Ba Birds

The Egyptians believed that individuals were made up of five parts: the ba, the ka, the name, the shadow and the physical body. According to Zabkar there is no exact equivalent of the term ba in English. It is similar to our idea of personality but also referred to power. However, the ba only became manifest after the person had died. It had the power to travel about freely. Gods could also be manifest as baw (bas), for example, the Apis bull was the ba of Osiris.

The ba was often shown as a bird, whose duty was to reunite the soul with the body. The ba was so closely linked with the physical body that it needed food and drink.

Statuettes of ba birds are not common before the 26^th Dynasty. The wooden ba bird in the tomb of Tutankhamun is probably the earliest of its type. Most ba bird statues date from the Saite Period to the second century AD. They were probably placed on shrines or coffins. Spell 89 of the Book of the Dead recommended that a golden ba bird be placed on the chest of the mummy to ensure that the ba was reunited with the body.

The ba bird statues here below with the human type bodies and solar discs on their heads are of a style more likely to have come from Meroe in Nubia than from Egypt.

The ba is similar to the idea of 'personality' which made a human being unique, but there is no exact English equivalent to the term. The ba is depicted as a human-headed bird that allows the soul of the person travel within and beyond the tomb.

Most of the ba birds on display in the Centre, like others, are made of wood, coated with gesso and painted. They wear black wigs with lappets on their chest and a wesekh or broad collar. Such figures would have been placed on the tops of shrines or upon the posts of coffins. Statuettes of ba birds are not common before the 26^th Dynasty. The wooden ba bird in the tomb of Tutankhamun is probably the earliest of its type. Most ba bird statues date from the Saite Period to the second century AD. They were probably placed on shrines or coffins.

You can also see depictions of ba birds in the Centre, for example, one can be seen on the Sycamore Tree goddess motif on our 21st Dynasty coffin.

Before the Middle Kingdom (before 2040 BC) only gods and kings were said to have a ba. The ba, which could separate from the body at death is able to eat, drink, speak and move. It was the means, in which the deceased could travel and leave the tomb. The ba had to return each night to the tomb in order to be reunited with the body or else the deceased would perish. Spell 89 of the Book of the Dead recommended that a golden ba bird be placed on the chest of the mummy to ensure that the ba was reunited with the body.

Further Reading

Zabkar, L.V. 1968. A Study of the Ba Concept in Ancient Egyptian Texts. Chicago .