Heart scarab amulet

MU 3026 is a small stone heart scarab amulet. The upper side of the amulet is in the form of a scarab beetle. Characteristic features of the beetle such as the clypeus, head, prothorax and elytra are clearly incised. The underside of the amulet has been inscribed with seven rows of horizontal hieroglyphic text. The text reads from left to right and is an extract from Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead (BD), a ‘spell’ which commands the heart not to speak against the deceased during the weighing of the heart ritual at the court of Osiris. In Ancient Egyptian mythology the scarab beetle was seen as a manifestation of the sun god Khepri and was associated with concepts of regeneration and rebirth. Observation of the scarab beetle rolling a ball of dung along the ground inspired the belief that the god Khepri took on the form of a giant scarab beetle and pushed the sun-disc across the sky each day. As a symbol of the sun god, the scarab beetle became a symbol of rebirth and thus is often associated with funerary contexts.