the Concept of Resurrection from Ancient Egypt
Monday, February 12, 2007 by Eva.Usermaatre
Recently, I translated a passage from a website which listed the mistakes appeared in the movie: Mummy. It was the fact that the misunderstandings of knowledge of ancient Egypt were quite a lot, one of which was the concept of resurrection in ancient Egyptian standard.
In the movie of Mummy, the bad guys tried to wake Imohotep by using the Book of the Dead. As a result, people seems to understand the purpose of waking the deceased is to allow the dead to have the earthly life again. But in fact, the purpose is opposing. The resurrection from ancient Egyptian standard is gaining the afterlife. People mummified the dead for his afterlife but not for earthly life.
To interpret the conception of resurrection, four important elements must be brought out: the body, the Ka and the Ba, also the name. These four elements are crucial for the resurrection.
The resurrection in ancient Egypt is understood as the reunion of the body and the Ka and the Ba.
For the body, it is mummified by embalmers to creat an eternal body. The aim of mummification is not only for the preservation but also for a perfect image of the dead and also for a place to house the Ba and the Ka. Let me recall the image of the mummy of Tutankhamun, it was characterized by anthropoid coffins, brilliant white wrappings, the golden face anf hands and so on. Obviously he was made God. So, from the example of Tutankhamun, we can see that the divine elements are added into the mummification.
To understand the concepts of the Ba and the Ka is quite difficult, for it is hard for scholars to find proper words for the interpretation of these two concepts.
The Ka, al well as the person, are understood as a twin. The Ka is there with the birth of a person and the Ka has no physical appearance. So, in most cases, Ka needs a physical container,body or statues, in the literacy, Ka is represented by the upraised arms.
Tha Ka sometime is associated with the reproduction, that means the male potency. But in the funerary culture, Ka is related to the life force, that means the sustenance. While the person is alive, he can feed the Ka on his own, but when he is dead, the feeding thing is impossible for him, so offerings must be made to the dea to ensure the continuous life agter death and also to gain the rebirth. To get the offerings, the Ka must have a physical tool for receiving the food, so a statue have to place besides the table of offerings. Without the offerings, the Ka can no longer life, the possiblity of rebirth is omitted.
The Ba, varied from time to time and also depend on whether it is the Ba of a God or a King or a commoner. The easiest understanding is the Ba of commoner, everyone has a Ba-spirit. Like human, the Ba speak, eat, drink, and move. It is presented by a human-headed bird which can fly away and visit the world of living, but it must return to the body in the night. A easy way to get the idea of Ba is to think in a way of dualism: body and soul.
Last the name,it is much easier to understand. The importance of the name is equal to the body and Ka and Ba. It is a mean to gain rebirth as long as the name is remembered. The idea was interpreted into the myth and arts of ancient Egypt. The story of Isis and Ra, the painting on the wall which must contain the image and the name.
Above all, I state the four elements of gaining rebirth.Each one is important for the dead. If the dead can reunited those four parts, he can continue to live beyond death.
In the movie of Mummy, the bad guys tried to wake Imohotep by using the Book of the Dead. As a result, people seems to understand the purpose of waking the deceased is to allow the dead to have the earthly life again. But in fact, the purpose is opposing. The resurrection from ancient Egyptian standard is gaining the afterlife. People mummified the dead for his afterlife but not for earthly life.
To interpret the conception of resurrection, four important elements must be brought out: the body, the Ka and the Ba, also the name. These four elements are crucial for the resurrection.
The resurrection in ancient Egypt is understood as the reunion of the body and the Ka and the Ba.
For the body, it is mummified by embalmers to creat an eternal body. The aim of mummification is not only for the preservation but also for a perfect image of the dead and also for a place to house the Ba and the Ka. Let me recall the image of the mummy of Tutankhamun, it was characterized by anthropoid coffins, brilliant white wrappings, the golden face anf hands and so on. Obviously he was made God. So, from the example of Tutankhamun, we can see that the divine elements are added into the mummification.
To understand the concepts of the Ba and the Ka is quite difficult, for it is hard for scholars to find proper words for the interpretation of these two concepts.
The Ka, al well as the person, are understood as a twin. The Ka is there with the birth of a person and the Ka has no physical appearance. So, in most cases, Ka needs a physical container,body or statues, in the literacy, Ka is represented by the upraised arms.
Tha Ka sometime is associated with the reproduction, that means the male potency. But in the funerary culture, Ka is related to the life force, that means the sustenance. While the person is alive, he can feed the Ka on his own, but when he is dead, the feeding thing is impossible for him, so offerings must be made to the dea to ensure the continuous life agter death and also to gain the rebirth. To get the offerings, the Ka must have a physical tool for receiving the food, so a statue have to place besides the table of offerings. Without the offerings, the Ka can no longer life, the possiblity of rebirth is omitted.
The Ba, varied from time to time and also depend on whether it is the Ba of a God or a King or a commoner. The easiest understanding is the Ba of commoner, everyone has a Ba-spirit. Like human, the Ba speak, eat, drink, and move. It is presented by a human-headed bird which can fly away and visit the world of living, but it must return to the body in the night. A easy way to get the idea of Ba is to think in a way of dualism: body and soul.
Last the name,it is much easier to understand. The importance of the name is equal to the body and Ka and Ba. It is a mean to gain rebirth as long as the name is remembered. The idea was interpreted into the myth and arts of ancient Egypt. The story of Isis and Ra, the painting on the wall which must contain the image and the name.
Above all, I state the four elements of gaining rebirth.Each one is important for the dead. If the dead can reunited those four parts, he can continue to live beyond death.
