Egyptian shabtis' style and description - Essay Example

Further, the concept of doubling or imitation extended to the mummified body of the deceased, which was viewed as a different form of the living body. These dimensions were considered as material doubles, while the essential parts of the self as ba, ka, shadow and name formed the doppelganger or ghostly double of the living person (Meskell, 119). After the body of the deceased was prepared and mummified, it was necessary to ensure that the deceased person would not be called upon in the after life to perform menial labor in the form of farm work or labor in the irrigation ditches.

The funerary figurines called shabtis, shawabtis or ushebtis were meant to answer on behalf of the mummy. Linguistically, the word shabti was derived from the verb: to answer, and their name meant “answerer”. The actual meaning of their name was the words “Here I am” which these servant figures were to answer when their master was called by Osiris, the Lord of the Dead (O’Connor & Cline, 122). Because of Ancient Egypt’s great and pervasive concern regarding their comfort in the afterlife, Egyptians placed differing numbers shabtis in the tombs of the deceased to act as “servants of the dead”.

From the period of the New Kingdom, the deceased were buried in the company of 365 of these statue workmen, which were meant to be miniature imitation copies of themselves. Their purpose was to work as substitute laborers. Around thirty-six overseer figures were also included to supervise the workers, in case of any resistance from them (Meskell, 119). Shabtis were imitation workers who were regarded as servants of their owner and were referred to as male and female slaves (Taylor, 114). They were represented as carrying hoes, grain baskets, yoke and water pots, apparently always ready to undertake their agricultural tasks.

The command to do their master’s work on his behalf was literally inscribed textually on their bodies, in the form of a potent spell. Power was directly