In ancient Egypt, a humble dung beetle became one of the most powerful signs of hope: a promise that life could begin again. According to Kholoud Mohamed Shawky, a classicist from Alexandria, Egypt, who is a Ph.D. candidate: the scarab is “a living symbol of eternal rebirth.” Dr Richard Marranca met Kholoud at the ARCE Conference in San Francisco in April 2025.
Kholoud noted that the Egyptians were intrigued by dung beetles and watched them roll dung balls in straight lines across the sand. It is quite possible, according to modern science, that these beetles navigate by the Sun and stars – and the ancients were mindful of such “celestial connections too.”
This reminded them of Khepri who was responsible for rolling “the sun across the sky every morning.” Mysteriously, baby beetles emerge from dung ball and were believed to be “self-created being, much like a god.”
As symbols of rebirth, it was important to place scarabs on the mummy: the person would live again.
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Detail from Outer Coffin of Pa-Kepu, a water pourer from Thebes Egypt, approx. 747-525 BC. (© The Fitzwilliam Museum/CC BY-NC SA 4.0)
An Interview with Alexandria Scholar Kholoud Mohamed Shawky
Richard Marranca: Can you tell us about examples, including any famous scarabs?
Kholoud Shawky: Scarabs were manufactured from a wide array of materials, though glazed steatite was the most common. By the Middle Kingdom era (1938–c. 1630 BC), they were mass-produced, inscribed, or decorated with various designs to function primarily as seals or amulets.
These artifacts were widely distributed through trade across the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, leading to the discovery of numerous Greek and Etruscan imitations. The designs varied chronologically: Middle Kingdom examples often bear the names and titles of royalty or officials, while later scarabs feature a wide variety of motifs, including spiral patterns, names of deities, places, good omens, and friendly wishes.
By the New Kingdom (1539–1075 BC) and subsequent periods, the scarab became vital to funerary practices. Scarabs were placed within the mummy's bandages and were symbolically identified with the heart of the deceased. The most critical artifact was the "heart scarab," a large amulet typically carved from durable green stone like basalt or jasper and placed directly over the physical heart. A separate winged scarab amulet might also be positioned on the mummy's breast, symbolizing the soul's ability to ascend to the heavens.
The inclusion of these amulets in the wrappings ensured that a powerful, magical replacement for the physical heart was always present, providing essential divine protection during the journey to the afterlife.
The most famous examples of scarab chosen include:
1.The Commemorative Scarabs of Amenhotep III
Steatite lion hunt scarab of Amenhotep III. (©The Trustees of the British Museum)
Among the most striking “royal bulletin” objects of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty is a large commemorative scarab made of glazed steatite, colored a deep greenish-blue. Its back is carved with standardized anatomical details—head, prothorax, and wing cases—while incised lines on the legs imitate feathery texture, emphasizing the beetle form with both precision and symbolism. Longitudinally pierced for suspension, it was designed to be worn, carried, or displayed rather than simply admired as sculpture.
This scarab belongs to a famous series commissioned under Amenhotep III to memorialize major events of his reign. On the underside, a hieroglyphic inscription combines formal royal titulary with a bold claim of personal prowess: it records that during the first ten years of his reign, the king shot 102 lions with bow and arrow. The text also identifies Queen Tiye as his chief wife, weaving dynastic legitimacy and royal achievement into a single, portable monument.
A British Museum curator notes that other scarabs in this same series publicized additional milestones—such as references connected to Tiye, the arrival of a Mitanni princess into the royal household, the digging of an artificial lake, and a wild bull hunt—suggesting these objects circulated widely as official announcements. Modern scholarship similarly groups Amenhotep III’s commemorative scarabs into sets including lion hunt, marriage, lake, bull hunt, and Gilukhepa (Mitanni princess) types, reinforcing the idea that they functioned like state-issued “news” items distributed beyond Egypt itself.
Even as they broadcast royal propaganda, these scarabs retained an older amuletic meaning: as beetle-shaped objects, they also evoked regeneration and renewed life—so the king’s hunts, marriages, and building projects were presented not just as political facts, but as events aligned with cosmic vitality and divine order.
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2. Winged Scarab Pendants of Tutankhamun
Winged scarab of Tutankhamun with semi-precious stones. The wadjet eye is surmounted by a lunar crescent of gold and a silver disk with images of the gods. Thoth and Ra-Horakhty can be seen crowning the central figure of king Tutankhamun. (Egypt Museum)
This winged scarab pendant of cloisonné technique is inlaid with semiprecious stones and colored glass. The central element of the pendant is a scarab of Libyan desert glass, grasping on one side a lotus and on the other a papyrus flower, flanked by two uraei, or rearing cobras.
A gold frame outlines the main composition and supports pendants of lotus flowers, papyrus, and poppy seed heads. A slim solar boat rests upon the front feet of the scarab and carries the wadjet or Eye of Horus. It is flanked by two uraei or rearing cobras.
Among the treasures discovered in King Tutankhamun’s tomb is an elaborate necklace with pectoral a central scarab carved from a canary-yellow material called Libyan Desert glass. Found in the sand dunes of Egypt’s western desert.
The glass was formed about 29 million years ago when a quantity of quartz melted at a temperature in excess of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the inside of a volcano.
Scholars have long debated whether the yellow glass was created by a meteor that exploded above ground or by a meteorite impact.
“The center of this intricate pectoral is adorned with a green chalcedony scarab set in the body of a falcon: it symbolizes the sun.
The front paws and [tips of the wings] of this composite creature support a celestial boat containing the left eye of Horus ― the emblem of the moon ― crowned by a silver moon disk with a crescent in gold.
The king is depicted in the disk flanked by the moon god Thoth and by the sun god Ra-Horakhty in a protective pose.
“Flowers and buds of papyrus and lotus plants, the emblems of Upper and Lower Egypt, form the base of the pectoral.”― The Illustrated Guide to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
3. The Uluburun Nefertiti Scarab
The unique gold scarab naming Nefertiti, the wife of 18th Dynasty Akhenaten, recovered from the Uluburun Late Bronze Age Shipwreck Excavation. (Institute of Nautical Archaeology)
This neat little find from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea is remarkable in the important person it names, Nefertiti, wife of the mighty Akhenaten.
4. Colossal Scarab Beetle Sculpture at the Sacred Lake of Karnak
Colossal scarab beetle sculpture, erected by Amenhotep III (r. 1391-1351 B.), at the edge of the Sacred Lake of Karnak, flanked by two obelisks of Hatshepsut (right) (r. 1479 – 1458 BC. and Thutmose III (r. 1479–1425 B.C.). (Egypt Museum)
At the vast Karnak Temple complex in Luxor, ancient Thebes’ major religious center, there stands a monumental scarab statue carved from rose-colored granite, believed to date to the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Egypt’s prosperous 18th Dynasty.
In Ancient Egypt, the scarab wasn’t just decoration: it carried deep spiritual meaning tied to the solar god Khepri, whose name relates to “becoming” or “coming into being.” Observing dung beetles rolling spherical balls and seeming to emerge from the earth, Egyptians saw a metaphor for Khepri pushing the sun across the sky each morning, an image of dawn, renewal, transformation, and the continual rebirth of life and cosmic order.
Positioned near Karnak’s Sacred Lake (used for priestly purification), the statue likely served as a votive monument and a protective, regenerative symbol reinforcing the temple’s sacred, solar-focused character, linking divine power on earth with celestial rhythms.
Today, the scarab remains a focus of popular devotion through a tourist tradition: people circle it - often seven times - seeking luck, love, or a wish fulfilled, echoing (in a modern, secular form) ancient beliefs in cycles, renewal, and unseen forces shaping human life.
5. British Museum’s Giant Scarab
Monumental diorite scarab beetle, probably representing Khepri. (©The Trustees of the British Museum)
The historic details on this impressive, huge, diorite scarab beetle are a little vague. The production date is tentatively provided as 4th century BC by the British Museum where it resides. It was discovered in Istanbul, Turkey and is probably representative of the scarab-faced Egyptian god Khepri. What is clear is its size. At a height of 90 cm, width of 119 cm, and length of 153 cm, this scarab tips the scales at a weighty 2320 kilos!
Top image: Winged scarab of Tutankhamun with semi-precious stones. Source: dalbera/CC BY 2.0
