According to their ancient texts, the Egyptians believed that the scarab beetle came into being spontaneously and they associated this with their religious ideology of self-creation and resurrection. Thus, the scarab beetle was worshipped under the name Khepri (meaning 'he who has come into being' or 'he who came forth from the earth').  The Egyptians imagined that Khepri rolled the sun (the solar 'ball') across the sky from east to west each day, and so they also regarded Khepri as a form of the sun-god, Ra (or Re). Hence, the scarab became an important symbol of creation, resurrection and everlasting life in the religious mythology of ancient Egypt.