Sarape

“ The earliest shape of genuine seals known and used in Egypt, is that in the scarab form and that form is peculiarly Egyptian; cylinders however were sometimes used by that people in early times. The Egyptians at a time, to us beyond all positive history, took advantage of and used the intaglio seal, so as to secure, by its impression, the authenticity of personal acts whether done by the sovereign, his chancellor, or his treasurer, or by private individuals ”

“ Geographical range of Egyptian scarab-seals. Many Egyptian scarab-seals have been found in regions other than the Nile Valley. In Syria they have been turned up in plenty. In Cyprus, Rhodes, the Aegean Islands and the Greek mainland, numerous examples have been found. They have also been discovered at Crete, in Italy and Sardinia, on the north coast of Africa, and in Babylonia,—in all places in fact that had trade relations with the Egyptians. ”

“ The storehouses of private people were probably in the care of the housewife, or some other woman of the household, for when scarab seals are discovered in graves, it has been noticed that they are usually found at the side of, or near to, the body of a female. ”

“ The history of cylinder seals in Egypt covers the period from prehistoric times to the end of the 46Twenty-sixth Dynasty, but they were only in general use down to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty, when they gave place to the more convenient “scarab” form of seal. They may be most conveniently classified according to the subjects found engraved upon them, but it is also an important matter for the student to carefully note the shape and the size of their perforation, two points which are often of considerable importance when it is desired to accurately date a specimen.
Fig. 20. ”

“ In a 68private collection in Cairo is a scarab bearing the name of Kha-ef-ra in green glazed steatite, with cutting, form of back, and glaze exactly similar to that of a well-known type of Thothmes III. All the Men-kau-ra scarabs are also undoubtedly not earlier than the period of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The Unas scarabs bear a great resemblance to a certain class of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties: they are generally coarsely cut, and the glaze has turned a dull brown. ”

“ These seals are found in a variety of forms; some of them are cylindrical in shape, others are button-shaped, but by far the greater number are carved to represent the scarabaeus beetle standing upon an elliptical base, the under side of which is engraved with the device or inscription intended to be impressed upon the sealing clay. The specimens of this last variety of seal are universally known as “Scarabs.” [1] Like the gems of Greece and Italy, Egyptian seals are generally found in excellent preservation ”

“ Fig. 52.
Material. Specimens of button-seals have been found in gold, amethyst, carnelian, lapis lazuli, black steatite, steatite glazed blue or green, ivory, bone, and blue or green glazed pottery. The hemi-cylinders are only as yet known in steatite glazed blue or green.
3. Scarab-shaped Seals.
Scarab-shaped seals. By far the commonest form of Egyptian seal was that cut in the shape of the scarabaeus beetle, hence its name, “Scarab” or “Scarabaeus,” from the Greek name of the insect, [Greek: skarabos] or [Greek: skarabeios] (Latin scarabaeus) . ”

“ With the Ethiopian dominion a ram’s head (the emblem of Amen-ra) frequently is found upon the beetle body (fig. 80) ; while sometimes, as shown in fig. 81, the body of the scarab is replaced by the familiar Hathor head with uraei on either side.
The subjects engraved on scarab-seals. The subjects engraved on Egyptian scarab-seals may be divided into several well-defined groups. Firstly, there are those which bear hieroglyphic inscriptions. Secondly, there are those which bear figures of men, animals, or flowers; and thirdly, those which bear geometrical designs, coil and rope patterns, etc. ”

“ The little Princesses were quite dazzled by the golden saree, and running home said to their mother, “That young Rajah’s wife has the most beautiful saree we ever saw. It shines like the sun, and dazzles one’s eyes. We have no sarees half so beautiful, and although you are Ranee, you have none so rich as that. Why do you not get one too?”
When the Ranee heard about Parbuttee Bai’s saree she was very eager to have one like it; and she said to the Rajah, “Your servant’s wife is dressed more richly than your Ranee. I hear Parbuttee Bai has a saree more costly than any of mine. ”

“ Behind every tree and rock a Saracen seemed to be hidden, and in a moment the whole pass was alive with men in mortal strife.
Surely never in any fight were greater prodigies of valour performed than those of Roland and his comrades. Twelve Saracen kings fell before their mighty swords, and many a Saracen warrior was hurled down the cliffs to pay for the lives of the men of France whom they had trapped to their death. ”

“ And so the Scarab is endowed with matchless digestive powers. Once housed in the company of food, day and night he will not cease eating and digesting until the provisions be exhausted. It is easy, with a little practice, to bring up the Scarab in captivity, in a volery. In this way, I obtained the following evidence, [16] which will tell us of the high digestive capacity of the famous Dung-beetle.
When the whole ball has been through the mill, the hermit reappears in the light of day, seeks his fortune, finds it, shapes himself a new ball and begins all over again. ”

“ The right arm is always bare, the sleeve being thrown quite back. A long, broad sabre is passed through their girdle just below the chest, and the right hand scarcely ever quits its hilt. The manners and movements of these inhabitants of the desert are abrupt and jerking, their speech brief and energetic. ”

“ At least four species of beetles appear to have been held in veneration and were distinguished, by the absence or presence, of striated elytra. The Ateuchus sacer is the one commonly represented on the monuments. The number of the toes, thirty, symbolized the days of the month, and the movement of the ball, which it manufactured and in which was deposited its egg, symbolized among other things, the action of Ra, the Egyptian sun-deity, at midday.
[7] The Egyptian soldier wore the scarab as a charm or amulet, to increase bravery; [8] the women, to increase fertility. ”

“ A few scarabs, however, bear the names of kings of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Dynasties, but from the forms of the backs, the glaze and general technique, they all appear to me to be of a much later period than that of the monarchs whose names they bear. The names anterior to the Twelfth Dynasty that occur upon such scarabs are Mena, Khufu, Kha-ef-ra, Men-kau-ra, Unas, Merŷ-ra (Pepŷ I) and Mer-en-ra. The Mena scarabs are admitted by Prof. Petrie and other Egyptian archaeologists to be of a much later date than the Old Kingdom. ”

“ To expedite matters (7th) , as our daily consumption in camp was a tax of itself, I gave these tormenting creatures one wire, one pretty cloth, and five hundred necklaces of white beads, which were no sooner accepted than Karambule, in the same way as Sirhid had done, said it would be greatly to my advantage if I gave him something worth having before he saw the Mkama. Only too glad to being work I gave him a red blanket, called joho, and five strings of mzizima beads, which were equal to fifty of the common white. ”

“ A long residence, extending over several years, at Thebes, the centre of the Upper Egyptian Scarab market, and the place where the best imitation Scarabs are now manufactured, has, I may claim, given me exceptional opportunities for studying this class of Ancient Egyptian antiquities and its allied forms. For some years it was my custom to pay a weekly visit to the Luxor antiquity shops, with the object of examining these and other articles in the dealers’ hands ”

“ No yearning desire is allowed to yearn long here, and so we find factories making scarabs at Luxor and in many other parts of Egypt. Of course there is a marked difference between a scarab cut by an old Egyptian, which has been buried for thousands of years, and something made out of glazed terra-cotta and sold by the dozen; the former being worth a good sum of money and the latter a mere trifle. I have spoken of this at such length because there is now a veritable and increasing boom in scarabs all over the Nile Valley, but particularly in Cairo. ”

“ Be careful, stranger, you walk a dangerous path! You have strange powers, as I have seen with my own eyes. Yet Calaman is cunning and will lay a trap for you. Even now you may be standing within reach of the claws of the Golden Scarab.”
“What is the Golden Scarab I have heard so much about?” asked the detective. “Surely a strong man like yourself, with a sword that no doubt you know how to wield, could kill it—that is, if there is such a thing as this Scarab, and it is not some fairy tale for children!” ”

“ The nether limbs are clad in tight sarre of ivory-white flannel; and on the feet are lappellinin, which are short roomy boots peaked up at the toe, stuffed with grass, and drawn up over the ankle and made fast over the ends of the sarre by a narrow red figured bandage, after the fashion of the East Indian putty. The head-gear varies. The orthodox square-topped cap of cloth with its head-band of fur is rare, and usually appears only in winter or on festivals. It is picturesque, hot, and expensive, and for daily use a soft round hat of felt is preferred, or for sea [72] work a sou’-wester. ”

“ The weaving of a sarong represents the labor of twenty days, and when we gave the dried-up old worker two dollars and a half for one, her syrah-stained gums broke forth from between her bright-red lips in a ghastly grin of pleasure.
There must have been the representatives of at least four generations under the punghulo’s hospitable roof. Men and women, alike, were dressed in the skirt-like sarong which fell from the waist down; above that some of the older women wore another garment called a kabaya. The married women [58] were easily distinguishable by their swollen gums and filed teeth. ”

“ Because a workman or several workmen have had a hand crushed in machinery, it does not follow that all others should be maimed. If the Scarabæus often, or even very often, loses the fore-claws in its trade of ball-roller, there must be some which, cleverer or more fortunate, have preserved their tarsi. Let us then consult facts. I have observed a very large number of the species of Scarabæus which inhabit France, the S. sacer, common in Provence ”

“ One of the parts played by Khepra in Ancient Egyptian thought, is condensed in that figure which we find on the top of some of the Osirian naos's or arks, the scarab in the middle of the disk emerging from the horizon.
The perpetuity of the transformations or the power to become, whenever it pleased, the form it desired; was everywhere recalled to the mind of the people of Ancient Egypt, by the symbolic figure of the scarab, the hieroglyph of the words: To become, to be, to be existing, as also creator, an amulet of power above all others. ”

“ At ancient Tanis (now called by the Arabs, San,) they are all of schist, rough and small, the glaze nearly always gone; within a short distance from there, at Nebesheh, they are usually of pottery with bright apple-green glazes; at Naukratis, the Ancient Egyptian name of which was Am and which was a city in the time of the XIIth Dynasty, they are mostly of soft glazed pottery, or, of a blue paste, and nearly all are small; in the ruins of this city was found a factory for making Greek scarabs in imitation of the Egyptian style. ”

“ A friend was once in the Khan Khaleel bazaar in Cairo, and was approached by a young man in native dress who offered for sale a handful of scarabs. My friend, who is an expert and 83very well known, was considerably astonished at the man’s impudence, for they were the common green scarabs made in great quantities at the present day to sell to the native women, and these are now being exported even as far as the Sudan. ”

“ They are nearly always pierced longitudinally with a hole, the size of which is usually just sufficient to receive a thread or thin wire.
How used. 62When the scarab-seal was used for sealing, it was simply pressed upon the clay destined to receive the impression, just as a signet is used at the present day. A large number of clay-sealings from scarabs have been found in different localities in Egypt, and bear witness to the manner in which this class of seal was used.
How mounted.
Fig. 53. ”

“ I collect scarabs. I'm crazy about scarabs. Ever since I quit business, you might say that I have practically lived for scarabs."
"Though it sounds like an unkind thing to say of anyone," said Ashe. "Incidentally, what are scarabs?" He held up his hand. "Wait! It all comes back to me. Expensive classical education, now bearing belated fruit. Scarabaeus—Latin; noun, nominative—a beetle. ”

“ There is a wonderful, a sad, descent from the Saracen conqueror to a benighted Mahdist. The contrast between a chief of Arabian troopers and such a chief as Tippoo Tib is enough to show degeneracy of the most ultra type. The brave, fiery Saracen, sweeping along the coasts and through the deserts, was a being infinitely superior to anything he came in contact with. His progeny, after centuries of acclimatization and intercourse with the native populations, is a lazy, inferior being, a curse to his surroundings, not half such a man as the native whom he plunders and carries off as human booty. ”