Tarduk, an Agori of the jungle village of Tesara, has uncovered a large number of mysterious ancient artifacts over the years. Some of the most intriguing contain artistic representations of a winged scarabax, often shown rolling a red orb before it. Like so many other elements of Tarduk's findings, the nature and meaning of this fantastical creature remain an enigma.

Discussion of the MOC itself should be directed to the BBC topic.

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Scarab Beetle (kheper)

 

Appearance: The particular species of beetle represented in the numerous ancient Egyptian amulets and works of art was commonly the large sacred scarab (Scarabaeus sacer). This beetle was famous for his habit of rolling balls of dung along the ground and depositing them in its burrows. The female would lay her eggs in the ball of dung. When they hatched, the larvae would use the ball for food. When the dung was consumed the young beetles would emerge from the hole.

 

Millions of amulets and stamp seals of stone or faience were fashioned in Egypt depicting the scarab beetle.

 

Meaning: It seemed to the ancient Egyptians that the young scarab beetles emerged spontaneously from the burrow were they were born. Therefore they were worshipped as "Khepera", which means "he was came forth." This creative aspect of the scarab was associated with the creator god Atum.

 

The ray-like antenna on the beetle's head and its practice of dung-rolling caused the beetle to also carry solar symbolism. The scarab-beetle god Khepera was believed to push the setting sun along the sky in the same manner as the beetle with his ball of dung. In many artifacts, the scarab is depicted pushing the sun along its course in the sky.

 

During and following the New Kingdom, scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of the mummified deceased. These "heart scarabs" (such as the one pictured below) were meant to be weighed against the feather of truth during the final judgement. The amulets were often inscribed with a spell from the Book of the Dead which entreated the heart, "Do not stand as a witness against me."

This MOC was started a long time ago in response to a building challenge on another site, to make a creation based on a work of art. I found my inspiration in an image by a prolific artist who goes by the alias "soundlessdawn":

I'd been itching to use Nuju's Hordika weapons as wing sections, and this struck me as the perfect application. The glow-in-the-dark exoskeleton design came later, after several unfruitful, less elegant attempts.

Further browsing for reference material revealed a significantly older iteration:

And more. . .

So this is just to put my creation into perspective as one in a long line of variations on an old Egyptian theme that, after all these millennia, still finds resonance in the human heart. At least, it does in mine.