The Ba Bird, the Falcon and Tutankhamen

(Tutankhamen lying on a bier)

<!--<!--<!--This miniature statue of the king was found in the treasury room in a small oblong chest carefully padded with linen which had disintegrated over the centuries

<!--This statue carved of a single piece of wood; it represents the king in mummified form lying on a funeral bier of lion form

<!--This Osiride figure of the king lies stretched out at length upon the bed, his head covered with the nms headdress bearing the royal ureas at his forehead, his hands free from wrapping grasping the emblems of Osiris now unfortunately missing

<!--The first evidence of this kind of statues comes from the 13th dynasty belonging to king xn nDr it is displayed in the atrium of the museum

<!--On the left side a figure of the Ba bird or soul which is often depicted in the form of a human headed hawk. When a man died it left him and went to heaven where it lived with the gods and with the souls of the righteous but it was believed that the Ba descends from time to time to visit the body in which it formerly dwelt

<!--The Ba bird protects the mummy with its left wing opposite to the figure of a falcon maybe representing god Horus protecting the mummy with its right wing and they seem to be no less than manifestations of divine protection

<!--If we look at the statue behind the head of the king while laying on the bier we will see that his head is represented between the two lions which looks like a representation of the Axt sign of horizon in such a way that his head signifies the rising sun between the two mountains represented as the lions’ heads. It also reminds us of the iqr legend

<!--The statue is believed to be related to the shawabti figures as a set of miniature implements; a pick, a hoe, a yake and two baskets of copper similar to the equipment found with the shawabti figures was placed with this statue

<!--Another interesting and historical point regarding this statue which confirms its association with the ushabtis is that it was made by the overseer of the works in the place of eternity Maya who had dedicated a shawabti figure to the king. Among his duties he was responsible for the resealing of Tutankhamen’s tomb

<!--The inscriptions on the statue represent a prayer or plea from the deceased to goddess Nut to protect him and to identify him with the imperishable stars; the never setting circumpolar stars in order to guarantee his successful resurrection also the king is said to be protected by Anubis, Wsir and Horus. They were depicted on the horizontal and vertical bandages of the mummified figure

They go as follows:

Words spoken by the justified king nb xprw ra descend my mother Nut and spread thyself over me and cause me to be the imperishable stars that are in thee. In honor with imsty, HAby, impw who is in the embalming place of embalmment, dwAmwt.f, qbHsnw.f, Hr and wsir