scarabs in such profusion as we find them, precludes the idea that they
were signets and nothing more, but it seems to have been forgotten that
many millions of people must have lived during the several thousand
years of ancient Egyptian history. The fact also that so many bear the
royal superscription of one and the same king has likewise been brought
forward as a serious objection to the theory that royal scarabs were
used as seals; but here again the two kings whose names are most often
found on these objects are the two—Thothmes III and Rameses II—whose
reigns were the longest of all the Egyptian monarchs, and they must have
employed a great number of officials entitled to use the royal seals
during their long administrations. It is in the light of seals,
therefore, that scarabs are considered in the present volume.
[Sidenote: Their history.]
It is difficult to fix the precise period at which the scarab form of
seal first appears in history. It is a noteworthy fact, however, that
not a single specimen has yet been authenticated from a grave of a date
anterior to the Sixth Dynasty. The remarkable tombs discovered by
Petrie, de Morgan and others, at Abydos, Nagada, and Bêt Khalâf, though
they contained not a single scarab or impression of one, produced a
large series of clay sealings used for wine jars, etc., exhibiting
impressions of cylinder seals. It is remarkable also that in the
extensive cemetery of Dendera, where there were many remains of the
Sixth to Eleventh Dynasties, not a single scarab was found which could
be attributed to an earlier period than the Twelfth Dynasty, and a
similar result was obtained from the cemetery at Hu of the same period.
In Mr. Garstang’s excavations at Beni Hasan, out of eight hundred tombs
of the period that were opened and examined, not one inscribed scarab
was found of the Eleventh and early Twelfth Dynasties. These facts would
lead one to suppose that at least scarabs were not in general use in
Egypt until the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty.
[Illustration: Fig. 56.]
A few scarabs, however, bear the names of kings of the Fourth, Fifth,
and Sixth Dynasties, but from the forms of the backs, the glaze and
general technique, they all appear to me to be of a much later period
than that of the monarchs whose names they bear. The names anterior to
the Twelfth Dynasty that occur upon such scarabs are Mena, Khufu,
Kha-ef-ra, Men-kau-ra, Unas, Merŷ-ra (Pepŷ I) and Mer-en-ra. The Mena
scarabs are admitted by Prof. Petrie and other Egyptian archaeologists
to be of a much later date than the Old Kingdom. That scarabs of Khufu,
Kha-ef-ra and Men-kau-ra were made during the Eighteenth and later
dynasties there can be no question. In the Cairo Museum are four
scarabs, all found together by Mariette at Sakkara, which are of exactly
the same modelling, material and glaze: one bears the name of Khufu,
another that of Nefer-ka-ra, the third that of Nefer-ra, while the
fourth is of Amenardes of the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty. In a private
collection in Cairo is a scarab bearing the name of Kha-ef-ra in green
glazed steatite, with cutting, form of back, and glaze exactly similar
to that of a well-known type of Thothmes III. All the Men-kau-ra scarabs
are also undoubtedly not earlier than the period of the Eighteenth
Dynasty. The Unas scarabs bear a great resemblance to a certain class of
the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties: they are generally coarsely cut,
and the glaze has turned a dull brown. The only scarab of Merŷ-ra known
is of the same style as the scarabs of the Thirteenth Dynasty, and
Merŷ-ra was a fairly common personal name at that period. About the
Mer-en-ra example I am inclined to believe that it is perhaps
contemporary with the king whose name it bears, for it is of glazed
pottery, and closely resembles in style and technique a very small and
distinctive class of scarab-seal which has been recently found in
association with button-shaped seals in graves of the intermediate
period between the end of the Old Kingdom and the beginning of the
Twelfth Dynasty.[112] That scarabs sometimes bear the names of two or
more kings, is also another proof that we cannot always treat of them as
contemporary with the kings whose names they bear. Thus scarabs are
known of Thothmes I, III, and Setŷ I, of Thothmes III and Usertsen III,
of Men-kau-ra and Thothmes III.
[Illustration: Fig. 57. SCARAB BEARING THE NAMES THOTHMES III AND
AMENHETEP II. 2:1]
It seems clear, therefore, that scarabs were not employed in Egypt
before the end of the Sixth Dynasty, and then only very rarely. At the
beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty their use was still very restricted,
but at the middle of that dynasty they came into general use very
quickly, and by the time of Amenemhat III they seem to have been
widespread in Egypt. From that time onwards to the end of the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty the history of Egyptian scarab-seals can be traced
in an unbroken line; after the latter period they became very scarce,
and finally disappear early in Roman times.
[Sidenote: Geographical range of Egyptian scarab-seals.]
Many Egyptian scarab-seals have been found in regions other than the
Nile Valley. In Syria they have been turned up in plenty. In Cyprus,
Rhodes, the Aegean Islands and the Greek mainland, numerous examples
have been found. They have also been discovered at Crete, in Italy and
Sardinia, on the north coast of Africa, and in Babylonia,—in all places
in fact that had trade relations with the Egyptians.
[Sidenote: Varieties of Shape.]
The period to which a scarab belongs may often be determined from its
shape and the markings on the back of the beetle; hence it is important
to carefully note the varieties of form which occur. In fig. 58 will be
seen a specimen of a scarab-beetle (the real _Scarabaeus sacer_[113])
with the nomenclature of its various parts described: these names will
be used in later references.
[Sidenote: Pre-Middle Kingdom.]
[Illustration: Fig. 58.]
The earliest examples known are of pottery, glazed, small in size and
somewhat rough in modelling. The lines are coarse, but distinguish the
head, _prothorax_ and body, with _elytra_ marked. The specimens figured,
No. 59, are from El Mahasna, and are now in the museum at Cairo.
Probably they may be dated, the discoverer tells me, to the rise of the
Middle Kingdom, just before the Eleventh Dynasty. The example bearing
the name of Mer-en-ra (fig. 56) is of this class.
[Illustration: Fig. 59.]
[Sidenote: The Twelfth Dynasty.]
Three varieties of form are characteristic of the Twelfth Dynasty. The
earliest, dated approximately to the reigns of Usertsen I and Usertsen
II, show the beetle carefully modelled, with _clypeus_ (fig. 60),
_prothorax_ and _elytra_, as well as the legs, well defined. Just later,
about the time of Amenemhat III, a more decorative and conventional
style appears, in which, while the lines are treated with more freedom,
and small embellishments are introduced for ornamental purposes as in
fig. 61, the form and details of the beetle are nevertheless well
preserved. A common form of this date is shown in fig. 62: it is
noticeable that the _elytra_ are not outlined, but the marking of the
head, eyes, and legs appears as in the previous examples. This type,
with slight variations, perseveres, being traceable through the Hyksos
period, and reflected in specimens of the early Eighteenth Dynasty.
[Illustration: Fig. 60 and 61.]
[Illustration: Fig. 62 and 63.]
The closing years of the royal line of the Middle Kingdom, commonly
called the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, are marked by a special
variety of beetle, which has a high back (particularly at the
_prothorax_, where the scarab is thickest) and a narrow waist, produced
by an indent on either side at the point where the _prothorax_ and
_elytra_ adjoin. The head shows _clypeus_ and eyes: the legs are usually
shown in outline only, while the _elytra_ are not marked. There is a
second type, characteristic also of these times, which is in reality a
development from earlier forms, as may be seen by comparing the example
in fig. 64 with that previously illustrated in fig. 60. The tendency to
decorative effect seen in this case is further exemplified by a number
of scarabs which seem to follow the prototype of fig. 61, though failing
to preserve the quality of the lines and cutting.
[Illustration: Figs. 64 and 65.]
[Sidenote: The Hyksos Period.]
As previously mentioned, the type of back in which no _elytra_ are shown
remains the common variety through the Hyksos period. A short notch on
each side indicates the point of division of the _prothorax_ from the
body, and in the example shown in fig. 65 the legs are suggested only.
The head and _clypeus_ are plain; the eye is sometimes represented. A
decorative effect is produced in some instances, as in fig. 66, by
representing hairy legs upon the back of the beetle. A unique example
for the period is illustrated in fig. 67, where the back is scored with
lines diagonally in each direction. Another typical form is shown in
fig. 68, in which the threading holes are supported by a ring carved
with the scarab, while the beetle itself is developed apparently from
the type in fig. 63. In such scarabs the hairy legs upon the back
occasionally may be noted. Another Hyksos type characteristically
represents the human head (fig. 69, and compare the scarab of King Apepŷ
figured in Plate I) upon the body of the scarab with or without the legs
over the back.
[Illustration: Figs. 66 and 67.]
[Illustration: Figs. 68 and 69.]
[Illustration: Fig. 70 and 71.]
[Illustration: Fig. 72 and 73.]
[Illustration: Figs. 74 and 75.]
[Sidenote: The Eighteenth Dynasty.]
With the close of the Hyksos period there is no discontinuity in the
forms of scarab-backs commonly represented, but there is a marked
incoming of new motives. Fig. 70 well shows the survival in the early
Eighteenth Dynasty of the plain-bodied scarab which we have seen
surviving throughout the earlier periods. Marks hitherto naturalistic
are seen to be becoming conventional or decorative, but the form both in
outline and in section is well preserved. In fig. 71, however, there is
seen a new type, characterised by the oval base, the curving of the
lines separating the _prothorax_ from the body, and a superiority of
technique evidenced both by symmetry and firm cutting. Fig. 72
illustrates a development of this tendency in a highly-finished and
decorative specimen, in which ornamental feeling now predominates for
the first time over the naturalistic. The support of the thread-hole
survives in this instance in the decoration, while the legs overspread
upon a broader margin to the base. The date of this example is Amenhetep
I. But the typical form of the middle Eighteenth Dynasty is illustrated
by the example shown in fig. 73, which is dated by the name of
Hatshepsut. The head and back are well shaped in the section, while the
_clypeus_ and head are clearly and exquisitely cut. The _prothorax_ is
rounded at the base, while in the forepart of the _elytra_ a small notch
is indicated in the wing case on each side. The legs are sometimes well
modelled, at other times indicated only in outline. A variation is
illustrated in fig. 74, which dates from the time of Amenhetep III.
[Illustration: Figs. 76 and 77.]
[Illustration: Figs. 78 and 79.]
[Sidenote: The Nineteenth Dynasty.]
With the advent of the Nineteenth Dynasty the tendency to enlarge the
base, and the spreading legs upon it and around the scarab, becomes
typical of the period, as illustrated in figs. 75, 76. Another numerous
class is of pottery, glazed as before, in which the head is elongated
while the _prothorax_ and _elytra_ are not outlined. A downward notch on
either side of the forepart of the wing cases, however, indicates the
separation of the _prothorax_ from the body. The legs stand high, but
project only a little (fig. 77). During the reign of Rameses the Great
an interesting decorative motive is introduced in a few examples, of
which figs. 78, 79 are specimens of interest. The former, in the Amherst
Collection, is of ivory, finely cut. Upon the base is the device of
Rameses in his chariot, while upon the back is the outline of the
beetle, filled in with his cartouche and emblems. During the same period
the human head upon the scarab body makes its reappearance as a device
for decoration.
[Sidenote: The Ethiopian dominion.]
[Illustration: Fig. 80.]
With the Ethiopian dominion a ram’s head (the emblem of Amen-ra)
frequently is found upon the beetle body (fig. 80); while sometimes, as
shown in fig. 81, the body of the scarab is replaced by the familiar
Hathor head with uraei on either side.
[Sidenote: The subjects engraved on scarab-seals.]
The subjects engraved on Egyptian scarab-seals may be divided into
several well-defined groups. Firstly, there are those which bear
hieroglyphic inscriptions. Secondly, there are those which bear figures
of men, animals, or flowers; and thirdly, those which bear geometrical
designs, coil and rope patterns, etc.
[Sidenote: I. Hieroglyphic inscriptions.]
For the purposes of study the first group may be subdivided into: (1)
those which are inscribed with the names of kings and other royal
personages; (2) those which bear the names of officials and private
people; (3) those which have titles without names; (4) those which
represent the names or figures of deities, and (5) those which bear good
wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae.
[Illustration: Fig. 81.]
[Sidenote: (1) Royal names.]
The largest class of these objects bear the names and titles of the
Egyptian kings; they are consequently most valuable for the
illustrations they afford of Egyptian history: some of these names being
scarcely, if at all, known except from these sources. The information
they convey is, of course, usually very laconic, but sometimes the names
are coupled with some facts connected with them, such as that the king
is the son of a certain prince (Pl. X, 2), or that he is born of a queen
(Pl. X, 3), or that he is beloved of some god (Pl. XXX, 22), or that he
has conquered the foreigners (Pl. XXVIII, 10).
[Sidenote: (2) Private names.]
Scarab-seals bearing seals of officials and private persons form the
second largest class. They usually give one or more titles of the
official, together with the personal name. The earliest example known is
one in the Amherst Collection, bearing the name of the “Mayor
Tahutihetep,” from a tomb at El Bersheh, and the date of it is Usertsen
II (Pl. XI, 15). They were common during the late Twelfth Dynasty and
early intermediate period; they occur fairly often during the first half
of the Eighteenth Dynasty, but are rarely found after that date.
Frequently these private scarabs are decorated with a scroll pattern or
other ornament, often very beautifully executed.
[Sidenote: (3) Titles.]
A very small number bear titles without personal names, such as “the
courtier” (Pl. XLI, 20), “the governor of the royal city” (Pl. XLI, 22),
“the priest,” and “the mayor.” These are all of a late date
(Twenty-sixth Dynasty), and are very rare.
[Sidenote: (4) Names or figures of deities.]
Names or figures of deities engraved on scarabs are common, but they are
mostly of the principal gods and goddesses of Egypt, such as Amen,
Amen-Ra (Pl. XLI, 18), Ptah (Pl. XLI, 13), Khensu, Isis, Hathor (Pl.
XLI, 5), Mut, Horus (Pl. XLI, 10), and Set (Pl. XLI, 15). These date
from the beginning of the Eighteenth onwards to the Twenty-sixth
Dynasty.
[Sidenote: (5) Good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae.]
Scarabs bearing good wishes, mottoes, and magic formulae are numerous.
Some of them not only give the good wishes, but even the names of the
persons from whom they emanated and to whom they were sent. Thus the
inscription on one in the Petrie Collection reads: “May Ptah give a
Happy New Year, from the Prince Shashanq to his mother Ka-ra-ma-ma” (Pl.
XL, 8). Others give simply the words, “A Happy New Year” (Pl. XL, 2), or
“May Bast give a Happy New Year” (Pl. XL, 3). Some read, “If Amen is
behind, there is no fear” (Pl. XXXIX, 27), while a little plaque in the
Hood Collection says, “I am true of heart” (Pl. XL, 21).
[Sidenote: II. Figures of men and animals, etc.]
Many scarab-seals bear the figures of men and animals, the principal
animals figured being the lion, bull, cynocephalus, horse, and gazelle.
Birds are also often engraved, the hawk, the emblem of Horus, being the
commonest. Serpents are very common, and we also occasionally find
combinations of serpents with animals, sphinxes, griffons, and sometimes
beetles and locusts (see Pl. XXV). Flowers, such as the lotus, are
frequently found engraved on these seals.
Hunting scenes on scarab-seals appear for the first time during the
Hyksos period, and a beautifully cut specimen of this date is in the
Ashmolean Museum at Oxford (Pl. XXV, 26). It represents a king clad in a
striped loin-cloth with fringed edge, and wearing a curiously-shaped
head-dress. Armed with a bow and arrows, he hunts three ibex-gazelles
and a lion among bushes of a desert wady. To a later period, probably
not earlier than the Nineteenth Dynasty, belong the common hunt scarabs
of the types figured in Pl. XLII, 33-39. The first and rarest type (Pl.
XLII, 33) shows a hunter with lions and cheetahs chasing a gazelle. The
second and commonest type represents an archer hunting the lion and
other desert animals (Pl. XLII, 35). The third type is more elaborate,
and depicts the hunter riding in a chariot drawn by one or more horses
(Pl. XLII, 37-39), while on other scarabs we sometimes see the huntsman
overtaken by a lion, and lying flat on the ground, apparently slain (Pl.
XLII, 34). The cutting of these Nineteenth Dynasty hunt scarabs is
generally deep, and the subject is always more or less coarsely
rendered: few specimens bear any trace of glazing, and when found it is
always of an inferior kind, which has turned brown.
[Sidenote: Coil and rope patterns.]
Scarabs with ornamental devices, such as coils and twisted rope patterns
engraved upon them, appear first about the reign of Usertsen I, and
continued in use to the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty, after which
period they rarely occur. The date of any single specimen may generally
be determined by the form of the back, but the glazing and general style
of cutting is also important in this connection. Specimens of the late
Twelfth and early Thirteenth Dynasties are often fine examples of
ornamental art: they are generally designed with much care, and executed
with wonderful minuteness and delicacy of touch. Finely worked specimens
are also found of the time of Queen Hatshepsut and Thothmes III. A
representative series of coil and rope-pattern scarabs is given in Pls.
XVIII and XIX. The rope-patterns figured in Pl. XIX, 1-3, are of the
Hyksos period, while those on Pl. XVIII, 1-15, 18, range in date from
the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Dynasties. The coil-patterns given in Pl.
XIX, 4, 5, 9, are certainly of the Hyksos period, while the remainder of
the coil patterns are mainly of the late Twelfth and Eighteenth
Dynasties. Often the continuous loop coil was used to ornament the
scarabs of kings and officials. The earliest example, indeed the
earliest example of any coil-pattern in Egypt, is found on a scarab of
Usertsen I, most exquisitely worked and fully developed (fig. 82).
[Illustration: Fig. 82.]
For a long time past it has been thought that the spiral as a motive in
decoration originated in the Nile Valley, and much misconception seems
to prevail among archaeologists as to its occurrence in Egypt. Prof.
Petrie says[114] that its earliest use in the country was for the
decoration of scarabs, and he would trace the spiral motive back as far
as the Fifth Dynasty. The single scarab that he instances, it is true,
bears the prenomen of Dad-ka-Ra (Assa), but there is not the slightest
reason to make one believe that this particular specimen is
contemporaneous with the king whose name it bears; the whole style of
it, on the contrary, clearly shows that it belongs to no earlier a date
than the Eighteenth Dynasty. Prof. Petrie also attributes a number of
scarabs bearing coil, hook and link ornamentation to the Sixth and
Eighth Dynasties, but these have been conclusively shown by Fraser[115]
and Griffith[116] to be in reality _post_ rather than _pre_ Twelfth
Dynasty. The fact is that the spiral has not yet been found on Egyptian
monuments of an older date than the reign of Usertsen I. It was then
used as a motive for decorating a ceiling in the tomb of a chieftain at
Assiut.[117] Employed architecturally it is not found again until the
beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty, when it was perhaps the most
frequent motive for ceiling decorations in Theban tombs. In these tombs
it is generally coloured yellow, to represent gold, and it is highly
probable that the ornament itself originated in metal wire-work.[118]
At the same time as we find it occurring at Assiut, we also find the
spiral used to decorate a scarab bearing the prenomen of Usertsen I
(fig. 82). On this specimen the ornament is cut with very great care and
regularity, indicating that the design was “a novelty, which had not yet
become stereotyped[119] and reproduced as a matter of course.” The same
exquisite workmanship is found on some scarabs bearing private names of
the time of Amenemhat III or a little later; and here the continuous
coil is combined with the lotus in a most beautiful design—a continuous
coil, with flowers and buds in the spaces (Pl. XIV, figs. 21-26). It is
difficult to believe that such a design sprang into being fully
developed; but nothing has yet been found in Egypt at all like it of a
period anterior to the Twelfth Dynasty; we must therefore search for the
origin and development of the spiral motive in ornament elsewhere than
in the Nile Valley. We do not yet know sufficiently the history of the
Delta to say definitely that it did not originate there, but the
probabilities are that we should look for its earliest employment and
development outside the realm of Egypt.[120] However that may be, the
spiral was one of the most important of the motives of the decorative
art of the ancient world. From very ancient times it was largely used by
the peoples of Western Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, and in “the
wake of early commerce it was spread afield to the Danubian basin, and
thence in turn by the valley of the Elbe to the Amber coast of the North
Sea; there to supply the Scandinavian Bronze Age population with their
leading decorative designs. Adopted by the Celtic tribes in the Central
European area, it took at a somewhat later date a westerly turn, reached
Britain with the invading Belgae, and finally survived in Irish
art.”[121]
[Sidenote: Material. Hard stones, obsidian, etc.]
Scarabs are made of all kinds of material, from the hardest obsidian and
amethyst, to soft steatite and even wood. In all ages they were made of
hard stones. Obsidian, spotted diorite, beryl, white quartz, hematite,
amethyst, serpentine, green and red jasper, as well as red carnelians,
lapis lazuli, and turquoise were all in use from the end of the Twelfth
Dynasty onwards to the Twenty-sixth. Rarely during the earlier periods
were the bases of the hardest stone specimens engraved; they were
usually covered with a gold plate, upon which the device or inscription
was incised.
[Sidenote: Gold, silver, etc.]
Metal scarabs are very rare: a few of gold, and two or three of silver
are known of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, while about a
dozen examples of bronze, of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, are
preserved in our museums.
[Sidenote: Glass and cyanus.]
At the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty glass first appears, and of the
reigns of the Amenheteps III and IV a number of seals have been found of
a beautiful semitransparent deep blue glass. Of the late Eighteenth
Dynasty a few specimens are known of cyanus, an alkaline silicate
coloured a deep blue with carbonate of copper, and this material was
used in increasing quantity till the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.
[Sidenote: Schist and steatite.]