A pectoral of gold and semi-precious stones portraying Khepri, from the tomb of Tutankhamum

Khepri was the raising sun. Portrayed as a scarab beetle that rolls the sun across the sky (as the dung beetle rolls his ball of dung across the sand and is seemingly born spontaneously from the ball) - one of the primeval gods of creation. In a sense Khepri is a somewhat more abstract than many of the Netjeru (gods). "He is the one who came into being of himself" and appeared without generation. In this light he is regarded as a manifestation of Atum. There is a seeming contradiction in that every morning he is born from Newet (Nut) and traveling over her back, swallowed by her at night.

From the Book of the Dead (Chapter 83): "I have soared as the primeval one soars; I have become Khepri. I have grown as the plants grow . . . I am the fruit of ever god." In this way Khepri is likened to the resurrection of the dead, and such often appears in tombs and funerary papyri, a scarab headed man.

Scarab

The scarab beetle(Scarabaeus sacer) was a popular amulet, made from faience or steatite, from the 6th Dynasty onwards. In the Middle Kingdom it was used as a seal. The flat underside was decorated with images or inscriptions, often incorporating a royal name. During the reign of Amenhotep III he used a series of large scarabs to commemorate events of his reign. Funerary scarabs included a large winged scarab that was attached to the bead nets that covered mummies and usually covered the chest, and the Heart Scarab with was tucked into the linen of the mummy from the 13th Dynasty onwards to protect the heart of the deceased.

O my heart which I had from my mother, O my heart which I had upon earth, do not rise up against me as a witness in the presence of the Lord of Things; do not speak against me concerning what I have done, do not bring up against me anything I have done in the presence of the Great God, Lord of the West.

The Book of the Dead, Chapter 30