The Scarab of Wah and Heart Scarab of Hatnofer

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to understand the Scarab of Wah through examination and by comparison to the Heart Scarab of Hatnofer which are both currently housed in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. It discusses how both scarabs are likenesses of the scarab beetle and how these likenesses are found in abundance in Egyptian archaeology and in ancient myths and cultures.
Table of contents: The History of The Scarab in Ancient pre-Egyptian Cultures
The Scarab in Mythology
Symbolism of the Scarab in Egypt
An Overview of Scarab ArtifactsThe Scarab of Wah
The Heart Scarab of Hatnofer
Discussion
Endnotes
Bibliography

From the Paper:

"In the culture of he Chaco Indians, in South America, they believe that the scarab modeled man and Woman from Clay [4]. The scarab is known as the "potter" for this reason. This same symbolism is found in Egyptian culture as well. Ancient Greek legends say that the beetle plunged down into the original liquid "chaos" and brought back life to the surface. This myth is also prevalent among people from India and Southeast Asia [5].The Sumatran Toba believed that the big beetle brought a ball of matter from the sky and formed the world. The Egyptian and Greeks believed that the dung beetle could fly while carrying a dung ball. However this is physically impossible in reality."

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