Scarab Inscribed Maatkare (Hatshepsut), She Lives

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

During the 1926-1927 excavation season, the Museum's Egyptian Expedition uncovered three foundation deposits along the eastern enclosure wall of Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri in Western Thebes. Among the contents were 299 scarabs and stamp-seals. Sixty-five of these are now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, and the rest were acquired by the Museum in the division of finds. Among the inscriptions on the bases of these scarabs and seals are examples of every title Hatshepsut held, from the time she was "king's daughter" during the reign of her father, Thutmose I; through the time she was queen of her half-brother, Thutmose II; and during her regency and co-reign with her nephew/step-son, Thutmose III. The inscription on the base of this scarab records Hatshepsut's throne name, Maatkare, which may be roughly translated as Maat (the goddess of truth) is the life force of Re (the sun god). The two hieroglyphs in front of the crouching goddess (ankh.s) have the meaning "she lives." There are four scarabs in the Museum that have similar inscriptions. Two of them (this one and 27.3.233) have very similar inscriptions, and the back and side design are also almost identical. A third (27.3.236) has a similar back design, but the hieroglyphs are carved with less care. The back design of the fourth scarab (27.3.234) is different, and the hieroglyphs have a slightly different distribution.

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