Scarab

Scarab
Carved scarab beetle on the front side. The head with eyes and the clypeus are shown. A groove separates the prothorax from the wing cases (elytra) which are divided by double lines. A V-shaped notch at the top of each wing-case. Legs are delineated. On the scarab’s base, in an encircling, following hieroglyphic signs arranged vertically, are impressed: a falcon with a nḫ3ḫ3-flagellum, turned right, and a rearing cobra in front of him (both signs are crowned by sun-disks); a nb-sign is closing the field from below.

On the grounds of the principles of cryptography formulated by E. Drioton (“Formule d’ allégeance a écriture défective”. Drioton 1957: 20-26), the whole may be read also as follows: Jmn-Rᶜ nb (.j) “Amun-Ra is (my) Lord”.

The described scarab belongs to mass-produced types representing a wide variety of workshops of late Egyptian and Eastern origin (Naucratis, Phoenician and Punic types). Finds of this kind dated at the First Millennium B.C., especially to its second half, were very popular on many sites and mainly necropolis around the Mediterranean, but until now unknown on the Adriatic shores. (More detail typology and distribution of scarabs in the Mediterranean world see in: Ferghali Gorton 1996.). These kinds of scarab were not commonly used in Egypt or outside Egypt during the Roman Empire which could be one of the proofs of their arrival during the period of the late Hellenistic/late Roman Republic.

Catalogue entry

Scarab from glazed faience
Franciscan Monastery, Košljun
Archaeological collection
without inv. no.
Krk (Curicum), courtyard of the house Šinigoj, date unknown
Ptolemaic period (306-30 B.C.)
pale green glazed faience: carving
1.5 x 1 x 0.55 cm

Resources

  • Tomorad, Mladen. „The Ancient Egyptian Antiquities in Institutional and Private Collections in Croatia“. U: Tomorad, Mladen (ur.). A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture conducted in Southeast Europe. Oxford, 2015: 31-58. 51.
  • Tomorad, Mladen. „The Ancient Egyptian Collections in Croatia and the Project Croato-Aegyptica Electronica“. U: Derriks, Claire (ur.). Collections at risk: New Challenges in a New Environment - Proceedings of the 29th CIPEG Annual Meeting in Brussels, September 25-28, 2012, Royal Museums of Art and History Brussels, Belgium. Atlanta, 2017: 237-268. 238-239, 259-260.
  • Tomorad, Mladen. „The Early Penetration of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts and Dissemination of the Cults of Egyptian Divinities in Istria and Illyricum (1st Millennium B.C.-1st Century A.D.)“. U: Tomorad, Mladen (ur.). A History of Research into Ancient Egyptian Culture conducted in Southeast Europe. Oxford, 2015: 165-200. 186, no. 20, 194, fig. 143.
  • Tomorad, Mladen. „The phases of penetration and diffusion of Egyptian artefacts and cults in the region of Istria and Illyricum (from the 7th c. B.C. to the 4th c. A.D.)“. U: Györy, Hedvig (ur.). Aegyptus et Pannonia V. Budapest, 2016: 185-226 + Plates 69-81. 196-197, 203-204, Pl. 74 e-f.
  • Tomorad, Mladen. Staroegipatska civilizacija, sv. II: Uvod u egiptološke studije. Zagreb, 2017. 83.
  • Tomorad, Mladen; Sliwa, Joachim. “Tri staroegipatska skarabeja iz Arheološke zbirke franjevačkog samostana na Košljunu, Hrvatska - Three Ancient Egyptian scarabs from the Archaelogical Collection of the Franciscan Monastery on Košljun, Croatia”. Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju 32 (2015): 243-250. no. 1, 244-245.

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