Kutsal Mısır Böceği (Skarabe, Skarab Beetle)

Skarabe, Eski Mısır'daki en yaygın sembollerden biridir. Mısır tradisyonunda farklı bağlamlarda, üç değişik anlamda kullanılmış olan sembolün simgelediği anlamlar şöyle açıklanır:

Ra'nın “khepre” şeklini temsil eden kullanımlarında kozmik evrenin meydana getirilişini simgeler. Bu böceğin üreme biçimi, kendi kendini doğuran, daha doğrusu kendi kendinin nedeni olan yaratıcı güç “Phtha”nın evrendeki kozmik nesneleri şekillendirerek oluşturmasını temsil eder. Burada söz konusu olan güç, yoktan var eden değil, “var edilen”i biçimlendiren bir güçtür. Mısır'ın hiyeroglif yazısında “olmak”, daha doğrusu “verilen biçimi alarak varlık haline dönüşmek” anlamına gelen “hpr” ya da “kheper” fiili ayakları açık bir skarabe ile yazılır. İlah Khepra'nın adı da bu fiilden türemiştir.

Güneş ile birlikte kullanımlarında, Güneş sistemi'nin kendisine yaşam veren, kendisini yöneten Sirius Sistemi ile ilişkisini simgeler. Böceğin yumurtalarını koyduğu ve itme gücüyle yuvarladığı küre, kozmozda bir güçle yuvarlanıp giden bir ateş küresi olan ve tohumlarını Sirius'tan alan Güneş'i simgeler. Sembolün bu anlamdaki kullanımında, sembole genellikle Güneş'i simgeleyen bir diskin eşlik ettiği görülür.

Ölüm ve ölüm-ötesi konularıyla ilgili olarak kullanımında ise reenkarnasyonu simgelemek üzere kullanılırdı. Bununla birlikte Skarabe'nin eski Mısır'da aynı zamanda bir tür muska olarak da kullanıldığı bilinmektedir.

Kadim Mısır'ın Tılsımsal Böceği

Kadim Mısır'ın bu kutsal böceği, günümüz dünyasının bile en geçerli tılsımlarından biridir. Kadim Mısırlılar, onun yaratılış, erkekliğin tartışılmaz gücü, üreme, bilgelik, reenkarnasyon, ölümsüzlük ve yenilenmeyle özdeşleştirmişlerdir. Bokböceği tılsımı, hemen hemen dört bin yıllık bir faal yaşam süresi gösteren ve dünyadaki tılsımların içinde en uzun bir geçmişe sahip olanıdır. Bugün bokböceği simgeli yüzük, küpe ve broşlar uğur olarak hala kullanılmaktadır.[1]

Skrape ve Amuletler

Amulet, kötülükleri uzaklaştırdığına, uğur getirdiğine, hastalıkları iyileştirdiğine ve özel güçlere sahip olduğuna inanılan , doğal ya da insan eliyle yapılmış nesne; bir tür nazarlık ya da muskaya verilen addır. Üstte taşınabildiği gibi çeşitli yerlerde de saklanabilir. Değerli taşlar, metaller, hayvan dişleri ve pençeleri gibi pek çok nesne amulet olarak kullanılmıştır. Amuletin kökeni Eski Mısır'a dayanır. Mısırlılar kendilerini kötü günlerden, düşmanlardan ve tehlikelerden korumak için SKARABE, engerek başı, sembolik gözler ve KARTUŞ gibi amuletler kullanmıştır. Pek çok uygarlıkta da hematit, yeşim, ametis, lapis, lazuli ve kantaşı gibi taşların kendilerine özgü koruyucu güçleri olduğuna inanılmıştır.Bir inanışa göre mercan, şeytanın evlerdeki kötü etkisini uzaklaştırma gücüne sahiptir. Hıristiyanlıkta encolpia denen amulet , haçlar, aziz kemikleri vb. Dinle ilgili RÖLİK'lerdir. Boyna asılarak taşınanlar periapta, ikiye katlanabilenler pyctacium adını alır.[2]

Scarab Beetle [kheper] (English Language)

Dung beetles are beetles that feed partly or exclusively on feces. All of these species belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea; most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae. This beetle can also be referred to as the scarab beetle. As most species of Scarabaeinae feed exclusively on feces, that subfamily is often dubbed true dung beetles. There are dung-feeding beetles which belong to other families, such as the Geotrupidae (the earth-boring dung beetle). The Scarabaeinae alone comprises more than 5,000 species.[1]

Many dung beetles, known as rollers, are noted for rolling dung into spherical balls, which are used as a food source or brooding chambers. Other dung beetles, known as tunnelers, bury the dung wherever they find it. A third group, the dwellers, neither roll nor burrow: they simply live in manure. They are usually attracted by the dung burrowing owls collect.[3]

Appearance: The particular species of beetle represented in the numerous ancient Egyptian amulets and works of art was commonly the large sacred scarab (Scarabaeus sacer). This beetle was famous for his habit of rolling balls of dung along the ground and depositing them in its burrows. The female would lay her eggs in the ball of dung. When they hatched, the larvae would use the ball for food. When the dung was consumed the young beetles would emerge from the hole.

Millions of amulets and stamp seals of stone or faience were fashioned in Egypt depicted the scarab beetle.

Meaning: It seemed to the ancient Egyptians that the young scarab beetles emerged spontaneously from the burrow were they were born. Therefore they were worshipped as "Khepera", which means "he was came forth." This creative aspect of the scarab was associated with the creator god Atum.

The ray-like antenna on the beetle's head and its practice of dung-rolling caused the beetle to also carry solar symbolism. The scarab-beetle god Khepera was believed to push the setting sun along the sky in the same manner as the bettle with his ball of dung. In many artifacts, the scarab is depicted pushing the sun along its course in the sky.

During and following the New Kingdom, scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of the mummified deceased. These "heart scarabs" (such as the one pictured above) were meant to be weighed against the feather of truth during the final judgement. The amulets were often inscribed with a spell from the Book of the Dead which entreated the heart to, "do not stand as a witness against me." [42]

Scarab in Ancient Egypt

Several species of the dung beetle, most notably the species Scarabaeus sacer (often referred to as the sacred scarab), enjoyed a sacred status among the ancient Egyptians.

The hieroglyphic image of the beetle represents a trilateral phonetic that Egyptologists transliterate as xpr or pr and translate as "to come into being", "to become" or "to transform". The derivative term xprw or ḫpr(w) is variously translated as "form", "transformation", "happening", "mode of being" or "what has come into being", depending on the context. It may have existential, fictional, or ontologic significance.

The scarab was linked to Khepri ("he who has come into being"), the god of the rising sun. The ancients believed that the dung beetle was only male in gender, and reproduced by depositing semen into a dung ball. The supposed self-creation of the beetle resembles that of Khepri, who creates himself out of nothing. Moreover, the dung ball rolled by a dung beetle resembles the sun. Plutarch wrote:

“ The race of beetles has no female, but all the males eject their sperm into a round pellet of material which they roll up by pushing it from the opposite side, just as the sun seems to turn the heavens in the direction opposite to its own course, which is from west to east."”

The ancient Egyptians believed that Khepri renewed the sun every day before rolling it above the horizon, then carried it through the other world after sunset, only to renew it, again, the next day. Some New Kingdom royal tombs exhibit a threefold image of the sun god, with the beetle as symbol of the morning sun. The astronomical ceiling in the tomb of Ramses VI portrays the nightly "death" and "rebirth" of the sun as being swallowed by Nut, goddess of the sky, and re-emerging from her womb as Khepri.

The image of the scarab, conveying ideas of transformation, renewal, and resurrection, is ubiquitous in ancient Egyptian religious and funerary art.

Excavations of ancient Egyptian sites have yielded images of the scarab in bone, ivory, stone, Egyptian faience, and precious metals, dating from the Sixth Dynasty and up to the period of Roman rule. They are generally small, bored to allow stringing on a necklace, and the base bears a brief inscription or cartouche. Some have been used as seals. Pharaohs sometimes commissioned the manufacture of larger images with lengthy inscriptions, such as the commemorative scarab of Queen Tiye. Massive sculptures of scarabs can be seen at Luxor Temple, at the Serapeum in Alexandria (see Serapis) and elsewhere in Egypt.

The scarab was of prime significance in the funerary cult of ancient Egypt. Scarabs, generally, though not always, were cut from green stone, and placed on the chest of the deceased. Perhaps the most famous example of such "heart scarabs" is the yellow-green pectoral scarab found among the entombed provisions of Tutankhamen. It was carved from a large piece of Libyan desert glass. The purpose of the "heart scarab" was to ensure that the heart would not bear witness against the deceased at judgement in the Afterlife. Other possibilities are suggested by the "transformation spells" of the Coffin Texts, which affirm that the soul of the deceased may transform (xpr) into a human being, a god, or a bird and reappear in the world of the living.

One scholar comments on other traits of the scarab connected with the theme of death and rebirth:

“ It may not have gone unnoticed that the pupa, whose wings and legs are encased at this stage of development, is very mummy-like. It has even been pointed out that the egg-bearing ball of dung is created in an underground chamber which is reached by a vertical shaft and horizontal passage curiously reminiscent of Old Kingdom mastaba tombs." ”

In contrast to funerary contexts, some of ancient Egypt's neighbors adopted the scarab motif for seals. The best-known of these being Judean LMLK seals (8 of 21 designs contained scarab beetles), which were used exclusively to stamp impressions on storage jars during the reign of Hezekiah.

The scarab remains an item of popular interest thanks to modern fascination with the art and beliefs of ancient Egypt. Scarab beads in semiprecious stones or glazed ceramics can be purchased at most bead shops, while at Luxor Temple a massive ancient scarab has been roped off to discourage visitors from rubbing the base of the statue "for luck".

Kaynaklar / Sources

[1] tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bok_böceği
[2] www.muze.gazi.edu.tr/trsozluk.htm
[3] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dung_beetles
[4] www.egyptianmyths.net/scarab.htm