Sacred scarab, Scarabeus sacer in Latin - this is how scientists call this beetle. The name comes from the religious reverence that the ancient Egyptians had around the scarab.
The existence of the ancient Egyptian religion spans over 2000 years. During this time, she has come a long way of development from the veneration of animals, which is the legacy of totemism, to the worship of anthropomorphic gods. But at the last stage, the religion retained some archaism: the image of gods with the heads of animals or birds, the worship of sacred animals. One of these animals was the scarab beetle.
Scarab as a solar symbol
The lifestyle of the scarab beetle made the Egyptians associate it with the image of the sun god.
The scarab can be seen when the sun is especially strong - during the hottest hours of the day.
From the shapeless dung mass, the beetle forms a regular ball shape, which is associated with the act of creating the world out of chaos. The beetle rolls this ball from east to west - just as the sun moves across the sky. From the ball where he lays his eggs, new life is born - just as the Sun is born again every morning, returning from the underworld.
In ancient Egypt, the sun god was worshiped in three forms, each of which corresponded to a specific time of day. The god Atum corresponded to the night Sun, which had gone into the underworld, the day - to Ra, and the morning rising Sun was personified by Khepri. Like many Egyptian gods, he was depicted as a man with the head of an animal, and his head looked like a scarab beetle. The rising sun was symbolically depicted as a beetle holding a fireball.
This scarab god has a special role in the birth of the world: Khepri uttered a secret name to the owl, and then the world arose.
Scarab in Egyptian Rites and Arts
In ancient Egyptian applied art, there are a lot of images of a scarab beetle. Even household utensils and furniture were decorated with them.
Amulets in the form of beetle figurines were made of marble, clay, granite, glazed faience and other materials. On the inside of such figurines, chapter 35 was carved from the Book of the Dead. This chapter deals with the weighing of the heart during the posthumous divine judgment of the human soul. Such amulets were designed to ensure a person not only happiness in the afterlife, but also longevity in earthly life.
During mummification, the heart was removed from the body of the deceased, and a stone or ceramic figurine of a scarab was placed in its place. This symbolized immortality, rebirth to a new life - just as the Sun is reborn daily.
