To live after death, as Beliefs About the Afterlife explained, a person needed body, name and offerings. Egyptians also believed that a person was made of several parts, each with its own role after death.
Key idea
The ka was the life force, born with a person, which received the offerings; the ba could move about and was shown as a bird with a human head; the akh was the transfigured, effective spirit of the blessed dead. The name and the shadow were parts of the person too.
| Part | Written with | Role |
|---|---|---|
| ka, kꜣ | two raised arms (D28) | life force; received offerings; could live in a statue |
| ba, bꜣ | the jabiru stork (G29) | moved between tomb and world; shown in art as a human-headed bird |
| akh, ꜣḫ | the crested ibis (G25) | the blessed spirit, living among the gods and stars |
| name, rn | mouth and water | kept the person alive while it was spoken |
| shadow, šwt | a dark copy that went with the person |
Why it works
These parts let Egyptians say several things at once about the dead. The ka, born with each person (the god Khnum was said to shape it with the body), needed food, so offerings were made "for the ka of" the owner, and a ka statue gave it a home. The ba needed freedom, so it could fly out of the tomb by day and return to the body at night. The akh was what the dead became when everything went right: effective and shining, among the gods.
Worked example: Which part eats?
An offering table is inscribed "for the ka of Hetepi". Why the ka?
- The ka was the life force that received offerings.
- The food and drink nourished it.
- So offerings were dedicated to the ka.
Answer: The ka received the offerings.
Worked example: Sign or picture?
In a Book of the Dead papyrus, a bird with a human head flies down a tomb shaft. In the text below, the word for it is written with a stork. Is that a contradiction?
- The picture shows the ba as art pictured it.
- The text writes the word bꜣ with the stork sign G29, which has the sound bꜣ.
- The sign gives the sound; the picture gives the idea.
Answer: No: the stork spells the word; the human-headed bird shows the ba.
Common mistake
Equating the ba with the "soul" of later religions. Egyptian ideas divide a person differently, into several parts with different roles; one-word equivalents hide those differences. Quick check: say which part is meant and what it does.