Isaac Myer opens his 1894 study by noting that the work originated as an address delivered before the American Numismatic and Archæological Society in March 1893. He then expanded it into a more philosophical treatment of the scarabæus as a symbol of religious metaphysics. Myer asserts that from its earliest known appearance in Egypt, the scarab symbol already expressed an elevated religious idea involving a future life, resurrection, and likely judgment based on earthly conduct. He cites the coffin inscription of Men-kau-Ra (IVth Dynasty) as evidence that concepts from the Book of the Dead were accepted facts by that period.

From Lecture to Treatise

Myer explicitly states that the book grew out of a single lecture. The introduction explains that after the address he was “led into a train of thought” that prompted a more philosophical approach and the addition of new material. This origin is visible in the work’s structure: the text moves between dense scholarly argument and passages that retain the oral character of a presentation. The author’s membership in multiple learned societies—American Oriental Society, American Numismatic and Archæological Society, and others—is listed prominently, signaling his intended audience of fellow specialists. The work was published in 1894 by Edwin W. Dayton in New York, with co-publishers in Leipzig and Paris, indicating an international scholarly market.

The Heart and the Scarab

A central claim in the excerpts is that the human heart was symbolized by Khepra, the scarabæus deity, in the Book of the Dead. Myer explains that chapters XXX, XXVII, and LXIV, which relate to the heart, were typically inscribed on funeral scarabæi. He describes death as “the one whose heart does not beat” and resurrection as beginning when the heart is returned to the deceased Ba by decree of Osiris. The scarab symbol, when returned to the dead, represented “the regenerated and resurrected life” in eternal heavenly regions. This connection between the beetle and cardiac preservation is presented as key to understanding the symbol’s religious value.

Solar Cycle as Model

Myer draws an explicit parallel between the daily course of the sun and human life. The sun rises as Horus, reaches zenith as Ra, sets as Tum, and passes through night as Osiris before rising again as Horus. Human existence, he writes, was considered by ancient Egyptians as “similar to the solar journey,” with death assimilated to the sun’s nightly passage. This analogy underpins the scarab’s role as a symbol of rebirth. The text references multiple scholarly sources, including works by Maspero, Brugsch-Bey, and Budge, to support the identification of Tumu (Atmu) with the scarabæus and the rising sun deity Harmakhis.

Readers should note that Myer’s argument relies heavily on the Book of the Dead and on inscriptions from the Pyramid Texts, which he treats as evidence for early theological concepts. The excerpts do not provide a complete picture of the work’s coverage of Phoenician, Sardinian, or Etruscan scarabs, so those sections remain to be examined. Myer’s dense citation style and frequent references to contemporary Egyptologists reward careful reading, but the core thesis—that the scarab symbolized resurrection from the earliest historical period—is stated plainly from the outset.