Elevated from the lowly position of dung worker, the scarab (Scarabaeinae) becomes a sign of prosperous work, fertility, life, luck, royalty and divinity. The popularity of this large beetle crosses class as kings to commoners embrace the symbolism of the sacred scarab.
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In relief carvings the disc of the sun appears as a sphere. The Sun Disc corresponds to the perfect spheres the beetle makes of dung. They equate with fertility, the power of the sun as giver of life, as life arises from death or the Earth and returns there.
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Scarab beetles are associated with Egyptian God Khepri (Khepera, Kheper, Khepra, Chepri), deity with a scarab beetle for a face. He may also be represented by the beetle with a sun disc, or a stylized scarab.
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The name Khepri means 'develop', 'come into being', or 'create'. Representing the rising Sun, Khepri is a deity of dawn. The scarab creates the sun with each new day.
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The magic of dawn brings blessings of beginnings. Goddesses of Dawn include Mesopotamian Aya (Aia) and H₂éwsōs of Proto-Indo-European origin. In Egyptian myth, lion-headed goddess Tefnut is associated with dawn and morning dew.
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Hatshepsut (c. 1507 - 1458 BCE) is among the greatest Egyptian female rulers. The cartouches above show Thoth, god of scribes, the moon and wisdom, in ibis form. Semi-circles are the moon (left) and sun. The 'flyswatter' at left may be a sistrum, a ritual rattle.
On the right are the wings and abdomen of a honeybee, an animal linked to the sun and solar cycles, held sacred by the people of Egypt. Egyptians domesticate bees c. 3100 BCE by attracting wild bees into specially built hives.
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Scarabs labor all day in the hot sun and wind burying their treasures. Most species of dung beetle are diurnal, a new nocturnal using moonlight to navigate. About 30,000 species of scarab beetle exist.
Dung beetles bury the dung deep in the Earth, where the sun is said to go at night. A single beetle can bury 250x its body weight every day. These busy insects endlessly toil to fertilize and enrich the soil.
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The dung beetle with its humble work is a blessing of Egypt. As it rolls dung in a perfect sphere, it seems to be holding and creating the sun or sun-disc.
Not all dung beetles roll. Some bury dung in burrows. The balls or burials of dung can be used as food sources or nursing chambers. When young scarabs emerge fully formed from within a dung ball, they seem to be magically born from nothing.
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Scarabs are symbols of recurring life. As creatures of the Earth, recycling waste into new life, scarabs are associated with fertility, cycles of birth and rebirth, immortality and overall good fortune. The scarab appears in various forms in tombs of Egypt.
Scarabs are carved from stone, glazed fired clay or molded from Egyptian faience, a type of ceramic glass. A scarab amulet, with beetle back or wings and engravings, is a personal item of jewelry and afterlife identification for the Pharoah, King's Royal Wife or noble.
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The most common stone used for personal scarabs is a form of steatite (soapstone). A soft metamorphic rock, steatite hardens when fired, forming enstatite. Hardstone scarabs are created from rocks such as green jasper, carnelian and amethyst.
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