HYK-Apophis-Scarab-trail-a

HYK-Apophis-Scarab-trail-a

Scarab : Emblem/seal

A method of identifying property, as protection against theft, to mark the clay stoppers of oil and wine jars or the strip with which packaged goods were bound.

Seals were used as signatures on clay-tablet inscriptions. In Egypt, seals were used to sign papyrus scrolls. Ancient seals are of great value.

Scarab seals, which were small Egyptian seals generally made of amethyst, carnelian, or faience. They were generally shaped to resemble the sacred scarabaeus beetle of Egypt, often including legs around the perimeter. The base was level and engraved with hieroglyphs representing the names of kings, officials, and individuals; titles, blessings, and incantations.

Scaraboid seals are not carved with the beetle shape on their backs or legs along the perimeter. They were used mostly for signature or to mark possessions and were common in Syria

When doing a Google search for "the son of Re Apophis", I received over 1000 web pages. This is a hint of how many times people copy stuff from other pages and paste it in their own.

When I asked for evidence that any people identified as Hyksos were ever in Egypt, some one pasted a page that pointed to a Scarab that identified a Hyksos king.

The Scarab is held in the Museum of fine arts in Boston (U.S.A), so I went to their site, did a search for Apophis and was directed to this web page.

http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?coll_keywords=Apophis

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Their description:

Egyptian, Second Intermediate Period, 1630–1523 B.C.

Length: 2.1 cm (13/16 in.)
Steatite

Classification: Jewelry / Adornment

Object is currently not on view

Inscribed for "the son of Re Apophis"; scroll border.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Gift of Horace L. Mayer, 1957
Accession number: 57.440

Provenance/Ownership History: Luigi Vassalli Collection (1812-1887); by 1957: Horace L. Mayer Collection; 1957: gift of Horace L. Mayer.

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Recreation to bring out detail ...

As far as I can make out so far, the furthest it can be traced back is to a Luigi Vassalli, then to Horace Mayer who gave it to the museum?

There were mostly French pages on Vassalli, that I can not read, so I did not find out where Vassalli claimed he got the Scarab.

Unless some one can trace the origins of the museum piece, I will start from an old dead guy who claimed it was a purchased or found piece from Egypt. (assumption up to this point)

~

zendz