Egyptian Symbols episode -3- Scarab

Scarab (also spelled Khepri, Khepera, Kheper, Khepra, Chepri or جعران)

It represent the God Khepri. God of rebirth, Luck, the sunrise and scarab. Ra’s aspect in the morning.

The scarab was widespread religious symbol in Egypt and maybe the most popular amulet as the amulet of luck. We can often see it as part of  jewellery, and royal pectorals. Despite Khepera very rarely appears in sight. He is a mysterious figure of the Egyptian History.

why the dung beetle represent the God Khepri

God Khepri named after the dung beetle because of its practice of rolling a ball of dung across the ground. The Egyptians observed this behavior and equated it with the ball of the sun being rolled across the sky. They confused this balled food source with the egg sack that the female dung beetle laid and buried in the sand. When the eggs hatched the dung beetles would seem to appear from nowhere, making it a symbol of spontaneous creation. In this role it was associated with the sunrise. Khepri was the scarab headed god.

There was no cult devoted to Khepri, and he was largely subordinate to the greater sun god Ra. Often, Khepri and another solar deity, Atum, were seen as aspects of Ra: Khepri was the morning sun, Ra was the midday sun, and Atum was the sun in the evening.

People were carving scarab-shaped jewelry and amulets in northeast Africa even before Egypt was a country. we can’t be sure if these scarabs are also supposed to be Khepera, or even if they mean the same things, but they were already popular long before the Egyptians made them their most common amulet or lucky piece.

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