MAKE A MEME
View Large Image
| View Original: | Egyptian_-_Scarab_Amulet_-_Walters_4251_-_Impression.jpg (719x900) | |||
| Download: | Original | Medium | Small | Thumb |
| Courtesy of: | commons.wikimedia.org | More Like This | ||
| Keywords: Egyptian - Scarab Amulet - Walters 4251 - Impression.jpg The ancient Egyptians believed that the dung beetle the Scarabaeus sacer was one of the manifestations of the sun god Representations of these beetles were used as amulets and for ritual or administrative purposes The bottom of this scarab displays the figure of kneeling prisoner with his arms fettered behind the back He wears a headband with curled ends a collar around his neck and a short shendyt with belt; a large nfr-sign is placed in front of him The figure of the captive dominates the scene but the size and placement of the nfr-sign which counterbalances the fettered arms of the captive clarifies that he is part of a perfectly controlled situation The highest point of the back is pronotum dorsal plate of the prothorax and elytron wing cases Both parts have incised borderlines a thick curved partition line and a thick line between the wing cases The semicircular head is flanked by triangular eyes; the plates are irregularly trapezoidal and clypeus has two very small central base marks The proportions of the top are slightly unbalanced the head and clypeus slightly short and the pronotum large in comparison to the elytron The slender extremities have natural form and diagonal hatch lines on the frontlegs for the tibial teeth The oval base is somewhat asymmetrical and smaller at the head part The scarab is longitudinally pierced was originally mounted or threaded and probably served as an amulet It refers to perfect control of chaotic elements enemy and is possibly a statement of the victory over the Kerma Empire Such an amulet should protect its owner from danger It is imaginable that the soldiers who protected the southern borders or participated in military campaigns to the south used it The iconography of the prisoner makes it possible that he represents a man from Kerma the southern enemy of the Egyptians The understanding of the figure as hieroglyph for enemy rebel is also possible but it is more likely that it is a specific icon for the enemies of Kerma who are now perfect because Thutmose I had defeated them between 1504 1492 BC New Kingdom light beige steatite with green glazing cm 1 4 1 1 0 6 accession number 42 51 488 Henry Walters Baltimore date and mode of acquisition unknown Walters Art Museum Henry Walters Acquired by Henry Walters Inscription Icon of a kneeling prisoner with his arms fettered behind the back; he wears a headband with curled ends a collar around his neck and a short kilt with belt; an nfr-sign is placed in front of him place of origin Egypt Walters Art Museum license 2D Ancient Egyptian scarabs in the Walters Art Museum Scarab amulet Prisoner hieroglyph Hieroglyphs on scarabs Media contributed by the Walters Art Museum needs category review POWs in Ancient Egypt | ||||
