The sacred scarab is listed in red. The legend of ancient Egypt is the sacred scarab beetle. Rules for using the amulet

International scientific name

Scarabaeus sacer Linnaeus,

Description

Black, matte (old shabby beetles become shiny) beetle 25-37 mm long. Lower body and legs covered with dark brown hairs, fringe on the inner edge of the hind tibiae of the male is golden-red. All notches between teeth of clypeus are semicircular, middle notch slightly wider than lateral ones. The eyes are large, their upper lobes are noticeable, while the lower ones are much larger than the antenna club. Frontal carina weak, widely interrupted in middle and always with two sharp conical tubercles. Clypeus with cellular-wrinkled punctures, posterior part of genae and vertex with granules, greatly varying in size and density. Pronotum strongly transverse, with widely rounded and coarsely serrated sides, its base with weak groove along basal row of large shining tubercles and short setae, disc finely shagreen and with sparse uneven granules, partly mixed with punctures. The number and size of dots and grains is highly variable. Middle and hind tibiae only slightly widened before apices. Sexual dimorphism: the male has a fringe of dense golden-red hairs on the inner edge of the hind legs, which are absent in females; the pygidium of the female is more convex than that of the male.

area

Features of biology

Lives on sandy soils, avoids saline areas. Flight and rolling of dung balls from mid-March to late July, mostly at night. It feeds on the droppings of cattle and horses. It does not rise high in the mountains. Typical inhabitants of arid landscapes with hot and dry summers. The beetles appear in spring and while the nights are cold, they are active during the hot part of the day. In summer, most species switch to a nocturnal lifestyle, when intensive flight to light sources begins. Beetles, flocking to heaps of manure, make balls of different sizes from it, sometimes much larger than the size of the beetle itself. These balls roll to a distance of tens of meters and, in suitable places, are buried in the ground, where they are eaten by one or two beetles. Often, due to the possession of a ready-made ball, fights arise between the beetles. In the process of rolling balls together, “married” couples are formed, starting to work together and prepare food for offspring. For this purpose, males and females dig minks, ending at a depth of 10-30 cm with a nesting chamber. Mating takes place in them, after which the male usually leaves the nest, and the female proceeds to make one or three pear-shaped dung ovoids. A round “cradle” is placed in their narrow part and an egg is laid, after which the entrance to the mink is filled up. The egg stage lasts 5-12 days, larvae 30-35 days, pupae - about two weeks. Fertilized females are able to dig more than a dozen mink nests during the active period. Beetles, after turning from pupae, remain inside the ovoids, transformed into a “false cocoon” for a long time, until autumn or spring rains soften them, and sometimes hibernate in them.

In Egyptian mythology

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Egyptian amulet

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Sacred Scarab

- So you are going to Petersburg tomorrow? Oka said.
“No, I’m not going,” Pierre said hastily, with surprise and as if offended. - No, to Petersburg? Tomorrow; I just don't say goodbye. I’ll call for commissions, ”he said, standing in front of Princess Marya, blushing and not leaving.
Natasha gave him her hand and left. Princess Mary, on the contrary, instead of leaving, sank into an armchair and, with her radiant, deep gaze, looked sternly and attentively at Pierre. The weariness that she had obviously shown before was completely gone now. She sighed heavily and long, as if preparing herself for a long conversation.
All the embarrassment and awkwardness of Pierre, when Natasha was removed, instantly disappeared and was replaced by an excited animation. He quickly moved the chair very close to Princess Marya.
“Yes, I wanted to tell you,” he said, answering, as if in words, in her glance. “Princess, help me. What should I do? Can I hope? Princess, my friend, listen to me. I know everything. I know that I'm not worth it; I know it's impossible to talk about it now. But I want to be her brother. No, I don't want... I can't...
He stopped and rubbed his face and eyes with his hands.
“Well, here it is,” he continued, apparently making an effort on himself to speak coherently. I don't know since when I love her. But I have loved her alone, alone in my whole life, and I love her so much that I cannot imagine life without her. Now I do not dare to ask for her hand; but the thought that maybe she could be mine and that I would miss this opportunity ... opportunity ... is terrible. Tell me, can I hope? Tell me what should I do? Dear princess,” he said, after a pause and touching her hand, as she did not answer.
“I am thinking about what you told me,” Princess Mary answered. “I'll tell you what. You are right, what now to tell her about love ... - The princess stopped. She wanted to say: it is now impossible for her to talk about love; but she stopped, because for the third day she saw from the suddenly changed Natasha that not only Natasha would not be offended if Pierre expressed his love to her, but that she wanted only this.
“It’s impossible to tell her now,” Princess Marya said anyway.
“But what am I to do?
“Give it to me,” said Princess Mary. - I know…
Pierre looked into the eyes of Princess Mary.
“Well, well…” he said.
“I know that she loves ... she will love you,” Princess Mary corrected herself.
Before she had time to say these words, Pierre jumped up and, with a frightened face, grabbed Princess Mary by the hand.
- Why do you think? Do you think that I can hope? You think?!
“Yes, I think so,” said Princess Mary, smiling. - Write to your parents. And entrust me. I'll tell her when I can. I wish it. And my heart feels that it will be.
- No, it can't be! How happy I am! But it can't be... How happy I am! No, it can not be! - said Pierre, kissing the hands of Princess Mary.
- You go to St. Petersburg; this is better. I'll write to you, she said.
- To Petersburg? Drive? Okay, yes, let's go. But tomorrow I can come to you?
The next day, Pierre came to say goodbye. Natasha was less lively than in the old days; but on this day, sometimes looking into her eyes, Pierre felt that he was disappearing, that neither he nor she was anymore, but there was one feeling of happiness. “Really? No, it can’t be,” he said to himself at her every look, gesture, word that filled his soul with joy.
When, bidding her farewell, he took her thin, thin hand, he involuntarily held it a little longer in his.
“Is it possible that this hand, this face, these eyes, all this treasure of female charm, alien to me, will this all be forever mine, familiar, the same as I am for myself? No, It is Immpossible!.."
“Farewell, Count,” she said to him loudly. “I will be waiting for you very much,” she added in a whisper.
And these simple words, the look and facial expression that accompanied them, for two months, were the subject of Pierre's inexhaustible memories, explanations and happy dreams. “I will be waiting for you very much ... Yes, yes, as she said? Yes, I will be waiting for you. Ah, how happy I am! What is it, how happy I am!” Pierre said to himself.

In Pierre's soul now nothing similar happened to what happened in her in similar circumstances during his courtship with Helen.
He did not repeat, as then, with painful shame, the words he had spoken, he did not say to himself: “Ah, why didn’t I say this, and why, why did I say “je vous aime” then?” [I love you] Now, on the contrary, he repeated every word of hers, his own, in his imagination with all the details of her face, smile, and did not want to subtract or add anything: he only wanted to repeat. There was no doubt now whether what he had done was good or bad, there was no shadow now. Only one terrible doubt sometimes crossed his mind. Is it all in a dream? Was Princess Mary wrong? Am I too proud and arrogant? I believe; and suddenly, as it should happen, Princess Marya will tell her, and she will smile and answer: “How strange! He was right, wrong. Doesn't he know that he is a man, just a man, and I? .. I am completely different, higher.
Only this doubt often came to Pierre. He didn't make any plans either. It seemed to him so incredibly impending happiness that as soon as this happened, nothing could be further. Everything ended.
Joyful, unexpected madness, for which Pierre considered himself incapable, took possession of him. The whole meaning of life, not for him alone, but for the whole world, seemed to him to consist only in his love and in the possibility of her love for him. Sometimes all people seemed to him busy with only one thing - his future happiness. It sometimes seemed to him that they all rejoiced in the same way as he himself, and only tried to hide this joy, pretending to be occupied with other interests. In every word and movement he saw hints of his happiness. He often surprised people who met him with his significant, expressing secret consent, happy looks and smiles. But when he realized that people might not know about his happiness, he felt sorry for them with all his heart and felt a desire to somehow explain to them that everything they were doing was complete nonsense and trifles not worthy of attention.

Sacred scarab September 30th, 2013

Perhaps the most famous of the scarabs is the sacred scarab (Scarabaeus sacer), a beetle deified by the ancient Egyptians. In the balls rolled by the beetles, they saw the image of the sun with its daily movement across the sky, and in the teeth on the head and paws of the beetle they saw the likeness of the sun's rays. The images of the sacred scarab were decorated with tombs, it was painted on papyri, imprinted in stone. The beetle was honored and considered a symbol of happiness.

In the Karnak temple complex near the city of Luxor (the territory of ancient Thebes), a column has been preserved, which is crowned with a stone scarab. According to legend, the one who goes around the column seven times and touches the beetle can make a wish - it will come true. And an endless round dance of tourists who came to look at the Karnak temples goes around the beetle. Whether their wishes come true is unknown, but the owners of numerous nearby shops have something to thank the sacred scarab for.

Ancient legends also served science well - to a certain extent, because of them, the famous entomologist of the last century, Jean-Henri Fabre, became interested in the scarab and revealed many of its secrets. Thanks to the observations of this scientist, we learned many interesting facts from the life of the relatives of the sacred beetle - the Spanish copra, Isis copra, moon copra and some others. It was Fabre who discovered that most of the balls rolled by scarabs are their food reserves. Beetles, both males and females, not only make balls themselves, but also steal and take them away from each other. Having acquired the ball in one way or another, the beetle tries to roll it away, bury it in the ground and there, in comfort and tranquility, indulge in a meal. The scarab is very voracious, and soon he has to get to the surface for new prey.

When the time comes to lay eggs, the females of the sacred scarab make special balls, usually from the more delicate - sheep - manure, and singly (the beetles of a number of other species perform their parental duties together) bury them in the ground. Then an egg is laid in the ball, and this is where the female's care for the offspring ends. When the food supply runs out, the larva in the ball pupates, and after about a month, an adult beetle emerges from the pupa.

Much more interesting are the family relationships of many other types of scarabs. For example, in the Spanish copra, the moon copra (C. lunaris), the males of which wear a slightly curved horn on their heads, and some other copra, or kaloedov, male and female work side by side, digging a fairly large gallery under a suitable dung heap, ending with an expanding camera. The beetles drag a large amount of manure there and form a special “pie” of elongated or spherical shape from it. In such a “pie”, specific anaerobic fermentation processes take place, as a result of which the future food for the larvae becomes more homogeneous and easily digestible.

And only when the “pie” is ready, the female begins to mold nutritious balls out of it for future offspring. And then she continues to take care of the larvae - if the ball begins to crack and threatens to dry out, the female closes up the cracks, if mold appears on it, she cleans it off. And so it goes until the young beetles come out of their cradles or until the mother dies. The latter happens more often - most scarabs breed once in a lifetime and do not live to see offspring from pupae.

The parental cares of the Australian scarabs of the genus Cephalodesmius are also complex and surprising. Adult beetles appear on the surface at the end of summer and immediately dig fodder minks for themselves, into which they pull food supplies. In autumn, the male and female meet. And although the breeding season is still far away, they no longer part, but start a common mink, where they store food for the winter. The breeding season is in the spring. Now both parents are constantly scurrying back and forth, dragging into the hole a huge amount of a wide variety of food - unlike most scarabs, representatives of this genus feed mainly on plant material.

Among their stocks one can find rotten leaves, and small flowers, and small fruits, and seeds, and animal droppings. As reserves accumulate, foraging becomes mainly the concern of the male, and the female begins to “process” the delivered provisions. She adds her own droppings and the droppings of the male to the total mass and begins to form balls from all this, in which a specific fermentation process takes place. When the nutrient mass “ripens”, the female makes peculiar cups out of it, lays eggs in them and closes them with lids - so that again, balls are obtained as a result.

Since that time, the female cephalodesmis never leaves the nest - all her strength goes to caring for her future children. As soon as the larva hatches in the cradle and begins to feed on the contents of its ball, the mother's worries increase. She adds new portions of food to the ball, which the male continues to supply her with.

While the larva is small, the mother adds only the fermented mass to her ball, but then she switches to not completely “ripened” and even fresh food, just brought by the male. The developing larva at this time begins to make sounds in its ball, which arise due to the friction of small tubercles on the inner surface of the last abdominal segment and special scallops on the head. The function of these sound signals is unknown, but scientists suggest that in this way the larva can inform the mother about its condition and the need for food. Adult cephalodesmis do not make any sounds.

When the development of the larva is completed and it is ready for pupation, the mother plasters the surface of the ball with a special mixture of her droppings, male droppings and larvae (the latter is released from the ball through the walls). After the mixture dries, the ball becomes especially durable and strong. Having “sealed” one cradle, the female continues to look after the others, but by the time the young beetles should be born, the parents are already dying.

However, Australian dung beetles are not only amazing family relationships. For example, in Australia there is the only representative of the subfamily that is not able to fly. This beetle was discovered quite by accident, and not in nature, but in museum collections. In 1972, Australian researcher Eric Matthews, who worked at the Paris Museum, drew attention to an unusual specimen with the label "Queensland, from the collection of Henry Bates."

How did the Australian beetle get to one of the greatest naturalists of the last century, who worked mainly in the Amazon, but had never been to Australia? It turned out that Bates bought this copy from the collector Francis du Boulay, who actually visited Queensland, in an area located about 150 km from where wingless beetles are now found.

Their winglessness was also discovered by accident - when an incomprehensible specimen from the old collection was softened and raised by the convex elytra of the beetle. More precisely, he has wings, but they are small, unable to ensure the flight of a heavy insect.

The newly discovered beetle received the Latin name Onthophagus apterus, which reflected its "winglessness". However, a copy from the Bates collection continued to be the only known scientist.

Live beetles were found only 24 years later - in 1996, when several insects of this species fell into entomological traps set by scientists in western Queensland. It turned out that wingless dung beetles live in small mountains, in wallaby resting places, and feed on the droppings of these marsupials. Later, another colony was discovered in another area, also in wallaby resting areas.

Such a commitment of beetles to one place, abundant in food for many centuries, may, according to scientists, explain their inability to fly. However, this is only an assumption - after all, in this case, the dung beetle population is very vulnerable. As soon as changes occur in the landscape, wallabies change their place of rest - and then the beetles will disappear ...

It is interesting that although about 400 species of dung beetles are found in Australia, they are all quite specialized and adapted to the peculiar conditions of the “fifth continent”. And when, following the European settlers, herds of sheep and cows appeared here, it turned out that there was no one to process their droppings! In the 60s. of our century, the problem assumed alarming proportions - huge areas were covered with drying and dried manure.

As a result, it was necessary to bring and acclimatize African dung beetles here, which have adapted perfectly to cope with the rich "harvest" left by herds of ungulates. After numerous experiments, representatives of the species Onthophagus gazella were appointed to the position of "vacuum cleaners", which, by the way, have already been used in this position in Texas and California. These beetles are very industrious and treat each other calmly - from 10 to 50 pairs can simultaneously "work" on one dung cake without entering into conflicts.

This species is probably the most productive among the dung beetles. The larva in the ball develops within 2.5 weeks, and the pupa - 2 weeks. Puberty occurs in beetles as early as 4–5 days after leaving the nesting burrow. Each female molds from 10 to 12 balls and lays a testicle there, and the male helps her to create food supplies for future children ....

The dung beetles include three subfamilies of beetles of the lamellar mustache family (Scarabaeidae)1; aphodia (Afodiinae, about 2500 species); real dung beetles, or geocorpses, (Geotrupinae, about 900 species), and scarabs (Scarabaeinae, about 4500 species).

Ecologically, all three subfamilies are very similar - their representatives process the organic matter of the litter and transfer it to the soil, where further decomposition is carried out by various microorganisms.

Dung beetles, and scarabs in particular, are excellent fliers. Usually they get to the source of food by air, and where to fly - they are prompted by a well-developed sense of smell.

Although scarabs, as already mentioned, do not like dryness and therefore usually avoid deserts, among them there are a number of species that have nevertheless adapted to live in regions with an arid climate. To survive, they developed peculiar forms of behavior. For example, in the dry steppes and deserts of Turkmenistan, a very large (up to 5 cm) dung beetle (Synapsis tmolus) and a smaller (up to 3 cm) Spanish copra (Copris hispanus) retain feed moisture, first quickly burying their food right on the spot, and then transferring it to deeper holes in which the air remains moist.

The Australian beetle Coproecus hemiphaericus buries dry excrement very deep, near aquifers, and there it dampens and softens to the desired condition. Many species of scarabs that live in the deserts of North America and in mountainous deserts often do not leave rodent burrows at all, where they have both food and a favorable microclimate.

And some Australian dung beetles, feeding on the droppings of marsupials, act differently. There is not much moisture in the excrement of desert mammals, and when they fall on dry soil, they instantly turn into hard pebbles. In order to prevent the food from drying out, the beetles grab onto the fur near the anus of the animal with their tenacious paws and travel in this way, waiting for the desired prey. They then jump off and quickly drag their trophy underground.

Particularly interesting is the fact that in nature, the scarab is an African sewer. Herds of elephants living on the plains of Africa, eating 250 kg of food a day, most of it is returned back to the earth, in the form of large dung heaps. Perhaps Africa would be mired in a huge layer of manure if it were not saved every day by thousands of beetles - scarabs living there. They contribute to the disposal of manure.

The history of Egypt is full of secrets and mysteries. Grandiose pyramids and mummies of pharaohs, sacred animals and a scarab, as one of the symbols of the former greatness of the ancient civilization. The Egyptians endowed it with divinity, and numerous myths and legends, along with the pyramids, made it the emblem of tourist Egypt. To understand why this little bug has earned worldwide fame, let's learn more about it.

Who is the sacred scarab?

The sacred scarab - namely, our hero belongs to this species, is a black matte insect with an almost round smooth body 25–35 cm long. Old individuals become shiny over time. On the head of the beetle there is a frontal protrusion and eyes, divided into upper and lower parts. Each leg has spurs. Their gender differences are weakly expressed. The lower part of the body is pubescent with dark brown hairs. In the photo of the scarab beetle, taken in the "macro" mode, these features are well visible.

These beetles are found on the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, in Southern and Eastern Europe, on the Arabian Peninsula, in the Crimea, Turkey and, of course, in Egypt.

Scarabs are dung beetles that feed on the dung of cattle, horses, and sheep.

The main feature of beetles is the way they feed. They roll a perfectly even sphere from a shapeless mass of excrement and bury it in the ground, where they then use it as food.

Scarabs live for about two years. They spend most of their lives underground, coming to the surface at night. They hibernate by burrowing to a depth of 2 meters. Emergence of beetles begins in March and lasts until mid-July.

Pairs are formed in the process of harvesting dung balls, and further work takes place together. A pair of scarabs digs a burrow 15–30 cm deep, which ends in a chamber. After mating, the male leaves, and the female begins to roll special pear-shaped balls and lays eggs in them. At the end, the mink falls asleep.

After 1-2 weeks, beetle larvae hatch. For a month, they eat food that their parents have prepared for them, and then they are reborn into pupae. In unfavorable weather, the pupae remain in the mink for the winter. In spring, young beetles leave their burrows and come to the surface.

Scientists believe that in a hot tropical climate they play a crucial role in processing the huge amount of manure that wild and domestic herbivores produce. Only elephants, common in Africa, consume about 250 kg of food per day, and return a little less to nature in the form of dung heaps.

Some time ago, through the efforts of imported scarab beetles in Australia and South America, a myriad of manure was processed, which local insects could no longer cope with. The scarabs did not take root in the new place, but they performed their task perfectly.

Where do scarab myths originate?

Watching the scarabs, the Egyptians noticed an interesting feature - the beetles always roll their balls from east to west, and fly only at noon. Attentive Egyptians saw in this the connection of beetles with the sun. The luminary passes its way from east to west and hides behind the horizon, so that tomorrow it will again appear in the east.

According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, the sun was a deity that brings life to all living things and resurrection after death. The Egyptians correlated the cycle of development of scarabs inside a dung ball and its emergence to the surface with the movement of the sun. The similarity struck the ancient people so much that the god Khepri, who personified the rising sun, began to be depicted with a scarab instead of a head.

In Luxor there is a statue of the sacred scarab, this place is especially revered by tourists and locals.

The role of the scarab in the life of ancient Egypt

The Egyptians had poetic religious texts that called the scarab a god that lives in the heart and guards the inner light of man. Therefore, the symbol of the beetle gradually became a link between the divine principle and the human soul, uniting them.

The symbol of the sacred scarab accompanied the ancient Egyptians all their lives and, according to their beliefs, passed with them to the afterlife. If the body was mummified after death, then an image of a sacred beetle was inserted instead of a heart. Without it, the resurrection of the soul in the afterlife could not take place. Even at the primitive level of medicine, the ancients understood the importance of the heart in the human body and, placing the image of the sacred beetle instead, believed that it represented the primary impulse for the rebirth of the soul. Somewhat later, instead of a figurine of a scarab beetle, the Egyptians made a heart of ceramics, and the names of the deities were depicted on it next to the symbol of the sacred beetle.

What do scarab amulets mean in our time

At all times, people believed in the miraculous power of various amulets that bring good luck, wealth, happiness. Egyptian talismans among them, due to their ancient origin, are considered the most powerful.

The scarab beetle talisman is one of the most revered, and it is this one that is offered to tourists as a souvenir. Initially, amulets were made from stones, both precious and ornamental. Green granite, marble, basalt or ceramics were used, which, after drying, were covered with green or blue azure. Now tourists are offered amulets made of metal, decorated with stones.

Before buying a talisman with the image of a scarab beetle, you should find out its meaning. The bag helps its owner gain self-confidence, achieve desires and achieve their goals. First of all, it concerns work and creative activity. Since the scarab is a symbol of life, it is believed that it preserves youth and brings beauty to women. With its help, the strong half of humanity should gain a stable income and a high position in society. Students take the talisman with them to exams, and in the home, the symbol of the sacred beetle can provide protection from thieves, fires, and other troubles.

It is believed that donated amulets have greater power, but the treatment of the amulet must be respectful and careful. A careless attitude to magical objects and to a foreign culture and mythology can be dangerous for a person.

In the representations of the ancient Egyptians, the scarab beetle, rolling a dung ball on the ground with its hind legs, was the personification of the supernatural viviparous forces of nature. The Egyptians believed that the stubborn and purposeful beetle was born on its own and therefore similar to deities, such as the ancient sun god Khepri and other gods, the creators of man, the world and the universe, which arose on their own. The Egyptians considered the ball created from manure to be a symbol of eternal life, since it was like the sun, and the workaholic beetle allegedly repeated the heavenly path of the sun on earth and at the same time, like the sun, it radiated light and heat. It is no coincidence that the god Khepri was often depicted with the head of a scarab beetle.

In Egyptian, it was called khepru, which meant "to live, exist", in Greek - scarab, which simply meant a beetle. According to legend, the god Osiris reigned over Egypt, he taught people agriculture, gardening and winemaking, but was killed by his brother, the god Set, who was jealous of his wealth and power. He chopped the body of the dead man into pieces. According to some sources, into 13 parts, according to others - into 42 parts, and carried them around the provinces of Egypt, and threw the heads into the Nile. The head sailed to Abydos, a town located on the western bank of the river, in which this head was buried. Since that time, Abydos has become the burial place of the first Egyptian rulers. The scarab that appeared from the head of Osiris announced that Osiris had risen from the dead, moved to the heavenly world, and a new stage of his existence began.

Having endowed the scarab with all conceivable divine powers and virtues, the Egyptians gradually turned it into the most secret and desired talisman that should accompany a person during his lifetime and go with him to the kingdom of the dead, where he does not part with him. In the realm of the dead, the scarab already personified the power of a never-dying heart, which helped a person get rid of the shortcomings that he had during his lifetime and be reborn again. With the help of the scarab talisman, a person became able to overcome all the obstacles encountered on his way, he was renewed and could return to the world of the living, then the person died again and resurrected already renewed, and so on without end. Therefore, a scarab figurine made of precious stones was put inside the mummy in place of the removed heart.

The scarab and the legend of its divine origin were so popular in ancient Egypt that images of the dung beetle were found on the walls of many dwellings, were in all burial complexes, and monuments were created for it. From precious stones, carvers made his figurines, decorated with a gold pattern, so sacred talismans and amulets appeared.

Sometimes you can see a scarab with spread wings. Such beetles meant that they had completed their mission on earth and were ready to go to heaven, to the sources that gave birth to them. There are also stone figurines of scarabs holding a ball in their paws - a symbol of the fiery sun. A beetle with a ball in its paws means the birth of a new life that promises to give impetus to human renewal.

So an inconspicuous insect, a scarab beetle, in ancient Egypt gradually acquired the features of a god who accompanied a person during life and after death, becoming an eternal symbol of the soul living outside of time and space.

It is surprising that the most ordinary beetle, whose whole meaning of life consists in rolling dung balls, can be associated with some kind of deity.

And, nevertheless, the sacred scarab (lat. Scarabaeus sacer) in ancient Egypt was a very respected representative of the order Coleoptera. The priests even inserted it instead of the carved heart of the dead during their mummification. Such an unusual act was supposed to symbolize the flight of the soul and the rebirth of a person in the spiritual world.

The very rolling of balls among the ancient Egyptians was a symbol of the movement of the sun, because the scarab always directs its load strictly from east to west, as if repeating the path of the sun across the sky. He does this for quite practical reasons - it is much easier to navigate in space. Everything that the beetle has collected will serve it for food and for the development of offspring.

Interestingly, the scarabs themselves agree to eat any manure, while for their children they choose the best, in their opinion, the best - sheep. It is in the process of skiing, the period of which lasts from March to July, that the future married couple gets to know each other.

After the male and female roll a few balls, they bury them in separate holes and sprinkle them with earth on top. Now you can start procreation. Probably, scarabs are shy, since they dig a deep mink for mating, 10 to 30 cm long, which ends in a spacious nesting chamber.

Having fertilized the female, the male goes about his business, and the expectant mother lays a rather large egg in one of the balls, observing the main rule: each baby should have its own house. And for the season she can have about a dozen offspring. This is where her mission ends - scarabs, like most beetles, do not care about their offspring.

After 5-12 days, a larva will hatch from the egg, which after a little over a month will turn into a chrysalis. It will take another two weeks for the pupa to develop into an adult. However, young scarabs are in no hurry to get out into the hostile outside world: they prefer to sit out in the so-called. "false cocoon" until the seasonal rains soften its hard shell. Some even manage to spend the winter this way.

Adult scarabs are black. The youth is matte, and the old beetles, which life has managed to pat and “rub”, become shiny. The size of an average individual is from 2.5 to 3.7 cm, while sexual dimorphism is poorly developed, i.e. It is very difficult for a non-specialist to distinguish a male from a female. Connoisseurs notice on the inner edge of the hind legs of males a golden-red fringe, which is absent in females. The eyes of both sexes are large, and the frontal keel is weak. Back of cheeks and vertex with small grains. The legs and lower body are covered with dark brown hairs.

Interestingly, sacred scarabs live not only in Egypt. They can be found in all southern regions of Western Europe: in France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, as well as in the extreme south of the steppes of Ukraine, in the Crimea and Georgia.