Egyptian Steatite Scarab with Horus

$296.97

A fine Egyptian steatite scarab from the Hyksos Period, with incised features such as clypeus, prothorax and elytra marked by single lines. The reverse is detailed with a figure of Horus depicted with the head of a falcon. He is walking towards the right, with a lotus flower in front of him. The scarab has been pierced longitudinally for suspension.

Date: Circa 1650–1550 BC
Period: Hyksos Period, 15th Dynasty
Provenance: From the Gustave Mustaki collection, a collector of antiquities who amassed a large collection in Alexandria (Egypt).
Condition: Very fine condition. Some earthly encrustations remain on the surface.

SOLD

SKU: CS-217 Category: Tags: , , ,

The scarab beetle was an exceedingly popular symbol in the art of Ancient Egypt, thought to represent the sun god, Ra. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the scarab beetle rolling its ball of dung across the desert mirrored the journey of the sun across the sky from day to night. As the beetle laid its eggs within the dung, it became a symbol of rebirth and regeneration.

The term ‘Hyksos’ can be traced back to the Egyptian expression ‘heka khasewet’, which means, “rulers of foreign lands”. The Hyksos of the fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling during the Second Intermediate Period, were thus of non-Egyptian origin. They were probably Canaanite, and one tends to find the names of rulers on their scarabs. The Hyksos Kingdom was centred in the eastern Nile Delta and Middle Egypt. It was limited in size, never extending south into Upper Egypt, and it had Memphis as its capital.

The god Horus was depicted as two deities; Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger. Horus the Elder was considered god of the sky and the son of Geb, Earth and Nut, Sky. As a god he was associated with both the sun and the moon. Horus the Younger was the son of Osiris and Isis, he too was associated with the sky, sun and the moon. He was the protector of Egypt’s royalty and defender of order, uniter of the two lands (lower and upper Egypt). Over time, both Horus deities were merged with Ra, the sun god, and represented as a falcon headed man bearing the sun disk and the crown of upper and lower Egypt.

To find out more about Ancient Egyptian amulets please see our relevant blog post: Egyptian Amulets and their Meanings. 

Weight 2.57 g
Dimensions L 1.8 x W 1.2 cm
Culture

Egyptian Mythology

Region

Stone

Reference: For a similar item, The Metropolitan Museum, item number 34.126.26

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