Why dung beetles were worshiped in ancient Egypt (5 photos)

How an ordinary dung beetle became sacred.





Crocodiles were far from the only animals that worshiped in ancient Egypt, perhaps the most controversial object of their worship is a dung beetle. Many artifacts have come down to us from image of a scarab: amulets, figurines, jewelry, drawings on the walls tombs. It would seem, than a small beetle, the size of which does not exceed four centimeters, so attracted the Egyptians?



Amenhotep III donated figurines of scarabs: more than 200 such beetles have survived today.

Let's first understand how the scarab lives. He constantly rolls balls of manure, moving in a certain direction - from east to west. These insects live in the sands of hot deserts, and their eggs are laid in manure. Hence the belief of the Egyptians that the scarabs the desert itself gives birth, and all other animals come into the world from fertile silt of the Nile.





The beetle rolls the ball until its babies appear. into the world. The Egyptians were very attentive to the world around them and noticed that scarabs move in the same direction as the sun. Besides the scarab is a real hard worker: his dung ball is always perfect round and often even larger than the beetle itself.



Scarab statue at Karnak Temple in Luxor.

The sun in ancient cultures has always been in the center beliefs, it acted as the main deity that could give life everything on earth. It is for this reason that the scarab, which, like the sun, always heading from east to west, has become the embodiment of the main deity, a symbol of new life.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the sun god had several incarnations, one of them was Khepri, who was born in the east. Instead of the heads of this deity of the morning sun usually had a scarab, or in general, Khepri was portrayed as a beetle.



Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.

However, the beetle has become not only the hypostasis of God, it is also has become a symbol of diligence and wisdom. According to the Egyptian beliefs, after death a person goes to the court of the gods, where he ask a lot of questions. Scarab, which was considered very smart being, was supposed to help a person find answers: it is for this For this reason, figurines of these animals were often found in tombs.