Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 1985 Egyptian Scarabs from Western Asia from the Collections of the British Museum Giveon, Raphael Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-157497 Monograph Published Version Originally published at: Giveon, Raphael (1985). Egyptian Scarabs from Western Asia from the Collections of the British Museum. Freiburg, Switzerland / Göttingen, Germany: Universitätsverlag / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht. GIVEON EGYPTIAN SCARABS FROM WESTERN ASIA FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM ORBIS BIBLICUS ET ORIENTALIS, Series Archaeologica 3 Published by the Biblical Institute of the U niversity of Fribourg Switzerland the Seminar für Biblische Zeitgeschichte of the University of Münster i. W. Federal Republic of Germany and the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für orientalische Altertumswissenschaft Editor: Othmar Keel Coeditors: Erich Zenger and Albert de Pury The Author: Raphael Giveon (1916) studied at the «Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Juden­ tums» Berlin. He left Germany in 1939 and taught at Bunce Court School Wem, England. In 1945 he settled in Israel, where he taught at the Children's Community, the secondary school at Mishmar Haemeq, a collective settlement (Kibbutz) of which he is a member. He has excavated in Israel at several sites and taught archaeology at Haifa University and the Teacher's Seminary «Oranim». Egyptological studies he started (on apart time basis) under Prof. H. J. Polotsky, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem and later went to Paris where he wrote bis doctoral thesis under Prof. G. Posener. Since 1962 he teaches at Tel Aviv University where he was Associate Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and head of of the Egyptology Section in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies until his official retirement in 1984, since when he continues teaching there on a emeritus basis. He has published in the series «Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui» a volume «Les Bedouins Shosou des documents egyptiens» (Leiden 1971), «Footsteps of the Pharao in Canaan» (Hebrew) First edition 1974; second enlarged and revised edition 1984. «The Stones of Sinai Speak» Qapanese) 1974; (English) 1978; (Hebrew) 1983. «The Impact of Egypt on Canaan» (1978). Besides R. Giveon has published a great number of papers concerning the ancient Egyptians in Sinai: he prepares a monography on his discoveries there. He has also published widely on the history of the contact between Western Asia and ancient Egypt. He investigates Egyptian objects discovered in Israel, which have a bearing on the history of these relations. ORBIS BIBLICUS ET ORIENTALIS SERIES ARCHAEOLOGICA 3 RAPHAEL GIVEON EGYPTIAN SCARABS FROM WESTERN ASIA FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM UNIVERSITÄTSVERLAG FREIBURG SCHWEIZ VANDENHOECK & RUPRECHT GÖTTINGEN 1985 CJP-Kurztitelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek Giveon, Raphael: Egyptian Scarabs from Western Asia from the Collections of the British Museum/Raphael Giveon. Freiburg (Schweiz): Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1985. (Orbis biblicus et orientalis; Series Archaeologica 3) ISBN 3-7278-0332-0 (Universitätsverlag) ISBN 3-525-53653-4 (Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht) NE: Orbis biblicus et orientalis/Series Archaeologica; HST Publication subsidized by the Fribourg U niversity Council Fribourg Switzerland @ 1985 by Universitätsverlag Freiburg Schweiz Paulusdruckerei Freiburg Schweiz Digitalisat erstellt durch Florina Tischhauser, Religionswissenschaftliches Seminar, Universität Zürich 5 C O N T E N T S PREFACE 7 INTR0DUCT ION 9 1. General 9 The Material of the 14 2.1 The Manner of Presentation 15 2.2 Characteristics of Scarab groups 15 CATAL0GUE 21 Tell el-Farach 22 Tell Jemmeh 56 Tell el-Ajjul 60 Gezer 110 Byblos 134 Amrit 138 Arban 156 Carchernish 160 Tell Halaf 164 Kuyunjik Ur 170 Various Sites 172 No Provenance 176 ABBREVIATIONS 190 INDEX 0F M0TIFS 193 INDEX 0F EGYPTIAN KINGS 197 C0NC0RDANCE 199 7 P R E F A C E The seals presented here are published by kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. The work was initiated by Dr. Richard D. Barnett, then Keeper of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities of the British Museum, to which the objects belong. Dr. Richard D. Barnett has looked after the project in its different stages with great care and efficiency. His friendship and hospitality during my different visits to Lon­ don have been very precious to me. When he retired, the manuscript was more or less ready. His successor, Dr. E. Sollberger enabled me to carry on work concerning some details. The present acting Keeper Mr. T. C. Mitchell has been most helpful in many ways. His understanding and support made the publishing of the catalogue in the present form possible. Mrs. Carole Mendleson has been looking after the catalogue on behalf of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities from the beginning. She has organized the work, revised the text, set up the plates and looked after the progress of the project in all ways possible with great patience and never tiring friendship. Most drawings have been done by Miss Melina Papageorgiou. A smaller portion was done by Miss Anne Searight. Mr. C. A. Bateman, Senior Conservation Officer of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities made the Vinagel impressions. During the work I had the precious advice of Mr. A. F. Shore, then of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the British Museum, now Professor of Egyptology at Liverpool University. Miss Olga Tufnell, whose important "Studies on Scarab Seals II" has just come out, showed a friendly and constructive interest in this catalogue. After the completion of the manuscript Mr. T. G. H. James, Keeper of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, was kind enough to add many helpful remarks, incorporated in the text. Professor Dr. Othmar Keel agreed to publish the catalogue in Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Series Archaeologica as volume three. I thank him very much for this. In preparation for the publication of the volume, Dr. Bertrand Jaeger had the great kind­ ness to read through the whole manuscript and to give to abbreviations and bibliography their present uniform appearance. I thank Dr. Karl Jaros who wrote the whole text for the offset-copy, adjusted the indices, and prepared the concordance. The publication of this volume has been somewhat delayed. We hope that because the British Museum has this splendid collection of seals from Western Asia and because of of the willingness of the Trustees to its publication and the co-operation of the staff of the Museum - it will prove an useful contribution to the study of scarabs and of the relations between Ancient Egypt and Ancient Western Asia. Mishmar Haemeq, January 1985 Raphael Giveon 9 I N T R O D U C T I O N 1 1. GENERAL Scarabs are the typical Fgyptian seals in the form of Scarabaeus sacer (with certain variations, representing different genera); the scarab was at origin an amulet. Plutarch explains the Egyptian idea of the biology of the insect in the following terms: "These beetles are male only; they put their semen into material which they form into a sphere: that sphere they roll along with their hind legs. Thus they imitate the course of the sun from East to West ... 112 • The magic power of the amulet was strengthened by a play of words: ~prr, the Egyptian name for the beetle is similar to the word 9pr, meaning "to become, to change". The name of the sun-god as the god of the morning-sun is Chepre. The older form of the word was gprr, like the word for the beetle, then: Dpri. The young sun is born every morning anew out of the earth, by an a-sexual process, with the young insect proceeding out of the earth ready made. The sphere of dung becomes the sphere of the sun. Thus the life of the beetle is related to sun and sun-god. Beetle and sun realize a renovation and a rebirth of life which are in harmony with the Egyptian conception of the life after death; for the scarab and for the sun - to enter the earth (to sink behind the horizon) is only a preparation for a new life, a stage in the infinity of life. 3 Amulets in Scarab-forms are already known from the Old Kingdom . In the First Inter­ 4 mediate Period Scarabs received ornaments on their flat sides . A distinction is necessary between amulets in form of scarabs and the scarabs with ornamentation or inscription at the underside of the object. Scarabs are normally 1 cm to 5 cm, heart­ scarabs and memorial scarabs - not represented in our catalogue: 5 cm to 21 cm. Initially the ornament or the inscription on the underside was a sort of repetition, enlargement, reinforcement of the amuletic force of the figuration of the scarab on the upper side. The button-seals are a separate development, typical for the First Inter­ mediate Period. Already in the XIth Dynasty do we find scarabs as seals: we have seal-impressions on the 5 6 Papyri of Heqanachte and from the tomb of Meketre . Impressions from the time of Sesostris I were found at L1s. h t;7 also from the time of the XIIth Dynasty date the many 1 My contribution "Skarabäus" (in Lexikon der Ägyptologie, Band V, Wiesbaden 1984, pp. 124-132) is in some respects a more detailed version (in German) of what follows. It deals, in addition, with phenomena like heart-scarabs which are not represented in our collection. The Lexicon-article has an extensive bibliography concerning points of detail and scarabs in general. G.T.Martin has prepared an up-to-date list of publications concerning the subject which has not been published yet. 2 E.Brunner-Traut, Antaios 6 (1956) p.