Sir KyL's Hall of Antiquities / 01_egypt_ushabti ~A collection of artifacts from the travels of Sir KyL~

 

Ushabti Egyptian, Sandstone, 18th Dynasty (1570 - 1293 B.C) This example wears a lappet wig, the Osirian Beard, has a back pillar, and carries two hoes. Early in Egypt's history, small statues began to be placed in tombs with the deceased. These little representations of the human mummy were inscribed with magical spells that would provide spiritual life to these figures in the afterworld. At first, the statues were inscribed with only the name of the deceased, but soon they were inscribed with magical spells as well to assure that they would really come alive to do their chores. A typical spell would be: "O shawabti, if the deceased is called upon to do work in the next world, answer "Here I am!" Plough the fields, fill the canals with water and carry the sand of the east to the west." The word "shawabti" apparently referred to the persea-tree out of which these figures were occasionally made. Another name for them was "ushabti" which meant "answerer". The idea was that when the deceased was called to work, the figure would answer for him. The statues are called by both names today. Since ushabtis were provided to do the work, it became desirable to have many of them. During the New Kingdom it was common to have hundreds placed in the more elaborate tombs. Because the number of ushabtis found in tombs is often nearly 365, it is believed by many that the Egyptians intended that there be one for each day of the year. There is no actual evidence for this, and in fact the number found is rarely exactly 365.