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COURTESY OF THE EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES

RARE MUMMIES of the dung beetle were recently discovered in the tomb of Khufu-em-het (25th century B.C.E.), at Saqqara, which for millennia served as the necropolis for Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. Two large scarabs were found wrapped in linen and placed in a smaller limestone sarcophagus with a large scarab beetle painted on its side. Dozens more mummified beetles were found in a larger sarcophagus with a vaulted lid decorated with images of three beetles. Is it possible that this was the image the biblical writers had in mind when they rallied against idols, “detestable things,” or “all detestable forms of creeping things”?