Like many of the items in
Tutankhamun's tomb, this
intricately designed pendant reflects aspects of the
traditional religion that the young king restored.
It was found in a box in the Treasury with other
similar objects, probably all of which were
originally from the king's personal collection of
jewelry. The central motif depicts the rising of the
sun. The scarab beetle, who sustains its young from
the ball of dung it carries, was associated in
Egyptian mythology with the sun, as the means by
which it crosses the heaven every day. Here, the
golden beetle, inlaid with lapis lazuli, is in the
bark of the sun, holding the solar disk in its front
legs and the
shen hieroglyph ("infinity") in
its hind legs. The
hieroglyph pet ("sky")
above is fashioned of lapis lazuli and inlaid with
fourteen golden stars; the water below is lapis
lazuli inlaid with golden waves. On either side is
the hieroglyph
was ("dominion"). The scarab
is accompanied by two baboons, animals frequently
associated with the rising sun. Moreover, the god
Thoth, who is often represented in the form of a
baboon, usually accompanies the sun in the bark.
Upon the baboons' heads are the lunar disk and
crescent. The two are seated on the roof of a golden
shrine, worshipping the sun as it rises.