Ancient Egyptian 'Bes' Glass Amulet. Glass, 7.08 grams, 34.04 mm. Second Intermediate Period, 15th Dynasty, Circa 1700 - 1500 B.C. A fabulous cooked glass amulet, made in high relief it depicts the Egyptian god Bes standing facing, naked with and elaborate headdress. Behind the head is a loop for suspension. A scarce item in Very Fine condition.

Ancient Egyptian 'Bes' Glass Amulet. Glass, 7.08 grams, 34.04 mm. Second Intermediate Period, 15th Dynasty, Circa 1700 - 1500 B.C. A fabulous cooked glass amulet, made in high relief it depicts the Egyptian god Bes standing facing, naked with and elaborate headdress. Behind the head is a loop for suspension. A scarce item in Very Fine condition. SOLD

Bes, like many other Egyptian Gods, went through many metamorphoses in his history. As Bes' cult was never official, and he never had dedicated temples or priests, the details of the particular deity are even more difficult to trace. Researches such as Richard Wilkinson believe that in its later inceptions Bes was a grand general term encompassing up to ten weaker deities - Aha, Amam, the earlier Bes, Hayet, Ihty, Mefdjet, Menew, Segeb, Sopdu and Tetenu. And as those minor deities became associated with Bes, the greater Bes was also becoming associated with the even greater set of protective deities such as Amun, Min, Horus, Sopdu, Reshef, and others.

Mythologically, Bes was most often linked to Horus, even creating a merged single deity, Horbes. To complicate matters, in the hellenic era, the feminine form of Bes' name - Beset - became considered a deity in its own right as Bes' wife, and owing to the Horus association, Beset was sometimes thought of as Horus' mother.

Ancient Egyptian 'Scarab Wing' Mummy Fittings. Gold, 2.28 grams; 76.88 mm; 2.52 grams; 74.31 mm. Two large gold repousse mummy fitting with three stitching holes for attachment to the outer wrappings in each. A wonderful decorative pair of 'Scarab Wings' in perfect condition. A spectacular focal point to any display of small ancient Egyptian antiquities. A pair of very rare objects from a retired London collector.

Ancient Egyptian 'Scarab' Mummy Necklace. Faience, 24.81 grams, 390.04 mm Long, 48.63 mm Wide. Late Period, circa 1000 - 300 B.C. A spectacular restrung mummy bead necklace with a motif depicting a scarab beetle. Strung using faience cylinderical beads to form the motif with the 'chain' part formed of double looped '8' beads and 'straw' shaped beads. This is your chance to wear or gift jewellery that was worn up to 3,000 years ago.

Ancient Egyptian 'Scarab' Mummy Necklace

. Faience, 24.81 grams, 390.04 mm Long, 48.63 mm Wide. Late Period, circa 1000 - 300 B.C. A spectacular restrung mummy bead necklace with a motif depicting a scarab beetle. Strung using faience cylinderical beads to form the motif with the 'chain' part formed of double looped '8' beads and 'straw' shaped beads. This is your chance to wear or gift jewellery that was worn up to 3,000 years ago. SOLD

Several species of the dung beetle, most notably the Scarabaeus sacer (often referred to as scarab), enjoyed a sacred status among the ancient Egyptians. Some scholars suggest that the people's practice of making a mummy was inspired by the brooding process of the beetle.

The hieroglyphic image of the beetle is believed to represent a trilateral phonetic that Egyptologists transliterate as xpr or ?pr and translate as "to come into being", "to become" or "to transform". The derivative term xprw or ?pr(w) is variously translated as "form", "transformation", "happening", "mode of being" or "what has come into being" depending on the context. It may have existential, fictional, or ontologic significance.

Moreover, the dung ball rolled by a dung beetle resembles the sun. Many authors suggest that the ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri renewed the sun every day before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it through the other world after sunset, only to renew it, again, the next day. Some New Kingdom royal tombs exhibit a threefold image of the sun god, with the beetle as symbol of the morning sun. The astronomical ceiling in the tomb of Ramses VI portrays the nightly "death" and "rebirth" of the sun as being swallowed by Nut, goddess of the sky, and re-emerging from her womb as Khepri.

The scarab was linked to Khepri ("he who has come into being"), the god of the setting sun. The ancients believed that the dung beetle was only male in gender, and reproduced by depositing semen into a dung ball. The supposed self-creation of the beetle resembles that of Khepri, who creates himself out of nothing.

The image of the scarab, conveying ideas of transformation, renewal, and resurrection, is ubiquitous in ancient Egyptian religious and funerary art.

Excavations of ancient Egyptian sites have yielded images of the scarab in bone, ivory, stone, Egyptian faience, and precious metals, dating from the Sixth Dynasty and up to the period of Romahn rule. They are generally small, bored to allow stringing on a necklace, and the base bears a brief inscription or cartouche. Some have been used as seals. Pharaohs sometimes commissioned the manufacture of larger images with lengthy inscriptions, such as the commemorative scarab of Queen Tiye. Massive sculptures of scarabs can be seen at Luxor Temple, at the Serapeum in Alexandria (see Serapis) and elsewhere in Egypt.

The scarab was of prime significance in the funerary cult of ancient Egypt. Scarabs, generally, though not always, were cut from green stone, and placed on the chest of the deceased. Perhaps the most famous example of such "heart scarabs" is the yellow-green pectoral scarab found among the entombed provisions of Tutankhamen. It was carved from a large piece of Libyan desert glass. The purpose of the "heart scarab" was to ensure that the heart would not bear witness against the deceased at judgement in the Afterlife. Other possibilities are suggested by the "transformation spells" of the Coffin Texts, which affirm that the soul of the deceased may transform (xpr) into a human being, a god, or a bird and reappear in the world of the living.

In contrast to funerary contexts, some of ancient Egypt's neighbors adopted the scarab motif for seals. The best-known of these being Judean LMLK seals (8 of 21 designs contained scarab beetles), which were used exclusively to stamp impressions on storage jars during the reign of Hezekiah.

The scarab remains an item of popular interest thanks to modern fascination with the art and beliefs of ancient Egypt. Scarab beads in semiprecious stones or glazed ceramics can be purchased at most bead shops, while at Luxor Temple a massive ancient scarab has been roped off to discourage visitors from rubbing the base of the statue "for luck".