Did ancient Egyptians have avatars?

Did ancient Egyptians have avatars?

'Shabti' from Seniu. Thebes, early 18th dynasty (circa 1525-1504 BC). Metropolitan Museum of Art (no. 19.3.206), New York. / Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Egyptian mortuary statuettes are common, but their meaning is obscure: were they workers of the late rich man or copies of him who were magically activated to escape the king's charges?

Carlos Grace Zamacona

CARLOS GRACIA ZAMACONA Talent Attraction Researcher (modality 1), Egyptology and Linguistics, University of Alcalá

One of the most popular objects in the grave goods of ancient Egypt is a statuette called by Egyptologists shabti or ushabti.

Usually mummy-shaped and made of faience (a bluish-green vitreous paste), shabtis begin to appear in the tombs of the wealthy from the end of the Middle Kingdom (circa 1700 BCE) and become widespread from the Second Period. intermediate (1650-1550 BCE). In time, there will be a shabti for each day of the year or even more: 414 appeared in Tutankhamun's tomb. When there are many, they are usually kept in wooden boxes.

Paraemneju box. Thebes (Deir el-Medina, TT1), Dynasty XIX (reign of Ramses II, around 1279-1213 BCE). /

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Their blue-green color and mummy-like shape make them resemble Osiris, the god of the dead, the deceased king who has triumphed over death and whose son, Horus, inherits the throne over the land of the living.

Instructions for a shabti

The earliest written reference we have to these figurines points the other way. It is formula 472 of the Coffin Texts, which is preserved in two coffins from Dayr el-Barsha, the necropolis of ancient Jemenu (Hermopolis), a fundamental center for the creation of new mortuary texts during the Middle Kingdom (2050 -1650 BCE). The title of the formula explains the purpose of the shabti, but not their identity: "Formula to make the shabti do their lord's work in the necropolis."

The officiant (usually the firstborn of the deceased) is then shown to speak to the gods:

Take a good look at it, nobles, gods, spirits and the dead who are in heaven and on earth! He has recovered the power from him, has taken over the thrones from him and has governed the herds (humans) created for this N (= the deceased) following the order of the gods.

Then he addresses each shabti:

If this N is recruited to repair canals, level esplanades, patrol the banks, or cultivate new fields for the reigning king, 'Here I am in his place!' –You will tell every noble messenger who comes against this N–.

Lastly, to all shabtis:

So take your picks, hoes, adzes and baskets, as everyone does for his master! O shabtis! Help this N! If this N is recruited into his service and finds it painful like everyone else, "Here we are!" –you will say–. If this N is recruited to watch over a worker cultivating new fields, repopulating the banks, or rowing sand from the west to the east of the river and vice versa, "Here we are!" You will tell him about it.

The formula ends with some instructions in the colophon: «Recite over a drawing of the living lord made in tamarisk and jujube, placed in the chapel of the noble spirit (ie, the deceased)».

Texts before objects?

The first thing that is surprising is that the text is somewhat earlier than the appearance of the shabtis. As it is an ancient text, it is normal that it uses the term shabti, the oldest, which means "piece of wood", and not ushabti, which means "the one who answers", and which will appear a thousand years later (dynasty XXI).

It is also striking that the text presents the shabtis responding to recruitment orders from royal emissaries.

Finally, the text seems to be an incantation that was recited over a drawing of the deceased, so that the shabtis would react when their time came, as the colophon indicates. This implies that the shabtis had to be already at that time (dynasty XII) in some part of the tomb. But we do not find them until the end of that dynasty.

Objects of the deceased or their avatars?

The reference to the piece of wood fits well with the first shabtis, which are poorly carved wooden sticks, with or without inscription.

Sometimes placed in their own coffins, they have been interpreted as stand-ins for the tomb lord's workers, a reminder of those who may have had to be buried alongside the king early in Egyptian history (Dynasty I).

However, the fact that these wooden sticks give way to mumiform figures in blue-green faience and the like could lead one to think that the shabtis are, properly speaking, the elements of funerary trousseau that have the function of substituting the deceased in real work. They would fulfill a role similar to sandals, for example, a frequent article in burials that serve the deceased to walk through the other world and that must be activated magically.

The shabtis are transformed into transcripts of the deceased, their avatars. They are figures that imitate the deceased, identified with Osiris, with the form of this and the name of that, as indicated by the form of treatment of the omnipresent deceased in the Coffin Texts: "This osiris N" (N being the name of the deceased in question and "Osiris", a form of address, as if we were saying "dead lord").

It seems that, through repetition (a shabti for each day) and imitation (all shabtis are like the deceased), these royal emissaries were intended to be deceived into thinking that the deceased himself was fulfilling his duties. obligations to the king.

As in life, whoever had his own workers was exempt from his obligations, and a tomb could also be built with, among other things, numerous shabtis.

This article has been published in 'The Conversation'.

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