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SCARABS.
THE
HISTORY, MANUFACTURE AND RELIGIOUS
SYMBOLISM
OF THE
SCARABÆUS,
IN
ANCIENT EGYPT, PHOENICIA, SARDINIA,
ETRURIA, ETC.
ALSO
REMARKS ON THE LEARNING, PHILOSOPHY, ARTS, ETHICS,
PSYCHOLOGY, IDEAS AS TO THE IMMORTALITY OF
THE SOUL, ETC., OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS,
PHOENICIANS, ETC.
BY
ISAAC MYER, LL.B.
Member of the American Oriental Society. The American Numismatic
and Archæological Society. The Numismatic and Antiquarian
Society of Philadelphia. La Société Royale de Numismatique
de Belgique. The Oriental Club of
Philadelphia. The New York Historical
Society Historical Society of
the State of Pennsylvania,
etc.
AUTHOR OF THE QABBALAH. THE PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF
SOLOMON B. YEHUDAH IBN. GEBIROL, OR AVICEBRON;
THE WATERLOO MEDAL, ETC.
FOR SALE BY
EDWIN W. DAYTON,
NO. 641 MADISON AVENUE,
NEW YORK.
OTTO HARRASSOWITZ,
Querstrasse No. 14,
LEIPZIG.
ÉMILE BOUILLON,
No. 67, Rue de Richelieu,
PARIS.
1894.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, by
ISAAC MYER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
ALL RIGHTS OF TRANSLATION RESERVED.
INTRODUCTION.
The following work is taken in part, from an address delivered by me
before, The American Numismatic and Archæological Society, at its Hall
in the City of New York, on March 30th, 1893. Since that time I have
been led into a train of thought, having as its basis a more
philosophical treatment of the meaning of the scarabæus as a symbol,
in the religious metaphysic conception of it by the Ancient Egyptians,
and have added much new matter. I am convinced that at the period when
we first meet with the symbol of the scarabæus in Egypt, it was
already the symbol and tangible expression of an elevated religious
idea, embracing that of a future life of the human soul, a
resurrection of it from the dead, and most likely, of a reward or
punishment to it in the future life, based on its conduct when in the
terrestrial life.
We know from the inscription on the lid of the coffin of Men-kau-Ra,
king of the IVth, the Memphite Dynasty, (_circa_ 3633-3600 B.C.,) and
builder of the Third Pyramid at Gizeh; that some of the most elevated
conceptions of the _Per-em-hru_, i.e., the so-called, Book of the
Dead, were at that time in existence as accepted facts. The dead one
at this early period became an Osiris, living eternally. We have every
reason to think, that the use of the models of the scarabæus as the
symbol of the resurrection or new-birth, and the future eternal life
of the triumphant or justified dead, existed as an accepted dogma,
before the earliest historical knowledge we have thus far been able
to acquire of the Ancient Egyptians.
It most probably ante-dated the epoch of Mena, the first historical
Egyptian king. How long before his period it existed, in the present
condition of our knowledge of the ancient history and thought of
Egypt, it is impossible to surmise. Of the aborigines of the land of
Egypt we do not know nor are we very likely to know, anything. Of the
race known to us as the Egyptian we can now assert with much
certainty, that it was a Caucasian people, and likely came from an
original home in Asia. When the invader arrived in the valley of the
Nile, he appears to have been highly civilized and to have had an
elevated form of religious belief.
The oldest stelæ known, one of which is now in the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford, England, and the other in the Museum at Gizeh, Egypt; were
made for the tomb of Shera, who is called on them, "a prophet" and "a
royal relative." He was a priest of the period of Sent, the fifth king
of the IInd Dynasty, who was living about 4000 B.C. The stele is shown
by Lepsius in his _Auswahl_, Plate 9, and is the earliest example of a
hieroglyphic inscription known. These stelæ are in the form of a false
door.
Upon these stelæ of Shera, is inscribed the Egyptian prayer for the
soul of the dead called, the _Suten-hotep-ta_, from its first words.
The _Suten-hotep-ta_ was supposed to have been delivered by divine
revelation. An old text speaks of, a "_Suten-hotep-ta_ exactly
corresponding to the texts of sacrificial offerings, handed down by
the ancients as proceeding from the mouth of God."[1] This prayer
inscribed on the steles mentioned, asks that there may be granted the
deceased in the other world, funeral oblations, "thousands of oxen,
linen bandages, cakes, vessels of wine, incense, etc." This shows that
at this very early period there was a belief in Egypt of the future
life of the _Ba_, the responsible soul, and of the _Ka_, the vital
soul, of the deceased. The word _Ka_ enters into the names of kings
Ka-kau, Nefer-ka-Ra, and Nefer-ka-seker of the IInd Dynasty (4133-3966
B.C.) In the same Dynasty the word _Ba_, the name of the responsible
soul, and _Baiu_ its plural, enter into the names Neter-Baiu and
Ba-en-neter. _Ab_, i.e., the heart, also enters into the name of
Per-ab-sen of this Dynasty. We also have _Ba_ in the name of
Mer-ba-pen, sixth king of the Ist Dynasty.
It was during the reign of king Sent, that a medical papyrus was
edited which shows it was the result of years of experience. From
what we have just said it is extremely likely, that the body was
mummified in Egypt from the earliest period of which we have
knowledge.
Manetho says that Teta, the second king of the 1st Dynasty, _circa_
4366 B.C., wrote a book on anatomy, and experimented with drugs or
chemicals. Shesh, the mother of this king, invented a hair wash.[2]
We can from the foregoing assume with some certainty, that before the
historical period in Ancient Egypt, a religious belief existed,
funeral ceremonies, and an expectation of an eternal life of the soul
after the death of the body of man on this earth; whether a belief in
rewards or punishments to be suffered or enjoyed by the soul after
such death, for actions done by man in this earthly life, existed at
that time, we cannot as yet, with certainty, affirm; but it is quite
likely it did. In this connection a study of the "Pyramid Texts"
published by Maspero in his _Recueil de Travaux_, is of great value to
the student.
An element of great value to the student of religions is, that the
scarabæus symbol, is the earliest expression of the most ancient idea
of the immortality of the soul after death that has reached our day,
taking us back however to a period which may be considered as
civilized and enlightened and yet, so encompassed with the mists of
the past, that the mental eye of to-day cannot grasp that past with
much tangibility, and giving us almost cause to think, that the
doctrine of the immortality of the human soul was a remnant of an
early divine revelation, or at least, an advanced instinct of early
humanity; for it is a curious phase of archaic Egyptian thought, that
the further we go back in our investigations of the origins of its
religious ideas, the more ideal and elevated they appear as to the
spiritual powers and the unseen world. Idolatry made its greatest
advance subsequent to the epoch of the Ancient Empire, and progressed
until it finally merged itself into the animalism of the New Empire
and the gross paganism of the Greeks and Romans.
We have not yet many religious texts of the Ancient Empire that have
been fully studied and made known, but those that have been, exhibit
an idealism as to the Supreme Deity and a belief in the immortality of
the soul, based on the pious, ethical and charitable conduct of man,
which speak highly for an early very elevated thought in religious
ideas.
There is however one thought which must strike the student of
religions forcibly, that is the fact, that the idea of the re-birth
and future eternal life of the pious and moral dead, existed among the
Ancient Egyptians as an accepted dogma, long before the period in
which Moses is said to have lived. Moses has been asserted both in the
New Testament (Acts VII., 22), and by the so-called profane writers
Philo and Josephus, to have been learned in all the wisdom and
knowledge of the Egyptians of his time, yet we have not in the pages
of the Pentateuch, which is usually by the theologians ascribed to
him, any direct assertion of the doctrine of a future life or of an
immortality of the human soul, or of a future reward or punishment in
a future state of the soul. Ideas are therein set forth however, of a
separation of the spiritual part of man into different divisions.
It may be, that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was not
accepted as a religious dogma, by the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings, an
apparently Asiatic race, probably Semitic, of which we have not as yet
very much knowledge. It is likely that it was under the Hyksos that
the Hebrew, Joseph, was advanced to high honors in Egypt, and under
their kings, that the influx and increase of the Hebrew population in
Egypt began and prospered.
It may be advanced with much certainty, that the Hebrew people
residing in Ancient Egypt, must have been acquainted with many of the
Egyptian ideas on the subject of the eternal future life of the soul
of the dead, and the reward or punishment of it in that future life,
for these ideas were undoubtedly widely and generally known by the
Egyptian people, and were too thoroughly formulated in the active and
daily life of the Ancient Egyptian population, not to have been known
by the Hebrews living in daily contact with them, but the Hebrews may
not have accepted them as a verity.
It may have been, that as the idea of the future existence of the soul
in its perfection, was based upon the mummification and preservation
of the body of the dead, so that the _Ka_ might remain with it, and go
out and revisit it in the tomb; and also, on inscriptions either on
the walls of the tomb or the papyri deposited with the body; that
Moses, knowing that in his wanderings and journeyings, it would be
impossible to have performed those ceremonies and preliminaries
necessary under the Egyptian system, for the proper burial of the
corpse; its mummification and the preparation of the funeral
inscriptions or papyri, considered as necessary to be inscribed on the
walls of the tomb, or on the papyri, to be buried with the corpse, so
as to assist the soul against the perils it was supposed it would
encounter in its journey through the Underworld;[3] was therefore
compelled to abandon a dogma based on preliminaries and preparations
he could not, during such wanderings, have performed. This would be
partly an explanation of a subject which has for many years caused
much dispute among very erudite theologians.
In order to get some knowledge of the religious philosophical ideas of
the Ancient Egyptians, a thorough study of the collection of papyri
called, the _Per-em-hru_ or Book of the Dead, is absolutely necessary,
also the texts on the walls of the tombs of the Ancient Empire
especially those found at Saqqarah. The work of M. Edouard Naville on
the _Per-em-hru_ lately published, although it refers more especially
to the Theban period, is of great value in this investigation, and
when it has been translated into a modern language by a thoroughly
competent scholar, will be a key to open many of the now hidden but
elevated ideas in the religious philosophy of the Ancient Egyptians.
The edition of the Book of the Dead which I have quoted from is that
of M. Paul Pierret, _conservateur_ of the Egyptian Museum of the
Louvre, Paris, France.[4] This is founded on the Papyrus of Turin,
which is of about the XXVIth Dynasty, the Saïtic period; the
translator has also used in his work, the Egyptian manuscripts of the
Louvre to assist in the elucidation of his readings of the Papyrus of
Turin. His work is an advance on that of Dr. Samuel Birch, given in
1867, in the Vth volume of Baron von Bunsen's work on Egypt's Place in
Universal History. A new translation of the Book of the Dead is now
passing through the English press, by P. Le Page Renouf, Esq., but
only a few chapters thus far have been printed. Mr. Renouf's work as
an Egyptologist, deserves much more attention and credit from the
learned of both his own and other countries, than it has so far
received.
The following among Greek and other ancient writers have mentioned the
scarabæus, mostly in connection with Egypt. Orpheus, Theophrastus,
Aristophanes, Pliny, Plutarch, Ælian, Clement of Alexandria,
Porphyry, Horapollon, Diogenes Laertius, who cites as works in which
it was mentioned, the Natural Philosophy by Manetho (_circa_ 286-247
B.C.,) the History of the Philosophy of the Egyptians, by Hecatæus (of
Abdera? _circa_ 331 B.C.,) and the writings of Aristagoras (_circa_
325-300 B.C.,) Eusebius, Arnobius, Epiphanius and Ausonius.
The subject has been somewhat neglected in modern times. Two small
brochures on the subject were published by Johann Joachim Bellermann,
under the title of; _Ueber die Scarabäen-Gemmen, nebst Versuchen die
darauf befindlichen Hieroglyphen zu erklären_, one in 1820, the other
1821. Another very small catalogue entitled; _Scarabées Égyptiens,
figurés du Musée des Antiquea de sa majesté l'Empereur, Vienne, de
l'Imprimerie d'Antoine Strauss_, 1824, was published in that year in
Vienna. None of the above contain information of importance on the
subject.
Dr. Samuel Birch published the first classified collection in his;
Catalogue of the collection of Egyptian Antiquities at Alnwick
Castle,[5] in which he describes 565 scarabs, signets, etc. In 1884
the Rev. W.J. Loftie published his; An Essay of Scarabs, London, small
4to, no date, 125 numbered copies printed. It contained a brief essay,
pp. V-XXXII., on scarabs, and a short description of 192. His
collection was purchased in 1890 by the Trustees of the British
Museum. In the summer of 1876, I published in, The Evening Telegraph,
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the Centennial Exhibition; two
Essays on Scarabæi and Cicadæ, and on those exhibited, especially
those in the Egyptian Section and those in the Castellani Collection.
In 1887, Dr. E.A. Wallis Budge, F.S.A., gave a description of 150
scarabs in his, Catalogue of the Egyptian Collection of the Harrow
School Museum, with translations of most of the inscriptions upon
them. In 1888, Dr. A.S. Murray and Mr. Hamilton Smith in their,
Catalogue of Gems, gave a list of scarabs and scaraboids. In 1889 Mr.
Flinders Petrie published, Historical Scarabs: A series of Drawings
from the Principal Collections, Arranged Chronologically. This book
has only nine small pages of description but they are valuable. In
his, History of Egypt, Prof. Wiedemann has catalogued a great many
scarabs. I have not seen any of the above works except that by
Bellermann, that published in Vienna, and those by Loftie and Petrie,
all of which I have in my Library. Since my book was printed, I have
had my attention called to, The Mummy, Chapters on Egyptian Funeral
Archæology, by E.A. Wallis Budge, Litt. D., F.S.A., Cambridge. At the
University Press, 1893. In this p. 231 _et seq._, the learned author
has a very interesting chapter on Scarabs.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Lepsius, _Denkmal_ III., pl. 13.
[2] _Papyrus Ebers_, Bd. II., _Glossarium Hieroglyphicum_, by Stern,
p. 47. The Mummy, etc., by E.A. Wallis Budge, Litt. D., F.S.A., etc.
Cambridge, 1893, pp. 176, 219, 353. Egypt Under the Pharaohs. London,
1891, pp. 27, 28. An interesting but condensed account of Ancient
Egyptian medical knowledge, with references to the papyri, is given by
M. Maspero in his, _Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient_, Paris,
1886, pp. 73-77.
[3] We use the word Underworld advisedly, it may be that the meaning
of the word so translated, is that of a higher or opposite world to
our terrestrial world.
[4] _Le Livre des Morts, des Anciens Égyptiens, traduction complète
d'après le Papyrus de Turin et les manuscrits du Louvre, accompagnée
de Notes et suivie d'un Index analytique. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1882._
[5] Privately printed by the Duke of Northumberland. London, 1880.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION v-xxii
TABLE OF CONTENTS xxiii-xxvii
I.
Forms of the Word Scarabæus. Veneration of the Ancient
Egyptians for the scarabæus. Entomology of the insect.
Symbolism of according to Plutarch, Pliny and
Horapollo. Its astronomical value. Worship of insects
by other peoples. Symbolism, with the Egyptians, of the
scarabæus. Uses of it with them 1-17
II.
Manufacture of the Scarabæi. Materials. Inscriptions
on. Different periods of manufacture and the
peculiarities of. How to judge of the epoch. 18-29
III.
Method, period and antiquity, of engraving the scarab
and other forms. Use of rings. Mention of, and of
engraving and sealing, in the Old Testament. Use of
cylinder signets by the Egyptians. Relations with
Mesopotamia. Carving of diorite and other hard stone.
The Egyptians did not borrow their engraving and the
scarab, from Mesopotamia. Disuse of scarabs 30-45
IV.
The oldest scarabs. Classification and value of the
scarab to the scholar of to-day. Large inscribed
historical scarabs 46-56
V.
Where usually found and the mode of wearing scarabs by
the Egyptians, Book of the Dead. Egyptian scarabs found
in Mesopotamia. The scarab in Christianity 57-64
VI.
The position of the scarab in Ancient Egyptian religion
and the Book of the Dead. Egyptian philosophy. Advanced
intellectuality of Egypt six thousand years ago.
Deities of libraries and learning. Ancient librarians
and books. The division of learned men into different
branches of study. The statements of Greek writers on
Egyptian thought not to be depended upon. Quotations
from the Book of the Dead on the symbolism of the
scarabæus deity. The symbolism of the Great Sphinx.
Further quotations from the Book of the Dead, on the
symbolism of the scarab deity 65-90
VII.
Importance of the heart in the Ancient Egyptian
religion. Immortality of the soul according to that
religion. Symbolism of the scarab in their doctrine of
such immortality. No thing in this universe absolutely
destroyed, only changed. The idea of metempsychosis in
Ancient Egypt. Elevated ideas as to the deity. Hymn to
Ammon-Ra cited. Quotations as to Egyptian philosophy,
evolution of the universe and kosmogony. Of Khepra and
of Tum or Atmu. Egyptian psychology and its divisions 91-122
VIII.
Forgery of scarabs in modern times. Difficulty of
detecting such. Other Egyptian antiquities also
counterfeited by the present inhabitants of Egypt 123-127
IX.
Phoenician scarabs. Manufactured mostly as article of
trade. Used inscribed scarabs as seals in commercial
and other transactions. Many scarabs found in Sardinia 128-133
X.
Etruscan scarabs. Origin of and where found. Copied
from Egyptian but with changes in subjects, size and
ornamentation. The engraving of. Where usually found.
Uses by the Etruscans. Greek and Roman scarabs.
Gnostic, of the Basilidians 134-143
APPENDIX A 145-154
INDEX 155-177
ON SCARABS.
FORMS OF THE WORD SCARABÆUS. VENERATION OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
FOR THE SCARABÆUS. ENTOMOLOGY OF THE INSECT. SYMBOLISM OF
ACCORDING TO PLUTARCH, PLINY AND HORAPOLLO. ITS ASTRONOMICAL
VALUE. WORSHIP OF INSECTS BY OTHER PEOPLES. SYMBOLISM, WITH THE
EGYPTIANS, OF THE SCARABÆUS. USES OF IT WITH THEM.
Among the many animals, insects and creatures, held in veneration as
symbols by the Ancient Egyptians; the one universally in use as a
symbol from a most remote period, were insects of the family of the
scarabæidæ.
The Greek name of the models of these was _Skarabaios_, _Skarabos_,
_Karabos_, _Karabis_; the Sanskrit, _Carabha_, which like the Latin
_Locusta_, designated both the lobster and the grasshopper. The Latin
name derived from the Greek, was, _Scarabæus_, the French, _Scarabée_.
To the people of our day, the high position enjoyed in the religion of
Ancient Egypt by this insect, appears very strange, for to us, there
is nothing attractive about it. With that people however it held, for
some fifty centuries; the position in their religion which the Latin
cross now holds with us as Christians, and if we consider for an
instant, our own veneration for the latter; it would doubtless have
been considered, by those unfamiliar with our religion, as also based
on a veneration for a very strange emblem; for the cross was the
instrument used by the Romans for punishing with death, murderers and
criminals of the lowest type; and what would be thought to-day, of a
man worshipping the gallows or the guillotine, or carrying copies
modeled from the same, suspended from his neck. However we of to-day
all understand the emblem of the cross, and the Ancient Egyptians in
their time, all understood the emblem of the scarab.
"Men are rarely conscious of the prejudices, which really incapacitate
them, from forming impartial and true judgments on systems alien to
their own habits of thought. And philosophers who may pride themselves
on their freedom from prejudice, may yet fail to understand; whole
classes of psychological phenomena which are the result of religious
practice, and are familiar to those alone to whom such practice is
habitual."[6] Said Thespesion to Apollonius Tyanæus, according to the
biography of the latter, by Philostratus; "The Egyptians do not
venture to give form to their deities, they only give them in symbols
which have an occult meaning."
The family of the _Scarabæidæ_ or _Coprophagi_ is quite large, the
type of the family is the genus _Ateuchus_, the members of this genus
are more frequently found in the old world than the new, and of its
forty species, thirty belong to Africa.
The sacred scarab of the Egyptians was termed by Linnæus, the
_Scarabæus sacer_, but later writers have named it, _Ateuchus sacer_.
This insect is found throughout Egypt, the southern part of Europe, in
China, the East Indies, in Barbary and at the Cape of Good Hope,
Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is black and about one inch in
length.
There was also another species of the scarabæus valued by the Ancient
Egyptians, that termed by Cuvier, the _Ateuchus sacer Ægyptiorum_,
which is larger and wider than the others of its family; it is of
green golden tints, and is now found principally in Egypt and Nubia.
Pliny, in his Natural History says: "The green scarabæus has the
property of rendering the sight more piercing, (i.e., curing fatigue
of the eye from its green color,) of those who gaze upon it; hence it
is, that the engravers of precious stones use these insects to steady
their sight."[7] M. Latreille thinks; the species he named _Ateuchus
Ægyptiorum_, or +hêliokantharos+, and which is of a green color, was
that which especially engaged the attention of the Ancient Egyptians.
The Egyptian also held in estimation, the species _Buprestis_ and the
_Cantharis_ and _Copris_, and used them as he did the members of the
true family of the scarabæidæ, and S. Passalacqua found a species of
_Buprestis_, embalmed in a tomb at Thebes.
At least four species of beetles appear to have been held in
veneration and were distinguished, by the absence or presence, of
striated elytra. The _Ateuchus sacer_ is the one commonly represented
on the monuments. The number of the toes, thirty, symbolized the days
of the month, and the movement of the ball, which it manufactured and
in which was deposited its egg, symbolized among other things, the
action of Ra, the Egyptian sun-deity, at midday.
The Egyptian soldier wore the scarab as a charm or amulet, to increase
bravery;[8] the women, to increase fertility. The Greeks called it,
Helio-cantharus, and, not understanding its significance, were
disposed to ridicule it, as is apparent from the travesty upon it by
Aristophanes in his comedy of Peace. Pliny also again speaks of it in
his Natural History, saying:
"The scarabæus also, that forms pellets and rolls them along. It is on
account of this kind of scarabæus that the people of a great part of
Egypt worship those insects as divinities, an usage for which Apion
gives a curious reason, asserting, as he does, by way of justifying
the rites of his nation, that the insect in its operations portrays
the revolution of the sun. There is also another kind of scarabæus,
which the magicians recommend to be worn as an amulet--the one that
has small horns[9] thrown backwards--it must be taken up, when used
for this purpose, with the left hand. A third kind also, known by the
name of '_fullo_' and covered with white spots, they recommend to be
cut asunder and attached to either arm, the other kinds being worn
upon the left arm."[10]
In the work on Egyptian hieroglyphics attributed to a writer called
Horapollo, sometimes incorrectly called, Horus Apollo, the first part
of which shows, that it was written by a person who was well
acquainted with the Egyptian monuments and had studied them carefully,
we find: "To denote an _only begotten_, or, _generation_, or, a
_father_, or, the _world_, or, a _man_, they delineate a scarabæus.
And they symbolize by this, an _only begotten_; because the scarabæus
is a creature self-produced, being unconceived by a female; for the
propagation of it is unique and after this manner:--when the male is
desirous of procreating, he takes the dung of an ox, and shapes it
into a spherical form like the world; he then rolls it from him by the
hinder parts from East to West, looking himself towards the East, that
he may impart to it the figure of the world (for that is borne from
East to West, while the course of the stars is from West to East;)
then having dug a hole, the scarabæus deposits this ball in the earth
for the space of twenty-eight days, (for in so many days the moon
passes through the twelve signs of the zodiac.) By thus remaining
under the moon, the race of scarabæi is endued with life; and upon
the nine and twentieth day after, having opened the ball, it casts it
into the water, for it is aware, that upon that day the conjunction of
the moon and sun takes place, as well as the generation of the world.
From the ball thus opened in the water, the animals, that is the
scarabæi, issue forth. The scarabæus also symbolizes _generation_, for
the reason before mentioned;--and a _father_, because the scarabæus is
engendered by a father only;--and the _world_ because in its
generation it is fashioned in the form of the world;--and a _man_,
because there is not any female race among them. Moreover there are
three species of scarabæi, the first like a cat,[11] and irradiated,
which species they have consecrated to the sun from this similarity;
for they say that the male cat changes the shape of the pupils of his
eyes according to the course of the sun; for in the morning at the
rising of the god, they are dilated, and in the middle of the day
become round, and about sunset, appear less brilliant; whence also,
the statue of the god in the city of the sun[12] is of the form of a
cat. Every scarabæus also has thirty toes, corresponding to the thirty
days duration of the month, during which the rising sun performs his
course. The second species is the two-horned and bull-formed; which
are consecrated to the moon; whence the children of the Egyptians say,
that the bull in the heavens is the exaltation of this goddess. The
third species is, the one-horned and Ibis-formed, which they regard as
sacred to Hermes (i.e., Thoth.) in like manner as the bird."[13][14]
Horapollo also says: "To denote Hephæstos (Ptah,) they delineate a
scarabæus and a vulture, and to denote Athena (Neith,) a vulture and a
scarabæus."[15]
The scarabæus also had an astronomical value and is placed on some
zodiacs in place of the crab. It may be found on the outside, or
square planisphere, of the zodiac of the Temple of Denderah. Some
archæologists think it preceded the crab, as the emblem of the
division of the zodiac called by us, Cancer. Its emblem, as shown on
the Hindu zodiac, looks more like a beetle or other insect than it
does like a crab.[16]
The religious feeling for it, most probably existed among the early
Ethiopians, before the migration of the ancient race who were the
originators of the Egyptians, into the land on the banks of the Nile.
The cult is shown in more modern times by the veneration of the
Hottentot for the same insect, and from the worship of the Holy
Cricket by the natives of Madagascar. The Egyptians held the scarabæus
especially sacred to Amen-Ra, i.e., the mystery of the sun-god. It was
their symbol of the creative and fertilizing power, of the re-birth,
resurrection and immortality of the soul, and was, through this,
connected with their astronomical and funeral rites and knowledge. It
was, as the living insect, the first living creature seen coming to
life from the fertilizing mud of the Nile, under the influence of the
hot rays of the sun, after the subsidence of the inundating waters of
that river. The royal cartouches of their kings is in an oval taken
from the form of its under side. And this oval form has existed from
the most remote times that we have any knowledge of the cartouch.
It is often found portrayed, as if a passenger in a boat, with
extended wings; holding in its claws the globe of the sun, or elevated
in the firmament, as the type of the creating power of the sun-god Ra,
in the meridian. Other deities are sometimes shown praying to it.[17]
Ptah the Creative Power, and also Khepera, a kosmogonic deity of the
highest type, had the scarab assigned to them as an emblem. It was one
of the forms symbolic of the Demiurge or Maker of our universe. It was
also the emblem of Ptah Tore, of Memphis, another symbolic form of the
creative power. It was assigned as an emblem of Ptah-Sokari-Osiris, the
pigmy deity of Memphis, being placed on his head, and this deity was
sometimes represented under the form of a scarab. It was also an emblem
of Ra, the sun deity; also, an emblem of the world or universe; and
was, as I have said, connected with astronomy and with funeral rites,
and the second birth or re-birth, of the soul.
Another use of the scarabæus by the Egyptians was as an amulet and
talisman, both for the living and the dead; and for that reason,
images, symbols or words; supposed to be agreeable to the deity, or to
the evil spirit sought to be conciliated; were incised, or engraved in
intaglio, upon the under side. It was also used as a signet to impress
on wax, clay or other material, so as to fasten up doors, boxes, etc.,
containing valuable things, so they could not be opened without
breaking the impression. The engraving on the under surface of the
scarab was also impressed on wax, etc., to verify the execution of, or
to keep secret, written documents; and in some instances, the papyrus
or linen, was written upon, then rolled up, and a string used to
fasten it; an impression of the signet, made on wax or other material,
was then placed on it and the string, so that it could not be opened
without breaking the impression.
In very ancient paintings especially those in the tombs of the kings
of Thebes, the scarabæus plays a most remarkable part, as an emblem of
the creating first source of life, which passes from it to the embryo,
through the intermediary of a celestial generator, who is intended to
represent the Makrokosm or great Ideal Man, as the demiurgos. We find
the idea of the Makrokosm or great Ideal Man, permeating those
writings termed, the Books of Hermes Trismegistos, which have reached
our day, and which, with some more recent matter, contain much very
old, Egyptian philosophy.[18] Statements as to the Ideal Prototype and
the Primordial Man, are apparently, set forth in many of the Ancient
Egyptian writings.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] P. Le Page Renouf in: The Origin and Growth of Religion, as
illustrated by the Religion of Ancient Egypt. New York, Charles
Scribner's Sons, p. 6.
[7] Pliny's Natural History. Bk. XXIX., ch. 38 end. Bohn ed. by John
Bostock and H.T. Riley. London, 1856, Vol. V., p. 416.
[8] Plutarch says: "The Egyptian warriors had a beetle carved upon
their signets, because there is no such thing as a female beetle; for
they are all males," etc.--Of Isis and Osiris §§ 10, 74, in Plutarch's
Morals. Wm. W. Goodwin's English edition. Boston, 1878, Vol. IV., pp.
73, 132. Comp. Ælian X., 15.
[9] Probably the "_lucanus_" mentioned in Bk. XI., ch. 34, supposed to
be the same as, the stag beetle.
[10] Bk. XXX., ch. 30. Bohn ed., Vol. V., p. 454. See also Vol. III.,
p. 34; Bk. XI, ch. 34.
[11] There is likely the word _eye_ omitted here, it shining like a
cat's eye. Myer.
[12] Heliopolis. Myer.
[13] The Ibis which was sacred to Thoth. Myer.
[14] The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous, by Alexander Turner Cory.
London, 1840. See also, _Horapollinis Niloi Hieroglyphica edidit_,
etc., _Conradus Leemans, Amstelodami_, 1835.
[15] Ptah Tore, the deformed pigmy god of Memphis, has a scarabæus on
his head, and sometimes, stands on the figure of a crocodile. Ibid.,
Cory's ed., p. 29.
[16] _Religions de l'Antiquité_, etc., _du Dr. Fréd. Creuzer_, edition
of J.D. Guigniaut. Paris, 1825, Vol. I., part 2, Hindu plates XVII.,
Egyptian plates XLIX.
[17] For such pictures see, Thomas J. Pettigrew's Hist. of Egyptian
Mummies. London, 1834, Plate 8, Nos, 1, 2 and 3. Wilkinson's Manners
and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 2nd Series. London, 1841, Vol.
II., p. 256. _Scarabées Égyptiens, figurés du Musée des Antiquea de sa
majesté l'empereur, Vienne_, 1824.
[18] _Religions de l'Antiquité_, etc., _du Dr. Fréd. Creuzer,
refondu_, etc., par J.D. Guigniaut, Vol. I., part 2, Note 6, p. 821
_et seq._, p. 948 _et seq._, Nos. 187 and 187a of Plate XLVIII. and
pp. 80, 82. As to the Makrokosm see, The Qabbalah, etc., by Isaac
Myer. Philadelphia, 1888. Also; _Le Papyrus de Neb-Qed. (Exemplaire
hiéroglyphique du livre des morts_) etc., by Théodule Devéria,
translation by Paul Pierret. Paris, 1872, p. 9.
II.
MANUFACTURE OF THE SCARABÆI. MATERIALS. INSCRIPTIONS ON.
DIFFERENT PERIODS OF MANUFACTURE AND THE PECULIARITIES OF. HOW
TO JUDGE OF THE EPOCH.
The representations of the insect are among the earliest sculpture of
stones known, and were cut in various materials, steatite a species of
soapstone being one of the earliest used. Some were perhaps first
moulded in clay, dried, and then cut into shape.
Many of those in use in Egypt were carved out of opaque or
semi-transparent stones, and those cut in hard stone were usually made
of some one of the following varieties: green basalt, diorite,
granite, hæmatite, lapis lazuli, jasper, serpentine, verde antique,
smalt, root of emerald, which is the same as plasma or prase[19]
cornelian, amethyst, sardonyx, agate and onyx. Those of soft material
were cut out of steatite, a soft limestone similar to chalk, but
usually they were of a white or grayish slaty stone easily cut and
which stood fire. After having been cut into the correct shape, these
were glazed in the fire, with enamels of different colors, usually of
a light bluish green. Those found now of a brownish or dirty white
color, have lost the original color of the glaze from the ravages of
time. Some were of clay only sun-dried, others of clay burned into
pottery. They were also made of porcelain, and also, but rarely, of
colored glass. They have also been found made of gold, ivory and even
of wood. Champollion thinks, that certain signets found made of wood
or pottery bearing the figure of the scarabæus in intaglio, were used
to mark the victims which had been examined and passed as proper for
the sacrifice. The scarabs, as we have remarked, were usually engraved
with incised hieroglyphic symbols on the under side, frequently with
those used on one of his cartouches by the reigning pharaoh, and were
then worn by their owners to show veneration for him, as the
representative of the deity upon earth, or from national pride. The
names of deities, officials, private persons, and even only monograms
or devices, at later periods, were engraved on the bases. The best
class were usually made of a fine, hard, green basalt; sometimes they
were joined to the representation of the human heart on which was
inscribed "Life, Stability and Protection." This was evidently
talismanic.
The principal period of their manufacture in large quantities, was in
the reign of Tehuti-mes, or Thotmes IIIrd, of the XVIIIth Dynasty
(_circa_ 1600-1566 B.C.) Other times were the XIXth and XXth
Dynasties.
The large and small scarabs form two classes. Those two to three
inches in length belong to the larger, and were usually for use inside
of the mummies in place of the heart. There are also some of very
large size; one made of basalt now in the British Museum, is five feet
high.
The making of the shape of the scarab in cameo, in soft material was
easily done, and the incising of its flat under surface with the
hieroglyphics not difficult; the artist most likely used, one or more
instruments of different sizes, formed at the end like a very small
chisel or bradawl, and gouged or punched out the figures and
inscriptions desired, before the glazing or enameling was put on, this
gave a flat appearance at the depth or bottom of the incised work. On
those of hard stone they used hand-drills or the lathe.
I condense the following remarks, adding however some of my own, from
a very valuable little book recently published by the learned
egyptologist Mr. W.M. Flinders Petrie, entitled: Historical
Scarabs.[20]
I regret Mr. Petrie's lithographic drawings are so blurred that they
are difficult to read, and hope that he will, in the near future, get
out a more artistic and complete book on this important subject.[21]
He shows 2,220 examples of incised historical scarabs. The first
genuine historical scarabs he gives copies of, are those of Neb-ka of
the IIIrd Dynasty; (circa 3933-3900 B.C.) He also shows some of the
period of Nefer-ka-Ra or Huni, mentioned in Brugsch's History of the
Pharaohs, pages 27 and 32; who lived 3800 B.C. The name Ra, forming
part of the king's name at this period, is very unusual. It was not
used, as a portion of his name, by any other Egyptian king from the
Ist Dynasty to the second king of the IVth or Great Pyramid Dynasty,
named Tatf-Ra. The next king to him was Khaf-Ra. The reign of Tatf-Ra
was preceded by that of Khufu, the Kheops of the Greek writers,
builder of the Great Pyramid; (_circa_ 3733-3700 B.C.)
The scarabs of the time of Khufu are all small and of fine work but
without elaboration, and the colors are delicate, beautiful and
permanent. Under Khaf-Ra or Khefren, there was a deterioration; the
work is inferior and the glazing has often perished, indeed good
glazes are rare after this period until the XIth Dynasty; (_circa_
2500 B.C.) The glazes of this latter period are hard, unalterable and
of fine colors, some under the XIIth are fine but often they are
decomposed. Blue is a special color of this time and it is also used
in the sculpture. Under Pepi, IVth Dynasty, (_circa_ 3233 B.C.,) the
scroll pattern first arises as a system, but is not found continuously
in the scarabs of his period. In the XIIth Dynasty, (2466-2266 B.C.,)
the continuous scroll pattern was developed, it became general in the
XIIIth, (_circa_ 2233 B.C.,)and XIVth Dynasties, and lingered as far
as the XIXth (1400 B.C.)
Brown scarabs were originally green glazed but have faded, white were
originally blue, excepting possibly some of Amen-hotep IIIrd. There
are also white and gray, without any glaze remaining, which were
originally blue or green.
The cowroids, with a rope border on the back, are of the Hyksos
period.
The XVIIIth Dynasty (1700-1400 B.C.,) begins with some of a poor style
but it soon disappeared. The peculiarity of the first part of this
Dynasty is the dark green glaze--rather greyish--this was followed by
those of brilliant tints in the time of Amen-hotep IIIrd, (1500-1433
B.C.,) those of red, yellow, violet, chocolate and other colors. They
are never met with later.
At the end of the XVIIIth Dynasty, pottery rings came into general
use and are more frequently met with than scarabs. Their range is from
Amen-hotep IIIrd to Rameses IInd.
In the XVIIIth Dynasty the art of glazing deteriorated, and most of
the scarabs of this period have now lost their original colors, and
are at present only browns and greys.
Under Rameses IInd and his successors the work is poorly done.
In the XXIVth (the Saïtic Period, _circa_ 733 B.C.,) and in the XXVth
Dynasties, there was a revival and better work and glaze and there
remain of this time some fine examples.
The XXVIth (666-528 B.C. Saïtic,) was poor in results but the work
neat. The scarab form had nearly run its course and continued, in a
debased style, until the close of the native monarchy with the XXXth
Dynasty (_circa_ 378 B.C.)
Place had much to do with the difference between scarabs, local styles
of manufacture made more differences than various Dynasties. This is a
subject very difficult to investigate; we have but few sources of
information on this subject. At ancient Tanis (now called by the
Arabs, San,) they are all of schist, rough and small, the glaze nearly
always gone; within a short distance from there, at Nebesheh, they are
usually of pottery with bright apple-green glazes; at Naukratis, the
Ancient Egyptian name of which was Am and which was a city in the time
of the XIIth Dynasty, they are mostly of soft glazed pottery, or, of a
blue paste, and nearly all are small; in the ruins of this city was
found a factory for making Greek scarabs in imitation of the Egyptian
style.[22] It is said, that those with scroll border, are from the
ancient city of Abydos.
A curious thing is, the re-issue of those of an earlier king by a
later monarch, examples of these are, re-issues under queen Hatshepsu
(_circa_ 1600 B.C.,) and Tehuti-mes IIIrd (_circa_ 1600-1566 B.C.,) of
the XVIIIth Dynasty. The earlier and later names are often on one
scarab. We cannot therefore be sure of the age of a scarab, even from
the inscription, as it may be of a period subsequent to the king named
on it. However these re-issues were only in a few special periods. One
point to be noted is, we find similar work and color in the majority
of those made under each pharaoh, and such style is different from
that of any earlier or later age; through this we have a guide as to
the original dating of most scarabs from the IVth Dynasty to the end.
No subsequent period shows us similarities to the majority of the
scarabs of any one king.
To the unlearned probably all scarabs look alike, but to an eye
educated on the subject, the peculiarities of each Dynasty, and even
of separate reigns, become evident. The value of scarabs to the
historian is therefore great, as the study of scarabs will reveal, the
names of kings unknown heretofore from any of the other monuments so
far discovered.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] This is chalcedony penetrated by minute green fibres of
hornblende. It is now found principally in India and China. The color
is frequently equal to that of the finest emerald, but the yellow
patches or black spots running through it, distinguish its species.
Ancient specimens have been found free of these marks and very
transparent. They may have had a method in ancient times of freeing
the stone from these spots.
[20] Historical Scarabs. A series of Drawings from the Principal
Collections. Arranged chronologically, by W.M. Flinders Petrie, author
of, Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, etc. London, D. Nutt, 1889.
[21] I have generally used in this work the ordinary well known forms
of the Egyptian proper names, such as Rameses, Thotmes, Amen-hotep,
etc., instead of the more unusual, but more correct and learned,
names: Ra-messu, Tehuti-mes, Amen-hetep, etc. The dates are based on
those of Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey.
[22] Ten Years Digging in Egypt, etc., by W.M. Flinders Petrie.
London, 1892, p. 45.
III.
METHOD, PERIOD AND ANTIQUITY, OF ENGRAVING THE SCARAB AND OTHER
FORMS. USE OF RINGS. MENTION OF, AND OF ENGRAVING AND SEALING,
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. USE OF CYLINDER SIGNETS BY THE EGYPTIANS.
RELATIONS WITH MESOPOTAMIA. CARVING OF DIORITE AND OTHER HARD
STONE. THE EGYPTIANS DID NOT BORROW THEIR ENGRAVING AND THE
SCARAB, FROM MESOPOTAMIA. DISUSE OF SCARABS.
The art of the lapidary is asserted in the Book of Enoch, to have been
taught to mankind by the angel Azazel,[23] chief of the angels who
took to themselves wives from among the daughters of men. The most
ancient method consisted, in obtaining a flat surface by rubbing or
scraping, with corundum or other hard and wearing stone, the stone to
be engraved. If a very hard stone, the incising or cutting was done by
drilling, wearing and polishing, through attrition, by means of a
wooden or metal point, kept in connection with a silicious sand or
corundum, by the medium of oil or water; and also, by the use of the
punch and of the wheel. The Greek artists likely used powdered emery
and copper drills. Bronze and iron drills, and those of other metals
may have been used at a very early period. Pliny says, corundum was
used in the form of a splinter fixed in an iron style. The ancients
also appear at a very early period, to have used diamond dust and oil,
and diamond splinters, framed in iron.
It has been shown by recent investigations, that the Ancient
Egyptians, before the building of the Great Pyramid; cut diorite,
syenite and other very hard stone, by means of saws, some of them nine
feet long, having jeweled teeth inserted; and that they excavated the
centre of large blocks of hard stones for use as sarcophagi, etc., by
means of tubular or circular hollow drills, the cutting surface of
which was armed with jewels. They then took out the core and broke
down the partitions between the drilled holes, with the chisel and
hammer, and thus made large excavations in the block of hard stone.
They also used lathes at a most archaic period in cutting diorite and
other hard stones.[24] They also used the bow-drill,[25] They also may
have known and used boort.
As early as the first Theban Dynasty, the XIIth Egyptian (2466-2266
B.C.,) the Dynasty in which lived the Amen-em-hats and the Usertsens,
the great early art period of the Egyptian empire,[26] the Egyptians
engraved on amethyst, jasper and rock crystal, and at that early
period did some of the most beautiful work remaining to us of their
glyptography. The signets however were not always in scarab form, they
were sometimes squares or parallelograms.[27]
There is now in the Museum of the Louvre in Paris, France, the finest
old cameo in the world. It is of the reign of Amen-em-hat IIIrd of the
XIIth Dynasty, (2300 B.C.) This was the first Theban Dynasty and is a
very rare period for Egyptian cameo work, as they then usually
incised their engraving on precious stones and did not engrave them in
relief.[28] The stone is a square sardonyx and is engraved in relief,
with great fineness on one side, with a figure the name of which can
be read _Ha-ro-bes_, the other side is incised and has the figure of a
pharaoh killing a prisoner, whom he holds by the beard, with a mace;
the cartouch reads, _Ra-en-ma_, i.e., Amen-em-hat IIIrd. The intaglio
work on this side is not equal to that in cameo, on the other.
There is yet in existence the signet ring of the celebrated Queen
Hatshepsu (_circa_ 1600-1566 B.C.) It is made of fine turquoise, cut
in the form of a scarab, perforated longitudinally and hung on a
swivel. On the under side is engraved the family name of the
Queen.[29] There also exists the signet ring of Amen-hotep IInd,
(1566-1533 B.C.,) having inserted in it a fine green glazed
scarab.[30]
The description of the working and engraving of precious stones in the
VIIth century before our era, is given in Ezekiel[31] where addressing
the king of Tyre, he says: "Thou art covered with precious stones of
all kinds, with the ruby, emerald, diamond, hyacinth, onyx, jasper,
sapphire, carbuncle, sardonyx and gold. _The wheels and drills of the
lapidaries_, were prepared in thy service for the day in which thou
wert created."
The use of the signet ring is frequently mentioned in the Old
Testament.[32] There, are also the phrases, "Sealed up in a bag;"[33]
"A book that is sealed;"[34] "Written evidence sealed;"[35] "Sealed
with clay;"[36] "Sealing with the signet of the king."[37] There are
also many places referring to the use of seals in the New Testament.
In Genesis, we find Thamar asking from Judah, his seal, seal string
and staff; in pledge.[38] In the same book, but referring to a much
later period,[39] Pharaoh takes his signet ring, in which was likely
set a scarab, from his hand and puts it on the hand of Joseph, so as
to confer sovereign authority upon him.[40]
In Exodus,[41] mention is made of the engraving of _Shoham_ stones as
a signet, i.e., in intaglio, as done by Betzaleel for the ephod of the
High Priest, and for his breastplate, engraved in the same way; these
were hard precious stones. We do not know with certainty the names of
these stones in English. The Hebrew names of those on the first row of
the ephod, are; _odem_, _piteda_, _bareketh_; second row, _nophesh_,
_saphir_, _yahlome_; third row, _leshéme_, _shevo_, _a'halama_; fourth
and last row, _tarshish_, _shokam_, _yoshphé_.
Some archæologists argue, that the original form of the Egyptian seal
was that of a cylinder, and from thence would deduce, that the
Egyptians, or at the least Egyptian art, came from Mesopotamia. I
would now say, that I do not believe that fact can be correctly
deduced, from the cylindrical form sometimes used in Egypt. The
cylinder perforated is only a form of the bead, and beads were one of
the earliest forms of decoration and ornament, used by primitive man.
The earliest shape of genuine seals known and used in Egypt, is that
in the scarab form and that form is peculiarly Egyptian; cylinders
however were sometimes used by that people in early times. The
Egyptians at a time, to us beyond all positive history, took advantage
of and used the intaglio seal, so as to secure, by its impression, the
authenticity of personal acts whether done by the sovereign, his
chancellor, or his treasurer, or by private individuals; and they
sometimes made use of signets of a cylindrical form, which they
applied upon clay or wax, but such were not frequently used in Egypt.
The cartouch of the earliest known king, Mena, (4400 B.C.,) is in the
form of the outline of the under side of the scarab.
It was because of its shape, the oval, ellipse, or ring form of the
line around the cartouch, it not having an end; that the pharaohs,
always having in mind immortality, have placed their names within that
form. The incised oval capable of producing millions of impressions,
would also be thought of as an emblem of reproduction, renewment and
eternity.
Indeed in all the different epochs of its greatness, we will find used
in Egypt, a few cylinders of hard stone upon which are well engraved
cartouches. There is one in serpentine in the National Library of
Paris bearing the name of Khufu or Kheops, of the IVth Dynasty, (3733
B.C.,) builder of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. They have been found of
soapstone made in the period of the IVth Dynasty, and of schist
enameled green, of the periods of Amen-em-hat Ist, Amen-em-hat IInd
and of Sovkhotpu IIIrd, pharaohs of the XIIth and XIIIth Dynasties.
These were royal cylinders. After the XVIIIth Dynasty such are very
rare in that form.
"The cylinders," says a very learned writer upon Oriental Glyptic Art;
"whatever may be their material, have never shown the mark of a
foreign influence upon the soil of Egypt. Nevertheless the relations
of Egypt and Chaldea date from the very highest antiquity."[42]
Scarabs became unfashionable in Egypt in the XIIth Dynasty and
cylinders were largely used. They were used by the Usertsens and the
Amen-em-has, but after the XIIth Dynasty cylinders are rare in Egypt.
The shape of the cartouch does not appear to have been changed.
Rings came into fashion with Amen-hotep IIIrd and died out under
Rameses IInd, the last king whose name we find on a bezel. I do not
deny that relations existed from the most archaic periods between the
people of Mesopotamia and those of Egypt, the discoveries of the
magnificent sculpture in and beautifully incised writing on, green
diorite; one of the hardest, toughest, and heaviest, stones known;
found at Telloh by M. de Sarzec, which had to be brought in large
blocks from the quarries of Sinai; take us back to the most remote
period, in which we have any knowledge of the inhabitants of Lower
Mesopotamia. One of the most wonderful ancient statues in existence is
that of king Khaf-Ra of the IVth Dynasty, the Khephren of the Greek
writers, builder of the second Great Pyramid of Gizeh, (_circa_ 3666
B.C.,) now in the Museum of Gizeh, Egypt. This statue, a full sized
portrait-statue, is made of green diorite highly polished and is a
magnificent work of Egyptian art. Its base is inscribed: "Image of the
Golden Horus, Khephren, beautiful god, lord of diadems."[43] This
shows, that the Egyptians worked the quarries of diorite at Sinai and
sculptured in it, about 4000 B.C.[44] The figures found at Telloh are
in a seated position, are sculptured in archaic Egyptian style, and
are covered with beautifully incised writing.[45]
I also know from the cuneiform inscriptions, that relations existed
between the First Empire of Chaldea and the pharaohs of the Great
Pyramids of Gizeh, as early as the reign of the Chaldean king
Naram-Sin; (_circa_ 3755 B.C.) Subsequent to the periods cited, there
exist a number of historical facts showing the knowledge of each
other, possessed by the inhabitants of the valley of the Nile and the
people of Mesopotamia.[46]
The same specialist in Oriental glyptics, says: "The efforts of some
learned men to discover traces of a reciprocal influence have been
fruitless. The pyramids of Egypt have no affinity with those of
Chaldea, the sculpture of Egypt does not resemble in anything that of
Nineveh or Caleh; would the glyptic art have escaped that individual
development which characterizes the two peoples? I think not; at least
we have no proof of it."[47]
And a very erudite archæologist of our day, Hodder M. Westropp, holds;
that the Assyrian cylinders came into that country from Egypt and did
not come from Assyria into Egypt.[48]
Scarabs went out of use under the so-called Heretic kings of the
XVIIIth Dynasty. Some fine enamel work on other subjects was made in
this period, showing that art had not degenerated, indeed the
discoveries made in the ruins of Khuaten, the present town called
Tell-el-Amarna, show remains of magnificent monuments sculptured in
the period of the Heretic kings of Egypt, (_circa_ 1466-1400 B.C.)
The scarab became again in use in the time of Hor-em-heb and Sethi I.,
and rings again became fashionable in Egypt.
After the fall of the Ramessidian kings, the priestly Dynasty of
Her-hor does not appear to have made use of them very largely. In the
recent great discovery at Dayr-el-Baharee very few were found, and
none bearing the name of Her-hor or his immediate family.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] The Book of Enoch, etc., by Rev. George H. Schodde, Ph.D.
Andover, 1882, pp. 67, 68.
[24] Ten Years Digging in Egypt, 1881-1891, by W.M. Flinders Petrie,
etc. The Religious Tract Soc. London, 1892, pp. 19, 20, 26 _et seq._,
119.
[25] _Ibid._, p. 119.
[26] Egypt Under the Pharaohs, etc., by Heinrich Bragsch-Bey. London,
1891, p. 80 _et seq._
[27] M. Menant in, _Les Pierres Gravées de la Haute-Asie_. Paris,
1886, Part II., p. 193 _et seq._
[28] _Ibid._, p. 194.
[29] _Recueil de Travaux Relatifs à la Philol. et à l'Archéol. Égypt_,
etc., _publié sous la direction de_ G. Maspero. Paris, 1888, Vol. X.,
p. 126.
[30] _Ibid._
[31] XXVIII., 13. Comp. De Luynes, _Numismatique des Satrapies_, p.
71. G. Perrot and C. Chipiez, _Histoire de l'Art Phènicie_, Vol. III.,
p. 632.
[32] I Kings, XXI., 8; Deut. XXXII., 34; Neh. IX., 38, XI., 1; Esth.
VIII., 8, 10.
[33] Job XIV., 17.
[34] Isa. XXIX., 11; Dan. IX., 24, XII., 49.
[35] Jer. XII., 10, XXXII., 11, 14, 44.
[36] Job XXXVIII., 14; Isa. VIII., 16.
[37] Dan. VI., 17; Esth. III., 12, VIII., 8, 10; I Kings, XXI., 8.
[38] Gen. XXXVIII., 18, 25, 26.
[39] _Ibid._ XLL, 42.
[40] Brugsch-Bey says: "The immigration of Joseph into Egypt was about
1730 B.C., near the time of the reign of the Hyksos King, Nub." Egypt
Under the Pharaohs. London, 1891, p. 120 _et seq._
[41] XXXIX., 6, 7, 10, 14.
[42] M. Joachim Menant, _Les Pierres Gravées de la Haute-Asie.
Recherches sur la Glyptique Orientale_. Paris, 1886, Part II., p. 197.
[43] Bragsch-Bey in his, Egypt Under the Pharaohs. London, 1891, p. 36
_et seq._
[44] M. Auguste Mariette, Outlines of Ancient Egyptian History, makes
the IVth Dynasty begin at 4235 B.C.
[45] _Découvertes en Chaldée_ par M. Ernest de Sarzec, etc. _Ouvrage
accompagné de planches_, etc. Paris, 1884, _et seq._ See also, Article
in Harper's Magazine, January, 1894, and Qabbalah, etc., by Isaac
Myer. Philadelphia, 1888, p. 237 _et seq._
[46] See the instances given by M. Menant in his _Les Pierres Gravées
de la Haute-Asie. Recherches sur la Glyptique Orientale_, etc. Paris,
1886, p. 197 _et seq._
[47] _Ibid._, p. 200.
[48] Hand-book of Archæology. London, 1867, pp. 253, 289. Recently Dr.
Fritz Hommel, in his, _Der babylonische Ursprung der ägyptischen
Kultur_, München, 1892, has endeavored to prove the contrary.
IV.
THE OLDEST SCARABS. CLASSIFICATION AND VALUE OF THE SCARAB TO
THE SCHOLAR OF TO-DAY. LARGE INSCRIBED HISTORICAL SCARABS.
The oldest scarabs, as to which one can feel any certainty of their
being genuine, are those I have mentioned bearing the name of Neb-Ka
incised on the under surface. This pharaoh was of the IIIrd Dynasty
and was living according to Brugsch-Bey, (3933-3900 B.C.)[49] That
would make 5,826 years past according to Brugsch. Auguste Mariette
would make it much more ancient.
These scarabs were made of pottery and glazed a pale green. It has
been stated by some archæologists that the oldest scarabs were not
engraved, the under part being made to represent the legs of the
beetle folded under its body, but this is only a supposition, as the
age can only be determined with any certainty, by the inscriptions
incised on the under part and those not so inscribed, may be of
different periods, some of very late times.
The forms usually met with in the tombs are, first; those with the
lower part as a flat level surface for the purpose of having an
inscription incised upon it; those having the engraving incised upon
such a surface; and those with the legs inserted under them in
imitation of nature. Sometimes the head and thorax are replaced by a
human face, and occasionally the body or the elytra have the form of
the Egyptian royal cap.
They often hold between the fore-legs representations of the sun.
The smaller scarabs have as subjects engraved upon them,
representations of the Egyptian deities, the names of the reigning
pharaohs, of queens, animals, religious symbols, sacred, civil and
funeral emblems, names of priests, nobles, officers of state and
private individuals, ornaments, plants, and sometimes dates and
numbers written in ciphers. Some have upon them mottoes, such as:
"Good Luck," "A Happy Life," etc., being used for sealing letters,
etc., and as presents. The larger sized have frequently texts and
parts of chapters from the Book of the Dead.
We can therefore make a general classification of scarabs into:
I. Mythological or Religious, containing subjects, figures or
inscriptions, connected with kosmogony, kosmology, or, religion.
II. Historical, containing royal cartouches and names of men, and
figures relating to civil customs.
III. Physiographical, containing animals or plants connected with
consecrated symbols.
IV. Funereal, connected with the _Ka_ or life of the mummy in this
world, and with the journey of his _Ba_ or responsible soul, through
the under-world.
V. Talisman or Amulets, to preserve the wearer from injury in this
world, by men or by evil spirits.
VI. Signets or Seals for official use, to verify documents or
evidence, protect property and correspondence, etc.
VII. And others, which have upon them only ornamental designs, as to
which we cannot, up to this time, ascertain the meaning.
The Historical scarabs are of great value in ascertaining or
displaying, in chronological series, the cartouches or shield names,
if I may be permitted thus to term them, of the monarchs of Egypt;
going from the most remote antiquity of the Egyptian kingdom, to A.D.
200.
"The Ancient Egyptians," remarks the Rev. Mr. Loftie, in his admirable
little book; Of Scarabs, p. 30 _et seq._, "happy people, had no money
on which to stamp the image and superscription of their Pharaohs. A
collection of scarabs, inscribed with the names of kings, stands
therefore to Egyptian history as a collection of coins stands to the
history of the younger nations of the earth. The day must come when
our Universities and other bodies of learned folk, will study the
beginnings of things as they are presented in Egyptian history, and
some knowledge of these curious little objects will become
indispensable to an educated man * * * * The collection now arranged
in the British Museum is second to none."
I would also say, those in the Louvre at Paris, are now arranged
chronologically. A good collection is also in the Egyptian Museum at
Gizeh, collected by M. Mariette; formerly it was very fine. Mr. W.M.
Flinders Petrie asserts[50] that most have been stolen, and further
says: "I hear that they were mainly sold to General Cesnola for New
York." If these are in the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of
New York City, it possesses a genuine and rare collection of scarabs.
A large number of scarabs bear the names of the pharaonic kings; this
is not strange when we remember that the pharaoh was Horus, Khepera,
and also a son of Ra and of Osiris. These cartouches are those of
kings of orthodox Egyptian descent, we do not find the names of the
Greek Ptolemies upon them, the Roman Emperors, as conquerors,
sometimes used them but that does not prove their abstract right to do
so.
The latest, in the collection belonging to France, is of Nectanebo the
last native pharaoh, (_circa_ 300 B.C.)
Some of them, as did those of Thotmes IIIrd, bear the inscription,
Ra-men-kheper, i.e., Ra, the sun-god establishes the future
resurrection. This is found on fully one-half of the specimens from
the XVIIIth Dynasty down.
The art of making the scarabs as I have said before, varies with the
epochs. The most elegantly finished are those of the time of the IVth
Dynasty (3733-3600 B.C.,) that of the Great Pyramids; in the XIIth
Dynasty (2466-2266 B.C.,) fine work again appears, then comes
inartistic work. Again with the XVIIIth Dynasty (1700-1433 B.C.,)
arises another period of splendor, and the art after again
deteriorating revived under the XXVIth, the Saïtic Dynasty, (666-528
B.C.)
Amenophis (or Amen-hotep) IIIrd of the XVIIIth Dynasty, the Memnon of
the Greeks,[51] (_circa_ 1500-1466 B.C.,) had a number of large
scarabs made, their object was not sepulchral nor were they to be used
as talisman, but they apparently were made for the incising upon them,
of purely historical inscriptions; such monuments are exceedingly rare
and are almost limited to the time of this Pharaoh. In the great
building erected by him, now known as the Temple of Luxor, were found
four of these great inscribed scarabs. Rosellini has given copies and
explanations of two of them. Dr. Samuel Birch has given a translation
of them, which I think is subject to revision.[52] One relates to the
marriage of Amen-hotep IIIrd in the tenth year of his reign, with his
queen Thya, (Taia, or Thai;) a second relates to the same subject and
to the arrival of Thya and Gilukipa in Egypt, with 317 women; a third,
now in the Vatican, mentions a tank or sacred lake, made for the queen
Thya, in the eleventh year and third month of his reign, to celebrate
the Festival of the Waters, on which occasion he entered it, in a boat
of "the most gracious Disk of Ra," i.e., the sun-god. This
substitution of the boat of the "Disk of Ra" for the usual boat of
Amen-Ra, is the first indication of a new, or heretical, sun
worship.[53]
One in the Museum of the Louvre (No. 580-747, Vitrine N.) reads: "The
living Horus, the bull strong through the _Ma_, the sovereign of the
two regions, supporter of the laws and preserver of the land
(country,) the Horus triumphant and great by his valor, vanquisher of
the Asiatics, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, _Ra-ma-neb_ (the prenomen
of the king,) son of the sun, Amenophis III., giving life. The queen
_Taia_ living.
Account of the lions brought from Asia by his Majesty, namely: from
the first year to the tenth, savage lions 102."
Another in the same Museum (582-787, Vitrine N.) This begins, as the
preceding, with an eulogy of Amenophis III. and follows with: "The
principal consort _Taia_, living, the name of her father (is) _Auaa_.
The name of her mother (is) _Tuaa_, She is the consort of the
victorious king whose frontiers (extend) to the south as far as _Ka
ro_ (or, Karai, perhaps Soudan,) to the north as far as Naharina,"
i.e., Mesopotamia. There are many other historical scarabs in this
Museum but these have the longest and most important inscriptions.
Another scarab of this Pharaoh is in the collection of the Rev. W.J.
Loftie, of London, England. It is large, 3-½ inches long by 2-¼ inches
wide, it is made of steatite and glazed; it tells: "The number of
fierce lions brought in by his majesty, and killed by him, from the
beginning of his first (year) to the tenth year of his reign, were
102."[54]
FOOTNOTES:
[49] Egypt Under the Pharaohs, etc. London, 1891, p. 20.
[50] Historical Scarabs, etc., by W.M. Flinders Petrie. London, 1889,
p. 14.
[51] Egypt Under the Pharaohs, by Brugsch-Bey. London, 1891, pp. 205,
206, 208.
[52] Records of the Past, Vol. XII., p. 37 _et seq._
[53] Bunsen. Egypt's Place in Hist., etc., III., p. 142, etc.; also
Records of Past, above cited.
[54] An Essay of Scarabs, by W.J. Loftie, B.A., F.S.A. London, (125
copies printed,) pp. 37, 38.
V.
WHERE USUALLY FOUND AND THE MODE OF WEARING SCARABS BY THE
EGYPTIANS. BOOK OF THE DEAD. EGYPTIAN SCARABS FOUND IN
MESOPOTAMIA. THE SCARAB IN CHRISTIANITY.
The small sized scarabs were usually incised with hieroglyphics and
perforated longitudinally; they are generally found on the breasts of
mummies next the skin or suspended from the neck, by a wire of gold or
other metal, or a string going through them, or worn like a ring stone
on the forefinger of the left hand; and sometimes, grasped inside of
the closed left hand. The inscriptions on them usually run from right
to left. One method of wearing them by the living, a very ancient
one, was by stringing them on a cord or a wire, so that they could be
worn as a bracelet on the wrist, a necklace around the throat, or as a
pendant to a necklace. The engraved base serving not only as an amulet
but also as the private signet of the owner. Soldiers wore them
suspended around the neck, as a talisman when going into battle and
also to instil courage in them during the fray. But the most usual
mode of mounting them by the living, was as a stone for a finger ring
on a swivel, or a wire, passing through the longitudinal perforation
and then curved into a ring shape; this was usually worn on the
forefinger of the left hand, as that finger was thought by the
Egyptians, to contain a nerve leading directly to the heart; the
engraved part was turned next to the flesh. M. Mariette says, that the
mummies of the XIth Dynasty nearly always have a scarab on the little
finger of the left hand.[55]
Sometimes they were made of baked clay or cut in steatite, with the
head of a hawk, cow, ram, dog, cat, lion, or even of a man, and such
have been found buried with the mummies. Those found on the breasts of
mummies embalmed most carefully and expensively, and in immediate
contact with the flesh, have sometimes bodies of stone with extended
wings, as if flying; these wings sometimes having been made of metal,
frequently of gold, and at other times of cut stone.[56] Those found
made of stone with extended wings, also had the latter often made of
lead or silver; when of blue pottery, the wings were generally made of
the same material.
On the lids of the outer cases of many coffins, especially of the
finest; the position over the breast of the mummy was occupied by a
large winged scarabæus, moulded apparently, of pasteboard or of
successive layers of gummed linen, and then beautifully painted in
colors. This was to act as the protector Khepra, of the _ka_ or
immaterial vitality of the _sahu_ or mummy. The Egyptians had a
complicated psychology which we will refer to more fully hereafter.
Those within the coverings were most probably put inside of the mummy
wrappings to act as talisman, like the writing upon the linen
wrappings, and the bandelettes inscribed with texts from the Book of
the Dead, or, the _Shait an Sensen_, i.e., Book of the Breathings of
Life, and as also were enclosed, copies of entire chapters and parts,
of the Book of the Dead, written upon papyrus or linen; or inscribed
on the large stone scarabs, which were put in the body of the corpse,
to take the place of the heart, the last having been deposited with
the lungs, in the jar of Tuamautef, one of the four Canopic jars. The
idea being to drive away evil spirits, supposed to be injurious to the
passage of the soul of the dead, upon its journey through the
under-world to the new birth and power of transformation, in the
eternal heaven of the Egyptians.
There appears to have been two divisions of that eternal heaven, one
called _Aar_ and _Aanru_, the place in which agricultural labors were
performed, and the other _Hotep_, the place of repose. Both are
mentioned in the Book of the Dead.
Indeed some chapters of the Book of the Dead were only inscribed on
the linen winding sheet of the mummy, and the texts of the CLIVth
chapter were only recovered recently, upon the unrolling of the mummy
of Tehuti-mes, or Thotmes, IIIrd (1600 B.C.,) of the XVIIIth Dynasty,
the great warrior king of Egypt, found a few years past at
Dayr-el-Baharee; inscribed upon his linen winding sheet. As the
winding sheet was the only proper place for this text, and as it is
unique, it likely would not ever have been known, if this Pharaoh's
mummy had not been discovered unmutilated.
The small scarabs were usually placed upon the eyes or the breast,
sometimes over the stomach. They were strung into a net to cover the
corpse and were sewed on the wrappings. As many as three thousand have
been found in one tomb.
Egyptian scarabs were found by Mr. Layard, in his explorations on the
banks of the Khabour in Mesopotamia, at Arban; and he gives plates of
the same.[57] Three are of the reigns of the Egyptian kings Thotmes
IIIrd, and one of Amenophis IIIrd. They are mostly of steachist, and
of the XVIIIth Dynasty. He found one of hard stone, an agate, engraved
with an Assyrian emblem.[58] He also found at Nimrûd; cubes of bronze
upon which were scarabs with outstretched wings, inlaid in gold,[59]
and bronze bowls with conventional forms of the scarab, rather
Phoenician than Egyptian, in the centre of the inside.[60]
After the Christian era the influence of cult of the scarab was still
felt. St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, calls Jesus: "The good
Scarabæus, who rolled up before him the hitherto unshapen mud of our
bodies."[61] St. Epiphanius has been quoted as saying of Christ: "He
is the scarabæus of God," and indeed it appears likely that what may
be called, Christian forms of the scarab, yet exist. One has been
described as representing the crucifixion of Jesus; it is white and
the engraving is in green, on the back are two palm branches; many
others have been found apparently engraved with the Latin cross.[62]
FOOTNOTES:
[55] Cat. of the Museum of Boulak, p. 34.
[56] Pettigrew, Hist. of Mummies, p. 220.
[57] Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, etc., by Austen
H. Layard, M.P. New York, 1853, p. 280 _et seq._
[58] _Ibid._, p. 595.
[59] _Ibid._, p. 196.
[60] _Ibid._, p. 186.
[61] Works, Paris, 1686, Vol. I., col. 1528, No. 113. Egyptian
Mythology and Egyptian Christianity, etc., by Samuel Sharpe. London,
1863, p. 3.
[62] An Essay of Scarabs, by W.J. Loftie, B.A., F.S.A., pp. 58, 59.
VI.
THE POSITION OF THE SCARAB IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION AND THE
BOOK OF THE DEAD. EGYPTIAN PHILOSOPHY. ADVANCED INTELLECTUALITY
OF EGYPT SIX THOUSAND YEARS AGO. DEITIES OF LIBRARIES AND
LEARNING. ANCIENT LIBRARIANS AND BOOKS. THE DIVISION OF LEARNED
MEN INTO DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF STUDY. THE STATEMENTS OF GREEK
WRITERS ON EGYPTIAN THOUGHT NOT TO BE DEPENDED UPON. QUOTATIONS
FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD ON THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SCARABÆUS
DEITY. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE GREAT SPHINX. FURTHER QUOTATIONS
FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, ON THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SCARAB DEITY.
As I have already said: the larger scarabs are usually found in the
body of the mummy in place of the heart, which was always taken out of
the corpse and placed in one of the visceral vases, that of Tuamautef.
The scarab was a symbol of the re-birth, resurrection and the eternal
life of the soul, pronounced pure at the psychostasia; and we know
from the Book of the Dead, that at the moment of resurrection, in
analogy to the beginning of terrestrial life, it was the heart that
was asserted to be given to the dead so as to receive the first
vitality of the second birth, it was through the heart that the mummy
would revive, thence the inscribed scarab was placed in the mummy in
the place formerly occupied by its heart when in terrestrial life.
Sometimes the representation of a human heart was engraved on the
scarabæus. The small scarabs are not often found inside of the mummy.
But frequently large stone scarabs have been found in it in the place
of the heart, on which, incised in very small characters, are portions
of the Book of the Dead. Those usually inscribed are, the XXXth
chapter or those parts of the LXIVth, line 34, or of the XXVIIth
chapters, which relate to the heart of a man. They begin usually with
the formula: "My heart which comes from my mother, my heart which is
necessary for my transformations," etc. They are, following the
commands in the Book of the Dead, frequently set in gold, sometimes in
bronze, and sometimes are incised with the shape of the hieroglyph for
the heart.
At some very remote period, so remote that we cannot even surmise its
date, the scarabæus symbol was considered as embodying not only the
idea of the creator but also, the idea of the life beyond the grave in
eternal futurity. Some scholars assert that the Egyptians rejected
every abstraction and did not have any philosophy. This I do not and
cannot believe from my investigations of their learning, but I do
think, that we have not yet grasped nor understood that philosophy in
its fullness, from the few remnants of it which have reached our day.
The oldest texts and monuments show, a high condition of culture and
thought as well as artistic feeling; the unknown deity was idealized
and never represented to the eye on the monuments of early times; the
Great Sphinx, itself a philosophical abstraction, was made long before
the historical period; and the Book of the Dead, shows beneath its
pages, a hidden religious metaphysical philosophy not yet unraveled.
This was, likely, secretly taught by word of mouth as Qabbalah or Oral
Tradition to the initiates, and was never put into writing. Some of
these ideas we have just grasped, for instance, we now have some
knowledge of the Egyptian divisions of the spiritual or immaterial
part of man, of his psychology, and upon studying these divisions one
can readily imagine, a secret religious philosophy accompanying those
separations of the spiritual in man. We are also obtaining some
knowledge, of their idea of God and of their kosmology and kosmogony.
Six thousand years ago Egypt had attained great advancement. "Its
religion was established. It possessed a language and writing. Art
under the IVth and Vth Dynasties had reached a height which the
following Dynasties[63] never surpassed. It had an especially
complicated administration, the result of many years. The Egyptians
had civil grades and religious grades, bishops as well as prefects.
Registration of land surveys existed. The pharaoh had his organized
court, and a large number of functionaries, powerfully and wisely
arranged, gravitated around him. Literature was honored and books were
composed on morals, some of which have reached our day. This was under
the Ancient Empire during which existed the builders of the
Pyramids."[64] The deities of literature and of libraries already
existed, they were Thoth, the Greek Hermes; Atmu, of Thebes; _Ma_ or
_Maat_, goddess of the harmony of the entire universe, or its law of
existence, and of righteousness; Pacht, the mistress of thoughts;
Safekh, goddess of books, who presided over the foundations of
monuments and who was venerated at Memphis as early as the IVth
Dynasty; Selk, who was also the goddess of libraries.
"In one of the tombs at Gizeh, a great functionary of the first period
of the VIth Dynasty (_circa_ 3300 B.C.,) takes the title of: 'Governor
of the House of Books.' This simple mention incidentally occurring
between two titles, more exalted, would suffice, in the absence of
others, to show us the extraordinary development which had been
reached in the civilization of Egypt at that time. Not only had that
people a literature, but that literature was sufficiently large to
fill libraries; and its importance was so great, that one of the
functionaries of the court was especially attached to the care and
preservation of the royal library. He had, without doubt, in his
keeping with the contemporaneous works, the books written under the
first Dynasties, books of the time of Mena and perhaps of kings
anterior to Mena. The works in the library would be composed of
religious works; chapters of the Book of the Dead, copied after
authentic texts preserved in the Temples; scientific treatises on
geometry, medicine and astronomy; historic books in which were
preserved the sayings and doings of the ancient kings, together with
the number of the years of their lives and the exact duration of their
reigns; manuals of philosophy and practical morals and perhaps some
romances," etc.[65]
The learned of that ancient people followed special lines of study and
thought. There was a division of them known as the _Herseshta_, or
Teachers of Mysteries. These were subdivided, among other divisions
into: "The Mystery Teachers of Heaven," or, the astronomers and
astrologers; "The Mystery Teachers of All Lands," or, the geographers
and those who studied other peoples and countries; "The Mystery
Teachers of the Depth," likely, the possessors of a knowledge of
minerals, mining, varieties of rocks, etc.; "Mystery Teachers of the
Secret Word," doubtless those interested in abstract thought,
religious metaphysics and philosophy; "Mystery Teachers of the Sacred
Language," men who devoted themselves to grammar and the form of
writing; "Mystery Teachers of Pharaoh, or, 'of all the commands of
Pharaoh,'" wise men, likely private scribes and secretaries of the
king; "Mystery Teachers who examine Words," likely learned men who sat
as judges to hear complaints, and sift the opposing statements of
litigants and witnesses. The learned writers known as scribes were
also divided into many branches.[66]
We cannot accept the statements of most of the Greek authors upon this
subject, for the study of the last few years of the Ancient Egyptian
papyri and other remains, shows that they either did not know or they
willfully misrepresented, Egyptian abstract thought; about the only
works, outside of the papyri and the monuments, from which we can
gather as to it with any sureness, meagre details; are the writings
attributed to Hermes Trismegistos; the Osiris and Isis, of Plutarch;
the work ascribed to Horapollon, and the book of Iamblichus, entitled:
A Treatise on the Mysteries. The Greek writers upon Ancient Egypt,
Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Thales, Plato, Pythagoras, Solon,
and others, of less note; give but little assistance, indeed in many
cases their statements are misleading. It is a question yet to be
solved, as to how much of the foundations of the philosophy of
Pythagoras, Plato, Solon and other Greek writers, were obtained from
the learned men of Egypt or their writings.[67]
Chapter XXX. of the _Per-em-hru_, or, Book of the Dead, has frequently
in the papyrus copies, a picture of the soul of the dead in adoration
before a scarabæus set upright upon a support. This chapter is
entitled: "Chapter of not allowing the heart of a man to have
opposition made to it in the divine inferior region." It says towards
the end: "This chapter is to be said over a scarabæus of hard stone,
formed and set in gold, which should be placed in the breast of the
man, after the opening of the mouth has been made and the head
anointed with oil; then the following words shall be said over him in
right of a magical charm: 'My heart which comes to me from my mother,
my heart which is necessary to me for my transformations.'" See,
Appendix A.
The whole of this chapter was frequently engraved upon the large
scarabs, which were placed in the breasts of the mummies in place of
the heart.
The LXIVth chapter of the Book of the Dead, is one of the oldest of
the entire collection and line 34 _et seq._, uses the same language as
to the heart, and says: "Put it on a scarabæus of hard stone set in
gold, in the breast of the mummy, having engraved on it: 'My heart is
my mother,'" etc. This chapter is fuller than the other just cited.
The CLXIIIrd chapter, lines 9, 10, says: "O Amen bull-scarabæus,
master of the eyes: 'Terrible with the pupil of the eye' is thy name.
The Osiris * * * (here the name of the deceased was inserted,) is the
emanation of thy two eyes." That is, Amen is here invoked as the
bull-symbol of generation and also as the scarabæus, that is, as the
creator who has engendered himself.
Chapter CLXV. of the same book, has as a vignette or picture: The god
Khem, ithyphallic, with the body of a scarab, etc., line 11 reads: "I
do all thy words. Saying (them) over the image of the god raising the
arm, having the double plume upon his head, the legs separated and the
body of the scarabæus."
The rising sun or Horus, in whose arms it was asserted, the dead arose
into the upper life, was represented by the scarabæus under the name
of Khepra, Khepera, or Khepri, this name among its other meanings
signifying: "The itself transforming," and this is hieroglyphically
written by the use of the scarabæus. The body of Khepera as a deity is
surmounted in some of the representations, by a scarab in place of a
human head.
In chapter XXIV. of the Book of the Dead, we read: "Khepra transforms
itself, (or, gives itself a form to itself,) on high, from the thigh
of its mother." This is more fully developed in a papyrus in the
Louvre which reads: "The majesty of this great god attains that reign
(the twelfth division of the subterranean world, responding to the
twelfth hour of the night,) which is the end of absolute darkness. The
birth of this great god, when it became Khepra, took place in that
region * * * It went out from the inferior region. It joined the boat
_mad_. It raised itself above the thighs of Nut."
"O Khepra who created itself on high, from the thigh of its mother,
i.e., Nu, or Nut."[68]
Nut was the goddess personifying the vault of heaven, the sky, and the
space, in which the sun was supposed to have been born. The scarab it
must be remembered was in the Egyptian thought, an androgyne.
In a papyrus now in Turin, Italy, we may read: "I am Khepera, the
morning; Ra, the midday; Tum, the evening." It is said of Khepra as of
Horus, that it produced the _Ma_, i.e., the law or harmony which
uphold the universe, and it is merged with a form of Horus, under the
name of: "Harmakhis-Khepra who gives itself its form." One of the
parts played by Khepra in Ancient Egyptian thought, is condensed in
that figure which we find on the top of some of the Osirian naos's or
arks, the scarab in the middle of the disk emerging from the horizon.
The perpetuity of the transformations or the power to become, whenever
it pleased, the form it desired; was everywhere recalled to the mind
of the people of Ancient Egypt, by the symbolic figure of the scarab,
the hieroglyph of the words: _To become_, _to be_, _to be existing_,
as also creator, an amulet of power above all others. "Khepra in its
bark is Har-em-Khu (or, Harmakhis) himself," (chapter XVII. Book of
the Dead, line 79.) The latter is the sun re-born every day at sunrise
in the East under the name of Horus, it is: "Horus in the horizon,"
the conqueror of darkness. The scarab as Tum-Ra-Khepra is the,
"illuminator of the double earth at its going out of the under-world,
great god, and master of the _Ma_:" that is, of the Harmony and Law,
whereby the universe came into being and exists.
The similarity attached to the idea in the symbolism of the sphinx,
causes the close student of Egyptology to see, that the scarab and the
sphinx represent similar ideas. The Great Sphinx of Gizeh near the
Great Pyramids, is an image of Ra-Harmakhis or, "Horus in the two
horizons," (the rising and the setting sun;) one of the names of the
sphinx is _seshep_ (i.e., to make the light.) The sphinx is said to
be, an emblem of energy and force united to intellect, it is one of
the very earliest of the Ancient Egyptian emblems, that of Gizeh was
old and needing repairs when the Pyramids were being built; (_circa_
3733 B.C.) That abstraction does not appear to me, to be beyond the
philosophy of the archaic Egyptians. The head of the Great Sphinx
signified the _Khu_, or intellectual part of the soul, in their
psychology; and the lion-shaped body, signified force, vitality or
energy, the life principle or _Ka_.[69]
The promise of the resurrection of the soul was symbolized, by the
Great Sphinx of Gizeh, old at the beginning of the Ancient Empire; by
the Phoenix, and by the Scarab, the antiquity of the symbolism of
which no Egyptologist has yet fathomed. We have it set forth in
writing on the inscriptions of the earliest Dynasties.[70]
On a stele found between the paws of the Great Sphinx of Gizeh is:
"The majesty of this beautiful god speaks by its own mouth, as a
father speaks to his child, saying: Look to me, let thine eye rest on
me, my son Thutmes! I, thy father, Harmakhu-Khepra-Ra-Tum, I give thee
the kingdom." This monarch was Thutmes IVth (1533 B.C.)[71]
In the interior of the pyramid of Mer-en-Ra (or Mirinri Ist,) 3200
B.C., was inscribed on the walls: "And they installing this
_Mihtimsaouf Mirini_ upon their thrones at the head of the divine
Nine, mistress of Ra, it who has its dwelling fixed, because they
cause that _Mihtimsaouf Mirini_ may be as _Ra, in its name of the
Scarabæus_, and thou hast entered as to thyself as Ra," etc.[72]
"Salutation to thee Tumu,[73] salutation to thee, Scarabæus-god, who
art thyself; thou who liftest up, in that holding thy name of lifter
up ('from the earth,' 'the stairway,' or 'stairs,') and who art
(Khopiru) in this, holding the name of the Scarabæus-god (Khopiru)!
Salutation to thee Eye of Horus, whom it has furnished with its two
creating hands (Tumuï,)" etc.[74]
Chapter XVII., line 75, of the Book of the Dead, reads: "O Khepra in
its boat! the society of the gods is its body, in other words, it is
Eternity."
Chapter XXIV., lines 1, 2, say: "I am Khepra who gives to itself a
form on high, from the thigh of its mother, making a wolf-dog, for
those who are in the celestial abyss, and the phoenix, for those who
are among the divine chiefs." That is, as Harmakhis.
Chapter XV., lines 3, 4, read: "Salutation to thee, Harmakhis-Khepra
who to itself gives a form to itself! Splendid is thy rising in the
horizon, illuminating the double earth with thy rays." The same
chapter, line 47, reads: "Khepra, father of the gods! He (the defunct)
has never any more injury to fear, thanks to that deliverance."
Chapter CXXXIV., line 2, says: "Homage to Khepra in its boat who every
day overthrows Apap." Comp., chapter CXXX., line 21, XLI., line 2.
Apap was the evil serpent, the executioner of the gods, that is, the
principal evil one; and Khepra, the scarabæus deity, overthrows the
principal evil one, every day, according to this text.
"The Osiris * * * (name of the defunct was inserted in this blank,) is
considered as a lord of eternity, he is considered as Khepra, he is
lord of the diadem, he is in the eye of the sun," etc., says chapter
XLII., lines 12, 13 _et seq._
And in chapter XVII., which is one of the oldest chapters of the
_Per-em-hru_, lines 76, 77, 78, is; "O Khepra in thy boat! (i.e., as
Harmakhis) the body of the gods is even thy body, or so to say, it is
Eternity. Save Osiris * * * from those watching judges (i.e., Isis and
Nephthys,) to whom the master of spells has entrusted, at his
pleasure, the watching of his enemies--whom the executioner will
strike--and from whose observation none escape. Let me not fall under
their sword; let me not go into their place of torture; let me not
remain supplicating in their abodes; let me not come into their place
for execution; let me not sit down in their boilers; let me not do
those things which are done by those whom the gods detest," etc.
Further according to the Book of the Dead, the soul of the dead man,
says: "I fly among those of the divine essence, I become in it, Khepra
... I am that, which is in the bosom of the gods." (Chapter LXXXIII.,
lines 1, 2.)
Another text reads: "O it who establishes the mysteries which are in
me, produce the transformations as Khepra, going out of the condition
of the disk so as to give light (or, to enlighten.)" Chapter LXIV.,
line 16. (Comp. also chapter XCIII.)
Another text says: "I give vigor to the murdering sword which is in
the hand of Khepra against the rebels." (Chapter XCV., line 3.)
Khepra is also called, Tum-Khepra. (Chapter CXLI., line 6.)
Reaching the eternal abode, the soul, says: "I am intact, intact as my
father Osiris-Khepra, of whom the image is, the man whose body is not
decomposed." (Chapter CLIV., lines 1, 2.)
On articles of furniture, on toys, on the coffins of mummies, on
papyri and linen and other monuments, the scarabæus appears and sets
off in a strong light, the Egyptian belief in the resurrection and
re-birth of the pious dead. The very idea of the transformation is
shown, by the hieroglyph of the scarab for the word _Kheper_, i.e.,
_to be_, to _become_, to _raise up_. One of the most urgent prayers to
be found in many places, in the Book of the Dead as made by the
deceased, is, that he may go out of the under-world to the higher
regions of light, and have power to "go forth as a living soul, to
take all the forms which may please him." Chabas says as to this: "We
know that such was the principal beatitude of the elect in the
Egyptian heaven; it allowed the faculty of transformation into all the
universe under the form wished for." The god Khepra with folding wings
symbolized these metamorphoses.
It figures continually in the sepulchral paintings on the walls of the
hypogea of Thebes, and it announces the second birth of the soul to
the future eternal life. Some figures have the scarab over the head,
sometimes in place of the head. In the Great Temple at Edfu a scarab
has been found portrayed with two heads, one of a ram, the symbol of
Amen, or Ammon; the hidden or mysterious highest deity of the
priesthood especially of Thebes; the other of a hawk, the symbol of
Horus, holding in its claws a symbol of the universe.[75] It may
symbolize by this form, the rising sun and the coming of the Spring
sun of the vernal equinox in the zodiacal sign of the ram, but more
likely has a much deeper religious meaning.[76] Represented with the
head and legs of a man the scarab was an emblem of Ptah.
FOOTNOTES:
[63] Unless it be the XIIth. Myer.
[64] _La Galerie de l'Égypte Ancienne_, etc., by Aug. Ed.
Mariette-Bey. Paris, 1878, pp. 46, 47.
[65] _Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient_, by G. Maspero.
Paris, 1886, p. 68 _et seq._
[66] Brugsch-Bey in, Egypt Under the Pharaohs. London, 1891, pp. 25,
26. As to the knowledge of the Ancient Egyptians; Comp. Egyptian
Science from the Monuments and Ancient Books, treated as a general
introduction to the History of Science, by N.E. Johnson, B.A., etc.
London, (1891?) Ten Years Digging in Egypt, 1881-1891, by W.M.
Flinders Petrie, etc. London, 1892, pub. by The Religious Tract
Society.
[67] Comp. _La Morale Égyptienne_, etc., by E. Amelineau. Paris, 1892.
Introd. pp. LXXXII. _et seq._, XX. _et seq. Ritual Funéraire de
Pamonth_, by M. Eugène Revillout. Paris, 1889.
[68] _Le Papyrus de Neb-Qed (exemplaire hiéroglyphique du Livre des
Morts,) reproduit_, etc., _par_ Théodule Devéria _avec la traduction
du texte par_ Paul Pierret _conservateur-adjoint du Musée Égyptien du
Louvre_. Paris, 1872, pl. III., col. 13, 14, p. 3.
[69] Comp. as to the Sphinx, Egypt Under the Pharaohs, by Heinrich
Brugsch-Bey. London, 1891, pp. 37, 38, and especially p. 199 _et seq._
Also G. Maspero in his, _Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient_.
Paris, 1886, pp. 28, 50, 64, 209.
[70] Comp. _Recherches sur les monum. qu'on peut attribuer aux six
premières Dynasties de Manethon_, etc., by M. Le vicomte Emmanuel de
Rougé. Paris, _Imp. Imper._, 1866. _Recueil de Travaux Relatifs à la
Philol. et à l'Arch. Égypt. et Assyri_, edited by Maspero, Vol. III.
and IV., 1882 _et seq._
[71] Comp. Egypt Under the Pharaohs, etc., by Heinrich Brugsch-Bey.
London, 1891, p. 199 _et seq._ The Nile. Notes for Travellers in Egypt
by E.A. Wallis Budge. Litt. D., F.S.A. London, 1892, pp. 194-5. Hist.
of the Egyptian Relig., by Dr. C.P. Tiele, trans. by James Ballingal.
Boston, 1882, p. 81 _et seq._
[72] _Recueil de Travaux Relatifs à la Philol. et à l'Arch. Égypt._,
etc., _publié de sous la direction de_ G. Maspero, Vol. XI., fas. I,
pp. 2, 3. See also as to mention of Tumu, the Scarabæus, in the
pyramid of Pepi II. (Nefer-ka-Ra) 3166 B.C. _Ibid._, Vol. XII., pp.
144, 153.
[73] Tumu or Tmu was also called Hor-em-khu, i.e., Horus on the
horizon, or, the rising sun, he was the deity Harmakhis of the Greeks;
his symbol, as before mentioned, was the Great Sphinx. Egypt Under the
Pharaohs, by Brugsch-Bey. London, 1891, pp. 199, 201. As to Tum, see
_Supra_.
[74] _Recueil_, etc., before cited, Vol. XII., p. 160 _et seq._, 189,
190. Pyramid of Pepi II. See also the Book of the Dead, Turin Mss. ch.
CXLI., A. 6; _Ibid._, ch. XVII. beginning; _Ibid._, ch. LXXIX., l. 1;
_Ibid._, ch. LXXVIII., l. 12.
[75] _Religions de l'Antiquité_, etc., by J.D. Guigniaut, founded on
the German work of Dr. Fréd. Creuzer. Paris, 1825, Vol. I., part 2,
pl. XLVIII., 187b. Compare the other curious figures of the scarabæus
in this volume, also p. 948 _et seq._
[76] Comp. Wilkinson, Manners, etc., of the Ancient Egyptians, 2nd
series, London, 1841, Vol. II., p. 260, Vol. I., pp. 250, 256.
VII.
IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART IN THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION.
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL ACCORDING TO THAT RELIGION. SYMBOLISM OF
THE SCARAB IN THEIR DOCTRINE OF SUCH IMMORTALITY. NO THING IN
THIS UNIVERSE ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED, ONLY CHANGED. THE IDEA OF
METEMPSYCHOSIS IN ANCIENT EGYPT. ELEVATED IDEAS AS TO THE DEITY.
HYMN TO AMMON-RA CITED. QUOTATIONS AS TO EGYPTIAN PHILOSOPHY,
EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE AND KOSMOGONY. OF KHEPRA AND OF TUM OR
ATMU. EGYPTIAN PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS DIVISIONS.
The human heart, the first life principle of human existence and
regeneration, the first apparent individuality of embryonic human
life; was symbolized, in the _Per-em-Hru_, i.e., the Book of the
Dead, by Khepra, the scarabæus deity; this is one reason why the texts
(chapters XXX. and XXVII., see also LXIV.,) which related to the
heart, were those usually inscribed on the funeral scarabæi, and
consecrated to the preservation of the heart of the dead. The
condition of death was described by the Egyptian expression: "The one
whose heart does not beat." The resurrection or re-birth from the dead
only began, according to the Egyptian idea, when this organ, so
essential and necessary to all animal life, was returned to the
deceased _Ba_, i.e., responsible soul, by the decree of Osiris and the
judges of the dead, which Thoth registers: "To him is accorded that
his heart may be in its place." Indeed most of the texts of the
_Per-em-Hru_, as we have seen, are dedicated to the preservation of
the heart of the dead one. The philosophic student can therefore from
this, at once see, the great value of the scarabæus symbol to the
whole religious thought-world of Ancient Egypt. It was the symbol,
when returned to the dead, of the regenerated and resurrected life of
the dead one to the heavenly regions of the blessed for all eternity,
to the second birth in the regions of eternal rest and happiness.
Taking as a model the daily course of the sun, which rising in the
morning as Horus; reaching the zenith at noon as Ra; setting in the
evening, in the regions of darkness as Tum; and absent during the
night and until the morrow as Osiris; upon which, victorious over the
chaotic darkness, it arose in triumph again as Horus; the birth and
journey of man on earth, was considered by the Ancient Egyptians as
similar to the solar journey; and death, the end of that journey, was
assimilated to the course of the sun when at night it was, according
to their astronomical knowledge, supposed to be in the Lower Regions
or Underworld, the abode of Osiris. When he died, the Egyptian became
as Osiris, "the nocturnal sun;" resurrected, he became Horus, the
new-born and rising sun; in midday, he was Ra. Horus was: "The Old One
who rejuvenated himself." Such a re-birth of the dead to immortality,
was the recompense promised by the Egyptian religion, to the soul of
the man pious and good during this life, but the wicked were to be
tortured, transformed into lower forms, or annihilated.[77] Matter,
according to it, does not perish but only changes and the earth
itself, was deified as Seb, Isis, Ta-nen, and Ptah-Tatunen.
What then did matter become, it was transformed, the deities were
transformed. Matter was transformed,--this is explained to us through
the symbolism of the scarab, the hieroglyph of the word _Kheper_,
i.e., "to be," "to exist," "to become," "to create," "to emanate;" of
which, as I have said, the Great Sphinx is the symbol, and has
therefore the philosophical value of creator and created.[78] God and
His universe, existence and change or transformation, death and
dissolution, all which were only considered as regeneration and
re-birth in another form. Thence becomes apparent to us, the great
value and importance to the Egyptian people of the symbolism of the
scarab, it was, to them, the emblematic synthesis of their religion as
to-day to Christians, the Latin or the Greek cross, is the emblematic
synthesis of Latin or Greek Christianity. The philosophic Egyptian,
thought, the atoms and molecules of all bodies and of all matter,
were never destroyed or lost, they were always in motion but were
only transformed and changed, by death or the dissolution of forms.
Death on this earth did not destroy the personality of the human
being, that continued beyond death on our earth, and as to those who
had been good and pious during their life here, their personality
continued eternally; but the punishment of the wicked was, the
annihilation of that personality or an immobility which was almost the
same. The work entitled, Hermes Trismegistos, contains a resumé of
that idea, saying, among other things: "What was composed is divided.
That division is not Death, it is the analysis of a combination; but
the aim of that analysis is not destruction, it is the renewment. What
is in effect the energy of life? Is it not movement? What then is
there in this world, immovable?"[79]
The everlasting interchange of life and death, flows throughout all
the religious philosophy of the Ancient Egyptians; basing itself on
the continual return of day from night and of day to night, and upon
the apparent course of the sun, they seem to have formulated the idea
of the immortality of the soul of man after death.
Herodotus tells us,[80] that the Egyptians believed, that the soul of
the departed passed into an animal, and after having gone through all
the ranks of the animal world, was at the end of three thousand years
reunited to the human body; but from the remains of the Egyptian
religion we have to-day, next to nothing has been found that will
confirm this statement, but much that shows the Greek authors were
frequently in error. In the realm of the dead, according to the texts
of the Book of the Dead, (chapter LXXXIX. and other places,) the
responsible soul or _Ba_ of the deceased, may become a sparrow-hawk,
an adder, a crocodile-headed being, etc., but only to deceive its
demon enemies;[81] not until after this, is the _Khu_, the
intellectual soul, which accompanies the _Ba_, which is represented
under the symbolized form of a sparrow-hawk with a human head,
reunited to the _Ba_. This however all occurs, not on earth, but in
the realms of the dead. The Ancient Egyptian believed, that as the
setting of the sun was an actual separation of the body and soul of
the sun-god; and its rising, a reunion of the two; so it happened to
the future of the spiritual of man, and that after man's death on this
earth, his spirit, as did that of the sun-god; would arise again to
life, but it would be to a life of immortality in a higher sphere. I
am inclined also to think, that they believed the spiritual body of
the new-born child came down from the sun-disk or from some very
exalted sphere.[82]
The following quotations from Eugène Grébaut's translation in French,
of the Hymn to Ammon-Ra, are important for an understanding of the
positions of Khepra and of Turn during the Theban Dynasties.
"Hail to thee Ra, lord of the _maat_, (the) mysterious in his shrine.
Master (i.e., father) of the gods, Khepra in its boat, (it) sending
forth the word (i.e., the creative word,) the gods came into
existence. Hail god Tum, maker of intelligent beings, who determines
their manner of existence, artisan of their existences; (and who)
distinguishes (their) colors, one from the other."[83] "Author of
humanity, making the form of all things to become (or, former who
produced every thing;) it is in thy name of Tum-Khepra."[84] "Khepra
is father of the gods and the producer of the _maat_."[85]
The deities go out of the mouth of their father Khepra, and are
nourished by the _maat_, i.e., the Harmony or Law of the universe;[86]
men go out of its eyes, that is from the light of the deity, and it is
this light which vivifies the entire universe. The Hymn says: "O Form,
ONE, producing all things, the ONE, who art Alone; producing
existences! Men come forth from Its two eyes, the gods come into
existence from Its Word. Author of the green pastures, which nourish
the cattle, and of the nutritious plants for the use of mankind. It
who maketh that fishes live in the rivers and the winged fowl in the
air; who giveth the breath of life to (the germ) in the egg. It maketh
to live birds of all species, and likewise the insects which creep and
also those which fly. It maketh provision for the rats in their holes,
and nourisheth the birds that are on the trees. Hail to Thee, O Author
of the totality of all forms. The ONE who art alone, yet numberless
through Thy extended arms: watching over all humanity when it sleeps,
seeking the good of Its creatures."[87] I have used the neuter It and
not He, the Egyptian idea of the highest deity was, that it was
androgenic not masculine. Although it would seem that this Hymn, of
which I have cited but a small portion, applied to Ammon-Ra, yet it
expressly says, that: Its name is also Tum (or, Atmu,)--Khepra.[88]
Another text reads: "O Bull of the western region[89] concealed in the
concealed region (i.e., Amenti or the Underworld) from whom emanates
all the gods (and all) the goddesses who are with him! The Osiris, the
Hathor * * * (the name of the dead was inserted here) the justified
(or, triumphant,) comes towards thee; the becoming which is in the
becoming of all things when they become.[90] Powerful lords,
beneficent, divine, judging the speech (words) of the inhabitants of
the countries; lords of Truth![91] Hail to thee! gods, essence of the
essences without their bodies, ruling the generations of _Ta-nen_
(i.e., of this earth) and the births (begettings) in the temple of
_Mesxen_[92] (they raise the generations?) from the first essence of
the divine essences, third greatness above the father of their
fathers; invoking the soul from its Almightiness when are produced its
Desires (Will;) adoring their Father in his glorifications; _divine
Prototypes of the Types of all that exists_, Fathers and Mothers of
the solar disk, Forms, Great Ancients, Divine Essences, first from
Atum (i.e., chaos,) emanating humanity; causing to emerge the forms of
all forms; lords of the divine sustenance; homage to thee! Lords from
everlasting, possessing eternity," etc.[93] "All that is done and said
upon earth has its source in the heights, from whence the essences are
dispensed to us with measure and equilibrium; and there is not
anything, which does not emanate from on high and which does not
return thereto."[94]
The verb _Kheper_ usually translated "to be," "to exist," "to become,"
also has the meaning of "to roll" or "revolve." The sun apparently
rolled or revolved around the earth. In the British Museum, in a
hieratic papyrus (No. 10,188,) Khepera is identified with the deity
Neb-er'-ter, and the latter says, in it:--"I am He (It?) who evolved
Himself (Itself?) under the form of the god Khepera. I, the evolver
of evolutions, evolved Myself, the evolver of all evolutions, after a
multitude of evolutions and developments which came forth from My
mouth.[95] There was not any heaven, earth was not, animals which move
upon the earth and reptiles existed not in that place. I constructed
their forms out of the inert mass of watery matter. I did not find any
place upon which I could stand. By the power which was in My Will I
laid the foundation (of things) in the form of the god Shu[96] and I
created (emanated?) for them every attribute which they have. I alone
existed, for I had not, as yet, made Shu emanate from Me, and I had
not ejected the spittle which became Tefnut (i.e., the deity or
personification of, moisture.) There did not exist any other to work
with Me. By My own Will I laid the foundation of all things, and the
evolutions of things, and the evolutions which took place from the
evolutions of their births, which took place through the evolutions of
their offspring, became multiplied. My shadow[97] was united with Me,
and produced Shu and Tefnut from the emanation of Myself, * * * thus
from one deity I became three deities * * * I gathered together My
members and wept over them, and from the tears which fell from My eye,
men and women sprung into existence."
The duplicate copy of this chapter reads: "I developed Myself from the
primeval matter which I made. My name is Osiris, the germ of primeval
matter. I have worked My Will to its full extent in this earth, I
have spread abroad (or, expanded Myself,) and fitted it * * * I
uttered My Name as a Word of Power, from My own mouth, and I
straightway developed Myself by evolution. I evolved Myself under the
form of the evolutions of the god Khepera, and I developed Myself out
of the primeval matter which has evolved multitudes of evolutions from
the beginning of time. No-thing existed on this earth (before Me,) I
made all things. There was none other who worked with Me at that time.
I made all evolutions by means of that soul, which I raised up there
from inertness out of the watery matter."[98] This is a most important
papyrus for a knowledge of Ancient Egyptian philosophy.
"'In the beginning: When there was not yet heaven, when there was not
yet earth, when there were not yet men, when the gods were not yet
born, when there was not yet death.'[99] Nu alone was existing, the
water (or humid) principle of all things, and in that primordial
water, Tumu, the father of the gods.[100] The day of creation came,
Shu raised the waters upon the staircase which is in Khmunu.[101] The
earth was made even under his feet, as a long united table; heaven
appeared above his head as a ceiling of iron (or steel) upon which
rolled the divine Ocean. Hor (Horus) and his sons Hapi, Amsit (or
Mestha,) Tuamautef and Qebhsennuf, the gods of the four cardinal
points, went out at once and posted themselves at the four corners of
the inferior table, and received the four angles of the firmament upon
the point of their sceptres; the sun appeared and the voice of the
god, the first day is arisen and the world was thereafter constituted,
such as it ought to ever remain!"[102]
"Glory of all things, God, the divine and the divine nature.
Principles of the beings; God, the Intelligence, nature and matter.
Wisdom manifests the universe, of which the divine is the principle,
the nature, energy, necessity, the end and the renewing.
There was darkness without limit over the abyss and the water, and a
subtle and intelligent spirit, contained in chaos by the divine
power. Then gushed forth the holy light, and under the sand (i.e., the
atomic dryness) the elements went forth from the humid essence, and
all the gods distributed the fecundity of nature. The universe being
in confusion and disorder, the buoyant elements ascended, and the
heavier were established as a foundation under the damp sand, (and)
everything became separated by fire and suspended, so as to be raised
by the spirit."[103]
The Ancient Egyptians made many more statements which undoubtedly
referred to an unknown, all-powerful, ideal deity of the highest
order, I have a great number of such, but will not bring them forward
in this writing; I refer the reader for some quotations on this
subject, to the valuable writings of Mr. P. Le Page Renouf, especially
to his; Religion of Ancient Egypt (Hibbert Lectures for 1879), which I
have already cited in several places.
It will be seen from these quotations, that Khepra, the scarabæus
deity, especially as Tum-Khepra; occupied a most elevated position, I
might say the most elevated, of all the religious conceptions of the
Ancient Egyptians, for beyond it, was the unknown ideal deity whom
none could form a conception of. Khepra was asserted to have generated
and caused to come into existence, itself through itself, it united in
itself, the male and female principles of life. It was androgenic. The
scarabæus was the hieroglyph of the _creator_, the _to be_, _to
become_, to _exist_, the _eternal_, the _coming into being from
chaotic non-being_, also the _itself transforming_ or _becoming_, the
_emanating_ or _creating power_, also, the _universe_. Khepra was
"Father of the gods," connected with the idea of the rising of the sun
from the darkness of night, Khepra was used to typify the resurrection
from the dead of the spirits of men. It represented the active and
positive in antithesis to Atmu, or Tum. With Atmu as Atmu (or,
Tum)-Khepra, it represented the positive and negative united, spirit
and matter.
Atmu, Tum or Tmu, was the symbol of the eternal night or darkness of
Chaos, which preceded the emanation of light, it was the type of
senility and absolute death, the negative and end. It was the
nocturnal or hidden sun, as Horus was the rising sun, and Ra the risen
sun, proceeding in its course each day through the firmament. Tum was
not however considered as absolutely inert, it was the precursor of
the rising sun, and the point of departure of the setting sun, and was
the nocturnal sun, and was also a point of departure into existence,
of all the created and emanated in the universe. It, as well as
Khepra, in some of the texts is called "Father of the gods."[104]
This deity was the unknown and inaccessible, primordial deity of
chaos, "existing alone in the abyss," before the appearance of Light.
One of the texts reads:
"Homage to thee, sun at its setting, Tum-Harmakhis, god renewing and
forming itself in itself, double essence. * * Hail to thee author of
the gods, who hast suspended heaven for the circulation of thy two
eyes, author of the earth in its extent, and from whom the light is,
so as to give to all men the sensation of the sight of his fellow
creature."[105]
It is of the greatest importance to an understanding of the Egyptian
religion and philosophy, and especially of the _Per-em-hru_, the
so-called, Book of the Dead; that the Egyptian psychology be
comprehended; in order to enable the reader to do this, I have
prepared the following condensed statement of the same.
I. The Body was called _Khat_. This was embalmed and then placed
in the tomb.
II. The Soul was called, _Ba_ or _Bai_, plur. _Baiu_. This was
the part of the spiritual which was thought to contain the
elements necessary for the world-life of a man, such as
judgment, conscience, etc. It seems to be the same termed
_psuke_ or _psyche_ by the Greeks. This _Ba_ performed the
pilgrimage in the underworld, and was judged for the conduct of
the man it inhabited in this world, by Osiris and the Forty-two
judges. It was usually represented as a bird, especially as a
human-headed sparrow-hawk. It fluttered to and fro between this
world and the next, sometimes visiting the mummy in its tomb. It
was sometimes represented as a crane, at others as a lapwing. It
is paralleled by the _Rua'h_ of the Hebrew Qabbalah.
III. The Intellectual part of man's spirit was called, _Xu_ or
_Khu_. It was considered as part of the flame detached from the
upper divine fire. Freed from mortality it wandered through
space and had the power of keeping company with or haunting
humanity, and even of entering into and taking possession of the
body of a living man. The Egyptians spoke of being possessed
with a _khu_ as we would say of a being possessed by a
spirit.[106] It was considered as a luminous spirit. It was the
Intelligence and answers to the _Nous_ of the Greeks and the
_Neshamah_ of the Hebrew Qabbalah.
IV. The Shadow or Shade was called, _Khaibit_. This created the
Individuality, and was an important part of the personality.
There was a valley in which the Shades were, in the Underworld.
It was restored to the soul in the second life. They are
frequently mentioned in the _Per-em-hru_. His shadow, would
early attract the attention of the primitive man.
V. The Name was called, _Ren_. This was the Personality, that
something, which continued to know itself as a distinct
individual, through every change of the atoms and appearances of
the body. In the _Per-em-hru_ was written: "The Osiris (then the
name of the dead was inserted.)" It was restored eternally to
the soul in the second life. The _Ba_ retained the _Ren_ in its
journey through the Underworld.
VI. The life or Double was called, _Ka_, plur. _Kau_. This was
the vital principle, necessary to the existence of man as an
animal being on this earth. It was a spiritual double, a second
perfect exemplar or copy, of his flesh, blood, etc., body; but
of a matter less dense than corporeal matter, but having all its
shape and features, being child, man, or woman, as the living
had been. It dwelt with the mummy in the tomb and had a
semi-material form and substance, and I am inclined to think,
from the texts, it had power to leave the tomb when it pleased
but always returned. Its emblem was the _ankh_ or _crux ansata_.
It was something like the higher _Nephesh_ of the Hebrew
Qabbalah. The sacrificial food left in the tombs and the
pictures on their walls were for the benefit of the _Ka_. The
_Ka_ corresponded to the Latin, _genius_. Its original meaning
may have been _image_;[107] it was like the Greek _eidolon_,
i.e., ghost. The funeral oblations were made to the image or
_Ka_. The _Ka_ was a spiritual double of the man, a kind of
prototype in the Upper World, of the man in the Lower World, our
earth.[108]
VII. The Mummy or the Husk was called, _Sahu_. It was the body
after embalmment. "His body is in the condition of being true;
it will not perish."[109] The _Sahu_ was considered a true being
as it was assumed that it would always remain the same. It was
like the lower form of the _Nephesh_ of the Hebrew Qabbalah. The
atoms of the mummy-body were still intact held together by the
_cohesion_ of the particles. This cohesion was looked upon as a
spiritual energy keeping the particles together, in the form of
the mummy. The word _Sahu_ may sometimes refer to this living
personality.
VIII. The Heart was called _Ab_. This was thought to be the seat
of life, the life being in the blood, and the embryonic life
starting with the pulsations of the heart. See, Appendix A.
The _Ba_, performed the journey through the Underworld accompanied by
the Name and Shadow, until it reached the Hall of Judgment; if
pronounced pure, the Heart was then given it. The Name, Shadow and
Heart, then awaited reunion with the _Khu_ and _Ka_ for the condition
of final immortality and the power to make the transformations. The
body was embalmed and the _Ka_ dwelt in the sepulchre with it, but
went in and out of the tomb. The _Khu_ also accompanied the _Ba_ in
its journey through the Underworld and assisted it, but in case of an
adverse judgment in the Hall of Osiris and the decree of annihilation;
the _Khu_ fled back to its immortal source of life and light.
Not any of these, by its own nature, could exist for any length of
time entirely separated from the others; if left to itself, that so
separated, would in time dissolve into new elements and if it were the
soul, it would die a second time, the personality and individuality
would then perish and become annihilated; this was the much feared,
second death. This however might be prevented by the piety of the
survivors, in repeating the prayers and litanies and performing the
lustrations and sacrifices, for the dead. The lot to do this usually
fell to the eldest son and in default of sons, to the daughters, etc.,
no relations existing, the dead persons' slaves could perform it. The
priests were also left annuities to perform perpetually, the sacred
duties to the dead. Embalmment preventing for centuries,
decomposition; continued prayers, devotions and offerings would save,
it was believed, the _Ka_, the _Ba_, and the _Khu_, from the second
death, and procure for them what was necessary to prolong their
existence. The _Ka_, they thought, never quitted the place where the
mummy was except at some time to return. The _Ba_, and the _Khu_ went
away from it to follow the gods, but they continually returned as
would a traveler who re-entered his house after an absence. The tomb
was the defunct's "eternal dwelling house" on earth, the houses of the
living were only as inns or stopping places. In case of a judgment in
favor of the _Ba_ in the Hall of Osiris, the _Khu_ united to the _Ba_,
_Khaibet_, _Ab_, _Ka_, etc., rose up to the Egyptian heaven, and the
whole united was able to make whatever transformations pleased it.
FOOTNOTES:
[77] Comp. Hist. of the Egypt. Relig., by Dr. C.P. Tiele. London,
1892, pp. 89, 127, 139.
[78] Most likely the Egyptian idea was "to emanate" more than "to
create."
[79] Louis Ménard's edition. Paris, 1867, p. 89.
[80] Book II., ch. 123.
[81] Hist. of the Egypt. Relig., by C.P. Tiele, pp. 47, 71.
[82] Comp. Hist, of the Egypt. Relig., by C.P. Tiele. London, 1890, p.
127. The Book of the Dead. Fac-simile of the Papyrus of Ani, etc.,
notes by P. Le Page Renouf. London, 1890, p. 16, note. See also
_supra_ reference to the _Mesxen_. A similar idea is in the Zohar,
compare Qabbalah, etc., by Isaac Myer. Philadelphia, 1888, pp. 397,
388, 389, 108 _et seq._, 190, 196, 418, and many other places.
[83] _Hymne à Ammon-Ra des papyrus Égyptiens du Musée de Boulaq,
traduit et commenté_, by Eugène Grébaut, etc. Paris, 1874, p. 11.
[84] _Ibid._, p. 28. See also, pp. 115, 120-122, 295.
[85] _Ibid._, pp. 112, 115.
[86] As to the meaning of the important word _maat_, see, Religion of
Ancient Egypt, by P. Le Page Renouf--Hibbert Lectures for 1879. New
York, pp. 73 _et seq._; 123 _et seq._ _Hymne à Ammon-Ra_, last before
cited, notes p. 110 _et seq._
[87] _Hymne à Ammon-Ra_, p. 16 _et seq._
[88] _Ibid._, pp. 27, 28.
[89] Comp. _Hymne à Ammon-Ra_, by E. Grébaut, pp. 3, 4, and notes to
same, p. 39 _et seq._
[90] Or, "the changing which is in the changing of all things when
they change."
[91] That is: "Lords of _maat_," i.e., of the harmony of the universe.
[92] Place of the soul's birth. This refers to the upper prototypic
world. The same idea is in the Zohar.
[93] _Catalogue des Manuscrits Égyptiens_, etc., _au Musée Égypt. du
Louvre, par Feu Théodule Devéria_. Paris, 1881, No. 3283; pp. 143,
144. Comp. _Hermès Trismégiste_, par Louis Ménard, second ed. Paris,
1867, pp. 188, 190, 117 _et seq._; 147.
[94] _Hermès Trismégiste_, edition last cited, p. 218.
[95] By the Word or Logos. The Logos occupied an important position in
the Ancient Egyptian religion. See my Article on the subject in, The
Oriental Review, January-February, 1893, p. 20 _et seq._
[96] Shu corresponds to the Makrokosm, the primordial Adam or
androgenic Adam Qadmon, of the first chapter of the Hebrew Book of
Genesis. As to Shu, see: History of the Egypt. Relig., by Dr. C.P.
Tiele. Boston, 1882, pp. 84, 85, 155, 156.
[97] The Hebrew _She-kheen-ah_, or Glory?
[98] The Nile. Notes for Travellers in Egypt, by E.A. Wallis Budge,
Litt. D., F.S.A., etc., second ed. London, 1892, p. 165 _et seq._
[99] Inscriptions in the pyramid of Pepi I., l. 664 (_circa_ 3233-3200
B.C.,) in the _Recueil de Travaux Relatifs à la Philol., et à l'Arch.
Égypt._, etc., Vol. VIII., p. 104.
[100] Comp. The _Per-em-hru_ or, Book of the Dead, edition of Ed.
Naville, ch. XVII., l. 3, 4. In the passage cited from Pepi, I. 664
_et seq._, Tumu is also a primordial deity and its female _sakti_ or
principle, is Nu or Nut, the sky.
[101] It is from this action that the deity was named Shu from the
root, _Shu_ to lift up, to raise. Later, through a pun, he obtained
the meaning of Luminous. Comp. also Naville's ed. of the _Per-em-hru_
last cited, l. 4 _et seq._
[102] G. Maspero in the _Revue de l'Hist. des Religions. Le Livre des
Morts_, Vol. XV., pp. 269, 270.
[103] Hermès Trismégistos, second ed., by Louis Ménard. Paris, 1867.
pp. 27, 28. _Hermetis Trismegisti Poemander; ad fidem codicum manu
scriptorum recognovit_, by Gustavus Parthey. Berolini, 1854, p. 31.
The word "sand" is used to symbolize the positive or atomic dryness,
and "damp sand," the atomic humidity, or the negative.
[104] Book of the Dead, ch. XVII., l. 1-4; XV., l. 28, 29, 43, 47;
LXXIX., l. 1, 2; LXXVIII., l. 12. _Hymne à Ammon-Ra_, by Eugène
Grébaut. Paris, 1874, pp. 11, 28, 112, 115, 120-122, 295.
[105] Paul Pierret, _Études Égyptol._, I., 81.
[106] F. Chabas, _l'Égyptologie_. Paris, 1878, Vol. II., p. 103.
[107] Comp. Trans. Soc. Biblical Literature, Vol. VI., pp. 494-508.
[108] Comp. Religion of Ancient Egypt by P. Le Page Renouf, p. 153 _et
seq._
[109] _Mythe d' Horus_, by E. Naville.
VIII.
FORGERY OF SCARABS IN MODERN TIMES. DIFFICULTY OF DETECTING
SUCH. OTHER EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES ALSO COUNTERFEITED BY THE
PRESENT INHABITANTS OF EGYPT.
M. Prisse says:[110] "Most of the fellahs who inhabit the land,
formerly Memphis and Thebes, live only from the products of their
finds. Constrained to cease from their lucrative researches, they are
reduced to the counterfeiting of figurines, amulets and the other
objects of art which they formerly found in the earth. Necessity the
mother of industry has caused them in a short time to make wonderful
progress. Without any practice in the arts, and with the rudest tools,
some of the peasants have carved scarabs and beautiful statuettes and
ornamented them with hieroglyphic legends. They very well know that
cartouches add much value to the antiquities, and they are never in
want of copies of them either from the great monuments or the original
scarabs. They use in making the copies a limestone of fine and compact
grain, soapstone, serpentine and alabaster. The objects made of
limestone are daubed with bitumen taken from the mummies, or from the
colors taken away from the paintings in the hypogea, finally some are
covered uniformly with a brilliant pottery glaze which renders, it is
true, the forms rather blurred and not easy to see, but which
resembles in a surprising manner, antiquities which the action of fire
or of earth, impregnated with saltpetre, have slightly damaged. The
feigned hieroglyphs therein are mistaken for those as to which the
work has been neglected. Their statuettes recall the figurines of poor
ware, which the Ancient Egyptians placed in so great a number in their
tombs. In spite of their imperfections, the fellahs have been
perfectly successful in deceiving most of the travelers, generally
grossly ignorant of antiquities. Hard stones, such as basalt, green
jasper, burnt serpentine, green feldspar, chalcedony, cornelian, etc.,
upon which the rude tools of the fellahs would not have worked, would
have become, for the amateurs in antiquities, the only pieces of
authentic origin; but the Jews of Cairo, also as rapacious and more
able than the Arabs, have engraved with the wheel, scarabs and amulets
denuded of legends; and finally have entirely counterfeited them, so
that all these little objects are now very much suspected, and their
appreciation to-day, demands understanding of the text much more than
knowledge of Egyptian art.
Not only the tourists, the people of leisure from Europe, who bring
back from all the classic lands some antiquities, in place of
observation and study, which are not sold; purchase these falsified
antiquities, but also people who pride themselves upon having a
knowledge of archæology, often buy them. Most of the collections of
the Museums of Europe contain, more or less, objects fabricated in our
day in Egypt. 'Luxor' says M. Mariette, 'is a centre for fabrications
in which scarabs, statuettes and even steles, are imitated with an
address which often leads astray the most instructed antiquary.'"
Mr. Henry A. Rhind[111] writing in 1862 says: "There is now at Thebes
an arch-forger of scarabæi--a certain Ali Gamooni, whose endeavors,
in the manufacture of these much sought after relics, have been
crowned with the greatest success. * * Scarabæi of elegant and well
finished descriptions, are not beyond the range of this curious
counterfeiter. These he makes of the same material as the ancients
used--a close-grained, easily cut limestone--which, after it is cut
into shape and lettered, receives a greenish glaze by being baked on a
shovel with brass filings. Ali not content with closely imitating, has
even aspired to the creative; so antiquarians must be on their guard
lest they waste their time and learning, on antiquities of a very
modern date."[112]
FOOTNOTES:
[110] _Collections d'Antiquités Égypt. au Caire_, p. 1 _et seq._
[111] Thebes; its Tombs and their Tenants, ancient and modern. London,
1862.
[112] _Ibid._, pp. 253-255. Comp. Gliddon, Indigenous Races, p. 192
note.
IX.
PHOENICIAN SCARABS. MANUFACTURED MOSTLY AS ARTICLE OF TRADE.
USED INSCRIBED SCARABS AS SEALS IN COMMERCIAL AND OTHER
TRANSACTIONS. MANY SCARABS FOUND IN SARDINIA.
Archæologists frequently find in lands bordering on the shores of the
Mediterranean sea, scarabs and scarabeoids, on which are engraved
subjects which are Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian, Hittite or Persian;
they were intended apparently to be used as signets, and were incised
with short inscriptions in Phoenician, and sometimes, in Aramaic or in
Hebrew, giving the name of the owner of the signet.
These had been mostly manufactured in their entirety, as articles of
trade, for sale by the ancient merchants of Tyre and Sidon, or they
were Egyptian, Assyrian or other originals upon which, Phoenician
lapidaries had engraved the name of the later Phoenician owner. In
spite of not being an artistic people producing works of originality,
this people, the great mariners and merchants of antiquity, had in an
eminent degree the genius of assimilation or adaptation, and
manufactured cylinders, cones, spheroids, scarabs and signets of all
kinds, at first for themselves, and afterwards as an article of sale
to the people with whom they traded.
They also used seals in their commercial and maritime transactions,
which they surrounded with the same formalities which we find in
Assyria, Babylonia and Chaldea. When they dealt with these last
mentioned peoples, the Phoenicians came into contact with nations,
whose most unimportant transactions were put into writing by a scribe,
and sealed in the presence of witnesses, with the seal of the
contracting parties. They therefore in dealing with these people were
obliged to have and use signets.[113][114] Such contracts have been
found dating between 745-729 B.C.
In the island of Sardinia have been found numerous intaglios under the
form of scarabs, they were apparently used as signets. The under parts
are incised with Egyptian, Assyro-Chaldean or Persian subjects. In the
necropolis of Tharros, an early Phoenician colony situated near the
present Torre di San Giovanni di Sinis, have been found more than 600
scarabs ornamented with Egyptian, Assyrian and Persian subjects;[115]
and one might believe a colony which came from Egypt or Assyria
settled there. These scarabs are usually cut in dark green jasper,
some are made of cornelian, others of a glass-paste, rarely in
amethyst or sardonyx. The work is variable sometimes carefully done,
but none of the scarabs have the clearness of those found in Egypt,
nor of the Assyro-Chaldean of Asia. Most of these scarabs, which are
always made in nearly the same form, were mounted, some in gold and
others in silver; also sometimes in other metals which the corrosions
from age had already caused to disappear when they were found.
These intaglios can be divided from the nature of the subjects into
three varieties. The first those imitating the Egyptian; the second,
the Assyro-Chaldean; and the third, the Persian. All these scarabs are
of Phoenician manufacture, but they were probably made in Sardinia, as
the remains of the workshops and materials used in making them, have
been found there. They do not go back of 500 B.C. The Phoenicians in
their colonies, showed no more originality in their work than they did
in the mother country, and have been only the intermediary agents
between the civilization of the Orient and that of the Occident. This
people even counterfeited Egyptian manufactures and antiquities in
order to sell them, and the borrowings in their own religion show,
they were governed more by the gains of trade than the desires or
depths of piety. There are a number in the Cesnola collection in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
There is a magnificent scarab in green jasper in the British Museum,
but where it was produced is not known. It appears to be from the
chisel of an Egyptian artist. The base however has been engraved by
another; its subject is clearly Assyrian, in the style of work done
with the drill, by the artists of Calah. In the field of the signet is
a symbol unknown to Assyria or Egypt, below this is evidently the
Egyptian _ankh_ or _crux ansata_ and below this is the inscription:
"(Signet) of Hodo, the Scribe." This a beautiful specimen of the
intelligent work of the Phoenicians.
FOOTNOTES:
[113] Such contracts written on terra cotta, have been found sealed
with impressions of the finger nails on the margin of the terra cotta
before it was baked; others have had something as to the act done,
referred to on the margins, written in Phoenician letters. There has
been found an example of this as early as 783 B.C.
[114] Menant. _Les Pierres Gravées de la Haute-Asie_, p. 211 _et seq._
[115] Crespi, _Catalogo_, p. 138, No. 1.
X.
ETRUSCAN SCARABS. ORIGIN OF AND WHERE FOUND. COPIED FROM
EGYPTIAN BUT WITH CHANGES IN SUBJECTS, SIZE AND ORNAMENTATION.
THE ENGRAVING OF. WHERE USUALLY FOUND. USES BY THE ETRUSCANS.
GREEK AND ROMAN SCARABS. GNOSTIC, OF THE BASILIDIANS.
The archaic people of ancient Etruria did not make cameos, their gems
were intaglios and were incised on the under side, on forms shaped in
the model of the scarabæus or beetle. The use of the form therefore
was most likely derived from those used in the valley of the Nile. The
Etruscan scarabs were however not correct representations; they were
conventional and exaggerated resemblances of the insect.
The Etruscan scarabæus is found in different parts of Italy, quite
frequently at Chiusi, in Tuscany, which was formerly ancient Etruria;
from whence, the name Etruscan for those found in this part of Italy,
has been derived.
They were usually manufactured of common red sard, such as is now
often met with in the beds of Italian torrents, but Etruscan scarabs
have also been found made of sardonyx, cornelian, onyx and agate,
also, but rarely, of chalcedony.
The ancient inhabitants of Italy followed the Egyptian form in making
the representation except, that the back and the wing cases of the
scarab are set much higher than the Egyptian, and there is usually a
raised ridge running along the junction, also the legs are cut out on
the side, and a slight difference exists in the ornamentation and
engraving of the wing cases. The stones have been rubbed into shape
apparently by corundum. Few exceed an inch, and most are not over half
an inch in length, whereas the Egyptian were from the size of our
ordinary house fly to those a number of feet across. The material of
the Etruscan is also always semi-transparent, except those burned
which has made the sard opaque. The flat side or base was engraved
with intaglio. This engraving though in early examples rude and done
with the drill, was in later times, improved by the use of the wheel,
diamond dust and the diamond point, and by the polishing of both the
surface and the incised parts, and also, by the addition, both at the
sides and around the engraved base, of an ornamental border of small
strokes following each other closely, resembling in some specimens,
the milling of a coin; in others, it is like a widely linked chain or
string of beads, or a loosely twisted cable, and in others like the
ornamentation known as "egg moulding."
In Egyptian scarabs the flat or under part of the stone, which is the
side engraved in intaglio, has representations of deities or
hieroglyphs; in the Etruscan, the subjects engraved in intaglio on the
base, are representations of animals, wild or domestic, or are those
derived from Egyptian, Assyrian or Babylonian sources, and after
acquaintance with the Greeks, subjects derived from early Greek myths,
especially the deeds of Herakles and of the heroes of the Trojan War,
of those of Thebes and the sports of the Palæstra.
Sometimes the name of the subject was engraved on one side of it, and
occasionally the wearer's name or a word of mystic meaning, rarely
symbols or figures of the Etruscan gods or chimæras. The engraving is
of great service to the historian and student of the glyptic art, as
the subjects show the transition from Assyrian, Egyptian, and Persian
forms and figures, to the archaic Greek and the best period of stone
engraving.
Many of the Etruscan examples have been found at Præneste, the modern
Palestrina, and in the necropolis of Clusium; some of those found
there, have engraved on the base the lotus flower with four-winged
figures of archaic Etruscan form, the kynokephallos ape, the sacred
asp or uræus of Egypt, the winged sun of Thebes and the bull Apis; on
others are figures copied from Assyrian originals; on others are
Herakles fighting the lion, Herakles stealing the tripod of Apollo and
discovered by the latter; Ajax and Cassandra, a Harpy, etc. Some of
these have been found in tombs and other places with the color changed
to an opaque white by the action of fire. These have been burned with
the body of their owner when he was cremated.
The Etruscans have evidently borrowed the form without caring for the
cult; there does not appear with them any mysterious, religious or
astronomical meaning, nor the veneration for it, which existed among
the old Egyptians; but no doubt, the representation was considered as
a talisman or preservative amulet and was worn as such, but in many
instances likely, only as a matter of ornament in dress.
They were pierced like those of Egypt longitudinally, and one method
of wearing them, was, by stringing them, intermingled with beads, as a
necklace, but they were also worn as a signet stone in a ring with a
swivel, so they could be turned and the incised part used as a seal by
the owner.
I think it likely that the Etruscans at first, purchased the scarabs
from the Phoenician traders whose merchant ships, as I have said in
the preceding chapter, trafficked in ornaments and jewelry at an early
period, and who likely, at first, may have brought some from Egypt and
afterwards manufactured scarabs as an article of barter.
There is one peculiarity to be noted in the glyptography of the
Etruscans, the absence of a transitional period between the extremely
rude designs of the early style, made almost entirely by the use of
the drill, and the intaglios of the most beautiful finish in low
relief. Mr. King, in his work on Antique Gems, says: "While the first
class offers caricatures of men and animals, the favorite subjects
being figures throwing the discus, fawns with amphora, cows with
sucking calves, or the latter alone, the second gives us subjects
from the Greek mythology, especially scenes from Homer and the
tragedians, among which, the stories of Philoctetes and Bellerophon
occur with remarkable frequency." I think the rudely made are likely
of Etruscan or Phoenician manufacture, the finely executed of Greek.
The inscriptions on Etruscan stones are nearly always the names of the
persons represented on them. There are but few exceptions to this. We
may therefore divide Etruscan glyptography into:
I. Etruscan scarabs, with Etruscan or Assyrian subjects.
II. Etruscan scarabs, with archaic Greek subjects.
There are many more of the latter than the former. The Greek subjects
most frequently met with, refer to actions by Herakles, Perseus,
Tydeus, Theseus, Peleus, Ulysses, Achilles and Ajax.
The time of manufacture and use by the Etruscans was most probably
before the IIIrd century B.C., at which time, Etruria was conquered by
the Romans, its manufactures destroyed and its artists taken to Rome.
The Greeks borrowed the form from the Egyptians, but improved on the
engraving, which they made more natural and artistic; finally they
suppressed the insect but preserved the oval form of the base. The
Romans also adopted, it may be surmised from the Etruscans, the scarab
signet and retained its form until the later days of the Republic.
Winckelmann, says: Those with the figures or heads of Serapis or
Anubis incised upon them are of this period.[116] I think it likely,
that those with this deity upon them may go back to the period of the
Ptolemys.
At the end of the Ist or beginning of the IInd century A.D., arose the
gnostic Egyptian sect called the Basilidians. They introduced an
amulet or talisman. It was made oval in the form of the base of the
Egyptian scarab. Such talisman were usually made of black Egyptian
basalt, sometimes of sard or other hard stones. Upon them were
engraved mysterious hieroglyphs and figures, called Abraxas, and they
are known as Abraxoides. Among the figures engraved was frequently
that of the scarabæus. Montfaucon has given a number of them in his
Antiquities.[117] Chifflet has also given several.[118]
FOOTNOTES:
[116] Winckelmann, Art. 2, c. 1.
[117] Vol. II., part 2, p. 339. Ed. of Paris.
[118] Comp. Fosbrooke Encyc. of Antiq. London, 1825, part I., p. 208.
APPENDIX A.
The heart of man was considered to be the source from whence
proceeded, not only the beginnings of life but also the beginnings of
thought. It was symbolized by the scarab. Examples of the heart have
been found, some with a representation of the human head at the top of
them, and of human hands crossed over them; and others, having a
figure of the soul in the shape of a hawk with outstretched wings,
incised on one side of the model.
Since the foregoing chapters were put in type, which were based on the
Book of the Dead as published by M. Paul Pierret in a French
translation, from the Turin papyrus and the papyri in the Louvre, as
mentioned in my Introduction; the Translation and Commentary of "The
Egyptian Book of the Dead" by P. Le Page Renouf, Esq.,[A] Parts I.
and II., have appeared.
Mr. Renouf's translation is based on _Das Ægyptische Todtenbuch der
XVIII. bis XX. Dynastie_ by M. Edouard Naville,[B] and is from papyri
of the Theban Dynasties and from a very much older period than that of
the Turin papyrus.
The chapters so far given in Mr. Renouf's translation which relate to
the heart, are the 26th, 27th, 28th, 29A, 29B, 30A, and 30B. They are
as follows:
CHAPTER XXVI.
_Chapter whereby the Heart is given to a person in the
Netherworld._
He saith: Heart,[C] mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole
Heart! mine to me in the place of Whole Hearts!
Let me have my Heart that it may rest within me; but I shall
feed upon the food of Osiris, on the eastern side of the mead of
amaranthine flowers.
Be mine a bark, for descending the stream and another, for
ascending.
I go down into the bark wherein thou art.
Be there given to me my mouth wherewith to speak, and my feet
for walking; and let me have my arms wherewith to overthrow my
adversaries.
Let two hands from the Earth open my mouth: Let Seb, the
Erp[=a][D] of the gods, part my two jaws; let him open my two
eyes which are closed, and give motion to my two hands which are
powerless: and let Anubis give vigour to my legs, that I may
raise myself up upon them.
And may Sechit, the divine one, lift me up; so that I may arise
in Heaven and issue my behest in Memphis.
I am in possession of my Heart, I am in possession of my Whole
Heart, I am in possession of my arms and I have possession of my
legs.
[I do whatsoever my Genius (_Ka?_) willeth, and my Soul (_Ba?_)
is not bound to my Body (_Khat?_) at the gates of Amenta.]