wledge of the religious philosophical ideas of
the Ancient Egyptians, a thorough study of the collection of papyri
called, the _Per-em-hru_ or Book of the Dead, is absolutely necessary,
also the texts on the walls of the tombs of the Ancient Empire
especially those found at Saqqarah. The work of M. Edouard Naville on
the _Per-em-hru_ lately published, although it refers more especially
to the Theban period, is of great value in this investigation, and
when it has been translated into a modern language by a thoroughly
competent scholar, will be a key to open many of the now hidden but
elevated ideas in the religious philosophy of the Ancient Egyptians.

The edition of the Book of the Dead which I have quoted from is that
of M. Paul Pierret, _conservateur_ of the Egyptian Museum of the
Louvre, Paris, France.[4] This is founded on the Papyrus of Turin,
which is of about the XXVIth Dynasty, the Saitic period; the
translator has also used in his work, the Egyptian manuscripts of the
Louvre to assist in the elucidation of his readings of the Papyrus of
Turin. His work is an advance on that of Dr. Samuel Birch, given in
1867, in the Vth volume of Baron von Bunsen's work on Egypt's Place in
Universal History. A new translation of the Book of the Dead is now
passing through the English press, by P. Le Page Renouf, Esq., but
only a few chapters thus far have been printed. Mr. Renouf's work as
an Egyptologist, deserves much more attention and credit from the
learned of both his own and other countries, than it has so far
received.

The following among Greek and other ancient writers have mentioned the
scarabaeus, mostly in connection with Egypt. Orpheus, Theophrastus,
Aristophanes, Pliny, Plutarch, AElian, Clement of Alexandria,
Porphyry, Horapollon, Diogenes Laertius, who cites as works in which
it was mentioned, the Natural Philosophy by Manetho (_circa_ 286-247
B.C.,) the History of the Philosophy of the Egyptians, by Hecataeus (of
Abdera? _circa_ 331 B.C.,) and the writings of Aristagoras (_circa_
325-300 B.C.,) Eusebius, Arnobius, Epiphanius and Ausonius.

The subject has been somewhat neglected in modern times. Two small
brochures on the subject were published by Johann Joachim Bellermann,
under the title of; _Ueber die Scarabaeen-Gemmen, nebst Versuchen die
darauf befindlichen Hieroglyphen zu erklaeren_, one in 1820, the other
1821. Another very small catalogue entitled; _Scarabees Egyptiens,
figures du Musee des Antique