The ancient Egyptians maintained that the
sun was propelled across the heavens by
means of a scarab, or sacred beetle. With the
passing of time, the Egyptians created a
series of amulets in the form of this beetle in
a great variety of materials, and these were
routinely provided with inscriptions in
hieroglyphs conveniently accommodated to
their stylized flat bottoms. Such scarabs were
generally incorporated into finger rings, as
here, where they served as bezels.
Our scarab is just such a variation. The head
with its eyes, the plate, and the clypeus are
well articulated. The thorax and elytra, or
wing case, are articulated by a double, T-
shape incision which surrounds each of these
two elements as a framing border. The
underside of the scarab contains a design
framed by a pattern of interlocking motifs.
Within is a single column of four hieroglyphs,
namely, a djed-pillar, an “inverted” neb-sign,
and two side by side nefer-signs. Such an
arrangement is commonly encountered on
contemporary scarabs.
Scarab finger-rings, mounted in settings with
swivel bezels, as seen here in our finger ring,
are attested from the time of the Middle
Kingdom and become particularly popular in
the New Kingdom.
References:
For a discussion of these designs, see,
Daphna Ben-Tor, The Scarab. A Reflection of
Ancient Egypt (Jerusalem 1993, page 31; and
Carol Andrews, Ancient Egyptian Jewelelry
(London 1990), page 164, for a discussion of
these finger rings.
Translation and interpretation kindly provided
by Prof. Robert S. Bianchi
