The Spiritual Dung Beetles of Ancient Egypt

The sacred scarab or kheper of old Egypt was the dung beetle, a bug that lives off the waste of vegetarian pets. It was viewed as an incarnation of the sunlight god Khepri, and also its name became part of numerous royal names, consisting of Men-kheper-re and also Kheper-ka-re. The scarab ornament located on mommies as well as now acquired by vacationers in Egypt is a homage to this modest insect.

Let’s satisfy the beetles. Scientists have recognized about 30,000 scarab species– that has to do with one-tenth of all beetles now recognized. Scarabs survive every continent other than Antarctica. They can be little (0.08 inches) or HUGE– the Hercules beetle can grow to be 6.7 inches long.

However not all scarabs are dung beetles, whose taxonomic name is Kheper nigroaeneus. Those individuals are unique. All they eat is undigested matter in the waste of pets like cows, lamb, and camels. The fresher it is, the more they like it, since they can draw out the fluids. Some types burrow into it, but others develop spheres with it. The male makes an ideal round and also, if he’s fortunate, a women assists him roll it off to a nice location where they bury it as well as start a household.

Well, she begins it. He goes off to find various other ladies. Mama stays at home and seals the round with spit and possibly her own poop. She might also make even more dung balls. Then she lays one egg in each, and her young hatch and also fully grown inside the balls, feeding off the nutrients up until they arise. (Does your space seem a whole lot nicer suddenly?)

So why did Egyptians worship scarabs? They designated gods to all examples, and they saw the young beetles arising from their spherical dung spheres as symbols of the sunlight, which is likewise spherical and also emerges every day.

So when travelers get scarabs based upon King Tut’s jewelry, they’re paying their respects to dung beetles. And also that would not?

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