Ah (egyptian mythology)
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Oh 3ḫ spirit / ancestral spirit |
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The Ach (plural Akhu ; of . Altägypt ach to dt. "Shine", commonly referred to as "light" or " ghost ", " ancestral spirit translated" and "Spirit soul") refers to a fictitious beings from the Egyptian mythology , the one with the Concepts of the afterlife and the ancient Egyptians' belief in death is linked. While its mythological counterparts, the Ba and the Ka , according to Egyptian belief, inhabit the human being and leave his body after death , the oh only arises after they have merged and rises into heaven .
mythology
- Terminology
According to the Egyptian belief in the dead, the Ba and Ka inhabit the human body. Together with the oh, all three beings are understood as "soul beings" that only develop their own power when the bearer dies. While the Ba is viewed as the actual soul and always returns to it after leaving the body, the Ka is the protective life force that can continue to live in statues and murals if the image is placed in close proximity to the dead and the Ka is continuously and regularly a victim is offered. The oh, on the other hand, is not given to a person at birth , the deceased must first acquire the oh-powers and become an oh himself. Therefore an oh is neither “good” nor “bad”, he has no moral sense of his own . This depends on the goodness / malignancy of the deceased during his lifetime.
- Becoming an oh
In ancient Egypt one of the highest aspirations of man was to become a “pure oh” after death. This need is based on the hope of experiencing some kind of resurrection in the hereafter and of continuing to exist in an immortal, deified form. In order to be able to become an oh, the dead had to be buried with dignity and ritual transfigured and spiritually cleansed in a funeral . Only when Ba and Ka reunited in the body of the deceased could the person become an oh in the hereafter. The pyramid texts of the 6th dynasty explain the necessity of becoming alas as follows: "The ah belongs in heaven, the corpse in the earth!"
- Continued existence as oh
If the ritual transfiguration was successful, the oh of the deceased rises to heaven to become a shining star there. In the shape of the new star, the deceased joins the entourage of the nocturnal sun god , or in the entourage of Osiris and his sacrificial realms. The ancient Egyptians were convinced that the oh could influence this world and even become malicious. For this reason, the oh was worshiped in the cult of the dead, and prayers and offerings were used to try to keep him mild. Often the oh was called to ask for his protection from curses and his assistance in court . From around the New Kingdom onwards , it was therefore also understood as a " ghost ".
Forms of representation
The Ach has been represented as a striding bird with a conspicuous forelock since the end of the predynastic period . The design model was the bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) , which was common in Egypt in earlier times. This bird species is characterized by shiny metallic plumage and a distinctive crest. The shimmering of the plumage inspired the ancient Egyptians to compare it with the brilliance of the stars and to derive the ultimate mythological meaning from it. From the Old Kingdom onwards , depictions of birds were accompanied by the hieroglyphic sign Aa1 (human placenta ; sound value “ch”, as in “hiss”).
The oh in gods and personal names as well as in official titles
Since the predynastic period, the oh-bird appears regularly in gods and personal names, as well as in important titles of officials . Under King Hetepsechemui (founder of the 2nd dynasty ) a deity named Netjer-Akhti appeared for the first time . A high-ranking official of the late 3rd dynasty was called Akhtiaa . An important functional title that has been in use since the early 1st Dynasty is that of the Sechenu-ach .
The oh in post-Pharaonic times
From the Christian era , the positive image of the oh changed. In the Coptic religion he became an "unclean demon " who attacks and takes possession of the innocent.
literature
- Hans Bonnet : Real Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. 3rd edition, de Gruyter, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3110827905 , p. 4.
- Hermann Kees : Belief in the dead and conceptions of the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians: Foundations and development up to the end of the Middle Kingdom . 2nd edition, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1956, pp. 37 & 52–56.
- Klaus Koch , Eckart Otto: Studies on the Old Testament and Old Oriental Religious History: On the 60th birthday of Klaus Koch . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen / Zurich 1988, ISBN 3525535791 , pp. 217–226.
- Wolfgang Helck : Investigations on the thinite period (= Egyptological treatises. Vol. 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4 , pp. 226-228 ( limited online version ).