50 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babyloniathe form of his seven birdlike“souls”or spirits, and double this
number of Kas was now ascribed to him, each corresponding
with a quality or attribute which he could bestow upon his
worshippers.^19 Symbols already existed in the hieroglyphics for
these various qualities, so that it was easy to regard each of
them as having a separate and concrete existence, and so being
practically a Ka.
The funerary statue and the ideas connected with it seem to
have been characteristic of Memphis and the school of theology
[052] which existed there. At all events, no similar statues have been
discovered at Abydos in the tombs of the first two (Thinite)
dynasties; they make their appearance with the rise of Memphite
influence under the Third Dynasty. And with the disappearance
of the old Memphite empire, they too tend to disappear. The
disturbed condition of Egypt after the fall of the Sixth Dynasty
was not favourable to art, and it was probably difficult to find
artists any longer who could imitate with even approximate
accuracy the features of the dead.
But under the Theban dynasties another kind of image becomes
prominent. This was the Ushebti or“Respondent,”hundreds of
which may be seen in most museums. They are usually small
figures of blue or green porcelain, with a mattock painted under
each arm, and a basket on the back. The name and titles of the
deceased are generally inscribed upon them, and not unfrequently
the 6th chapter of the Egyptian funerary ritual or Book of the
Dead. The chapter reads as follows:“O theseushebtis, whatever
be the work it is decreed the Osirified one must do in the other
world, let all hindrances to it there be smitten down for him,
even as he desires! Behold me when ye call! See that ye
work diligently every moment there, sowing the fields, filling
the canals with water, carrying sand from the West to the East.
Behold me when ye call!”
(^19) Renouf,TSBA.vi. p. 504 sqq.; Lepsius,Denkmäler, iii. 194. 13; Dümichen,
Tempelinschriften, i. pl. 29.