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Source Description
The ancient Egyptians believed that the dung beetle, the Scarabaeus sacer, was one of the manifestations of the sun god. Representations of these beetles were used as amulets, and for ritual or administrative purposes.Naturalistic scarabs, such as this, were used as part of the amulet set of the mummy. They have a naturalistically formed belly and no additional inscriptions or motifs. The highest point of the back of this scarab is the pronotum (dorsal plate of the prothorax). Pronotum and elytron (wing cases) are separated by a straight, incised partition line; the wing cases have a vertical hatch line pattern (nine lines on each side), a central division line (which ends V-shaped in a scutellum), and U-shaped shoulder marks. The proportions of the top are almost balanced, but the pronotum is short in comparison to the elytron. The triangular head is flanked by very small, quarter-spherical eyes, which protrude from the head; the side platesare irregularly trapezoidal and have hatch lines, and clypeus (front plate) is four times serrated. The detailed modeled extremities are slender and have natural form; central notches are at both side edges as well as the top and bottom edges. The body structures of the bottom is modeled, and a quarter-oval eye protrudes from the center of the belly. The basic form of the scarab is long rectangular-oval.The scarab is a funerary amulet with regenerative function, and was attached to the mummy bandages.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
38428
label
Naturalistic Scarab
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
38428
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Naturalistic Scarab
description
The ancient Egyptians believed that the dung beetle, the Scarabaeus sacer, was one of the manifestations of the sun god. Representations of these beetles were used as amulets, and for ritual or administrative purposes.Naturalistic scarabs, such as this, were used as part of the amulet set of the mummy. They have a naturalistically formed belly and no additional inscriptions or motifs. The highest point of the back of this scarab is the pronotum (dorsal plate of the prothorax). Pronotum and elytron (wing cases) are separated by a straight, incised partition line; the wing cases have a vertical hatch line pattern (nine lines on each side), a central division line (which ends V-shaped in a scutellum), and U-shaped shoulder marks. The proportions of the top are almost balanced, but the pronotum is short in comparison to the elytron. The triangular head is flanked by very small, quarter-spherical eyes, which protrude from the head; the side platesare irregularly trapezoidal and have hatch lines, and clypeus (front plate) is four times serrated. The detailed modeled extremities are slender and have natural form; central notches are at both side edges as well as the top and bottom edges. The body structures of the bottom is modeled, and a quarter-oval eye protrudes from the center of the belly. The basic form of the scarab is long rectangular-oval.The scarab is a funerary amulet with regenerative function, and was attached to the mummy bandages.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquistion unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
664-525 BCE (Late Period)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Precious Stones & Gems
scarabs
amulets
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
1
height
1.5
depth
2.3
dimensionsRaw
H: 3/8 x W: 9/16 x L: 7/8 in. (1 x 1.5 x 2.3 cm)
Source extras
cul
Egyptian
dynasty
26th Dynasty
med
light beige faience with light green glaze
creator_ids
6182
collection_ids
EGY
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
0c2db4995961a4b1
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
7d295be47c8e463a
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
c219e73f5a309e3e
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no