DOI issue:
Nr. 1-2
DOI article:Grenfell, Alice: The Ka on scarabs
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12744#0091
82
THE KA ON SCARABS
2. ^^j> Uah Ka nefer Scarabs; some with spirals^ etc.
The | alone inside the U and no other symbol is rare. It is found on a small
plaque in the Biella Collection (which formerly belongecl to Lanzone), (11). The other
interchanging symbols for Deceased, ^~ and | are also rare alone, or with only a neb
sign ; (12) British Muséum, and (13) Blanchard Collection. We find thèse three signs
again with ^ and spirals on the Hyksos scarabs belonging to (14) Cairo Muséum ;
(15) Eton Collège, and (16) John Ward Collection.
Apparently 0 , at first very rare, became the favourite symbol later, as it is used
so much more often than ^ or j\ For instance, a fairly common scarab is (17), Va-
leriani's Egypt, etc., with the Deceased as j| between two ursei (Isis and Nephthys);
the New Life is represented by the Scarabseus (Kheper); the latter is flanked by two
pictures of the actual cakes of ofîering used. But (18), Blanchard Collection, with the
^, and (19), Johnson Collection, with the are unique as far as I know.
On a scarab (20) figured in Ei-Kab, Pétrie, Pl. XX, we find « An ofîering to the
» Ka of Deceased » with the préposition ~ww\ inserted, making it certain that the U
here figured is the Deceased's Ka. The work is bad, but the inversion of the ^ is in-
tentional ancLnot a mistake, for we find it on several well-cut scarabs of the XIIth Dy-
nasty, compare (21), Diospolis parua, Pétrie, where the Ka is inverted. A scarab of
the Hyksos period in the Timins Collection, (22), shows the cake of ofîering in the
middle of a beautiful spiral design. Till the Ka was separated from its human com-
panion, 'hospes comesque corporis5 (as the Emperor Hadrian called the Ka), it did not
require offerings.
The | as symbol of Deceased is often represented with a lotus-bud and flower
sprouting out of it, (23), British Muséum, to typify the Résurrection or New Life of
Deceased. The Ka also has the same imagery, on Middle Kingdom scarabs only ; see
(24) John Ward Collection, (25) Gizeli and Rifeh, Pétrie; (26) purchased.— Two sca-
rabs from Petrie's Kahun, Gurob and Haioara (27) and (28) have spirals, the ^ and
^ ; the latter sign is contracted to %\ The ^ sign is very variable. I give 13 va-
riants :
viz, <p Q é V ^ y </ ^? v n
%> t l> h i'J' c*> 1>J>A' h S. 9-
The contraction f (symbol of Deceased) is very rare on U J scarabs. There is an
example formerly in the Hilton Price Collection (now dispersed) (29). Thisf is placed
in front of a seated Pharaoh. The guardian godcless Nechebet hovers above, ofîering
the shen amulet.— Well-authenticated cases of the extériorisation of the U during
the lifetime of the body, when the Ka is thousands of miles away from that body, are
numerous.
A striking example is recorded in the life of Sir Henry Stanley, the African tra-
veller.— The most startling case of the human double appearing near its living body
is that of Émilie Sagée, a schoolmistress at a girls' school 36 miles from Riga. She
THE KA ON SCARABS
2. ^^j> Uah Ka nefer Scarabs; some with spirals^ etc.
The | alone inside the U and no other symbol is rare. It is found on a small
plaque in the Biella Collection (which formerly belongecl to Lanzone), (11). The other
interchanging symbols for Deceased, ^~ and | are also rare alone, or with only a neb
sign ; (12) British Muséum, and (13) Blanchard Collection. We find thèse three signs
again with ^ and spirals on the Hyksos scarabs belonging to (14) Cairo Muséum ;
(15) Eton Collège, and (16) John Ward Collection.
Apparently 0 , at first very rare, became the favourite symbol later, as it is used
so much more often than ^ or j\ For instance, a fairly common scarab is (17), Va-
leriani's Egypt, etc., with the Deceased as j| between two ursei (Isis and Nephthys);
the New Life is represented by the Scarabseus (Kheper); the latter is flanked by two
pictures of the actual cakes of ofîering used. But (18), Blanchard Collection, with the
^, and (19), Johnson Collection, with the are unique as far as I know.
On a scarab (20) figured in Ei-Kab, Pétrie, Pl. XX, we find « An ofîering to the
» Ka of Deceased » with the préposition ~ww\ inserted, making it certain that the U
here figured is the Deceased's Ka. The work is bad, but the inversion of the ^ is in-
tentional ancLnot a mistake, for we find it on several well-cut scarabs of the XIIth Dy-
nasty, compare (21), Diospolis parua, Pétrie, where the Ka is inverted. A scarab of
the Hyksos period in the Timins Collection, (22), shows the cake of ofîering in the
middle of a beautiful spiral design. Till the Ka was separated from its human com-
panion, 'hospes comesque corporis5 (as the Emperor Hadrian called the Ka), it did not
require offerings.
The | as symbol of Deceased is often represented with a lotus-bud and flower
sprouting out of it, (23), British Muséum, to typify the Résurrection or New Life of
Deceased. The Ka also has the same imagery, on Middle Kingdom scarabs only ; see
(24) John Ward Collection, (25) Gizeli and Rifeh, Pétrie; (26) purchased.— Two sca-
rabs from Petrie's Kahun, Gurob and Haioara (27) and (28) have spirals, the ^ and
^ ; the latter sign is contracted to %\ The ^ sign is very variable. I give 13 va-
riants :
viz, <p Q é V ^ y </ ^? v n
%> t l> h i'J' c*> 1>J>A' h S. 9-
The contraction f (symbol of Deceased) is very rare on U J scarabs. There is an
example formerly in the Hilton Price Collection (now dispersed) (29). Thisf is placed
in front of a seated Pharaoh. The guardian godcless Nechebet hovers above, ofîering
the shen amulet.— Well-authenticated cases of the extériorisation of the U during
the lifetime of the body, when the Ka is thousands of miles away from that body, are
numerous.
A striking example is recorded in the life of Sir Henry Stanley, the African tra-
veller.— The most startling case of the human double appearing near its living body
is that of Émilie Sagée, a schoolmistress at a girls' school 36 miles from Riga. She