The Amulet of the Scarab |
The reason for the association between the scarab and conversion has to do with the beetles reproductive processes. Dung beetles in case their eggs in a ball of dung or mud, where they remain until they hatch, so a someone might see a young scarab issue from this ball fully formed. This image of Creation was reinforced by the fact that the Egyptians touched the ball both with the sun and with the Nile from which its mud come. In addition, dung beetles push balls of dung or mud on the ground, and the Egyptians discovered this as mirroring the solar deitys mobile the sun across the sky.
Beginning in the Middle Kingdom, scarabs were a modern symbol on bracelets, necklaces, and other frames jewelry. Scarab images were also taken as amulets, objects believed to confer magical security or other characters on their owner. In addition, a big scarab amulet called a heart scarab was placed over a mummys heart (which, different other secret organs, was not made from the body as part of the mummification process) within its linen wrappers. Made of one of several dark usually green-stones or glass, this amulet might carry an inscription from the Book of the Dead, a New Kingdom funerary text, compelling the heart how to represent when it was weighed in the Mind Hall of Osiris. Specifically, the heart wanted to continue breathed when asked to recount the deceased persons sins.