The Art of Ancient Egypt | Publications for Educators | Explore & Learn

The ka was the life force. At death it separated from the body and returned to the creator, from whom it had come; the deceased's goal was to rejoin the ka each day in order to live again. During life the ka had been sustained through food and drink, and this relationship needed to continue after death. That is why the Egyptians laid such emphasis on the presentation of food offerings at the tomb, and why the tombs themselves were equipped with scenes or models of food, food production, and dining.

The ba, the name, the shadow, and the mummified body were the other essential components of a human being.

Granary
On the left side of the tomb model, scribes write down the amount of grain being harvested, and the field workers pour sacks of grain into storage bins. Their presence in the tomb guaranteed the tomb's owner eternal supplies of grain that other tomb models of servants would turn into bread and beer.

Statuette of an offering bearer
This statuette is much larger than other servant figures with which she was found. The reason is that she embodies the products of an entire estate, which were to provide food forever to the tomb's owner.

Nikare and his family
As the focus for offerings, the tomb was known as the "ka house"; statues of the deceased within the tomb are often called "ka statues" for the same reason. Statues of the deceased placed in the tomb serve as physical repositories for the dead person's spirit. Through the ritual of "opening the mouth," the statue was made an actual living being, able to receive offerings and live eternally as a physical container for the deceased's spirit. For these reasons, statues ideally were made of stone or other durable materials such as hardwood or metal.

Stela of a Middle Kingdom official
An official sits at his funeral banquet in a scene that ensures he will always receive food offerings from his family, who will honor him forever.

West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I
In this limestone relief Sety I built at Abydos to honor and sustain the ka of his deceased father, Ramesses I, both Sety and his father worship a cult image of Osiris accompanied by the gods Isis and Horus. In the inscriptions on the chapel walls, Sety declares, "I am the one who makes his name live," and "I will make him a place for his ka to alight."

The ka, the life force of an individual, is represented by two extended arms seen from above.