Image Details

COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART; FLETCHER FUND AND THE GUIDE FOUNDATION INC. GIFT, 1966

THE RISING SUN on this Egyptian limestone relief from 400–200 B.C.E. is accompanied by two baboons and a scarab beetle. The scarab (kheperer, in Egyptian) represented the god of the morning sun, Khepri, whose name means “he who comes into existence” and who is often shown as propelling the sun. Ancient Egyptian religion and iconography incorporated baboons for their observed gesticulations and shrieking at sunrise that were interpreted as joyful adoration of the scarab god Khepri.