320 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
dentally
we may recall that the hermetic work of Thoth, named by the later
Greeks Trismegistos, the Thrice Mighty One, which was said to have been
unearthed in a tomb, was inscribed upon smaragdus.
The
larger part of the amulets used in ancient Egypt represented some
living creature. The most usual type is the bull's head, which was cut
from carnelian, hematite, amazon stone, lapis lazuli, or quartz.
Prehistoric Egyptian amulets representing the fly have been found ;
these were of slate, lapis lazuli and serpentine. In historic times
gold was employed as the material. Other types occurring in
prehistoric times are the hawk, of quartz or limestone; the serpent,
of lapis lazuli or limestone; the crocodile and the frog. Carnelian was
freely used as the-material for amulets in the earlier historic times,
among the prevailing forms were the hand, the fist, and the eye;
amulets figuring the lion, the jackal-head, the frog, and the bee, also
appear. Silver or electrum was substituted for carnelian in the Middle
Kingdom. At a later period amulets were used less and less frequently.8
The
mysterious virtues of the scarab are not yet forgotten in the East, in
Syria at least, for we are told that this beetle is an object of much
veneration among the Syrian peasants as an amulet. One use of it in
this* way is to enclose a specimen in a box and lay this upon the
breast of a babe in its cradle as a sure protection against the
greatly-dreaded Evil Eye. There is also a superstition in this region
that if a "scarab" is found lying helplessly on its back, anyone who
charitably relieves it of its embarrassment by setting it on its feet,
will be relieved of the guilt of a number of sins.®
• Flinders Pétrie, " The Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egypt," Edinburgh and London, 1909, p. 79.
• Carlo Landberg, " Proverbes et dictons de la province de Syrie, Section de Sayda," Leyden, 1883, pp. 313, 314.
