Fragment of a Human-Headed Heart Scarab

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Heart scarabs take the shape of a large scarab beetle, a symbol of regeneration. In this example the beetle’s head is replaced by a human face. The flat underside is inscribed with six horizontal lines of text. This inscription is a version of Book of the Dead spell 30B, the so-called heart scarab spell that magically "prevents the heart from creating opposition" and in which the deceased’s heart is directed not to tell lies about its owner. For the meaning of this spell and heart scarab amulets in general, see 30.8.1080. In the inscription here, the legs of all bird hieroglyphs have been omitted, a practice known from Dynasty 13 to early Dynasty 18.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art