scarab beetle
Sacred dung roller
A scarab beetle is any beetle of the family Scarabaeidae, which includes dung beetles, June bugs, and Japanese beetles.
The term most often evokes the sacred scarab of ancient Egypt, where the dung beetle's habit of rolling balls of dung was associated with the sun god Ra rolling the sun across the sky.
Carved scarab amulets were common in Egyptian jewelry and burial goods.
The museum's collection includes several scarab beetles carved from lapis lazuli.
- chaferPlant-eating scarab beetle
- sun godDivine personification of daylight's source
- elytraHardened forewings of beetles
- burial chamberRoom for interring remains
- metamorphosisProfound biological restructuring
Egyptian mythology · Book of the Dead · dung · insect · cartouche · lapis lazuli · antennae · ancient Egypt · cockchafer · solar disk · carapace · Ra · crawling · tomb · tomb painting · mummy · exoskeleton · hard shell
- beetlesbeetles, stag beetles, dung beetles, rhinoceros beetles, longhorn beetles
- desert lifecamel, cactus, scorpion, rattlesnake, sidewinder
- desert wildlifecamel, dromedary, gazelle, oryx, jerboa
- lucky charmslucky horseshoe, rabbit foot, lucky coin, four leaf clover, good luck charm
- African bugstsetse fly, desert locust, driver ant, army ant, African bee
- animal worshipsacred animals, cat worship, sacred cow, sacred cows, Anubis
scarab beetlelocust
Swarming crop-eating insect
desert locust · crop pest · termite · aphid · corn borer