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of use

of eye. paint.

Antiquity and we know that in the XIIth dynasty' mestchem was brought from the land of Absha, by people of the Aāmu, as an acceptable gift to the king of Egypt. This custom seems to have been common all over the East, and it will be remembered that Jezebel "set her eyes in stibium" (THY TEE DUA 2 Kings ix. 30), and that the daughter of Zion was told that her lovers would seek her life, even though "she rent asunder her eyes with stibium," in allusion to the wide open appearance which stibium gives to women's eyes in the East.

vases of Atenā.

Oils, unguents, scents, etc., were kept in alabaster, diorite and porphyry jars, or vases, of various shapes,

§. Sets of alabaster jars and flat vessels were arranged on a table in the tomb, and sometimes contained unguents, sweetmeats, etc., and sometimes were merely votive offerings. A fine example of a votive set in alabaster is (B.M. No. 4694) Alabaster inscribed with the name Atena, from Abydos, which comprises a wide mouthed jar on a stand, five smaller jars with pointed ends, and four flat saucers, the whole standing on a circular table of the same material. The shapes of the jars are of great beauty, and the alabaster is of the finest. The custom of placing alabaster jars in tombs is, at least, as ancient as the IVth dynasty, and it lasted until the XXVIth dynasty; examples are known inscribed with the names of Unas (B.M. No. 4602), Pepi I. (B.M. No. 22559), Mentuem-sa-f (B.M. No. 4493), Amāsis I. (B.M. No. 4671a), Thothmes III. (B.M. No. 4498), Amenophis II. (B.M. No. 4672), Rameses II. (B.M. No. 2880), Queen Amenȧrṭās (B.M. No. 4701), etc.

NECKLACES, RINGS, BRACELETS, ETC.

Judging by the enormous quantity of beads which are found in Egyptian tombs, Egyptian ladies must have thought very highly of the necklace as an ornament. Beads are of all shapes, round, rectangular, oval, and oblong, and were made of

In the sixth year of Usertsen II. The scene of the presentation of the mestchem is painted on the walls of the tomb of Chnemu-hetep at Beni-Hasân; see Lepsius, Denkmäler, II. ff. 131-133.

2

.Jeremiah iv. 3o כִּי־תִקְרְעִי בַפוּךְ עֵינַיִךְ

mother-of-emerald, carnelian, agate, lapis-lazuli, amethyst, rock crystal, onyx, jasper, garnet, gold, silver, glass, faïence, clay, and straw. The necklace was ornamented with pendants Egyptian jewellery. made in the form of figures of the gods, or of animals sacred to them, or of amulets to which magical powers were attributed. Each kind of stone was supposed to possess special properties, and the Egyptians arranged their necklaces in such a way that the wearer was supposed to be protected from the attack of all evil powers and baneful beasts. Breasts of mummies and mummy cases are painted in imitation of rows of beads of various precious stones, or of collars made of beads, interspersed with pendants in the shape of flowers, etc.

Rings were made of gold, silver, bronze, precious stones or faïence; sometimes the bezels were solid and did not move, sometimes they were inlaid with scarabs, inscribed with various devices, or the name of the wearer, and revolved. During the XVIIIth dynasty, a very pretty class of ring was made at Tell el-Amarna, in blue, green, and purple glazed faïence; examples are very numerous, and every Egyptian collection of importance contains several.

Bracelets were made of gold or silver, and were at times inlaid with precious stones and coloured paste; after the XXVIth dynasty the ends of bracelets, owing to Phoenician influence, terminated in lions' heads.

SCARAB.

tion of

Scarab,' or Scarabæus, is the name given by Egyptolo- Descripgists to the myriads of models of a certain beetle, which are Egyptian found in mummies and tombs, and in the ruins of temples and beetle. other buildings in Egypt and other countries, the inhabitants

1 Scarab, from the Greek σκάραβος, οι σκαράβειος, perhaps a transcription of the Latin scarabaeus; compare dŋvápiov, a transcription of denarius. The Copts called this beetle &λorkc, and the Arabs, plur. KC, i, de, plur. de and , plur. See also Payne Smith,

ذراريح

Thes. Syr., col. 1188, and Duval, Lex. Syr., col. 714.

خُنَافِس

2 The old plural scarabees we find in "You are scarabees that batten in dung." Elder Brother, Beaumont and Fletcher.

Habits of

tian beetle.

of which from a remote period had trading and other relations with the Egyptians. The beetle which was copied by the Egyptians in this manner belongs to the family called by naturalists Scarabæida (Coprophagi), of which the Scarabæus sacer is the type. These insects compose a very numerous group of dung-feeding Lamellicorns, of which, however, the majority are inhabitants of tropical countries. The species are generally of a black hue; but amongst them are to be found some adorned with the richest metallic colours. A remarkable peculiarity exists in the structure and situation of the hind legs, which are placed so near the extremity of the body, and so far from each other, as to give the insect a most extraordinary appearance when walking. This peculiar formation is, nevertheless, particularly servicethe Egyp able to its possessors in rolling the balls of excrementitious matter in which they enclose their eggs; whence these insects were named by the first naturalists Pilulariæ. These balls are at first irregular and soft, but, by degrees, and during the process of rolling along, become rounded and harder; they are propelled by means of the hind legs. Sometimes these balls are an inch and a half, or two inches in diameter, and in rolling them along the beetles stand almost upon their heads, with the heads turned from the balls. These manoeuvres have for their object the burying of the balls in holes, which the insects have previously dug for their reception; and it is upon the dung thus deposited that the larvæ, when hatched, feed. It does not appear that these beetles have the instinct to distinguish their own balls, as they will seize upon those belonging to another, in case they have lost their own; and, indeed, it is said that several of them occasionally assist in rolling the same ball. The males as well as the females assist in rolling the pellets. They fly during the hottest part of the day.1 Latreille, in the Appendix to Cailliaud's Voyage à Méroé, Paris, 1823-27,2

See J. O. Westwood, An Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects; London, 1839, Vol. I. p. 204 ff.

2 Tom. ii. p. 311. "Cet insecte est d'un vert parfois éclatant; son corselet est nuancé d'une teinte cuivreuse à reflet métallique." Compare Ælian, De Nat. Animal., iv. 49; Aristotle, Hist. Animal., iv. 7; Pliny, Nat. Hist., xi. 20 ff., and xxix. 6.

UNI!

2

tion of the

considers the species which he has named Ateuchus Aegyptiorum, or λokáv@apos, and which is of a fine greenish colour, as that which especially engaged the attention of the early Egyptians; and Dr. G. W. Clarke affirms that it is eaten by the women of Egypt because it is considered an emblem of fertility. Horapollo, and other ancient writers, state that a female scarabæus does not exist. According to Horapollo Descrip (ed. Leemans, p. 11), a scarabæus denotes an only begotten, beetle by generation, father, world, and man. It represents an only Horapollo. begotten, because the scarabæus is a creature self-produced, being unconceived by a female. The male, when desirous of procreating, takes some ox dung, and shapes it into a spherical form like the world. He next rolls it from east to west, looking himself towards the east. Having dug a hole, he buries it in it for twenty-eight days; on the twenty-ninth day he opens the ball, and throws it into the water, and from it the scarabæi come forth. The idea of generation arises from its supposed acts. The scarabæus denotes a father because it is engendered by a father only, and world because in its generation it is fashioned in the form of the world, and man because there is no female race among them. Every scarabæus was also supposed to have thirty toes, corresponding with the thirty days' duration of the month. Latreille thinks that the belief that one sex only existed among scarabæi arose from the fact that the females are exceedingly like the males, and that both sexes appear to divide the care of the preservation of their offspring equally between them.

1'0 κávlapos ã¤ŋλv Zwóv ¿oti, Aelian, De Natura Animal., x. xv. ed. Didot, p. 172, Kávlapos yàp nãs äppŋv, Porphyry, De Abstinentia, iv. 9, ed. Didot, p. 74.

2 For the word scarabeus applied to Christ compare, "Vermis in cruce : scarabeus in cruce: et bonus vermis qui haesit in ligno bonus scarabeus qui clamavit è ligno. Quid clamavit? Domine, ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Clamavit latroni: Hodie mecum eris in paradiso. Clamavit quasi scarabeus: Deus, Deus meus, quare me dereliquisti? Et bonus scarabeus qui lutum corporis nostri ante informe ac pigrum virtutum versabat vestigiis: bonus scarabeus, qui de stercore erigit pauperem." See the exposition of St. Luke, by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (Opera, Paris edition, 1686, tom. I. col. 1528, No. 113).

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3 "En comptant pour un doigt chaque article des tarses, on reconnaîtra que cet insecte avait été bien attentivement examiné." Mulsant, Histoire Naturelle des Coléoptères de France, Lamellicornes; Paris, 1842, p. 48.

Egyptian name for

The Egyptians called the scarabæus

Che

the beetle. pera, and the god whom this insect represented was called

The

scarab an

emblem of Cheperȧ.

Classes of scarab.

$ 8011 Chepera. This god usually wears a beetle on

his head, and sometimes he has a beetle, with or without
outstretched wings, in the place of a head.' The god
Cheperȧ was the "father of the gods," and the creator of all
things in heaven and earth. He made himself out of the
matter which he himself produced. He was identified with
the rising sun, and thus typified resurrection and new birth
generally. The word
"to exist, to become, to make," also means "to roll," and the
"roller," or "revolver," was a fitting name for the sun,
according to the Egyptian ideas of that luminary. The
abstract noun

which is usually translated

81 cheperu, may very well be

rendered by "evolutions."

Scarabs may, for convenience of consideration, be divided into three classes:-1. Funereal scarabs; 2. Scarabs worn for ornament; 3. Historical scarabs. Of the first class the greater number found measure from half to two inches in length, and they are made generally of faïence or steatite, glazed blue or green; granite, basalt, jasper, amethyst, lapis lazuli, ruby, carnelian, and in the Roman period glass also, are often used. Upon the flat base of the scarab the Egyptians engraved the names of gods, kings, priests, officials, private persons, monograms, and floral and other devices. Sometimes the base of the scarab takes the form of a heart, and sometimes the scarab is united with the u'tat, or eye of Horus; it is also found united with a frog, the emblem of "myriads" and of "revivification." Rarely the back of the scarab is ornamented with a pattern made up of a number of small scarabs. Such small scarabs were set in rings, and placed upon the fingers of the dead, or were wrapped up in the linen bandages with which the mummy was swathed over the heart. They represented the belief of the Egyptians in the revivification of the body, and

1 See Lanzone, Dizionario, pl. cccxxix.

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