| The majority of Egyptian scarabs are small (less than 1.5 cm in length) and amuletic in character. Larger specimens such as this, inscribed upon the base with a text taken from Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead, were intended to prevent the heart (for the Egyptians the seat of all emotions and the source of all physical action, including speech) from testifying against its owner at the final judgement. The owner was a military officer (standard-bearer) called Kenro, in the wrappings of whose mummy the scarab will originally have been placed. |   |