Ka (Egyptian mythology)

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Ka statue of Hor I.

In ancient Egyptian mythology , the Ka is an aspect of the soul that outlasts the physical death of humans. It leaves the body of the dying person and then continues to exist independently. In contrast to the Ba, the Ka does not enter into any connection with the body of the corpse, but emerges as the " ego of the living after death" in order to act as the essential soul, protective spirit and doppelganger (often in the form of an animal as an alter ego ) of the dead .

In Egyptology , the role of the Ka was unclear for a long time. Different interpretations can therefore be found in older publications . The apparent contradictions are based on the multiple changes of the Ka term in Egyptian mythology . Changed world views of the Egyptians therefore also resulted in a changing mythology of the Ka. Therefore, no uniform definition of the Ka term can be made, since the Ka must always be seen in relation to the respective epoch.

Differentiation of the soul aspects

In ancient Egyptian thought three aspects of the soul were emphasized: the Ka, the Ba and the Ach . The Ach is a form of existence that is only achieved after death through appropriate efforts, in that the dead person appropriates the Ach power and thereby becomes the Ach. In contrast to this, Ba and Ka are free souls that accompany people on their journey through life. After his death, they become the focus of attention for the bereaved as central elements of the belief in the dead and caring for the dead. Since Ka and Ba are clearly differentiated and always exist independently of one another, the sometimes occurring term “soul parts” is not helpful; there is no question of a total soul composed of Ka and Ba. Rather, Ka and Ba can be described as aspects of the person, including the living or dead body, because the Egyptians believed in a continuous connection of the body with the various aspects of the deceased's soul area after death. In the epoch of the Old Kingdom , when the Ba was apparently still reserved for kings, private caring for the dead was concentrated on the Ka. The Ka was thus the Egyptians' oldest conception of the human soul. However, only the ka of the king was depicted.

Role of the Ka

The Ka, like the Ba, is not a pre-existing soul, but arises together with the body, that is, it is formed by a deity during pregnancy. He is a source of life force ; through his presence man is animated and animated. After death, the ka remains near the corpse. Now it is his main task to protect the dead and to help him to an existence that corresponds to his previous social rank. The home of the Ka is a statue erected especially for him in the grave. It is desired that the Ka unite with the dead; a separation of a dead person from their ka is considered a great misfortune and is therefore wished for a malefactor in a curse formula: "His ka should be removed from him". There is a sacrificial site above the grave. There, food and drink gifts were made available in the Old Kingdom for the Ka - that is, for the corpse it was supposed to animate. This elaborate grave equipment and intensive care for the dead came into consideration only for members of the upper class.

Kings and gods have a plurality of kas. The term Ka also occurs in the plural for a person in prayers for the dead in private graves in the Old Kingdom. The Ka of a created God is given by an embrace at creation. This is perhaps related to the symbol for Ka in the hieroglyphs : two outstretched arms, probably held upwards (forwards) in an embrace, the palms of which are facing each other.

Among the different interpretations of the Ka in research, the interpretations as the doppelganger of man, as his protective spirit and as the personification of life force are to be emphasized; they each cover partial aspects of the term. In a field of research that sees him mainly as a guardian spirit, one refuses to call him a component of the human person. The Ka is a “doppelganger” because it resembles the figure of the person concerned. As part of his attempt to reconstruct the “origin of consciousness”, the late Princeton psychologist Julian Jaynes presented a new theory of the Ka.

literature

Jan Assmann : Death and the afterlife in ancient Egypt. Special edition. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49707-1 .
Ka. In: Hans Bonnet : Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte. 3rd unchanged edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 357-362.
Giacomo Christopher Borioni: The Ka from a religious studies perspective. (= Publications of the institutes for African studies and Egyptology at the University of Vienna. Vol. 101 = contributions to Egyptology. Vol. 20). Afro-Pub c / o Inst. For African Studies, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-85043-101-0 .
Ka. In: Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto : Small Lexicon of Egyptology. 4th revised edition. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-447-04027-0 , pp. 138f.
Peter Kaplony : Ka. In: Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume 3: Horhekenu - Megeb. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1980, ISBN 3-447-02100-4 , Sp. 275-282.
Klaus Koch : History of the Egyptian Religion. From the pyramids to the mysteries of Isis. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1993, ISBN 3-17-009808-X .
Eberhard Kusber: The ancient Egyptian Ka - “soul” or “personality”? Tübingen 2005 (Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 1994), online .

Web links

Dieter Kessler: Ka. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The scientific Bibellexikon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Accessed on May 26, 2012.

Individual evidence

↑ Erik Hornung : The One and the Many - ancient Egyptian gods. 6., completely revised and extended edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-14984-X ; 7th edition, von Zabern, Darmstadt / Mainz 2011, ISBN 978-3-8053-4364-0 . Pp. 39, 51.
^ ^A ^b Jan Assmann: Death and Beyond in Ancient Egypt . Munich 2001, pp. 131-132.
↑ Jan Assmann: Death and Beyond in Ancient Egypt. Munich 2001, pp. 131-139; Hellmut Brunner : Fundamentals of the ancient Egyptian religion. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1983, ISBN 3-534-08424-1 , pp. 138-140; Hermann Kees : Belief in the dead and conceptions of the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians. 2nd revised edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1956, pp. 43–52.
↑ Hans Bonnet: Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte. de Gruyter, Berlin 1952, p. 359; Hermann Kees: Belief in the dead and conceptions of the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians. 2nd revised edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1956, pp. 46–50.
↑ Klaus Koch: History of the Egyptian religion. Stuttgart 1993, p. 186.
↑ Julian Jaynes : The origin of consciousness (= Rororo 9529 rororo-Sachbuch. Rororo science ). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1993, ISBN 3-499-19529-1 , pp. 234–239 and pp. 350–356.

[1] Erik Hornung : The One and the Many - ancient Egyptian gods. 6., completely revised and extended edition, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-14984-X ; 7th edition, von Zabern, Darmstadt / Mainz 2011, ISBN 978-3-8053-4364-0 . Pp. 39, 51.

[A131-2] A ^b Jan Assmann: Death and Beyond in Ancient Egypt . Munich 2001, pp. 131-132.

[3] Jan Assmann: Death and Beyond in Ancient Egypt. Munich 2001, pp. 131-139; Hellmut Brunner : Fundamentals of the ancient Egyptian religion. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1983, ISBN 3-534-08424-1 , pp. 138-140; Hermann Kees : Belief in the dead and conceptions of the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians. 2nd revised edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1956, pp. 43–52.

[4] Hans Bonnet: Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte. de Gruyter, Berlin 1952, p. 359; Hermann Kees: Belief in the dead and conceptions of the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians. 2nd revised edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1956, pp. 46–50.

[5] Klaus Koch: History of the Egyptian religion. Stuttgart 1993, p. 186.

[6] Julian Jaynes : The origin of consciousness (= Rororo 9529 rororo-Sachbuch. Rororo science ). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1993, ISBN 3-499-19529-1 , pp. 234–239 and pp. 350–356.