Ateuchus Sacer
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Heat beats upon the plains. A beetle pushes his little ball of
dung toward its nest. When our beetle–Ateuchus Sacer–was young,
he was seen emerging, from what might have been, a cousin to this
very same ball of ca-ca. In the heavens, the sun, pushed along by
an invisible power, crosses the sky on its daily trek toward
darkness. What, you may all well ask, has one to do with the
other? In fact, even more of you may ask, what does this beetle
have in common with the sun? Yes, well, Benjamin is here to give
you all the answer.
The ancient Egyptians, when one day observing Ateuchus emerging
from his little house of manure, attributed to him the power of
autogenesis. In other words folks, our little scarab created
himself. Now then, the Egyptians also believed that the sun also
emerged through an autogenetic process. Aha…said one Egyptian.
Aha yourself…said another. And they stroked their chins and
pondered a bit, as ancient Egyptians are often wont to do…and
they came to the conclusion that the way the sun managed to cross
the sky was because it was being pushed along, not by a magical
power, but by a beetle-god, who grunted along on his daily
labors, not much different than our little friend with his ball
of doo-doo.
Now then, in the Egyptian language, the word for ‘scarab’ and
the word for ‘existence’ are were the same…(kheper). The name
for the sun god, as he made his first appearance every a.m., was
Khopri. And in hieroglyphic writing, the sign for scarab was used
to describe all three words. And so the scarab became the symbol
of the sun-god.
Alas, the Egyptians did not have obsidian easily available, so
that our little black scarab was not often copied, in them thar
days, as reproductions in jewelry. However, as you all know,
there are always exceptions. A bracelet was found. A bracelet
with a beetle symbolically pushing along an invisible sun. King
Tut wore it as a child. The bracelet was made of turquoise, and
carnelian, and lapis lazuli, and quartz, and gold. And it was
quite beautiful. And you can all see it. To my home page folks.
With alacrity. Down the table menu. To that part which denotes
Tidbits’ graphics. And click, and thar she’ll be.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Take care,
Benjamin Mark
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