DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30604#0072
lxiv
INTRODUCTION.
The ba or soul.
“ alight upon the branches of the groves which I have planted, may I make myself
“ cool beneath my sycamores, may I eat the bread which they provide. May I
“ have my mouth that I may speak therewith like the followers of Horus, may I
“ come forth to heaven, may I descend to earth, may I never be shut out upon the
“ road, may there never be done unto me that which my soul abhorreth, let not my
“ soul be imprisoned, but may I be among the venerable and favoured ones, may I
“ plough my lands in the Field of Aaru, may I arrive at the Field of Peace, may
“ one come out to me with vessels of ale and cakes and bread of the lords of
“ eternity, may I receive meat from the altars of the great, I the ka of the prophet
“ Amsu.”1
To that part of man which beyond all doubt was believed to enjoy an eternal
existence in heaven in a state of glory, the Egyptians gave the name ba
a word which means something like “sublime,” “ noble,” and which has always
hitherto been translated by “ soul.” The ba is not incorporeal, for although it
dwells in the ka, and is in some respects, like the heart, the principle of life in man,
still it possesses both substance and form : in form it is depicted as a human-headed
hawk ancl in nature and substance it is stated to be exceedingly refined or
ethereal. It revisited the body in the tomb and re-animated it, and conversed with
it; it could take upon itself any shape that it pleased ; and it had the power of
passing into heaven ancl of dwelling with the perfected souls there. It was
eternal. As the ba was closely associated wfth the ka, it partook of the funeral
offerings, and in one aspect of its existence at least it was liable to decay if not
properly and sufficiently nourished. In the pyramid texts the permanent dwelling-
place of the ba or soul is heaven with the gods, whose life it shares :—
ddEI S jk JL jk sk-*
sek Unas per em hru pen ern aru maa en
Behold Unas cometh forth on day this in the form exact of
¥ f
ba dn^
a soul living.2
1 See Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. vi., pp. 307, 308.
~ Recueil de Travaux, t. iv., p. 52 (1. 455).
INTRODUCTION.
The ba or soul.
“ alight upon the branches of the groves which I have planted, may I make myself
“ cool beneath my sycamores, may I eat the bread which they provide. May I
“ have my mouth that I may speak therewith like the followers of Horus, may I
“ come forth to heaven, may I descend to earth, may I never be shut out upon the
“ road, may there never be done unto me that which my soul abhorreth, let not my
“ soul be imprisoned, but may I be among the venerable and favoured ones, may I
“ plough my lands in the Field of Aaru, may I arrive at the Field of Peace, may
“ one come out to me with vessels of ale and cakes and bread of the lords of
“ eternity, may I receive meat from the altars of the great, I the ka of the prophet
“ Amsu.”1
To that part of man which beyond all doubt was believed to enjoy an eternal
existence in heaven in a state of glory, the Egyptians gave the name ba
a word which means something like “sublime,” “ noble,” and which has always
hitherto been translated by “ soul.” The ba is not incorporeal, for although it
dwells in the ka, and is in some respects, like the heart, the principle of life in man,
still it possesses both substance and form : in form it is depicted as a human-headed
hawk ancl in nature and substance it is stated to be exceedingly refined or
ethereal. It revisited the body in the tomb and re-animated it, and conversed with
it; it could take upon itself any shape that it pleased ; and it had the power of
passing into heaven ancl of dwelling with the perfected souls there. It was
eternal. As the ba was closely associated wfth the ka, it partook of the funeral
offerings, and in one aspect of its existence at least it was liable to decay if not
properly and sufficiently nourished. In the pyramid texts the permanent dwelling-
place of the ba or soul is heaven with the gods, whose life it shares :—
ddEI S jk JL jk sk-*
sek Unas per em hru pen ern aru maa en
Behold Unas cometh forth on day this in the form exact of
¥ f
ba dn^
a soul living.2
1 See Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. vi., pp. 307, 308.
~ Recueil de Travaux, t. iv., p. 52 (1. 455).