transform".

3. INSPIRATION • The scarab reminded people of Khepri (the sun god). • He rolled the sun across the sky each day, where it died at night and was reborn in the morning. It was said that he was above them pushing the sun ball along on a daily journey. • The rolling of dung of the Scarab was related to the sun god and how he carries the sun on. • Khepri was principally depicted as a scarab beetle, he is represented as a human male with a scarab as a head.

4. CULTURAL SHIFT / SOCIAL CODING • Scarabs were extremely common and were used generously everywhere. They 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. • By the early New Kingdom,  heart scarabs had become part of the battery of amulets protecting mummies. • From the middle bronze age, other ancient people of the Mediterranean and the Middle East imported scarabs from Egypt and also produced scarabs in Egyptian or local styles, especially in the Levant. • Middle Kingdom- Scarabs were engraved with the names and titles of officials and used as official seals.Some scarabs were created for political or diplomatic purposes to commemorate or advertise royal achievements. • 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.

5. MULTIPURPOSE USE • Jewellery- in the form of pendants, bracelets, rings and necklaces and was believed to hold strong magical and religious properties. • Over the ages, they have been used to symbolise wealth, used as currency, fashion accessory and also to serve as a form of artistic expression. • The Egyptian Scarab Beetle was used as an amulet or a good luck charm by both the rich and the poor in Egypt. • They were used in funerary rites. • They were also used in marital ceremonies. • They were used as seals. • They were carved on temple walls.

6. MATERIAL EVOLUTION Materials: • Steatite (soapstone) • Gold • Precious gems- Carnelian, Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise • Painted clay • Faience- glazed blue or green and then fired. • Often found in light colours- depicting light, again related to Khepri or the sun god. • Glazed materials were calledtjehenet ('shining') in Egyptian, so the shining scarabs refer to the king, the dazzling Sun himself.

7. Many scarabs had wings placed besides them, which indicated extended protection to the people. • Some of them also had a disc above them, which was associated with the Sun god Khempri. • Scarabs also had hieroglyphs written on them, which were spells. These spells were supposed increase the power of the amulets.

8. FUNERARY SCARAB (HEART SCARAB AMULET) : • Bodies were often provided with amulets in burial, with more amulets implying more protection. The most common funerary amulets were the heart scarab. They believed that the amulet provided 'eternal youth' to the deceased. • The purpose of the heart scarab amulet was to ensure that the heart would not bear witness against the deceased in Hall of Two Truths where their actions in their mortal lives would be examined before they could enter the Afterlife. • It would usually be situated within the bandages of the mummy placed over the heart. In some mummies the heart scarab has been found on a wire around the neck or mounted on a small rectangular slab on the chest. • This type of scarab amulet was found in the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

9. SPIRITUAL BELIEFS • The belief system of the Egyptians is truly fascinating. • They believed that when a person died, their heart was weighed by Ma'at, the goddess of truth. • If the heart was found to be heavy with sin, they could not go on to the afterlife. If it was found to be light, they could safely move on.  • The scarab beetle offered protection against the weighing of the heart ritual. • It would be placed over the deceased heart to convince Ma'at that they were good and that they deserved her mercy. • One spell found on the back of an amulet reads: ‘Do not stand in witness against me.’ • The image on the right shows two scarab amulets placed beside Queen Mernua's coffin, one of them showing hieroglyphs as well.

10. SPIRITUAL BELIEFS • When a person died and went to their final judgment, the gods of the underworld would ask many detailed and intricate questions. • These questions had to be answered precisely and ritually, according to The EgyptianBook 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. • So 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. SPIRITUAL BELIEF • Many temples had large scarab made of stone in the temple complex. • The Egyptian scarab statue in the Temple complex ofKarnak seemed to have powers of its own. • It was believed that if you told your wish to the scarab and then walked around it three times, your wish would come true. • Images on the right- The statue of the scarab at the temple, and tourists circling the statue.

12. ANECTODE The bracelet which was on the mummified hand. • While researching, I came across something interesting. • After Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb, He gifted his friend, Sir Bruce Ingram a paperweight from the tomb. • The paperweight was a mummified hand. • The mummified hand wore a scarab bracelet on its wrist. • This bracelet was said to be marked with a warning that consisted of some ancient words: "Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water and pestilence."  • After Sir Ingram received this gift, his house burned down. • After that, Sir Ingram rebuilt his house, which then suffered a flood. • This bracelet is now at the Egyptian museumin Cairo.

13. Source • https://www.egyptian-witchcraft.com/amulet-of-the-scarab-kheper/ • http://www.egyptabout.com/2012/10/mythology-meaning-of-egyptian-scarab.html • http://students.cec.wustl.edu/~jwaldron/Projects/F20_microsite/about.html • https://egyptianpseudoscience.weebly.com/the-mummys-curse.html • http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=1483 • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Ingram • http://www.historyembalmed.org/egyptian-mummies/egyptian-scarab-beetle.htm • http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt//seals/comm.html • https://www.gemrockauctions.com/learn/did-you-know/what-is-the-meaning-of-scarab • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khepri

14. Thank You