Heart Scarab inscribed for Gautsoshen
This “heart” scarab, inscribed with Chapter 30B from the Book of Coming Forth by Day, was found in the center of Gautsoshen’s chest, within her mummy wrappings. In this spell, Gautsoshen begs her heart not to testify against her in the afterlife tribunal. This is when she will stand before the ruler of the dead, Osiris, and recite the Negative Confession, asserting that she has behaved ethically during her lifetime. Her heart, seen as the center of intelligence and emotion, will be weighed against maat, the proper order of the universe: if the scales balance, she will be accepted as one of the transformed dead; if her heart is heavy from wrongdoing, she will die forever.
Gautseshen’s name was scratched crudely over an erasure at the top of the inscription, and the scarab is battered, indicating that this, like her Book of Coming Forth by Day > papyrus (25.3.32), was reused.
Gautseshen’s name was scratched crudely over an erasure at the top of the inscription, and the scarab is battered, indicating that this, like her Book of Coming Forth by Day > papyrus (25.3.32), was reused.
Artwork Details
- Title: Heart Scarab inscribed for Gautsoshen
- Period: Third Intermediate Period
- Dynasty: Dynasty 21
- Date: ca. 1070–945 B.C.
- Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb MMA 60, Pit, Burial of Gautsoshen (P4), MMA excavations, 1923–24
- Medium: Slate
- Dimensions: L. 5.7 × W. 3.6 × H. 1.8 cm (2 1/4 × 1 7/16 × 11/16 in.)
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1925
- Object Number: 25.3.163
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art
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