47G THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAT. XVI. 



rabaei*, when of stone, had their extended wings 

 made of lead or silver ; and when of bkie pottery, 



the wings were 

 of the same ma- 

 terial. On the 

 cartonaffe and 



No. 503. A stone scarabseus, covered with wings, and the sun *^ 



and asps, of silver. Inmy possession. PilSP 111 a POV- 



responding situation above, the same emblem was 

 also placed, to indicate the protecting influence of 

 the Deity ; and in this last position it sometimes 

 stood in the centre of a boat, with the Goddesses Isis 

 andNepthys on either side in an attitude of prayer.t 

 On the outer cases the same place was occupied 

 by a similar winged scarabseus, or the winged globe, 

 or a hawk, or a ram-headed vulture or hawk, or 

 both these last, or the same bird with the head of 

 a woman, or by the Goddess Nctpe ; and some- 

 times a disk was supported by the beetle, having 

 within it a hawk and the name of Re. 



The subjects represented on the mummy cases 

 differed according to the rank of the persons, the 

 expense incurred in their decoration, and other 

 circumstances ; and such was their variety, that 

 few resembled each other in every particular. I 

 shall, therefore, in describing them, confine my 



* The two most usual forms of tlie scarabaei found in tombs are 

 witli the lower part as a flat level surface for bcarinn; an inscription, 

 or witli tlic le<Ts inserted tliere in imitation of nature. They have then a 

 ring for suspending them, being [)rol)ably intended for ornamental pur- 

 poses, as necklaces and the like. Sometimes the head and tiiorax are 

 replaced by a human face, and occasionally the body (or elytra) has 

 the form of a I'oyal cap. 



t Vide Pettigrew, PI. 8. figs. 1, 2, 3. 



