Seal amulet

This scarab made of greenish blue glazed steatite has been carved into the form of a dung beetle (Scarabaeus sacer). From the earliest times the adult dung beetle that was observed to roll a ball of dung across the sand apparently prompted in the minds of the Egyptians a comparison with the rising sun god reborn at each dawn. The Egyptian noun scarab literally means ’that which comes into being’, and thereby the amulet was associated both with the notion of the creation of new life and that of rebirth. The oval underside of this scarab is inscribed with hieroglyphs and protective symbols. Although the three vertical signs in the middle could be read as the throne name of Senwosret I (ca. 1920–1875 BC), they do not refer to the actual pharaoh. In this case, the amulet was produced after Senwosret’s reign, and the inscription could be interpreted as a potent and magically effective statement about the sun god. The scarab was one of the most popular amulets in ancient Egypt, which could assure protection for the bodies of mortals during their lifetime or help them on their journey through the netherworld. The piercing through the longitudinal axis of the amulet suggests that it was originally threaded or set in a ring.