Editing Khepri (section)

==Symbolism==
[[File:Pectoral_depicting_Khepri_(Tutankhamun).jpg|left|thumb|202x202px|A [[Pectoral (Ancient Egypt)|pectoral]] with three scarab beetles attached to a necklace. The jewelry was discovered in the tomb of [[Tutankhamun]]. The scarabs, which represent Khepri, are each pushing a sun.]]
The god was connected to and often depicted as a [[Scarabaeus sacer|scarab beetle]] (''ḫprr'' in Egyptian). Scarab beetles lay their eggs within dung balls, and as a result, young beetles emerge from the balls fully formed, having eaten their way out of the mounds.<ref name="Liszka"/> This caused [[ancient Egyptians]] to believe that these insects were created from nothingness.<ref name="Quirke-2001">{{Cite book |last=Quirke |first=Stephen |title=The Cult of Ra: Sun-Worship in Ancient Egypt |date=2001 |publisher=New York: Thames & Hudson, pp. 26 |pages=}}</ref> They also believed that each day the sun was reborn or created from nothing, thus explaining the connection made between the Sun and the scarab.<ref name="Liszka"/>

In hour twelve of the Amduat, a newly reborn Khepri helms the [[solar barque]] that pushes the sun, moving the morning sun across the early day sky.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Piankoff |first=Alexander |date=1934 |title=The Sky-Goddess Nut and the Night Journey of the Sun |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3855003 |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |volume=20 |issue=1/2 |pages=57–61 |doi=10.2307/3855003 |jstor=3855003 |issn=0307-5133}}</ref> This mirrors the manner in which a scarab beetle pushes large balls of dung along the ground, highlighting the relationship made between Khepri and the insects.<ref name="Quirke-2001" />

Scarab shaped accessories were common in ancient Egypt, as rings or amulets meant to be attached to necklaces were often fashioned in the shape of these insects.<ref name="Liszka"/> Such objects that depicted scarabs were often handed out to the Egyptian people during public festivials, with them wearing the amulets to bring good fortune, to express their devotion to the king or the gods, or to have the scarabs act as protective charms.<ref name="Liszka"/> These scarab idols, whether they were made of faience, an amalgamated material composed of common minerals like quartz and alkaline salts that was cheap to produce, or turquoise, a rare and highly sought after stone, were often colored blue, which signifies that the color might have been significant in its relation to the gods.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Riccardelli |first=Authors: Carolyn |title=Egyptian Faience: Technology and Production {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/egfc/hd_egfc.htm |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Liszka"/>

The color had a variety of meanings to the ancient Egyptians. Blue could have represented the sky or the heavens, the primordial flood, which also suggests that the color symbolized a cycle of life, death, and rebirth.<ref name="Wilkinson-1994">{{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Richard H. |title=Symbol & Magic in Egyptian Art |date=1994 |publisher=Thames and Hudson, pp. 107. |isbn=978-0-500-23663-5 |location=London}}</ref> Fertility was another characteristic potentially represented by the color blue, as the [[Nile river|Nile]] river was often highlighted by the color.<ref name="Wilkinson-1994" /> While it is impossible to assume that the blue scarabs depicted in Egyptian art were meant to represent both Khepri and the traits of the color, the correlation between the divine symbolism of the beetle and meaning of the color blue is unlikely to be a mere coincidence.