The XXVIth (666-528 B.C. Saïtic,) was poor in results but the work neat. The scarab form had nearly run its course and continued, in a debased style, until the close of the native monarchy with the XXXth Dynasty (circa 378 B.C.)
Place had much to do with the difference between scarabs, local styles of manufacture made more differences than various Dynasties. This is a subject very difficult to investigate; we have but few sources of information on this subject. At ancient Tanis (now called by the Arabs, San,) they are all of schist, rough and small, the glaze nearly always gone; within a short distance from there, at Nebesheh, they are usually of pottery with bright apple-green glazes; at Naukratis, the Ancient Egyptian name of which was Am and which was a city in the time of the XIIth Dynasty, they are mostly of soft glazed pottery, or, of a blue paste, and nearly all are small; in the ruins of this city was found a factory for making Greek scarabs in imitation of the Egyptian style.[22] It is said, that those with scroll border, are from the ancient city of Abydos.
A curious thing is, the re-issue of those of an earlier king by a later monarch, examples of these are, re-issues under queen Hatshepsu (circa 1600 B.C.,) and Tehuti-mes IIIrd (circa 1600-1566 B.C.,) of the XVIIIth Dynasty. The earlier and later names are often on one scarab. We cannot therefore be sure of the age of a scarab, even from the inscription, as it may be of a period subsequent to the king named on it. However these re-issues were only in a few special periods. One point to be noted is, we find similar work and color in the majority of those made under each pharaoh, and such style is different from that of any earlier or later age; through this we have a guide as to the original dating of most scarabs from the IVth Dynasty to the end. No subsequent period shows us similarities to the majority of the scarabs of any one king.
To the unlearned probably all scarabs look alike, but to an eye educated on the subject, the peculiarities of each Dynasty, and even of separate reigns, become evident. The value of scarabs to the historian is therefore great, as the study of scarabs will reveal, the names of kings unknown heretofore from any of the other monuments so far discovered.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] This is chalcedony penetrated by minute green fibres of hornblende. It is now found principally in India and China. The color is frequently equal to that of the finest emerald, but the yellow patches or black spots running through it, distinguish its species. Ancient specimens have been found free of these marks and very transparent. They may have had a method in ancient times of freeing the stone from these spots.
[20] Historical Scarabs. A series of Drawings from the Principal Collections. Arranged chronologically, by W.M. Flinders Petrie, author of, Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, etc. London, D. Nutt, 1889.
[21] I have generally used in this work the ordinary well known forms of the Egyptian proper names, such as Rameses, Thotmes, Amen-hotep, etc., instead of the more unusual, but more correct and learned, names: Ra-messu, Tehuti-mes, Amen-hetep, etc. The dates are based on those of Dr. Heinrich Brugsch-Bey.
[22] Ten Years Digging in Egypt, etc., by W.M. Flinders Petrie. London, 1892, p. 45.