eye (fig. 213), tied to the wrist or the arm by a slender string, protected against the evil eye, against words spoken in envy or anger, and against the bites of serpents.  Commerce dispersed these objects throughout all parts of the ancient world, and many of them, especially those which represented the sacred beetle, were imitated abroad by the Phoenicians and Syrians, and by the craftsmen of Greece, Asia Minor, Etruria, and Sardinia.  This insect was called kheper in Egyptian, and its name was supposed to be derived from the root khepra, “to become.”  By an obvious play upon words, the beetle was made the emblem of terrestrial life, and of the successive “becomings” or developments of man in the life to come.  The scarabaeus amulet (fig. 214) is therefore a symbol of duration, present or future; and to wear one was to provide against annihilation.  A thousand mystic meanings were evolved from this first idea, each in some subtle sense connected with one or other of the daily acts or usages of life, so that scarabaei were multiplied ad infinitum.  They are found in all materials and sizes; some having hawks’ heads, some with rams’ heads, some with heads of men or bulls.  Some are wrought or inscribed on the underside; others are left flat and plain underneath; and others again but vaguely recall the form of the insect, and are called scarabaeoids.  These amulets are pierced longwise, the hole being large enough to admit the passage of a fine wire of bronze or silver, or of a thread, for suspension.  The larger sort were regarded as images of the heart.  These, having outspread wings attached, were fastened to the breast of the mummy, and are inscribed on the underside with a prayer adjuring the heart not to bear witness against the deceased at the day of judgment.  In order to be still more efficacious, some scenes of adoration were occasionally added to the formula:  e.g., the disc of the moon adorned by two apes upon the shoulder; two squatting figures of Amen upon the wing-sheaths; on the flat reverse, a representation of the boat of the Sun; and below the boat, Osiris mummified, squatting between Isis and Nephthys, who overshadow him with their wings.  The small scarabs, having begun as phylacteries, ended by becoming mere ornaments without any kind of religious meaning, just as crosses are now worn without thought of significance by the women of our own day.  They were set as rings, as necklace pendants, as earrings, and as bracelets.  The underside is often plain, but is more commonly ornamented with incised designs which involve no kind of modelling.  Relief-cutting, properly so called (as in cameo-cutting), was unknown to Egyptian lapidaries before the Greek period.  Scarabaei and the subjects engraved on them have not as yet been fully classified and catalogued.[55] The subjects consist of simple combinations of lines; of scrolls; of interlacings without any precise signification; of symbols to which the owner attached a mysterious