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Name : Hatnefer ’s Heart Scarab
What it is : Au and serpentinite careen
Hatnefer’s heart scarab and gold chain
Where it is from : Thebes ( modern - Clarence Day Luxor ) , Egypt
When it was made : Around 1473 B.C.
Related : Hårby Valkyrie : A 1,200 - year - old atomic number 79 Viking Age woman sporting a blade , shield and ponytail
What it tells us about the past :
This talisman , shaped like a scarab mallet , was discovered in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian peeress named Hatnefer . But the charm , which was intended to wait on her journey to the hereafter , was not in the first place made for her .
The scarab was carve from serpentinite , a greenish - gray metamorphous rock , and quantify or so 2.6 in ( 6.6 centimeters ) long . It was set ingoldand suspend on a 30.5 - inch - long ( 77.5 atomic number 96 ) plait Au chain . This exquisite necklace was hollow in the thirties from the grave of Hatnefer and her hubby Ramose and is on display atThe Metropolitan Museum of Artin New York City .
Hatnefer ’s mummy and tomb contents suggest she was powerful in her own domain . She was about 60 geezerhood honest-to-goodness when she died , and she was buried with bronze and silver mirror , cosmetic and wood chests full of gamy - quality linen .
According to The Met , Hatnefer ’s scarabaeus includes a version of theBook of the Deadchapter on heart deliberation , and her name has been introduce over text that was antecedently erased , suggest that the amulet was not primitively intended for her .
The Book of the Dead passage engraved on the bottom of the Scarabaeus sacer discuss the advisement of the heart and soul . Inancient Egypt , the affectionateness was considered the most of import organ , as it was thought to be the location of a mortal ’s intelligence and retention . After a person give way , their sum was weighed by Ma’at , the goddess of truth and Department of Justice , to determine if the person led a spirit desirable of entering the Duat , or the netherworld . The " heart scarab " was meant to quieten the heart of the asleep so that it could not lie about or misrepresent its owner .
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Peter Dornan , former conservator of Egyptian art at The Met , translate the cuneiform handwriting on Hatnefer ’s heart scarabas follows :
The Mistress of the House , Hatnefer , says : " Heart of my mother , heart of my female parent , heart of my ( actual ) being , do not climb up against me as a witness ; do not debate against me in the motor hotel of judgment ; do not make opposition against me in the mien of the custodian of the balance . You are my bodily ka , a Khnum who has invigorated my branch . When you move up to the perfection from which we have come , do not cause our figure to stink to the entourage who make world in their right place , but rather may it go well with us and with the listener , so that the judge may wallow . Do not prepare Lie against me in the bearing of the god , for your figuring is at script . "
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