The two guardian statues of Tutankhamen

or the two ka statues of Tutankhamen

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First we have to know why they call these statues weather the guardian statues or the ka statues:

First: the Guardian Statues:

These statues were found in front of the burial chamber on either side of the scaled doorway as if they are guarding the burial chamber

Second: the Ka statues:

We have to mention first that the ancient Egyptians believed that human being consisted of a number of elements, though they were independent, yet they form one unit. Those elements are: a material form Xt and spiritual forms kA bA Ax rn Swt and ib. But how these elements were communicating with each other after death, this had never been explained by the Ancient Egyptians.

Our main concern is the Ka:

A god called xnum the ram headed god who was fashioning human being of a pottery wheel was responsible to create two identical figures the body and a spiritual copy, which was the ka. So the ka first came into existence at one’s birth. At death it leaves the body and goes to the underworld from where it needs to be summoned. After death, it continued to represent his identity so long as it had an exact image of the deceased. So the ka needed a permanent domicile in the form of either a mummy or a statue that acted as a substitute if the original corpse disappeared or got damaged. That is why we call these statues the ka statues.

However: the inscriptions on the kilt of the statue with the xAt headdress mentions that it is for the ka, whereas the other with the nms mentions that it is for the living king. thus just one of them was made for the ka.

Description of the statues

These two statues were found in the antechamber, facing each other on either side of the sealed doorway to the burial chamber inclining a little bit as if they were receiving the one ho is entering it. They are life size statues of the king they are almost identical except for the type of the headdresses that they wear and the inscriptions on their skirts. The right hand side statue wears the nms headdress whereas the left hand side statue wears the xAt headdress.

They are made of wood, coated with bitumen and some parts are gilded. The cobra on the forehead is made of gilded bronze. The eyes are inlaid with Calcite “crystal calcium carbonate” for the white part and obsidian for the black part. The outlines of the eyes and the eyebrows are of gilded bronze. The statue is wearing a wide collar, a pectoral, armlets and bracelets. He is holding in one hand a mace-head while in the other hand there is a long staff with a papyrus stem. He is wearing a starched kilt, which as fashionable during that period. He wearing sandals made of gilded bronze. He is stepping ith the left leg forward.

As for the black color of these statues:

<!--Color of the black land kmt

<!--Color of death

<!--Color of god Anubis the guardian of the necropolis as they both have the same function.

The two statues bear slightly traces of Amarna influence such as bulging abdomen, relatively slim legs and pierced ears. 

The belt buckle contains the coronation name of the king nb Xprw ra this name also occurs behind on the widened part of the belt. The tab of the kilt is adorned with a vertical inscription. The inscription of the left statue, wearing the xAt bears the title “the royal ka of Hr Axty” while the other one mentions the birth name.