Object Description
An ancient Egyptian steatite scarab, dedicated to the god Sobek-Horus. The obverse is finely detailed and features an incised head and clypeus. The prothorax and elytra are divided by pairs of parallel lines, with two incised Vs descending from the dissecting prothorax line to form the humeral callosities. The sides of the scarab are decorated with linear incisions and short hatched lines, known as feathering, representing the legs. The reverse displays a dedication to the god Sobek-Horus. The top register features a falcon in the upper left. It faces right, with its wings set wide apart, framing a series of hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs include the basket ‘nb’ symbol, translating as ‘lord’ and the ripple of water ‘n’ symbol, which can translate as ‘of’, situated to the left of the falcon’s wings. This is followed by the heart and windpipe and the cloth on pole hieroglyphs, which can be transliterated as ‘ntr nfr’ to mean ‘Perfect God’. Two horizontal strokes, representing the two lands of Upper and Lower Egypt, ‘tȝwy’ follows. Along the bottom register, a crocodile stretches out, with a cross-hatched design enriching its body and representing the animal’s scales. Combined, the hieroglyphs may read, Perfect God, Sobek-Horus, Lord of the Two Lands. This is a common epithet used on scarabs dedicated to specific gods or royalty. The scarab has been pierced longitudinally for suspension.
Date: Circa 1700-1550 BC
Period: Second Intermediate Period