Scarab Inscribed with Blessing Related to Amun

Scarabs bearing wishes and blessings related to divinities whose protection individuals wished to summon are particular popular during the late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1295-664 B.C.). Given the limited surface on scarab bases, seal carvers were often very creative in using as few hieroglyphs and signs as possible in order to convey their message.

This scarab calls for the protection of the sun god Amun, referred to by the image at the top consisting of the oval hieroglyph for island "iw" surrounding a horizontal stroke that represents the water sign "n". According to ancient Egyptian cryptography, the oval with water line forms the name of the god Amun. Cryptographic writing makes use of standard signs’ atypical values and introduces alternative signs based on such principles as acrophony, generally with the objective to form divine names. Amun is here called upon for his ‘excellent counsels’, as the inscription under the island sign indicates.