"The Egyptians Worshipped Them"--picture--answer

[Mr. Checkers]

A "Scarab"--go to google.com for more information on this. (Cont.)

[Patrick Parker]

is it an animal of some kind?

[Patrick Parker]

oh a bug

[Ingo_Zachos]

I am puzzled, as my sources clearly say that the so called "checkerboards" or "checkers" had different images on it.
Most of them had animals, some of them already mentioned, but also the cobra, the ox, Ra (not "the sun" as Ra was not the PHYSICAL sun, but a symbol for "the universe", and had also other symbols) or some rare birds, as most of the animals of ancient egypt were birds.
Also, apes were sometimes carved on theses boards and checkers as well as elephants or giraffes, altough these animals were not to be found in ancient egypt, but they might have been presents from abroad or a kind of "exotic motif" for the old egyptians.

I am really courious about the answer, and even more, on your sources.

Greetinx from cloudy and rainy Dortmund, Germany

Ingo Zachos

[Mr. Checkers]

Ingo there was no right or wrong answer to this question. One could expect to find many of the subjects already mentioned, but we were looking for one particular answer (which when asked Al Darrow gave us immediately) that matched a checker set that we have here in our museum. I found the Egyptian mythology articles on the "Scarab" to be very interesting (from google.com). (Cont.)

[Patrick Parker]

ive seen one of the checkerboard type games the egyptions have ...the pieces kinda look like chess rooks with flat tops

[Palomino]

Here are some Scarab Beetle pictures

[Palomino]

Scarab beetle or scarab, is the name for members of a large family of heavy-bodied, oval beetles (the Scarabaeidae), with about 30,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. A large group of scarab beetles are scavengers, feeding on decaying vegetation or on the dung of grazing animals. Most of these lay their eggs in underground chambers supplied with dung, where the larvae feed and pupate emerging as adults, these scarabs are often called dung beetles. Some of the dung beetles, known as tumblebugs, form balls of dung that they roll about with their hind legs, sometimes for long distances and sometimes working in pairs. Eventually they bury the ball and lay eggs in it. One such ball-roller is the sacred scarab (Scarabaeus sacer), a black scarab beetle of the Mediterranean region. In ancient Egypt the periodic appearance of this beetle in great numbers on the surface of the Nile mud led men to associate the sacred scarab with resurrection and immortality. It was believed that all scarabs were males capable of reproducing their kind. Their ball-rolling activities were associated with the diurnal movement of the sun.

Regards, "Pal" Bucker

[Palomino]

Here's a picture of a box of SCARAB CHECKERS


Regards, "Pal" Bucker

[Palomino]

This is a close up picture of a SCARAB CHECKER.
There's a small SCARAB BEETLE in the center of the checker.
(sorry it's a bit out of focus)

Regards, "Pal" Bucker

[Palomino]

I thought it would be nice to add a picture of a tumble bug in action.


Regards, "Pal" Bucker