SACRED BEETLE (=kheper=) usually called _scarabeus_ or _scarabee_. It was thought that the beetle hid its eggs in the sand, where they remained until the young beetles broke forth to life. Thus the scarabeus became the symbol of the resurrection and a future life.
According to Cooper, the sacred beetle was in the habit of laying its eggs in a ball of clay, which it kept rolling until the eggs were vivified by the heat of the sun. The beetle thus became the emblem of the sun, the vivifier, and was therefore consecrated to Ra, who is on that account called Ra-Kheper.
When dedicated to Ra, the beetle holds the cosmic ball between its front legs. Sometimes it is an emblem of the world, and is then consecrated to Ptah, the creator of heaven and earth.
The divine name, or prenomen, of Thothmes is thus _Ra-Men-Kheper_, frequently read _Men-Khepera-Ra_, and is made up of three hieroglyphs, which stand for Ra, Amen, and Ptah, the supreme gods respectively worshipped at Heliopolis, Thebes, and Memphis. From these three great deities Thothmes thus claims his descent.
The cartouche with the divine name of Thothmes occurs four times on the obelisk, once on each side at the top of the central column of hieroglyphs. The sacred beetle occurs in two other places in the central columns of Thothmes, but never appears in the eight lateral columns of Rameses.
[Illustration: "He has made as it were monuments to his father Haremakhu."]
EYE (=ar=) _made_. As a verb _ar_ signifies to make.
ZIGZAG (=en=) _has_. After verbs the zigzag means _has_, and is therefore a sign of perfect.
HORNED SNAKE (=ef=) _he_. The usual personal pronoun.
VASE (=nu=). The vase represents an _ampulla_ or bottle. The three vases in this place are used as a determinative to _men_, monument; and being three in number, indicate plurality, making MEN into MENU, monuments.
HORNED SNAKE (=ef=) _his_. This figure is often called cerastes. Standing by itself it usually stands for the possessive pronoun _his_.
ZIGZAG (=en=) _to_. Used here as a preposition.
SEMICIRCLE and CERASTES (=tef=) _father_. The semicircle is here an alphabetic phonetic, equal to _t_, and with _ef_ makes TEF, meaning father.
HAWK (=bak=) _Horus_. The hawk alone stood for any solar deity. With the solar disk on the head and two ovals by the side, as in the present hieroglyph, it stood for Haremakhu, the sun in the horizon. The two ovals are called KHU, and stand for the eastern and western horizons.