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Scarabs are identified as the dung beetle Scarabaeus sacer, pictured here rolling a ball of dung. In ancient Egypt, the Scarab Beetle was a highly significant symbolic representation of the divine manifestation of the morning sun. The Egyptian god Khepri was believed to roll the sun across the sky each day at daybreak.
The scarabs, which represent Khepri, are each pushing a sun. The god was connected to and often depicted as a scarab beetle (ḫprr in Egyptian). Scarab beetles lay their eggs within dung balls, and as a result, young beetles emerge from the balls fully formed, having eaten their way out of the mounds. [7]
Scarabaeus sacer, common name sacred scarab, [1] is the type species of the genus Scarabaeus and the family Scarabaeidae. This dung beetle is native of southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, and it was venerated in ancient Egypt .
Kheper is a subgenus of Scarabaeus: the typical genus of scarab beetles in the tribe Scarabaeini. [1] [2] The genus name honors the god Khepri in the ancient Egyptian religion, who is depicted as having a scarab for a head. [3] Kheper can be found on the border between Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa in the arid sand dunes. [4]
The scarab was of prime significance in the funerary cult of ancient Egypt. Scarabs, generally, though not always, were 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 found among the entombed provisions of Tutankhamen .
In Ancient Egypt, the dung beetle now known as Scarabaeus sacer (formerly Ateuchus sacer) was revered as sacred. Egyptian amulets representing the sacred scarab beetles were traded throughout the Mediterranean world.
A "scarabaeus" is also a now outdated term (OED 2) for an object in the form of a scarab beetle in art. The scarab was a popular form of amulet in Ancient Egypt, [3] and in ancient Greek art engraved gems were often carved as scarabs on the rest of the stone behind the main flattish face, which was used for sealing documents. [4]
In ancient Egyptian religion, the sun god Ra is seen to roll across the sky each day, transforming bodies and souls. Beetles of the family Scarabaeidae (dung beetle) roll dung into a ball as food and as a brood chamber in which to lay eggs; this way, the larvae hatch and are immediately surrounded by food. For these reasons the scarab was seen ...