Glossary Sculpture, figurines and art
Scarab
An amulet or seal carved in the shape of a dung beetle, sacred in Egypt, with a design or inscription cut into its flat underside.
The scarab beetle stood for the rising sun and renewal in Egyptian belief, and scarab-shaped seals and charms were made in huge numbers. At Enkomi, the stratified imported scarabs and seal-rings belong to the Eighteenth to Twentieth Dynasties and were buried with the dead in Late Cypriot I–IIC. Local seal-cutters then kept Egyptian designs but dropped the scarab shape until the Iron Age, when scarabs return in sanctuaries such as Ayia Irini.
Because many scarabs carry a pharaoh's name, they can help date the contexts they are found in, though a royal name gives only the earliest possible date. A scarab of Senusret I from Enkomi, often cited as proof of Middle Kingdom contact, comes from no stratified context. See Egypt.
Full entry: Egypt
Related terms
- Cylinder seal
A small engraved stone cylinder that, rolled across wet clay, leaves a continuous impression; used to mark ownership and authority.
- Egyptianizing
Borrowing the look of Egyptian art (dress, poses, crowns and motifs) in objects made outside Egypt, often through Phoenician intermediaries.