Scarabs Part 8

In Egyptian scarabs the flat or under part of the stone, which is the side engraved in intaglio, has representations of deities or hieroglyphs; in the Etruscan, the subjects engraved in intaglio on the base, are representations of animals, wild or domestic, or are those derived from Egyptian, a.s.syrian or Babylonian sources, and after acquaintance with the Greeks, subjects derived from early Greek myths, especially the deeds of Herakles and of the heroes of the Trojan War, of those of Thebes and the sports of the Palaestra.

Sometimes the name of the subject was engraved on one side of it, and occasionally the wearer's name or a word of mystic meaning, rarely symbols or figures of the Etruscan G.o.ds or chimaeras. The engraving is of great service to the historian and student of the glyptic art, as the subjects show the transition from a.s.syrian, Egyptian, and Persian forms and figures, to the archaic Greek and the best period of stone engraving.

Many of the Etruscan examples have been found at Praeneste, the modern Palestrina, and in the necropolis of Clusium; some of those found there, have engraved on the base the lotus flower with four-winged figures of archaic Etruscan form, the kynokephallos ape, the sacred asp or uraeus of Egypt, the winged sun of Thebes and the bull Apis; on others are figures copied from a.s.syrian originals; on others are Herakles fighting the lion, Herakles stealing the tripod of Apollo and discovered by the latter; Ajax and Ca.s.sandra, a Harpy, etc. Some of these have been found in tombs and other places with the color changed to an opaque white by the action of fire. These have been burned with the body of their owner when he was cremated.

The Etruscans have evidently borrowed the form without caring for the cult; there does not appear with them any mysterious, religious or astronomical meaning, nor the veneration for it, which existed among the old Egyptians; but no doubt, the representation was considered as a talisman or preservative amulet and was worn as such, but in many instances likely, only as a matter of ornament in dress.

They were pierced like those of Egypt longitudinally, and one method of wearing them, was, by stringing them, intermingled with beads, as a necklace, but they were also worn as a signet stone in a ring with a swivel, so they could be turned and the incised part used as a seal by the owner.

I think it likely that the Etruscans at first, purchased the scarabs from the Phnician traders whose merchant s.h.i.+ps, as I have said in the preceding chapter, trafficked in ornaments and jewelry at an early period, and who likely, at first, may have brought some from Egypt and afterwards manufactured scarabs as an article of barter.

There is one peculiarity to be noted in the glyptography of the Etruscans, the absence of a transitional period between the extremely rude designs of the early style, made almost entirely by the use of the drill, and the intaglios of the most beautiful finish in low relief. Mr. King, in his work on Antique Gems, says: "While the first cla.s.s offers caricatures of men and animals, the favorite subjects being figures throwing the discus, fawns with amphora, cows with sucking calves, or the latter alone, the second gives us subjects from the Greek mythology, especially scenes from Homer and the tragedians, among which, the stories of Philoctetes and Bellerophon occur with remarkable frequency." I think the rudely made are likely of Etruscan or Phnician manufacture, the finely executed of Greek.

The inscriptions on Etruscan stones are nearly always the names of the persons represented on them. There are but few exceptions to this. We may therefore divide Etruscan glyptography into:

I. Etruscan scarabs, with Etruscan or a.s.syrian subjects.

II. Etruscan scarabs, with archaic Greek subjects.

There are many more of the latter than the former. The Greek subjects most frequently met with, refer to actions by Herakles, Perseus, Tydeus, Theseus, Peleus, Ulysses, Achilles and Ajax.

The time of manufacture and use by the Etruscans was most probably before the IIIrd century B.C., at which time, Etruria was conquered by the Romans, its manufactures destroyed and its artists taken to Rome.

The Greeks borrowed the form from the Egyptians, but improved on the engraving, which they made more natural and artistic; finally they suppressed the insect but preserved the oval form of the base. The Romans also adopted, it may be surmised from the Etruscans, the scarab signet and retained its form until the later days of the Republic.

Winckelmann, says: Those with the figures or heads of Serapis or Anubis incised upon them are of this period.[116] I think it likely, that those with this deity upon them may go back to the period of the Ptolemys.

At the end of the Ist or beginning of the IInd century A.D., arose the gnostic Egyptian sect called the Basilidians. They introduced an amulet or talisman. It was made oval in the form of the base of the Egyptian scarab. Such talisman were usually made of black Egyptian basalt, sometimes of sard or other hard stones. Upon them were engraved mysterious hieroglyphs and figures, called Abraxas, and they are known as Abraxoides. Among the figures engraved was frequently that of the scarabaeus. Montfaucon has given a number of them in his Antiquities.[117] Chifflet has also given several.[118]

FOOTNOTES:

[116] Winckelmann, Art. 2, c. 1.

[117] Vol. II., part 2, p. 339. Ed. of Paris.

[118] Comp. Fosbrooke Encyc. of Antiq. London, 1825, part I., p. 208.

APPENDIX A.

The heart of man was considered to be the source from whence proceeded, not only the beginnings of life but also the beginnings of thought. It was symbolized by the scarab. Examples of the heart have been found, some with a representation of the human head at the top of them, and of human hands crossed over them; and others, having a figure of the soul in the shape of a hawk with outstretched wings, incised on one side of the model.

Since the foregoing chapters were put in type, which were based on the Book of the Dead as published by M. Paul Pierret in a French translation, from the Turin papyrus and the papyri in the Louvre, as mentioned in my Introduction; the Translation and Commentary of "The Egyptian Book of the Dead" by P. Le Page Renouf, Esq.,[A] Parts I.

and II., have appeared.

Mr. Renouf's translation is based on _Das aegyptische Todtenbuch der XVIII. bis XX. Dynastie_ by M. Edouard Naville,[B] and is from papyri of the Theban Dynasties and from a very much older period than that of the Turin papyrus.

The chapters so far given in Mr. Renouf's translation which relate to the heart, are the 26th, 27th, 28th, 29A, 29B, 30A, and 30B. They are as follows:

CHAPTER XXVI.

_Chapter whereby the Heart is given to a person in the Netherworld._

He saith: Heart,[C] mine to me, in the place of Hearts! Whole Heart! mine to me in the place of Whole Hearts!

Let me have my Heart that it may rest within me; but I shall feed upon the food of Osiris, on the eastern side of the mead of amaranthine flowers.

Be mine a bark, for descending the stream and another, for ascending.a

I go down into the bark wherein thou art.

Be there given to me my mouth wherewith to speak, and my feet for walking; and let me have my arms wherewith to overthrow my adversaries.

Let two hands from the Earth open my mouth: Let Seb, the Erpa[D]

of the G.o.ds, part my two jaws; let him open my two eyes which are closed, and give motion to my two hands which are powerless: and let Anubis give vigour to my legs, that I may raise myself up upon them.

And may Sechit, the divine one, lift me up; so that I may arise in Heaven and issue my behest in Memphis.

I am in possession of my Heart, I am in possession of my Whole Heart, I am in possession of my arms and I have possession of my legs.

[I do whatsoever my Genius (_Ka?_) willeth, and my Soul (_Ba?_) is not bound to my Body (_Khat?_) at the gates of Amenta.]

CHAPTER XXVII.

_Chapter whereby the Heart of a person is not taken from him in the Netherworld._

O ye G.o.ds who seize upon Hearts and who pluck out the Whole Heart; and whose hands fas.h.i.+on anew the Heart of a person according to what he hath done; lo now, let that be forgiven to him by you.

Hail to you, O ye Lords of Everlasting Time and Eternity!

Let not my Heart be torn from me by your fingers.

Let not my Heart be fas.h.i.+oned anew according to all the evil things said against me.

For this Heart of mine is the Heart of the G.o.d of mighty names (i.e., Thoth,) of the great G.o.d whose words are in his members, and who giveth free course to his Heart which is within him.

And most keen of insight is his Heart among the G.o.ds. Ho to me!

Heart of mine; I am in possession of thee, I am thy master, and thou art by me; fall not away from me; I am the dictator whom thou shalt obey in the Netherworld.