Scarabs

Several species of dung beetle, most notably Scarabaeus sacer (often referred to as the sacred scarab), enjoyed sacred status among the ancient Egyptians.

The hieroglyphic image of the beetle represents a trilateral phonetic that Egyptologists usually transliterate as xpr and translate as "to come into being", "to become" or "to transform".

The scarab was linked to Khepri ("he who has come into being"), god of the rising sun. The ancients believed that the dung beetle was only male in gender. Plutarch wrote:
"The race of beetles has no female, but all the males eject their sperm into a round pellet of material which they roll up by pushing it from the opposite side, just as the sun seems to turn the heavens in the direction opposite to its own course, which is from west to east."

Ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri renewed the sun each day before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it through the other world after sunset, only to renew it, again, the next day.
Some New Kingdom royal tombs exhibit a threefold image of the sun god, with the beetle as symbol of the morning sun. The astronomical ceiling in the tomb of Ramses VI portrays the nightly "death" and "rebirth" of the sun as being swallowed by Nut, goddess of the sky, and re-emerging from her womb as Khepri.

The image of the scarab, conveying ideas of transformation, renewal, and resurrection, is ubiquitous in ancient Egyptian religious and funerary art.

Excavations of ancient Egyptian sites have yielded images of the scarab in bone, ivory, stone, Egyptian faience, and precious metals, dating from the Sixth Dynasty and up to the period of Roman rule. They are generally small, bored to allow stringing on a necklace, and the base bears a brief inscription or cartouche. Some have been used as seals. Pharaohs sometimes commissioned the manufacture of larger images with lengthy inscriptions, such as the commemorative scarab of Queen Tiye. Massive sculptures of scarabs can be seen at Luxor Temple, at the Serapeum in Alexandria and elsewhere in Egypt.

The scarab was of prime significance in the funerary cult of ancient Egypt. Scarabs were frequently cut from green stone and placed on the chest of the deceased. Perhaps the most famous example of such "heart scarabs" is the yellow-green pectoral scarab, carved from a large piece of Libyan desert glass, found among the entombed provisions of Tutankhamen. The purpose of this "heart scarab" was to ensure that the heart would not bear witness against the deceased at judgement in the Afterlife. Other possibilities suggested by the "transformation spells" of the Coffin Texts, which affirm that the soul of the deceased may transform (xpr) into a human being, a god, or a bird and reappear in the world of the living.

In contrast to funerary contexts, some of ancient Egypt's neighbors adopted the scarab motif for seals. The best-known of these being Judean LMLK seals (8 of 21 designs contained scarab beetles), which were used exclusively to stamp impressions on storage jars during the reign of Hezekiah.

The scarab remains an item of popular interest thanks to modern fascination with the art and beliefs of ancient Egypt. Scarab beads in semiprecious stones or glazed ceramics can be purchased at most bead shops, while at Luxor Temple a massive ancient scarab has been roped off to discourage visitors from rubbing the base of the statue "for luck".

Egyptian Scarabs

The Sacred Beetle:
A Popular Treatise on Egyptian Scarabs in Art and History:
Five hundred examples of scarabs and cylinders

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