Transcriber's Note:
The author of this ebook makes unusual use of commas and asterisks.
Hover over the greek word for a transliteration, like this.
SCARABS.
THE
History, Manufacture and Religious
Symbolism
OF THE
SCARABÆUS,
IN
Ancient Egypt, Phœnicia, Sardinia,
Etruria, etc.
ALSO
Remarks on the Learning, Philosophy, Arts, Ethics,
Psychology, Ideas as to the Immortality of
the Soul, etc., of the Ancient Egyptians,
Phœnicians, etc.
BY
ISAAC MYER, LL.B.
Member of the American Oriental Society. The American Numismatic
and Archæological Society. The Numismatic and Antiquarian
Society of Philadelphia. La Société Royale de Numismatique
de Belgique. The Oriental Club of
Philadelphia. The New York Historical
Society Historical Society of
the State of Pennsylvania,
etc.
Author of the Qabbalah. The Philosophical Writings of
Solomon B. Yehudah Ibn. Gebirol, or Avicebron;
The Waterloo Medal, etc.
FOR SALE BY
EDWIN W. DAYTON,
No. 641 Madison Avenue,
New York.
OTTO HARRASSOWITZ,
Querstrasse No. 14,
Leipzig.
ÉMILE BOUILLON,
No. 67, Rue de Richelieu,
Paris.
1894.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, by
ISAAC MYER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
All Rights of Translation Reserved.
INTRODUCTION.ToC
The following work is taken in part, from an address delivered by mebefore, The American Numismatic and Archæological Society, at its Hallin the City of New York, on March 30th, 1893. Since that time I havebeen led into a train of thought, having as its basis a morephilosophical treatment of the meaning of the scarabæus as a symbol,in the religious metaphysic conception of it by the Ancient Egyptians,and have added much new matter. I am convinced that at the period whenwe first meet with the symbol of the scarabæus in Egypt, it wasalready the symbol and tangible [vi]expression of an elevated religiousidea, embracing that of a future life of the human soul, aresurrection of it from the dead, and most likely, of a reward orpunishment to it in the future life, based on its conduct when in theterrestrial life.
We know from the inscription on the lid of the coffin of Men-kau-Ra,king of the IVth, the Memphite Dynasty, (circa 3633-3600B.C.,) and builder of the Third Pyramid at Gizeh; that someof the most elevated conceptions of the Per-em-hru, i.e., theso-called, Book of the Dead, were at that time in existence asaccepted facts. The dead one at this early period became an Osiris,living eternally. We have every reason to think, that the use of themodels of the scarabæus as the symbol of the resurrection ornew-birth, and the future eternal life of the triumphant or justifieddead, existed as an accepted dogma, before the earliest historical[vii]knowledge we have thus far been able